The Importance of Rest When Weightlifting

Rest is a crucial component to any well balanced weightlifting program. Some personal trainers will argue that it's more important than the workouts themselves!

To understand the importance of rest when weightlifting you must first understand what's happening when you're pounding out those reps in the gym! When you're working out in the gym, regardless of the muscle group or exercise, you're actually tearing your muscle fibers. The added stress from the weightlifting that is being placed on the muscle is causing the neurons to be ripped apart into what is referred to as micro tears. After any weightlifting workout, it's important to allow the body an adequate amount of time to repair this "damage" that has been done.

Your muscles do not grow from training or weightlifting. Your muscles grow from recovering from the weightlifting that you are doing! Therefore if you were to return to the gym the next day and train the same muscles again, your workout would be relatively ineffective, and could mean you are defeating the purpose of working out in the first place, because you're breaking down these muscles again before they've had a change to repair themselves.

The harder you train your body or muscle group, the more rest that they will need to recover and grow. This is why many professional body builders will not do whole body workouts, but rather focus on specific muscle groups each day.. to allow for proper recovery from each workout.

Some hardcore bodybuilders even take entire weeks off at a time every couple of months just to "shock" their bodies and break any plateaus they may have come to.

Getting restful and regular sleep cannot be overlooked when discussing the importance of rest when weightlifting. This is your body's most "anabolic" state of being. In fact one of the main purposes of sleep is for the body to heal and recover from the day's events and stress. During sleep your body produces large amounts of growth hormones which obviously can help your body burn fat, build muscle, and heal wounds. It goes without saying, that restful sleep also gives you more energy to work with the next day. More energy means more effort in the gym!

Don't think of rest as slacking off from your weightlifting routine, but rather an important part of your overall bodybuilding or body composition goals. If you're looking for the best weightlifting tips or fastest way to lose weight, you should also be looking for the best tips for getting a good night's sleep... because that's when the body is adapting to the lifestyle changes you're putting it through!

Riley Daye is part of the ProGrips Fitness Team comprised of Certified Personal Trainers, Fitness Professionals, Bodybuilding and Weightlifting Champions, health nuts and gym rats! You can visit more of the teams advice on Fitness, Nutrition, Strength Training, and Weight Loss at http://buyprogrips.com/blog/

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The Most Overlooked Secret to Weightlifting Success: Stretching

As time passes, your muscles become stiff and the flexibility of your joints is reduced. It is necessary to stretch your muscles every day before you start your weightlifting exercises. Stretching is an important exercise for people of all ages. The biggest benefits that stretching offer you is, an increases in your range of motion, and protection from injury.

Stretching comes naturally to each and every one of us. You stretch after sitting in a particular position for a long time. Stretching has lots of beneficial properties.

It improves the blood circulation and flexibility of your muscles.People who stretch regularly will have less musculoskeletal complaints.Post workout stretching ensures speedy recovery of muscles and decreases lactic acid accumulation.Stretching also has beneficial action over tendons and joints.Stretching before a workout schedule will tune your body and mind for the strenuous task ahead.It has a relaxing effect, and is a good stress buster.It improves the balance and coordination of various body parts.It is a good prophylactic measure against chronic conditions like lower back pain and joint pain.

Stretching is an exercise that can be done anywhere and at any time. People who do weight lifting need to include pre-and post workout stretching in their schedule. Compared to a normal individual it is easier for a weight lifting trainee to injure himself if he skips his daily stretching routine.
Stretch before you perform any vigorous activity or weight lifting.Stretching should be performed slowly.Each and every major muscle group should be included in your stretching routine.Stretching should be done daily for at least 15 min.Use static hold, PNF techniques like contract-relax, hold-relax to perform stretching.

It has been proved scientifically that, stretching in between weight lifting sets accelerates muscle growth and reduces the chance of sprains and injury. Stretching should be done for a group of muscles immediately after weight training them. Stretching substantially cuts down on the muscle recovery time. New researches have proved that stretching between sets appears to have beneficial effect on muscle contraction. This indirectly increases the power of that particular muscle group. Stretching also helps in lactic acid absorption, hence reducing muscle fatigue.

Below, you can see a sample stretching routine which will help you in understanding the basics of stretching.

Neck- stand straight, rotate your head in a circular motion for 12 times and then repeat it in the opposite direction.Ankles and knees-flex, extend and rotate them in both directions.Hips- rotate your hips in a circular motion in both directions.Upper body-stand straight locking your hands in front of your body, Bend forward so that your chest touches your knees.Shoulders- flex your elbows and touch your shoulders with your fingers. Now rotate your shoulders in a clockwise and anticlockwise direction.Legs- stand straight, placing your feet at shoulder width. Squat down till your thighs are parallel to the floor, hold the position for a few seconds and stand up again.Hamstrings- stand straight, placing your feet at shoulder width. Pushing your body up, stand on your toe base, hold the position for a few seconds and return back.

Stretching is an exercise routine that is inevitably included in all professional weight lifting programs. It is followed by a beginner as well as an advanced bodybuilder.

Until the next article, "Be Your Best"

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