| Personally I have always been kind of scrawny, and | | | | I understand that you are probably skeptical about |
| known as a "hard gainer". I have been working out | | | | this whole theory, and so was I. However, after |
| for about 7 years now, and up until about a year | | | | greatly reducing my workout routine frequency, I |
| ago, I did not have a lot to show for it (well, at least | | | | have actually started to gain muscle mass WAY |
| not as much as I had hoped for, that is). I believe | | | | quicker than I ever did before. I have probably |
| this was for 2 reasons, the first of which being that I | | | | gained more weight just in the last few months, than |
| am a "hard gainer", and the second of which, being | | | | I had gained for the last few YEARS of working out. |
| that I actually worked out TO much, if you can | | | | So what do I do now? For starters, to build muscle, I |
| believe that. | | | | only do a heavy work out 3 times a week. And |
| I remember when I first started working out I would | | | | more importantly, I only work one particular muscle |
| literally work out for just about every single day. I | | | | group about every 4 days. So what I will do is work |
| later calmed down a bit on the working out, but I still | | | | my chest and my legs on Monday, then on |
| worked out more than I should have. I found myself | | | | Wednesday I will work my back and my triceps & |
| working out 5 times a week or more, and more | | | | biceps. Then on Friday I will go back to working my |
| importantly, I would work ALL the muscles in my | | | | chest and my legs (which gives my body 4 full days |
| whole body each time I worked out. Later on, after | | | | to recover in between). I repeat this same exact |
| talking to many physical trainers and experts, I found | | | | routine every week, slightly changing up the order of |
| out that I was not giving my body nearly enough | | | | things now and then. |
| time to recover. | | | | Basically what it boils down to is that you NEED to |
| So why is allowing your body to heal so important | | | | give your body at least 2-4 days to recover after |
| for building muscle anyways? Well, if you want to | | | | you work a particular muscle group. It is fine to work |
| gain as quick as possible, you simply HAVE to allow | | | | out again before 2-4 days, but you definitely will |
| your body to heal. It makes sense when you think | | | | want to work an entirely different muscle group. |
| about it; how can you put your body through the | | | | Also, the time you need to recover varies from |
| abuse of a heavy lifting workout every single day, | | | | person to person, but generally giving yourself 2-4 |
| and expect to grow muscle mass? If you do what I | | | | days in between working the same muscle group |
| did, and work every muscle in your body, for 5 days | | | | seems to be the optimal way to do it, at least for |
| a week or more, then you are going to be breaking | | | | me, and based on what MANY experts have to say, |
| down your muscles faster than your body can 'repair' | | | | when it comes to building muscle. |
| (or build) them. | | | | |