Not only the muscles need rest, but the nervous system too. Is it possible to train all 7 days a week if the SPLIT is designed in such a way that each muscle is given 3-4 days to rest?
“I wouldn’t do that,” says Frank Claps, owner of Fitness for Any Body in Pennsylvania. “Of course, 3-4 days of rest from strength training is quite enough time for muscle recovery, but what about the nervous system, which also gets tired during training?”
After all, no matter how many muscles you release from stress during training, your nervous system still works, properly servicing the contractions of all other muscles that are targeted by the training. Thus, shoveling iron every day, sooner or later, you will still torture your nervous system. At first, your mood will deteriorate and irritability will appear. The desire to go to the gym will begin to melt before your eyes. Even if, thanks to iron willpower, you still force yourself to continue training, sooner or later you will inevitably drive your body into a state of overtraining . And from there there is only one way out: at least two weeks without strength training for recovery, plus another month just to regain lost physical shape.”
Claps emphasizes: “Most athletes, including pros, always rest one to two days a week from strength training.”
The optimal split, in his opinion, should include 4-5 workouts per week, no more. For those who can’t go a day without physical activity, Claps advises filling the day off from strength training with a moderate-intensity cardio session or stretching and flexibility training, or simply swimming or kicking a ball. The main thing is to free yourself from strength exercises these days.
In addition, do not forget about the joints, which also need rest. For example: today you train your chest, and tomorrow your chest rests, and you work hard on your deltoids. Everything seems to be correct, but only the shoulder joints receive a decent portion of the load two days in a row, because you probably included heavy bench presses in your chest training, and standing or sitting presses in your deltoids training. Such an error in creating a split can cause pain in the joints and after some time lead to injury.
Excessive enthusiasm is not always beneficial. More training does not mean better results. The intensity of the workout is what directly determines muscle growth. Therefore, steadily increase the intensity of your training, but at the same time, be sure to rest two days a week from strengthy loads.
