Weight training and recovery

Someone asked a question on a previous blog post today and I thought it would be helpful to post the answer  here. The question was on a previous post on the subject of Jodie Marsh's foray into bodybuilding...

Could someone clear up a technical point. I have always read that when weight training you should not do more than 45-60 minutes as the body has then consumed it's supply of glycogen and will start cannibalising itself for nutrition. Also, rest or recovery days are essential between training sessions to allow the body to repair and grow...so how can bodybuilders train several hours a day every day and make gains?

-Anonymous

Great question Anonymous (if that is indeed your real name, hmmmmm. And if so are you the same Anonymous who wrote Go Ask Alice? If so, love your work)

I think the general rule of thumb that weight training sessions should not exceed 60 minutes is fine, in fact for the clients we work with I think its excessive. We will see them for 60 minutes total, to focus on hard weight training for the entire duration would be to ignore things like energy system development and mobility/flexibility. Qualities which , though not as sexy as lifting heavy things, are important too.

When people say they trained for an hour,when you take out warm ups and lighter sets it may only have been 30-40 minutes of actual hard work, i.e. work that would eat into your capacity to recover. 

Now, the idea that you will completely deplete yourself of glycogen in the magic 60 minute window will depend on lots of things from general fitness to nutritional status, to the size of the muscle group you're training as glycogen is depleted locally rather than systemically (you deplete it from the area you're training, not from all over your body). 

The idea that your body will "cannibalise" itself seems extreme as more glycogen can be mobilised from the liver to deal with such situations. But there is research to suggest that anabolic hormones drop off around the 45 minute mark during intense weight training. Plus its nice to have a life, so if you can get it done in 45 minutes then why not do it and get on with your day?

When we hear of bodybuilders, celebrities and actors training for 3 hours a day for a movie role, we should take it with a pinch of salt as theres always some PR spin to such claims. I remember newspapers claiming that Will Smith trained for 5 hours a day for the Ali movie. How much of this time was devoted to boxing drills and technical training? This is not the same as lifting weights for 5 hours.

Regarding rest days, remember "training" does not refer only to hard weight training, its anything that moves you toward your goal. So mobility work, technical training, or sled work are all examples of types of training that do not eat into recovery in the same way. Also, power/strength training methods can be done more frequently as in some ways they are skills that need to be practised. 

Bodybuilding style training however, taking sets to failure, slow lifting speeds, lots of sets in the 8-15 rep range and a wide variety of exercises, does eat into recover quite a bit. So the more your training program includes bodybuilding methods, the more rest days for particular muscle groups are applicable.

Here's a handy dandy list to summarise-

Stuff that can be done more frequently if not every day-

Mobility/flexibility work

technical/skill work

low intensity cardio

low intensity plyometrics

olympic lifts/other strength work 

sub maximal sets (not taken to failure)

Stuff that requires more recovery time/rest days in between-

Sets taken to failure

Slow lifting tempos

Eccentric only (lowering phase only) exercise

High intensity interval training.

One final point, great bodies have been built with all these methods. So while its currently fashionable to bash bodybuilding, its worth keeping in mind that bodybuilders (including natural bodybuilders) are still the biggest, leanest people on the planet, so to dismiss their methods completely is pretty shortsighted.