Mark Ottobre explains why rest days matter: a fatigued muscle is like an old rubber band that snaps under load, while recovered muscle bounces back. Get 7-9 hours of sleep, track your resting heart rate and HRV, and space intense training of the same body part at least a couple days apart.
I've got 2 rubber bands here, one fresh, one old. Fresh band, I stretch it hard, comes back, no problem. Old band, same stretch, snaps straight through. This is your muscle without recovery. Fatigued tissue tears under load. It's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Rest days aren't lazy. It's when your body actually recovers. You create stimulus in the gym and then you build back stronger at home. Here's the formula: sleep 7 to 9 hours every night. Track both your early morning heart rate and your heart rate variability to give you a window whether you're actually recovering. And if you're really pushing it at the gym, give yourself ample couple days in between body parts to make sure that you're recovered. Make sure you follow my page, Mark Ottobre, for more.
