recovery

[Drago]

thanks for everyones posts all of you have been very helpfull & i think i need to sit down & come up with a new workout plan & diet. i have been lifting weights for 20 yrs but my gains have been poor for past few yrs, when i was younger i trained hard & ate lots of chicken/bananas/spaghetti/protein shakes & made very good gains.

i am generally surprised by all your great feedback!

[paddy448]

i currently lift weights twice a week but would ideally like to lift 3 times a week but my muscles are to sore & take abt 3/4 to recovery, my workouts are usually abt 30 mins long & pretty intense. is anyone aware of anything i can take either tablet or food wise that could help with recovery? not steriods tho

buy some creatine mate. i use to pump alot of iron and this stuff works wonders. it boosts ur performance as well, u can pick up a months supply from £10 to £20

heard back things abt creatine tho, does it increase heart rate & your sleep?

not sure about heart rate mate,it never did me any harm tho. i remember training with it and i never use to feel sore the next day like i use to, and it did increase my performance weight lifting wise, i do no a lad who use to have it and it made him a bit edgy tho, u normally have a teaspoonful in a cup of water before and after ur workout. best thing to do is try it, see how u get on with it, and go from there, i swear by it tho

[wesrman]

when i drink protein shakes i usually just rush to the toilet & its gone within minutes

Maybe you have lactose issues. A solid meal will work just fine. Try bananas and raw or hard bioled eggs.

What is a typical days diet like??

porridge/strawberrys/blueberrys

cottage cheese on wholemeal bread

protein shake

banana

some form of meat with potatoe & veg

protein shake

this would be usually monday-friday & weekend pretty much eat what i want

hows this sound?

Just to clarify can u make them into meals?? Like is the banana a meal of its own?? This will help me out a lot.

Also if u could add times and when they relate to yoyur workouts that would help too.

[AdamGB]

If you want to do more weight workouts, spilt up your routine more, if you're struggling with recovery.

Plus a good whey shake immediately PWO, and maybe a little pre workout, would probably help, too. (quickest and easiest way of getting a fair amount of protein)

when i split my muscle groups up more i just still don't recover in time, think my body just needs more rest than most people.

Recovery rates is something that your body can develop and adapt to... I was out of training properly for months due to a shoulder injury... I could train properly maybe once or twice a week because of the injury.

Once it started to improve it took me a while before I could train as frequently as I used to because my body wasn't used to it. (reversibility 'use it or lose it')

Aside from having a solid diet I also started talking a 6 hour release protien with BCAAs, L-Glutamine and Flax seed after I'd trained (trained in the evenings take it before bed)... I suffer much lighter Delayed Onset Muscles Sorness ('doms') and much less frequently than I used to since becoming injured.

You may be neglecting to warm up and cool down properly too.

Most people warm up properly but few cool down.

If you've been doing a heavy resistance session finish with some light Aerobic exercises that incorporate a lot of mobility in the joints/muscles you've been using... This will help your body to transport some of the waste products that get created during exercise away from your muscles and into your lymph system to be disposed of (make sure you drink a lot before during and after training) and slowly bring your heart rate down so that everything in your system isn't just stopping circulating properly.

A lot has been said about diet, and rightfully so... but there is also something to be said for the habits you have during training. Cooling down is an important part of the lymph systems process in removing waste products... getting a lymph massage would help... they're pretty easy to do, if you have a girlfriend etc who would do them for you that would probably help too.

Like has been said if your work outs are intense then you need to split the days.

At the moment I only do one weights session a week and 2-3 boxing/running, soon I will not have time to box as much, but I will have unlimited access to a weights gym and climbing wall... I will most likely take this time to focus on strength training for a bit (you have to switch your training up... or else you become mentally and physically bored)... If I am hitting weights with any sort of frequency I will have to switch the days up!

MAKE SURE YOU STAY HYDRATED!

I think you have pretty bad 'doms', a quick look on google will probably come up with more than I could tell you.

Although it is not fully supported yet it is believed that the pain in doms may not be caused by muscle damage but by muscle growth. This just means that they are growing/adapting... so you need to look at the big picture of everything you are doing and see how this is affecting your body's growth and development.

[AdamGB]

It could also be down to bad stretching... unless you know what you're doing I would leave you stretching until after you've tried... it can cause muscle tears if done incorrectly BEFORE you train... if you like to stretch first do comfortable stretches and hold them for -10 seconds

[Scrap]

Adam, good post, Spot On.

[Drago]

ok back to basics i am going to start from scratch & work my way up i have chose to work out twice a week with the following workouts-

workout 1
chins x 3 sets
bench press x 3 sets
upright rows x 3 sets
tricep pushdowns x 3 sets
seated dumbell curls x 3 sets

workout 2
leg press x 3 sets
calf raises x 3 sets
seated hamstring curls x 3 sets

i will incorporate some cardio into these workouts as well

if i feel that i have recovered appropriately then i will incorporate another weights workout into my week which will be a shorter workout probably covering a couple of major muscle groups eg (deadlift)

following will be an idea of my diet which is pretty limited due to finances

breakfast 8am
porridge

snack 10am
banana

lunch 12pm
cottage cheese on wholmeal bread

snack 2pm
banana sandwich on wholemeal bread

dinner 5pm
white meat/potatoe/veg or spaghetti bolognese

snack 8pm
ham on wholemeal bread

snack 10pm
banana

any feedback would be appreciated

[Drago]

done my first 2 workouts & feeling really good gonna have 2 days recovery & will probably do cardio on mon tue wed then day off & start again

[Drago]

did another workout today 3 sets chins & 3 sets dumbell deadlifts these felt really good, i seem to of been recovering better as well, thanks to the person who mentioned hot & cold shower as been using them after every workout & seems to be working!

i think i will take another couple of days off before training again tho wanna take it easy & work back up to where i was

[Cruiser]

Hi Drago, I read alot of the responses... I agree with mostly everything I read... Remember protein is very important in developing muscle...make sure you add some additional L Glutamine to your protein shakes aswell and add some flax seed oil too...make sure you stay hydrated all threw out the day and make sure your streching your muscles threw out the day...hold the strech too... and make sure your working out different muscles on different days otherwise you will NOT be building muscle...your muscle will go flat and your workouts with become catablic muscle breakdown...if you get the water, protein, L glutamine, flax seed oil you will be having anabolic muscle building routine... and sleep is huge! your body grows(repairs) when you sleep so get the rest too. Cruiser

[johngotti]

OP what does your workout look like and what are your goals ?

First off I recommend more food,a lot more protein and fruit and veg
look at the stickys here Nutrition - Bodybuilding.com Forums
mainly the" Calculating Calorie & Macronutrient Needs"

Now their are a few other things you could do to help with recovery.

1.take a week off from everything,I took 2 weeks of the weights one time because of a lower back injury(I could do pper body stuff but I thought I would just give it all a rest) and when I came back I felt fresher than I thought I would
2.add in a multi vitamin maybe some zma
3.massages or buy one of the foam rolelrs,ive herd they're great
4.active recovery,instead of just staying in on your rest day go for a short walk or a light bike ride#
5.streacht as often as you can,and non of that 5 second static hold stff,stretch each muscle for 30 seconds and if you have the time do it again.
6.get a good nights sleep.

Now what are your goals for weight lifting ?

You could try starting strength for a while but it is heavy on your legs,but then again you need strong durable legs for boxing.
workout here
FAQ:The Program - Starting Strength Wiki
you can swap you power cleans for pendlay rows,I swapped them for bb rows as I didn't know about pendlay rows and didn't want to learn the power clean,but the power clean is good for boxers as it is a good explosive hip movement

If your wanting to bulk up then try this Frankie NY's Mass Building Program
push/pull/leg routine


Also may I ask (and no offence here) are you sure your not just being a pussy about all this ?
This week Ive done kickboxing 2x boxing 2 x a circuit and a 3 day split and am on around 1200-1500 cals because I am trying to lose some weight and I feel fresh.

2 weeks ago when I just started the kick boxing I had done squats on the monday and then kick boxing the next day (first session) and it was hard fucking work but I still managed to man up and put a lot of effort into it.

Just be smart with your trainin,read up a lot of bb.com or tnation about weight lifting.

Also you may just be doing far to many exercises.
When you start off (and this is mainly from what I have read not experenced) you dont need to do a ton or even any iso exercises really,Just the baiscs

A form of
squats
deadlifts
bench
shoulder press (ive herd fighters should do the pressing movements a lot less frequently
than the others)
rows
pullups

(more pulls than pushs as your punching/pushing the bag people a lot)

btw am no expert about all this stuff but I've been reading a lot about it for the last 2 years or so.