Importance of Rest and Recovery in Muscle Building
To allow the body to build muscle tissue, rest and recovery is essential. The two components of rest and recovery are adequate sleep each night, and adequate time in between weight training workouts.
Adequate sleep - it is important to sleep as many hours as possible each and every night. Many people don't realize just how important sleep is when it comes to building muscle and gaining weight. If you don't allow your body to get enough sleep each night, you are neglecting a very important part of your muscle building program that could completely erase all of your muscle building efforts in the gym.
Adequate rest between workouts - It is very important to incorporate "rest days" into your weight training program so that you allow time for your muscles to recovery in between workouts. Try to avoid weight training on consecutive days, even if you are targeting different muscle groups.
Don't forget that your body only builds muscle tissue when you are not weight training. Simply put, you build muscle while you are sleeping, not while you are at the gym! If you weight train and don't get an enough sleep, or train too often it can become nearly impossible to build muscle.
The Effects of Inadequate Rest and Recovery
Whether you do not sleep enough each night, or do not allow enough rest days between your weight training workouts, you will be compromising your muscle building efforts tremendously. Rest and recovery are extremely important, and should be a top priority if you are serious about your muscle building goals.