Is A One Day Rest Enough?

[Robert Del Popolo]

Considering that we workout the same muscle groups on monday wednesday and friday, and different muscle groups on tuesday and thursday. Is there enough rest? I mean our muscles basically have one day of rest and then we have two days of no activity, is it good enough to build muscle?

[Joshua Naterman]

Yes, because the number of sets per muscle group per day shouldn't be ridiculous.

 

So really, the answer is: Depends on how hard you went.

 

The key is to learn the right amount, and everyone is different. There's a range of 4-6 sets per muscle group on the low end and 12+ sets per muscle group on the high end. As you build up multiple years of consistent training, you will find that you can handle more sets per muscle group, but you may still find that you get your best results when you don't push your limits so hard.

[Robert Del Popolo]

Its just that every bodybuilder or martial artist i talk to thrashes the GB system, either not enough rest or not intense enough or not the right number of reps etc.

Well thanks

[Joseph Fradelakis]

keep in mind the GB program is first and foremost about building gymnastics strength, not becoming Mr olympia

[FREDERIC DUPONT]

Martial artists are notorious for self sabotaging their training by doing too much... they live by the beliefs that:

(1) "If doing some is good, then doing more is better, and doing a hell of a lot more is a hell of a lot better!"

(2) "if training does not produce the desired response, it is because they did not do enough... so they do more of what did not work, faster & with more intensity!"

I suspect this comes with the "tough guy" image attached with their activity and egos overpowering the humility they claim to live by!

Most Martial Artists that I know got stronger in spite of their training regimen!

[Nic Branson]

This is not a bodybuilding system so of course from what they are used to looking at it, it seems not to work. Yet in our context some very nice physiques have been forged. As for the martial artists I have worked with a few 4th + degree black belts and MMA competitors who have done an adapted version, they felt and moved better.

It can be adapted if used to support an athlete in another discipline. Programming is quite complex and very few people really have a good understanding of all the variables and how to put them together.

[Robert Del Popolo]

Thanks, those replies are what I needed. It just gets into your head after hours of bashing.

[Craig Mallett]

I think it's also important to note what Coach has said on this subject: that his guys need to train optimally every day.  If they thrash themselves to the point of being in pain for the next 4 days, then that's 4 days of wasted practice.

 

There is a lot of anecdotal evidence around to support the idea of long, regular, low - medium intensity workouts producing lots of strength.  Go have a chat to a brick layer, stone mason or scaffold builder.  Those guys are very strong, yet how is their exercise structured? 8 - 12 hours a day of no where near maximum potential.  Just lifting relatively light objects (hammers, spades, bricks, planks, etc) over and over again.

 

The guy who invented the vipr did so because he was training a sporting team, and in the off season he noticed the guys who went back to the farm and bailed hay and did farming duties actually came back much stronger than the guys who hit the gym.

 

Also check out the article below about communities with high number of centenarians (i've bolded and underlined the relevant info):

 

What do Super Centenarians eat?

09/27/2012

 

I am always on the quest of finding out what people eat who live the longest. During my educational years I have heard everything from eating meat, no meat, raw food, cooked food, dairy or no dairy. I am a strong believer that real life sometimes can teach us more than scientifically controlled double blind studies.

 

Here are some longevity tips from the HUNZAS, OKINAWAS and VILCABAMBANS

 

The Hunzas live at the northern tips of Pakistan, at the Himalayan Mountains. The Hunzas are famous for their high rate of centenarians, people who live up to 100 to 110 years old.

Dr. White studied the health of 20 100 year old Hunzas, and could not find anything wrong with them, not even their eyesight decreased by age.. Compared to our believes aging is not associated with health decline, instead most of the elderly living in Hunza have extra ordinary vitality and energy. Famous mountain climber recall to have Hunza people as old as 80 years, carrying their heavy photographic equipment up the mountains, without a trace of exhaustion. 

 

Here is what the Hunzas eat: 80% of their diet is eaten uncooked. When vegetables are cooked, they are typically lightly steamed, using minimal amount of water. Once cooked the water is always consumed with the vegetables. Fresh corn for example is never cooked! They soak lentils, beans, and peas in water for several days. Then they place them into the sun to dry. They eat their beans when they begin to sprout. They grow apricots, peaches, pears, apples, plums, grapes, cherries, mulberries, figs, and many types of apricots. Their favorite food is the apricot. In the summer you can see their roofs of their houses covered with apricots for drying in the sun. Hunza people are famous for eating lots of apricot kernel seeds which evidently have powerful anti-cancer properties (especially vitamin B17). Hunzas eat rarely meat and only in community celebrations. 

 

Okinawa is made up of 161 beautiful islands is sometimes called “Japan’s Hawaiiâ€. Okinawa has been studied thoroughly because of its high life expectancy. Okinawa today accounts for 15% of the world’s documented super centenarians (110 years of age). The word “retirement†does not exist in the traditional Okinawan dialect. Researches confirmed that the elderly had no trace of heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s, arthritis or diabetes. 

 

Here is the Okinawa diet: They eat a diet high in vegetables, nothing processed or packaged. Protein comes from soy most likely fermented soy (miso, tempeh), grains and fish. Seaweed is also a staple food at their diet. The emphasis is on dark green vegetables which are rich in calcium, and they don’t eat any dairy and seldom eat meat. 

 

Vilcabamba is a small village in Southern Ecuador located in an elevated Valley. The Vilcabamba Valley is extremely inaccessible and has therefore been protected from many modern influences just like the Hunza Valley. Vilcabamba people are famous for their longevity, happiness and vitality. These people don’t have the word “old†in their dialect instead they use the word “LONG-LIVEDâ€. 

 

Here is the Vilcabamba diet: They eat lots of whole grains, vegetables, fruits, seeds, beans and nuts. Once in a while goat milk and eggs are consumed but very rare. Their diet is very low in calories, and protein comes mostly from grains, vegetables and beans. Carbohydrates come from quinoa, wheat, barley, potatoes, yucca and sweet potatoes. Fat comes from avocados, seeds and nuts. They never have dessert instead they eat sweet fruits like mangos, bananas, papayas, figs and pineapples. 

 

But besides their eating habits all three cultures have few other similar lifestyles regardless of their natural habitat. 

 

· They laugh a lot and only see the bright side of life

· They are very social sometimes they hike for hours over the mountains to meet their best friend

· They are naturally active, for example long walks through the mountains to get to their work place. (they 

don’t engage in excessive exercising, instead they engage in regular daily low-intensity physical activities)

· They stop eating before they feel full. 

· They never eat processed or packaged food.

· They have a very strong believe in the PURPOSE OF NOW - 

· They take time to quiet their mind via meditations or nature walks. One 107 year old Okinawa said “Life is short. Don’t run so fast you miss it!â€

· They are very spiritual orientated. 

· They all have a sense of belonging. The young people love being around elderly since aging is seen as something to strive for. 

 

If you are interested to learn more about these cultures I recommend the book “Healthy at 100â€, by John Robbins, or the book “The Blue Zoneâ€, from Dan Buettner.

In the style of martial arts that I practice, the same approach is taken.  We are never out to burn ourselves out.  We aim to feel refreshed and re energized after practice, not totally wrecked. 

 

I'm not advocating not working hard, obviously it's very hard work to do 4 or more hours of exercise regardless of what it is. What I do advocate is not destroying ourselves.

Besides, what kind of a life is one where you are hurting for 4/5 days? 

[Cody Hahn]

Craig,

 

This is awesome reading. What is your approach to eating as far as types of foods, preparation of the food, number of meals a day?

 

Also, so would this approach work well with our gymnastics type strength training? I guess in essence, it would be kind of like steady state. You train at a medium level most of the time and then when necessary one can always perform at a much higher level.

 

This comes at an interesting time because I was just reading a post by Patrick Ward about Soviet lifters training and lifting at only about 50-60% of their max effort for most of the time but then when they were ready or when they needed to they could lift massively heavier weights even though they didn't regularly train with them.

[Craig Mallett]

Cody,

What is your approach to eating as far as types of foods, preparation of the food, number of meals a day?

I'm following a paleo template (with added dairy as I'm tolerant) at the moment, but basically all natural is the way to go in my opinion. If you're including grains in your diet I think it's wise to look into soaking and sprouting methods, as these help to rid the grains of "anti nutrients. Grains are essentially the seeds of the plant, and a lot of plants are actually designed to be eaten so the grain can pass through the animal and come out in manure and start to grow there (with the added bonus of fresh fertilizer ). The soaking and sprouting tricks the grain into thinking it's planted and as it starts the early stages of growth, it loses a lot of the anti-nutrients. Obviously this is a massively over simplified explanation, but I'm sure you get the idea. You'll notice the tribes people in the article above soak their grains for days and sprout their beans before eating them. It's also interesting that they are relatively red meat free (lots of seafood in okinawa). I wonder if this is due to limited access to meat or because of health reasons? I know there are plenty of vegan/vegetarians around who are still super strong and healthy.

There's no one size fits all diet in my opinion, the best thing to do is try it for yourself. Take out grains, legumes, processed food and/or dairy from your diet for 1 month, see how you feel. If you feel better then stick with it, if there's no change then add the missing item back in and see if you feel gurgly or whatever. Do the same with red meat at some point, and I guess if you're really keen you could try removing white meats as well.

Some reading that will better than a random stranger on the net and is backed up by facts:

http://www.amazon.com/The-Paleo-Solution-Original-Human/dp/0982565844/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1359605310&sr=8-1&keywords=robb+wolfe

more reading and also recipes:

http://www.amazon.com/Practical-Paleo-Customized-Whole-Foods-Lifestyle/dp/1936608758/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1359605344&sr=1-1&keywords=practical+paleo

A talk on paleo, alternative food sources, and other good stuff:

http://chriskresser.com/rhr-what-science-really-says-about-the-paleo-diet-with-mat-lalonde

As for when you eat and portion size, the article I linked above has a nice line about never eating until you're full, rather only eating till you're no longer hungry. Buddhists follow the same principle (eat to destroy existing sensations without creating new ones). Social aspects should ideally be overcome as well. Eating when you're hungry rather than eating when its "dinner time" even if you aren't hungry.

Also, so would this approach work well with our gymnastics type strength training? I guess in essence, it would be kind of like steady state. You train at a medium level most of the time and then when necessary one can always perform at a much higher level.

This comes at an interesting time because I was just reading a post by Patrick Ward about Soviet lifters training and lifting at only about 50-60% of their max effort for most of the time but then when they were ready or when they needed to they could lift massively heavier weights even though they didn't regularly train with them.

Like I said, Coach's guys need to perform every day so he has them train like this (even though their medium intensity workout is about 500 times harder than my maximum intensity workout! haha). The steady state cycle is another good example of this kind of training, as are the new templates that are coming with the book tomorrow (i've trained them myself and even if it was a struggle to complete some of the exercises in the first week, I am never so sore that I couldn't do a workout again the next day or even later the same day).

The only issue to taking this approach casually is that it obviously requires a lot of time. Coach's guys do 4 or 5 hours a day every day. Tradesmen work 10 hour days of hard manual labour. The people in the article have their work built into their daily lifestyles. It can be difficult to incorporate this style of training while also working an 8 hour office job I think. edit: perhaps if this is the case though, a lifestyle change is in order?

[Cody Hahn]

Craig,

 

Thanks for the info. About the lifestyle change, I have actually been struggling greatly with this issue lately. I am in college at the moment with plans to become a physical therapist (grade dependent to a degree as I am weak in Physics and Chemistry) but I hate spending hours in chairs listening to lectures, spending more hours sitting in a car driving everyday, and then spending even more hours sitting at home doing homework. I hate the idea of going through all of this schooling, and then when I get out I just spend more time sitting and doing little activity. I will have increased my knowledge and understanding (hopefully) of what goes on inside the human body, and in return I will most likely have diminished health and vitality!

 

By the way, I do plan to send you a PM sometime soon to ask some more about spring legs, lower body mobility and strength, and career ideas.