Building Muscle - Why Rest and Recovery Are Important


When you exercise and do your workouts, remember it is as equally important to provide you body the proper amount of rest as it is to maximize your training. Resting allows your muscles to heal and repair themselves. This article will look at two general types of resting. The first type is the amount of time that you spend between training repetitions and the second type of rest focuses on sleep.


Resting Between Reps

Take short rest breaks when you use heavy weights with lower repetition so you can keep your muscles from becoming overly fatigued or injured. Some trainers may vary the time somewhat and there is no finite rest time that everyone follows. 

The National Institute of Health noted in their article "Resting Intervals Between Sets in Strength Training" that three to five minutes of rest was sufficient for heavy lifting in which 50 to 90 percent maximum weight is used. Also, one minute rest intervals can be used for lower weights with more repetitions. 

"In consequence, 30-60 seconds might be most effective (for lower weights) due to greater acute levels of growth hormone during such workouts."

The Second Type of Rest is Based on Sleep

Power naps, siestas, and seven to nine hours of continuous sleep are normal rest cycles. They can regenerate the more of the body and also the mind.

Power naps are usually reserved for the people who will not get fired for sleeping-on-the-job; but they can be helpful for quick rejuvenation. The sleep can last for approximately ten to twenty minutes.







A siesta, a cultural norm in Spain and several other countries throughout the world, usually occur after the mid-day meal and can last for a couple of hours. According to Siesta Awareness, the sleep break provides more energy, improved productivity, improved alertness, and a reduction in stress and risk of heart disease.

The normal sleep time that is advocated by doctors and physiologist is seven to eight hours straight. 

These amounts of times allow the body to go into several stages from light to deep sleep. The total stages include rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and Non-REM sleep. According to Web MD, dreams generally occur in the REM stage of sleep. 

In stage one of the Non-REM the eyes are closed but you can be awakened easily. You may also experience of falling which may cause sudden muscle contractions.

Stage two is a light sleep and there are periods of spontaneous muscle tone and periods of muscle relaxation. The heart rate and body temperature decreases and this is when the body gets ready to enter the deep sleep stages.

Stages three and four are deep sleep stages are the healing stages and if aroused from sleep during these stages, a person may feel disoriented for a few minutes.

According to Web MD, the body is repaired during the deep stages of Non-REM sleep. The body repairs and regenerates tissues, builds bone and muscle, and appears to strengthen the immune system.

In summary, when you exercise and do your workouts, it is as equally important to get the proper amount of rest so your muscles can heal and repair themselves. This article only scratches the surface on rest and how it helps the body to maintain and repair itself. You can not increase muscles without proper exercise equipment, routines or rest. Are you getting sleepy?

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