[haleys]

Sorry if this has been asked before!

Is it okay do to strength training 5-6 days in a row? I don't remember where I heard it, but someone said that it is not good to strength train for that many days in a row--something about how it tears your muscles and they need time to re-build (which sounds kind of preposterous), and does the same go for working your abdominals with crunches/leg lifts, etc?

Thank you!

[funniegrrl]

There's a huge weight training forum here in the boards, so be sure to check that out for lots of good info.

But, the answer to your question is that it's OK to lift several days in a row if you are not working the same muscles on two consecutive days. This is true of any muscle in your body, abs or anything else. The reason you heard is EXACTLY right. Here's why:

The whole idea behind weight training is to force the muscle to grow. Once you reach full maturity, the only way it can do that is to be stressed to the point where the fibers break down; the repair process makes those fibers a little bit stronger than they were before. Basically, your body is adapting to what it perceives as increased workload. It says, hmmm, if we're having to move this weight now, we'll probably need to move it again in the future, so we better be better prepared to handle that. The same thing happens when you break a bone -- the repaired fracture often turns out to be stronger than the unfractured bone surrounding it. It takes 4 to 6 weeks for a fractured bone to heal; it takes 48 hours for a muscle fiber to heal and rebuild.

Now, if you are weight training and working the same muscle two days in a row, there are two things that can happen: The first is that you aren't really lifting enough weight to make a difference in the first place, so the fiber breakdown doesn't occur and so no repair work is needed. You aren't making progress, but you aren't hurting anything. The second scenario is that if you ARE lifting heavy enough to break down fibers, you're not giving your body the time it needs to make the repairs, so not only are you not getting stronger, you could actually be LOSING ground.

So yes, if you want to work out 5 to 6 days per week, you need to do splits, where you do something like work upper body one day and lower body the next. In that way you can work each muscle 2 to 3 times per week, lift heavy enough to actually have an impact, and not do any damage. Studies have shown that the difference in strength gains between 2 and 3 times per week are minimal, so you get almost as much benefit with 2 per week for a lot less time investment. There are also splits where you work a muscle group only ONCE per week, doing arms one day, legs the next, etc.

You might also like to take a look at the web site www.stumptuous.com/weights.html, specifically the Training section.

[haleys]

Thank you so much for all of that information! I looked around that website and it's full of info, as well. I'm going to start with 4 days of strength training this week, alternating with upper body one day, then lower body the next day. I'm so glad I asked, I was about to just work my entire body each day this week, eeeek! Thanks again!!!