Ideal recovery time between full body weight routines?

D

Domestika

0
I've been doing weight lifting and bodyweight exercises (about 12 different exercises) every other day, alternating with cardio. I was told recently that, ideally, I need to leave 72 hours between weight lifting sessions, so only do strength training 2X a week and do a longer set (ie. 20 or more exercises).

Is that the case? There seems to be a lot of disagreement on the ideal recovery time after weight lifting.

My goal is not to be huge. I'm not even looking to necessarily build a lot of muscle. I just want to have a bit of muscle, have decent strength and look fairly trim and healthy. I'm not doing heavy lifting. My heaviest weight at the moment 12 pounds. I use only dumbells, no machines, etc.

Also, does recovery time apply to bodyweight exercises as well? I'd imagine so because they're also "damaging" muscle tissue that needs to repair. But thought I'd get info from people who know faarrrr more than I do.

ETA: I'd like to stick to full body routines rather than splits right now.
:party2:
 
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I don't buy that. 3 times a week with a day of recovery between is perfectly fine.
 
Domestika said:
I've been doing weight lifting and bodyweight exercises (about 12 different exercises) every other day, alternating with cardio. I was told recently that, ideally, I need to leave 72 hours between weight lifting sessions, so only do strength training 2X a week and do a longer set (ie. 20 or more exercises).

Is that the case? There seems to be a lot of disagreement on the ideal recovery time after weight lifting.

My goal is not to be huge. I'm not even looking to necessarily build a lot of muscle. I just want to have a bit of muscle, have decent strength and look fairly trim and healthy. I'm not doing heavy lifting. My heaviest weight at the moment 12 pounds. I use only dumbells, no machines, etc.

Also, does recovery time apply to bodyweight exercises as well? I'd imagine so because they're also "damaging" muscle tissue that needs to repair. But thought I'd get info from people who know faarrrr more than I do.

ETA: I'd like to stick to full body routines rather than splits right now.
:party2:
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There is no set rule for recovery time. I've done FBWs 4 times a week in the past, it's no problem as long as you know your body's capacity for recovery. How long it takes will depend on how hard you train, how well you eat, sleep, etc. Do you think it takes the same amount of time to recover from 1x10 of bench press or 5x10 of bench press (assuming all sets are done with max intensity)? Of course 1x10 will be easier to recover from. So recovery time wil depend a lot on how your routine is set up and how well you rest between sessions.

Right now, I'm actually trying out 5FBWs a week :D
I'm not saying you should try 4 or 5 days a week, though, you should probably have trained for a while before you try that.
3 days a week FBW is pretty regular and it's the standard set up (Like WaitWhat? said)
.. but you're doing 12 exercises, that's a lot. What exercises are they and what are the sets and reps? also, how long does a session take?
 
Karky said:
3 days a week FBW is pretty regular and it's the standard set up (Like WaitWhat? said)
.. but you're doing 12 exercises, that's a lot. What exercises are they and what are the sets and reps? also, how long does a session take?
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Well, I'm still a major beginnger so I'm still trying out new exercises, seeing which ones I like and which I don't. And seeing where I should be for weight and reps and whatnot. So I'm definitely in an adjustment phase.

My routine takes me about 45 minutes. I do 5-10 minutes of light cardio first, some stretches and then I do:
-calf raises (weighted)
-back rows
-chest presses
-shoulder presses
-kickbacks
-assisted squats (not weighted)
-assisted lunges (not weighted)
-pushups
-crunches
-bicep curls
-leg raises
-supermans

I rest about a minute between each exercise and I focus a lot on form and making sure I'm doing the motion correctly. I do 1 set of 15 reps for most of these, but again I'm in adjustment phase where I'm figuring out where I can be for weight and reps. The first few times I did the routine were just to see if I actually COULD do the exercises at all (with any weight or any reps!) so I'm ready to start adding weight to most exercises and split the reps up into 2 sets of 10-12.

I have about half a dozen more exercises that I'd actually like to do (more core and back stuff), but even I know that would be overdoing it so at the end of my routine if I still feel strong enough I will do one or two of the exercises on my "alternate" list.

I don't feel burnt out at the end of my routine, though I do feel my muscles repairing the next day. But usually by the second day I feel like I can work them without actually causing them damage (the bad kind).

Is there a drawback to doing so many exercises? If I did do more exercises would I need to leave more recovery time? There aren't really many exercises that overlap. Most body parts are only getting one exercise so more exercises would just mean more of my body was recovering, right?

Apologies. I'm a newb. :)
 
Recovery times are different for each person. Some people can recover faster and train more often, while others may take a little longer to recover. I'm sure you've heard of people taking creatine; creatine basically helps the muscles recover faster and therefore allows people to train more frequently. However you're muscle naturally create creatine and the more trained your muscles are the more creatine they will produce. So assuming that, the more training you've done, the faster you should be able to recover when compared to a beginner.
 
Waitwhat? said:
I thought that your original goal was weight loss?
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No, my original goal was fitness.

If I lose weight, great. If I build muscle, super. Same with endurance, flexibility, etc.

I think most peoples' goals evolve as they go, anyhow. Would be kinda lame to have a static goal and never tweak it.
 
Domestika said:
No, my original goal was fitness.

If I lose weight, great. If I build muscle, super. Same with endurance, flexibility, etc.

I think most peoples' goals evolve as they go, anyhow. Would be kinda lame to have a static goal and never tweak it.
Click to expand...

I guess I was confused from this post where you were looking for a change in your body.

http://training.fitness.com/weight-loss/cardio-strength-training-good-diet-no-change-40197.html

In any case... I think that you need to cut out some of your exercises. 8-12 is plenty. Your bi's and tri's are getting worked out with chest and back. Maybe save them for another day or something.
 
Waitwhat? said:
I guess I was confused from this post where you were looking for a change in your body.

http://training.fitness.com/weight-loss/cardio-strength-training-good-diet-no-change-40197.html

In any case... I think that you need to cut out some of your exercises. 8-12 is plenty. Your bi's and tri's are getting worked out with chest and back. Maybe save them for another day or something.
Click to expand...

I'm not exactly sure why it matters or what it has to do with recovery time, but yes I mentioned in that thread that I was confused as to why I was seeing no changes in my body despite working hard on cardio/strength training.

Moving along. Is there a reason why I you think I should be doing fewer exercises? I'm just still kind of lost without actually getting the reasoning behind the suggestion. In what way is it detrimental to be doing 12 or more in a session? If I'm not splitting up my exercises into different body parts on different days...I'm not really sure how I would save some of the bicep and tricep exercises for another day?
 
Domestika said:
I'm not exactly sure why it matters or what it has to do with recovery time, but yes I mentioned in that thread that I was confused as to why I was seeing no changes in my body despite working hard on cardio/strength training.

Moving along. Is there a reason why I you think I should be doing fewer exercises? I'm just still kind of lost without actually getting the reasoning behind the suggestion. In what way is it detrimental to be doing 12 or more in a session? If I'm not splitting up my exercises into different body parts on different days...I'm not really sure how I would save some of the bicep and tricep exercises for another day?
Click to expand...

Oh. In that case if you don't care to see a change in your physique.. then keep doing as many exercises at 15 reps as you want.
 
Waitwhat? is right.
Without the need to change nothing will happen,
Without at least a general goal you can't work towards it.
Your rowing your boat blindfolded,
hoping you will end up somewhere you like.

Figure out your goals then come ask for advice,
It sounds to me like your working out for lack of better things to do not really wanting anything out of it but the consumption of time.

Sincerely,
Wilhelm.
 
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