Natural Bodybuilding Site

This is how I build my 19 1/2" (cold) arms, the HARD WAY

 

MY MOTTO: It is better to Undertrain than it is to Overtrain--read on.

The Importance of Recuperation

Ever since I started training at the age of 12, I knew that weight training was the key to building muscle mass and nutrition was the way to help it but I have never heard of Recuperation.  After all the magazines and books I've read and tapes that I have listened too, Recuperation was never discussed in any of those materials.  My mentality back then was that the more you train the better you'll become in bodybuilding.  So I trained 6 days a week, 2-3 hours a day.  I did aerobics such as riding my bicycle almost everyday for 30 min. or for 10 miles.  My whole life, my whole being centered around training.  I didn't bother having a girlfriend back then, or hanging out too much with my friends or even going out to eat because it might interfere with my training and dieting.

Did this type training work for me?  Yes, I developed lean muscles and a 2% bodyfat.  I didn't like it though.  The reason why I took up weight training was to gain weight and to get out of that skinny look.  I became desperate and followed just about any routine out there that would give me more mass.  I took the advise from the big guys in my gym and followed it.  Nothing worked and I was still skinny.  Of course I later found out that the guys in muscle magazines and books were on steriods and the big guys in my gym were in it as well.  I thought about doing it but the sheer thought of putting drugs into my system didn't appeal to me.

I later found a book written by Dr. Darden titled, "Natilus."  In it he talked about the importance of Recuperation and how the body must Recuperate in order to grow and to progress.  He even discussed what Overtraining means.  Overtraining was something I have never thought about or even knew that such a thing was possible.  I was completely blown away with this new information.  But when I did research on him, and on Author Jones and Mike Mentzer, I found nothing but sharp criticism.  Because of those criticism, I wasn't completely sold on Dr. Darden's principles, but I was convinced that I was training too much.  I cut my training program down to a half, and guess what, progress started happening.  Till I started Overtraining again did I realize that I need to cut down again.  Every time I cut down, progress keeps on coming.  Some of the guys from the gym accused me of taking steriods because I was gaining weight and getting stronger.

When I started my personal training business, I did this to my clients and they too were experiencing progress.  I am fully convinced that Recuperation has a lot to do with progress.  May it be in weight training, sprinting, cycling or running, you have to give your body time to Recuperate before your next exercise.

Recuperation is Systematic

Back then my thinking was that after you train your pectorals you're suppose to give it rest while you are training your back the next day.  Well pectoral and back are part of one system and both muscle group uses the same Recuperative Reserve.  The muscle do not stand alone by itself but it is part of a system that develops evenly with the rest of the muscle group.  For example, when I was in high school the only muscles I concentrated on were my chest and arms.  I didn't do any leg workout at all nor did I do back or shoulders.   Did my chest and my arms developed in a cartoonish way that my whole body looked out of proportion...No.  They did develop but not to the degree that I wanted too.  When I started training legs, back and shoulders along with my chest and arms, everything developed and improved all together.

Tom Platz once said that he workout his legs in order to develop his arms.  So it is very important that you workout systematically and not neglect any bodyparts or not work hard on them.  You must Recuperate Systematically,  meaning after training you must Recuperate from that training before engaging on training again.  Remember if you workout your pectoral, you've also workout your whole system. 

     Injury

It sounds weird to be discussing Injury in Recuperation section.  But did you know that when an injury happens, Recuperation immediately takes place.  You have a series of enzymes, immune system, blood, and all sorts of chemical reaction taking place in your body.  And guess what?  You have to "Rest" in order for that injury to heal and to get better again.  If not you short circuit yourself and you find that healing takes a lot longer.

Too much training or Overtraining and poor exercise form increases your chances of being injured.  Because of my Overtraining back then I now suffer from a permanent lower back problem, neck problem, left shoulder problem and a torn right achilles tendon.  Now this didn't happen over night.  But because of the constant training and not allowing Recuperation to take place injury is very likely to happen.

Stretching after a Workout helps with Recuperation by releasing tension

 

Recuperation Does Not Develop the Same Rate as Muscles 

We are all endowed with Recuperative Ability and how much we are endowed by it depends on several things.  Think about this for a moment.  You accidently had a minor injury, like twisting your ankle, your body gets the signal and tissue repair takes place right away.  But in order for that repair to be sufficient you must not tamper with that injury and you must give it rest.  What happens when you don't give rest, it takes a lot longer to heal.  Sometimes it might not heal right.  Bodybuilding is the same way.  You have to give it time to recuperate or it will not grow to its fullest potential. 

As I mentioned, we are born with this Recuperative Ability.  How well you recuperate depends on how well you rest, what your stress level is, your lifestyle, and most importantly how well you nourish yourself.  Recuperation stimulated by weight training does develop but not in the same rate as muscles.  As a matter of fact Recuperative ability may decline as you age.  Again, this is your limiting factor.  A lot of muscle books and muscle magazines don't tell you this. Bodybuilders in those media turn to steroid in order to increase their progress.  Steriods are synthetic hormones that aids in this Recuperation process.      

Recuperation takes place immediately after you finish your lifting

 

Natural Bodybuilders Key to Building Muscle Mass

As a Natural Bodybuilder you've made a decision to stay healthy and keep away from anabolic drugs that will do harm to your  body, and mind.  Since I've covered proper training and dieting in my website, you must now understand how your Recuperative Ability works.  This is where keeping a journal comes in handy and monitoring your body's reaction to Exercises.  Your body is always giving you feedback and it can be both positive and negative.  Do not ignore these feedback.   Write all those down.  If you're getting a feedback that your body needs more time to Recuperate then by all means, give it.

As a Natural Bodybuilder you go to the gym to workout with weights.  The purpose of you working out is to stimulate the muscles.  You must exert yourself in the gym in order to stimulate Recuperation to take place.  That's right, just like stimulating muscles, Recuperation is also stimulated.  Exercises does that very well.  But the greater you stimulate Recuperate at that particular period such as weight training the more progress you will make.  For example doing bicep curls.  I see a lot of people in the gym who are capable of lifting more weights than what they are used too.  If all you do is lift 10 lbs curls instead of 50 lbs you won't stimulate Recuperation to take place at a great rate.  You must lift 50 lbs and go to failure with it.  This way you have sufficiently stimulated Recuperation to take place and you must rest now in order for your stimulated muscles to grow and adapt.  Remember that growth does not happen in the gym, it happens when you rest.  You are only there to stimulate.

Becare not to over use your Recuperative Ability or progress will not take place at all.  What I mean by this is workingout the muscles again before it has fully recovered.

     Beginner  Have an abundance of Recuperative Ability.  This is because their muscle hasn't grown or gotten to a point where it is using up their Recuperative Ability.  I remember when I had a training partner.  I had about 10 years worth of training and he only had 8 months.  I remember I was doing 80lbs dumbell flys and he did 30lbs.  By the end of our set, I was wiped out while he on the other hand could do a lot more.  The next day I was tired while he was ready to go.  This is the reason why in Training Frequency, beginners should train a lot more than an advance person and not the other way around like most Bodybuilding Books and Magazines have said.

     Intermediate  Once a Beginner starts making progress and making good inroads into their Recuperative Ability and progress has come to a halt, in other words, hit a plateau then it is time to cut back.  Cut the workout by 50% .  The intensity of the workout with how much weight you use and hard you train will definately go up.  Progress start happening because now the Recuperative Ability can compensate for it.  Bodybuilding books and Magazines will tell a beginner to add more sets and weights.  If you do this the opposite will just happen.

     Advance At this stage of develop you have pretty much reach at point where Recuperation is crucial in order to keep the progress going.  You are already heavily muscled and your strength level is up there.  The intensity of your workout is good.  You use up your Recuperative Ability rather easily at this stage.  This is why the frequency the training must be reduce so that Recuperation can take place.  Not only should your muscle be Recuperated but your whole body system should be Recuperated before your next intense workout.  

After my wife, Adriana, is done with her workout

she would now have to allow Recuperation to fully take place

before attempting her next Workout Session

 

Recuperation and Weight Training

The minute you touch the weights and start workingout with it, Recuperation is already taking place.  You get progressively weaker as you move on with your reps.  Once you put the weights down, Recuperation kick into high gear.  You rest in-between sets and you get about 80% of your strength back by the time you are ready for your second set.  By the time you are ready for your third set, you only have about 50% of your strength back.  Ofcourse, you don't want to hit 0% return because that would mean that you're dead. 

Weight Training is a true direct way of trigger Recuperation.  It is your body's response system to stress which causes the body to adapt.  That is your goal: make the body adapt to stress.  Our body is incredible when it comes to adapting to stress and it is because of Recuperation that you are able to do it again and again.

Again keep in mind that you don't have an ample amount of Recuperative Ability.  Your body limits you because it is its way of protecting it's functions and organ system.  I remember back then when my training partner and I did bomb and blitz principle and decending sets.  I started doing dumbell alter curls with 80lbs first, then my partner brings me 60lbs, then down to 40lbs, 30lbs, 25lbs, till finally 10lbs.  My tiny bicep muscle was toast.  It was so toast that I couldn't curl my arms properly.  I had problem undressing myself for a couple of days.  My bicep muscles had a deep soreness to it that extended all the way down to my forearms and hands.  It felt like I tore something deep inside.  I was trembling and I felt nauseated.  I knew I not only overtrained my biceps but I also overtrained my whole system.  I didn't go back to the gym for a couple of days.   

Recuperation and Aerobics

A lot of people have asked me if it is Okay to do Aerobics with weight training.  The answer to that is, yes.  If done properly Aerobics will even improve Recuperative Ability by improving circulation in your system.  Aerobic constitutes oxygen where as weight training is the absence of oxygen-that's why lactic acid builds up really quick and you experience the burn or soreness.  The more oxygen present in your system the better the muscles will be, especially for the most important muscle of all, the Heart.

But you have to be careful with how you perform your aerobics.  As a weight trainer/bodybuilder your goal is to develop muscles to its fullest.  Aerobics has a way of hindering that if you perform your it in a high intensity or high impact way.  High Impact Aerobics has a tendency of burning carbs more than fat.  It does increase your basal metabolism and therefore improving fat lost.  The down side with this is the way it will use up your Recuperative Reserve which should solely goes to building your muscles. 

Your goal is not to disturb your Recuperative Reserve and the best way to do this is by doing Low Impact Aerobics.  Good example of this is 30 min. of stationary bike, walking, and rowing.  30 min. of Low Impact Aerobics will burn fat more than Carb.  It may not be as effective as High Impact Aerobics when it comes to losing fat, but it will still burn fat and keep the muscles building part undisturb.  Not only that, it will aid in Recuperation due to the more presence of oxygen in the system, as mentioned above.

Sleep, Low Stress Lifestyle and Happiness

This is something most Americans don't get enough: Sleep, Low Stress, and Happiness.  Because of our quest for capitalism and to keep building wealth, the average Americans get less sleep because they are too busy, they have very high stress life because of it and they are not happy because they haven't accomplished it.  All of these can really affect your workout progress and most importantly, your health in general.

Always take things in stride and always be thankful for what you have.  Try not to control the things that you know can not be controlled.  If you have a losey job, look for a better one and quit.  If fwy. drivers cuts you off, then let them.  If in-laws and your parents are driving you nuts, then don't take it in.  Just be polite to them.  This way you can lower stress and not worry about the many things going on around you.  Trust me, a low stress life means lower blood pressure, less tension on your shoulders, and less headaches.

If your like me and you only get 4 to 5 hours sleep, take a nap whenever you get a chance.  Sleep is the main Recuperation.  A lot of the growth process takes place during sleep.  The average person should be getting around 8 hours of sleep a day.  A person who workouts should get 9-10 hours of sleep a day.  But for most people sleep is a luxury.  Do your best to get more sleep.

Happiness is subjective.  My religion and my wife makes me happy.  My hobbies makes me happy.  I often find myself broke than with little or no money in my pockets, but I'm still happy.  As long as I can pay my bills, put food on the table and have roof on my head, have the love of my wife and my God, I'm happy.  I will always continue to work hard for the things I would like to have, but I will not let it rule my life if I can not obtain it.

Recuperation and Overtraining--Recap

No matter what exercise you embark on whether it be weight training, marathon running, skiing, swimming, and so on you must remember that Recuperation plays a vital role in improving yourself.  In the 50's, 60's, and 70's Recuperation and Overtraining was absent in the minds of trainers.  The notion back then was that the more and the longer you train the better off you will be.  Athletes resort to the use of steriods because they want to continue on with their progress and perform better in their sports, but truly unhealthy and dangerous. 

Throughout my websites I've put a lot of emphasis on Recuperation and Overtraining.  As a natural bodybuilder or as a natural athlete this is your key for progress and improving your performance.