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Muscle
Building Workouts - Some
Tips
By reducing
the amount of time you rest
between sets when you do
muscle building workouts,
you increase the intensity
of your training program.
You pack more muscle
building activity into a
shorter period of time and
stimulate more growth. The
ideal rest period varies
with the particular
exercise, but as a general
rule you should only rest
one to two minutes between
sets or until your
heartbeat is back to
normal, whichever is
longer.
Another way
to boost your muscle
building workouts’
intensity is to reduce the
amount of time you rest
between sets. A more
concentrated training
program places larger
demands on the muscle,
which responds with greater
growth over time. Although
a certain amount of rest is
necessary between sets to
permit the short-term
recovery of the muscle, too
much of a break can hold
you back. You need to walk
the fine line between
letting your muscles fully
recharge for another set
and giving them more time
off than they really
need.
The appropriate rest time
between sets (or exercises
for the same bodypart)
varies with the muscle that
is being trained. Larger
muscles, such as the
quadriceps, require more
rest time than smaller
muscles like the biceps and
triceps. Also, compound
exercises that involve
several muscles, such as
the squat and
powerlifting-style
deadlift, require longer
rest periods than isolation
exercises for a single
muscle. This is a function
of the demands you place on
your body to lift the
particular weights
involved. The higher the
muscle building workouts’
intensity, the more oxygen
debt created and the more
time you need to get your
muscles back to a
relatively recuperated
state. There is also a
build-up of lactic acid in
and around the muscle
during your set, which is
largely neutralized during
the rest period. This
lactic acid is the cause of
the "burning" sensation
that forces you to stop
contracting the muscle at
the end of your set. A rest
period also permits partial
replenishment of the
muscle's ATP supply (the
fuel source for initial
muscle movement) and other
metabolic adjustments.
"Short rest
periods have been shown to
produce more testosterone
and growth hormone
secretion than longer rest
periods when other factors
are constant," notes Dr.
William Kraemer, who is
also co-author of the
reference book Designing
Resistance Training
Programs. "Shorter rest
periods also increase the
number of capillaries
inside your muscle fibers
and boost the muscle's
buffering capacity, which
increases its ability to
tolerate the build-up of
lactic acid. These
adaptations enhance
endurance and contribute to
muscle growth."
To achieve
peak intensity of your
muscle building workouts,
you should keep your rest
periods as short as they
can be while still
providing time for
appropriate recovery. A
good rule of thumb is to
rest one to two minutes
between sets or until your
heartbeat is back to
normal, whichever is
longer. (Your heart beats
faster after you stop
working out in order to get
enough oxygen back into
your system.) For most
isolation exercises, a
minute provides sufficient
time to reduce the acidity
in your muscles and to get
them primed for more muscle
action. Less than a minute
is usually too little time
for this recovery to take
place. Anything much over a
minute reduces your
potential for peak
intensity without giving
you a compensating benefit
in return. Compound
movements require more
recovery time due to their
metabolic demands. One to
two minutes is usually
sufficient, however.
Remember
that you are in the gym to
grow. This is your prime
directive, and you
shouldn't let anything get
in the way. You have
undoubtedly seen athletes
who spend three hours
working out. You may wonder
how anyone could do that
many sets, but look closely
the next time you see these
people train. Chances are
that they do a set, then
rest five to ten minutes
before doing another one.
These prolonged muscle
building workouts may be
great for socializing, but
they are not the best way
to build muscle. The
largest gains are obtained
when you concentrate the
greatest amount of training
into the shortest period of
time that is consistent
with proper recovery.
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