Knowing when you should be resting and when you should be performing your kettlebell workouts will make a huge difference to the results you achieve along with minimilising injury potential.
Workout Adaptation or Super Compensation Phase
We achieve results when we exercise by forcing our incredibly adaptive body to perform movements out of our comfort zone.
As we push ourselves our body realises that we are demanding something from it that it is not totally efficient at.
We are using more energy than usual, stretching soft tissue more than usual and using more motor neurons than usual.
Just like every action in life we either move away from Pain or towards Pleasure.
Once the body experiences discomfort through exercise it then starts to adapt in order to prepare for future similar stimuli.
In other words it thinks:
Wow that workout was tough, I will need to make some changes to make it easier next time
It is during this ADAPTATION phase that all the good stuff happens. You lay down more muscle fibres, the energy system improves and soft tissue becomes more pliable.
Why Rest is Important
So once you understand the Adaptation Phase or Super- Compensation phase, you realise that rest between sessions is vital for recovery.
Without rest our body cannot adapt and therefore we cannot improve.
Now for the shocking part, depending on what type of training you are doing you may only need to exercise every 5 days.
There are a few factors that determine how many days rest you require:
- Kettlebell Workout Intensity and Neurological Overload
- Muscle Size and Growth
- Nutrition and Overall Health
If you are working out to a high intensity and the overload on your system is great then the ability to rejuvenate and restore homeostasis will take longer.
For example, multiple sets of heavy swings or deadlifts will take longer to recover from than a set of overhead presses because heavy swings and deadlifts use 100’s of muscles at a time.
As you progress deeper into your workouts and start to lay down more muscle you will require more time to repair and restructure your system.
Bigger muscles take longer to repair.
Finally, your overall health and ability to repair damaged muscle tissue will also play a large part in your recovery.
A person who rests well, loads the body will good nutrition and significantly reduces stress levels will recover much faster than a stressed out fast food junkie.
Weekly Exercise Schedules
So lets put this into perspective…
Training with a days rest in between each workout is a good start for an average intensity workout.
For example, beginners would start like this:
- Monday – Workout
- Tuesday – Rest
- Wednesday – Workout
- Thursday – Rest
- Friday – Workout
- Weekend – Rest
If you find that you are not making gains, in other words the same exercises are not getting easier, then it will always be down to two factors:
- You are not training hard enough
- You are not resting long enough
Making simple adjustments to your sessions and a little trial and error can soon sort this out.
My first adjustment is usually to add an extra days rest and see how that goes for a few weeks.
For example, the new training routine would include 2 days rest after each workout:
- Monday – Workout
- Tuesday – Rest
- Wednesday – Rest
- Thursday – Workout
- Friday – Rest
- Saturday – Rest
- Sunday – Workout
- Monday – Rest
- Tuesday – Rest
- Wednesday – Workout
You may find that after your initial growth period things start to plateau. Again this is usually down to rest periods. Try adding another days rest.
For example training every fourth day:
- Monday – workout
- Friday – workout
- Tuesday – workout
Of course using the same training program time and time again will also induce a plateau so variety is essential.
However, don’t keep jumping from one kettlebell workout to the next every session, it is important to see progression and to have goals.
Changing your complete kettlebell workout program every month is usually enough.
Conclusions
Ultimately everyone is different when it comes to how often they need to exercise.
Listen to your body and experiment. You’ll soon learn what works best for you.
All my 12 week workout programs use logical workout progressions so your body keeps adapting and your results never plateau.
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