When have you recovered enough?

I suppose after most (good) workouts you should feel your muscles fatigued. The question is: should you wait until they do not feel fatigued any more before training them again? In particular after some H1 session I feel my shoulder muscles pretty tired (I often add a bit material to the H1 workout in the form of a few more holds and mobility drills). E.g. raising my arms overhead the shoulders feel both fatigued and less mobile. Is it fine to train H1 again even if my shoulder have not completely recovered or should I am for a total recover in between workouts?

It's pretty rare for me to come into a workout feeling 100% fresh. I think soreness and feeling a little (note: little ) beaten up is normal and, for the most part, something to just work through.

Now, if you're feeling so trashed that after warmup, you're still sore, joints feel clunky and you're finding it difficult to even hold form, perhaps you'll need a less frequent training schedule to get used to your workload. 

I think the best time to tell if you're pushing too hard is if you still feel beaten up after deload week. At the end of a gentle week, my body yearns for the work if I haven't overdone it in the microcycle.

Obviously, I'm just sharing my own experience and I would bet there are others who feel very differently. Generally though, work through fatigue, slumps, soreness (mild to moderate) and rest pains and injuries. At least that's how I view it.

Max

Oh and if you aren't feeling recovered, the first thing to go should be the extra work you've added in  (I fall into this trap too: "I feel good today, let's do loads of extra work")

Thanks Max, it sounds like very good advice to me, especially the bit about gauging wether you are overdoing it or not after deload week. Good to know that I am not expected to feel 100% rested and fresh at the beginning of every workout.

No problem Guido, I hope it helps. It is just my experience and I can often push a little too hard and have to dial it back (especially with mobility work). I'm getting better at it though. I think really, we just have to make some mistakes and learn from them; how sore is too sore? I'm not sure anyone could quantify it, but experience will teach us when to take it easy and when to push through.

Maybe others will give their experiences too. It helps to know if you tend toward pushing too hard or too little and just favour the other direction for a change. 

If in doubt though, I think just dial it back for a bit. Better to take a little longer to reach our goals than rush and get injured. One or two workouts will not make your training but can quite easily break it.

All the best

Max

On March 12, 2016 at 11:11 AM, Maksis Riley said:

 

I think the best time to tell if you're pushing too hard is if you still feel beaten up after deload week. At the end of a gentle week, my body yearns for the work if I haven't overdone it in the microcycle.

 

 

Excellent advice.

Yours in Fitness,

Coach Sommer

Very well, I shall do so. Thanks!