It is often heard that muscle is built while resting, not in the gym, but what does this really mean? In brief, this statement extrapolates from the fact that the anabolic response to exercise is largely postponed until after exercise has already taken place and requires some time to take full effect.
Damage Control - Allow Enough Time to Rebuild
Intense exercise causes some muscle damage. These areas of micro-damage are an obligatory prerequisite for muscle growth. That is, muscle repair and growth depends on preexisting muscle damage caused by exercise. Given sufficient recovery time and appropriate nutrition the amount of new muscle tissue produced may then exceed the previous level and your muscles will increase in overall size. In essence, this is the biochemical basis for bodybuilding - that is, if all goes well. If, on the other hand, sufficient time is not allowed for muscles to fully recover, or if nutrition does not supply the needed amounts of substrates to support new muscle synthesis, then the growth phase will be blunted. Excessive exercise furthermore, will destroy already damaged muscle before it has a chance to rebuild; we then enter a state of negative muscle growth (net muscle loss), a condition known as Overtraining Syndrome. In essence, building muscle is a tradeoff between resting too little, which destroys overexerted muscle, and resting too much rest, which does not stimulate muscles sufficiently to provoke functional adaptation.
Rotate Muscle Groups for Optimal Recovery
Depending on the intensity of the exercise and physical condition of the athlete anywhere between three and seven days are required for muscles to fully recover. This isn’t to say, however, that one should work out only once per week – this would be nearly as ineffective as overtraining. Consequently, most athletes adopt exercise routines that rotate muscle groups every few days. In this manner an athlete can train daily, improving cardiovascular conditioning as well as the efficacy of neuronal communication with muscle, while working each individual muscle group at most twice per week.
- Those of you wanting more detailed information about effective training routines for increasing muscle mass are kindly referred to the banner on the upper right (”Need More Muscle Mass?“). The creator of this effective muscle-gaining program is Anthony Ellis, a trusted friend of mine.
Hormonal Response to Exercise
Testosterone, Insulin and Growth Hormone, our three major anabolic hormones that are released by exercise have effects that are delayed at onset and protracted in time course. They thus play a major role in muscle rebuilding after exercise. Testosterone is released by an exercise stimulus and promotes the production of new muscle proteins as well as slows the loss of existing muscle proteins. Insulin enhances the uptake of nutrients such as glucose, amino acids and creatine into muscle cells, particularly after exercise. In this capacity, insulin provides the substrates for the production of new muscle proteins as well as helps replenish our creatine and glycogen reserves. Both glycogen and creatine are important energy sources during intense exercise lasting more than a few tens of seconds – the presence of these energy molecules will be important to get the most from your next workout. Growth hormone is a key player in our anabolic hormonal response to exercise. Growth hormone is released following exercise as well as during nocturnal phases of deep sleep. In fact, the bulk of our whole body tissue repair occurs while we sleep. If you want to build muscle be sure to get plenty of sleep each night, particularly after training days.
Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1
Growth hormone’s anabolic effects on muscle is largely mediated by Insulin-like growth factor type 1 (IGF-1), which accentuates the cell’s biosynthetic machinery as well as turns off the reading of those genes that provoke muscle atrophy, the so-called “atrogenes”. On the other hand, these atrogenes are activated by overtraining via the actions of cortisol, an anti-anabolic (catabolic) hormone released by various forms of stress. Therefore, insufficient rest, sleep deprivation, and daily stresses counteracts the biosynthetic response to IGF-1. Exercise also directly stimulates muscle to produce IGF-1 independently of Growth Hormone. The biosynthetic affects of our anabolic hormones (Testosterone, Insulin and Growth Hormone) and IGF-1 can last up to a few days after the initiation of exercise - long enough to repair the damaged muscle.
- A page describing the anabolic attributes of growth hormone can be found here: http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/growth_hormone.html
Interestingly, creatine has been recently shown to stimulate IGF-1 production, independently of exercise and Growth Hormone. However, to get the most from this intriguing effect of creatine you will need to supplement after exercise when insulin is most effective at delivering creatine, carbohydrates and proteins to your muscles. Hence, a post-exercise meal of defined composition is imperative for muscle growth.
- How to supplement for the greatest anabolic effect is explained in my creatine guide: http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/creatine_guide.html
- More about the effects of creatine over IGF-1 production can be found here: http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/creatine_newsletter_33.html
Overtraining Syndrome
Overtraining is a trap that many overzealous athletes fall into. Overtraining can put a stop to an athlete’s gains in strength and muscle mass and in some cases even reverse existing gains. Overtraining causes the release of cortisol, an atrogene-activating hormone that interferes with the body’s utilization of Testosterone, Insulin, Growth Hormone and IGF-1. This set of circumstances gives rise to a catabolic (muscle wasting) condition known as OverTraining Syndrome (OTS). Taking a break from training, while the wisest response to OTS, is one of the most difficult measures for an enthusiastic athlete to undertake.
Closing Remarks
The importance of rest for muscle growth extends from the fact that the muscle damage brought on by exercise needs to be repaired and further fortified with the assistance of our anabolic hormones that require a few days to fully exert their muscle-building effects. Inadequate recovery, on the other hand, hinders this process, potentially resulting in net muscle loss, a physiological condition known as Overtraining Syndrome.
28 Comments
This information was very interesting and showed the dangers of overtraining.
Like anything in life you can get carried away thinking that more is better when it is actually worse.
I have Creatine powder “expired” in 2006. I know expration dates are artificial. How much effective creatine is left do you guess? And does it decompose into something harmful that you know? I am a physician and very familiar with the usual BS “I can’t recommend it”, “It might be harmful” blah blah. A guess is fine.
I just started taking Creatine. Yesterday I worked biceps/triceps. Will I be okay to work them again tomorrow, I got a lot of sleep, protein, and I’m using Creatine. I my chest feels fine and triceps feel decent today. Then I’ll take like 5 days off [for chest/triceps]. Will it be good?
nice post thanks. as always, there is good information in there. keep up the good work
Michael,
I have been taking Creatine that expired in 02/07 (Optimum Nutrition Creatine Powder) for the past week and a half including a 25g/day loading for a week. No noticable negative effects. In fact it seems to be working the same as it did the last time I took it (about 2 1/2 years ago).
Robert
Hi Josh,
Believe me, I understand how hard it may be to allow yourself sufficient rest time. It is best, however, to give yourself at least two days rest between body parts. Although in most cases training the same body part two days in row won’t produce negative gains, the protein synthetic response WILL BE LESS than with greater rest. The reason is that catabolic hormones are released in greater amounts under conditions of little rest.
This is all explained in my Creatine guide: http://www.creatinepracticalguide.com/
It all depends if it was kept cool and dry… As it is over 2 years old you’ve probably lost 10-20% of it to degradation. What is converts to is creatinine, which really isn’t toxic - just pointless - energetically speaking. You won’t become ill from taking it. On the other hand, creatine is relatively cheap. You really don’t lose much purchasing a new canister.
I would personally advise, however, to stay away from extremely elaborate formulations. These are mainly full of agents that don’t really make a different, but sound pretty fancy.
Check out this site for more info: http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net
Great blog! Thanks for posting this
To know more about muscle recovery, you can read the article on this site.
http://worldfitnessnetwork.com/2009/09/the-truth-about-muscle-recovery-time-short-version/
Ok…? I just let that plug go by….
I’ve used creatine for 6 months now and it seems to really help my endurance. It seems like I’m not getting as tired and can do more reps. I don’t know if that’s the creatine or not. I’ve also been following this workout program <a href=”http://permanentrealmuscle.com/7/muscle-gaining-secrets-review/” keyword=”_top”Muscle Gaining Secrets and it’s been working great. Thanks for the great information.
Roger
The part you talk about hormonal and testosterone release is so vital to anything that is done with lifting or exercising.
Very few people forget to mention it, but you did
I really agree with the statement that what you do out of the gym is more important than what you actually do in the gym. The problem is however, that many of us increase the intensity of our workouts or get insufficient amounts of rest, or even worse, a combination of both. The trick is finding the right balance between workout volume and intensity, and rest and recovery. Over-training effects both the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems in the following negative ways: Higher resting heart rate , weak appetite, high blood pressure, weight loss, trouble sleeping, increased metabolic rate, irritability and early onset of fatigue.
Columbus Personal Trainer
Hi - this is a great post and one that needs to be told to many gym goers. Too often I see people over training and then they think they are hard gainers. You need rest after the gym in order to get bigger/stronger - no argument! I tell all my clients that they should never work out more than 2 days in a row. I tell them to go for a walk on the non gym days.
Muscle recovery is very important. Overtraining only leads to injuries and instead of building muscle, you will lose it.
Rest, sleep and recovery allows your muscles to recover and grow.
Author of arimatest information.
Rest/sleep is just as important as your nutrition, food intake, and supplements. You need all of them combined with a perfect training routine to accomplish your goals.
my routine is chest/legs on tues, thur & sat arms /back/shoulders wed & sun mon & fri off
would that be considered too much, or not sufficient recovery time ? also, I tried creatine once before ( pills from GNC ) but didn’t see any results so I stopped. a friend told me to use powdered creatine in a bottle of water. before I purchase any more I want to make sure it’s worth it. any advice ?
I really liked this! Great information was provided
Hi, my name is Juan and I love bodybuilding. Bodybuilding for me is a way, a chance for self-actualization. Is a passion that makes me feel that I’m alive. Thanks for this post.
Juan autor of Como vender en internet.
Rest is as important a consideration as nutrition when it comes to building muscle but it doesn’t get as much coverage as it should. I suppose nobody can really ’sell’ anything related to rest unlike pushing the latest supplement or post workout meal?
i used to be a bodybuilder and have been out of action for a long time,i have purchased a bottle of creatine monohydrate and i’m on my loading phase.just started training a day ago.i’m however still using thermo complete from herbalife,all i want to know is whether there is any danger when the two products are used concurrently.i really need to get back into shape,pliz help!
I’m always amazed at how much I can learn about bodybuilding, especially after years of training! You’ve got some nice information, and I very much appreciated the tips.
Some new take-home lessons, Thanks!
Superb blog! Do you have any tips for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own blog soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you suggest starting with a free platform like Wordpress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally confused .. Any suggestions? Kudos!
Its a new kind of information for me. I have learned lot of new ideas with this blog. Now we can build muscles during sleep.
Thanks for the nice compliment. My advise, write about what you love. Your passion about the topic will come through and people will pay attention. Thus far, word press has worked for me…
Hi Ishmael,
If this product contains caffeine, then it may undermine the potential benefits of creatine. Check out this page for more information: http://www.creatinemonohydrate.net/creatine_newsletter_7.html
Agreed, but people do write about it. For instance: creatine-blog.com/how-to-build-muscle-while-sleeping/
Buena Suerte
You should look in to new studies that show training and over training actually leads to more growth, not rest. It’s not conventional stuff but it’s worth checking out.