Can you build muscle by resting more? This information will surprise you. Building muscle is a science, but it’s not rocket science! There are a lot of factors that come into play and the most overlooked muscle growth factor in bodybuilding, for both men and women, is rest. Yes, plain and simple rest is a crucial element if you want to transform your body.
Build Muscle by Resting More and Reap The Muscle Building Rewards
You CAN build muscle by resting more. Proper rest allows your muscles to FULLY recover. If you don’t allow your muscles to recover, they cannot grow. That’s a fact. The cold hard truth is that you will never get to your true muscle building potential that you work so hard for if you fail to get enough leisure time in.
So, what I’m going to do is teach you how to implement rest time so you can ensure ALL your hard work gets utilized fully and completely.
Knowing The Difference Between a Pump and Muscle Growth
I’ve heard people in the gym say that they can actually “feel” their muscles getting bigger and growing during a workout. How cool would that be if it was possible? Sure, it may feel like your muscles are growing during an intense training session, but they aren’t.
It’s IMPOSSIBLE to actually build muscle and grow during training. The “feeling” they are talking about is the pump, not muscle growth.
You see, muscle growth (hypertrophy) takes place outside of the gym, when you are resting and relaxing, not during a workout. You can, no doubt, get an awesome pump during your training session, but that’s just blood being pumped into the heated muscle, making the muscle harder, and the size of the muscle is increased for a short time. It’s a pretty cool effect.
When this “pump” occurs a lot of people get a mental pump right along with it and drag their training session out. It’s good to get a pump, just don’t feed off it too much or it can lead to overtraining.
Mike Kabbani, transformation coach, states, “It might come as a shock to you that training doesn’t make you stronger. In fact, the act of training is very catabolic and destructive on the body. Your muscle cells get damaged, tendons strained, ligaments stretched, and glycogen depleted. On top of that, it’s not just localized to the muscular system but your whole body is stressed when you train.”
Repair and Build Muscle by Resting
Time away from the gym is critical. After training your muscles go into repair mode. THIS is actually the time when they are growing, when you are away from the gym. After each repair cycle your muscles become a little bit stronger than before, and this is what leads to increased muscle growth. This is what it means to build muscle by resting. Muscle growth takes place during rest time.
It’s critically important for you to understand that if you train a muscle before it is fully recovered, it can retard potential muscle development.
Rest needs will vary from person to person. Your diet, genetics, age, stress level, sleeping habits, and supplements all contribute to your rate of recovery. This is why training intensity and training strategies for someone else may not work so well for you.
It generally takes about 7 days for a muscle group to recover fully and naturally. Training the same body part twice a week is virtually pointless for muscle growth because it does not leave room for recovery. No recovery, no growth. Remember – build muscle by resting? This is why most top-level lifters, bodybuilders and even figure competitors train each muscle group once a week during the off-season training, commonly referred to as the muscle growth season.
Getting Your Zzzzz’s
The secret weapon for muscle growth is released by your pituitary gland. Human growth hormone (HGH) is secreted by your pituitary gland when you are catching your zzzzz’s. HGH is a natural hormone that is beneficial in stimulating protein synthesis for muscle repair and growth, breaking down fat, increasing insulin-like growth factors, and inhibiting carbohydrate metabolism.
The highest level of HGH secretion is during the night in the first hour of deep sleep. This is why it’s extremely important to get well-rested sleep. Poor quality sleeping habits can prevent you from making your muscle gains you want.
You can clearly see why good quality and restful sleep is so very important. It’s recommended that you get at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and more is better. Adding a power nap in your day is also beneficial. So, it’s easy to build muscle by resting more.
Important Factor for Muscle Growth
Now, take the next step (below) and finally build and sculpt your body…
