whats the optimal resting time before working out the same muscle again?

[LAlakerfan503]

ive been working out on a shcedule of chest and arms mon, back and shoulders tues, legs wed, then i go back to chest arms and finish up friday with back and shoulders..........is 2 days enough before working out the same muscle again, i havent had an issue with it but ive had people tell me to just work out a group once a week, although i dont feel like thats enough?

may i have your opinions...

 

[nate212]

You need to give at least 3 days to recover. Most people most of the time will respond best to working a muscle once every 5-7 days. Notice I sa most people most of the time. There will be some people that do best once every 8 or 9 days and some on the other end.

If you think you can work out same part after 2 days you probably are fairly new to lifting and are still getting the intensity dialed in. With time and as you are neurologically able to lift with high intensity and heavy weight you will not be able to do more than 1/5days. will not want to .

Most people are pretty safe once per 5 days.

 

[StumpMT]

I second Big Nate on this one. If I train chest on Monday I will not touch chest again until Saturday. This works great for me as I'm making progress. My roommate on the other had trains the same body part after only 48hrs....sometimes less!!! And he wonders why his lifts aren't going up in weight or worse why he's actually losing weight in his lifts....he's definitely over training.

If you're still making progress with the way you're doing things then stick with it. Otherwise I'd give my body parts more rest. Just listen to your body.

 

[glubgawd]

The bigger the muscle is, the more functions it's used for, the more important your body considers it, the faster it recovers.

That means working out legs/back 2x a week (or more - I can squat 3x a week for example) is fine. Of course, it depends on your CNS.

The problem is, the guys who want to work out a muscle group multiple times a week usually want to do bicep curls (lmao) or something equally useless and counterproductive.

Of course, a lot of that goes right out the window if you're a relatively new lifter. You can make gains off the most ridiculous workouts when you're semi-new.

 

[walker11]

some guys need 5-7 days between working a muscle group and some guys only need 2-3 days. my brother is one of those guys who needs 5-6 days between movements/muscle groups, doesn't matter if its biceps, legs/squatting, or chest/bench, he needs a longer recovery time. But i, on the other hand, can hit a muscle group/movement every 3-4 days (might have something to do with my nat. test levels being a lot higher?). but i use a westside method, so one workout is heavy (sunday-heavy bench) then 3 days later i have a dynamic/speed workout (wednesday-dynamic bench).
so it all goes back to everyBODY being different. and as stated by the other guys, if you're a new lifter then your body is still adjusting, so even if the rest period is too short you can still see results.
hope that helps some,
Walker

 

[Freakin_Rican]

Depends on the body part and also your recovery and experience, I can hit Arms and then in 48 hrs hit them again, if their sore I wait until the DOMS is gone.

 

[LAlakerfan503]

thanks guy, i think ill be increasing my muscle rest period to 4-5 days.

 

[stonecold1976]

If your hitting it hard and totally exhausting the muscles I agree with the other guys on waiting 5 to 7 days before training that muscle again.I go every 7 days.