I think everyone recognizes that the resting times that you apply to your muscles are just as important as the workout itself and the foods you eat. The resting time is an important part of the rebuilding tissue part. It takes upwards of 48hours for actual muscle tissue to repair itself after a workout. Essentially it is this scientific fact that dictates you shouldn’t be working a particular muscle until that 48 hours is over. That means if you do a bench press, you have to wait another 48 hours before you can do bench presses again.

I wish rest times were this simple, but they’re not. There is a lot more too this. Even though the 48 hour rule will always apply, there is also a need to rest the body from load. Load or volume, is the amount of weight you life multiplied repetition over a period of time. Obviously weight lifting is a form of beating up your body. You beat it up, so you rebuild stronger muscle tissue, but this process is hard. Your body needs an obvious rest from the volume of beatings it receives.

I try to work in a very light (low volume) week every 6 weeks. This typically lets the muscles and central nervous system time for a well needed rest from the 5 previous weeks of getting beat up. This is all important and will help your body be much more efficient at repairing tissue.