The Truth About Training a Muscle Group Twice in a Row

Perhaps Not So Terrible After All

This is the traditional model of muscle recovery from exercise:

This is in probably every exercise science book in the world.

But is it correct?

Sort of.

The trouble is, it’s too damn simple-it treats all training stress as the same, when there is a lot going on “under the hood” as a result of working out.

Sometimes simplicity is golden; other times you need to dig into the nitty gritty details.

WHAT GETS STRESSED WHEN YOU LIFT HEAVY THINGS?

Muscular recovery

Recovery takes anywhere from a few hours for a minor workout to a few weeks for a major muscle tear. How much volume, how heavy, what exercise, what muscle group and the presence or absence of an eccentric (lowering) part of the range of motion determine how much muscle damage you get. The bigger the muscle group, and the more of a stretch on the muscle, the longer the recovery.

Hard sets of RDLs take my hamstrings four or five days to recover from.

Light seated lateral raises take a few hours.

24–72 hours is a good rule of thumb.

There’s also the “repeated bout effect “— the more you workout, the less muscle damage you get, and the faster your body repairs it. After squatting four times per week…you just won’t get all that sore from it anymore. But take a month off and then try a hard squat workout…good luck walking the next day.

Tendons, ligaments, joint capsules and surrounding tissue recovery

Look at how far down this list strength training is — it’s much easier on the tendons than sprinting, jumping or field sports.