We often hear that recovery is important for gains, however, there’s a few different reasons WHY that is the case. This study underlines one of those reasons. As you can see on the graph, it can take three full days for a muscle to recover to original activation levels. When a muscle is damaged and sore from training, you won’t be able to activate it as well. This will reduce how much weight you can lift and it also reduces the amount of muscle fibers that get a training stimulus from that workout. Now, this particular graph is an average of 9 different muscle groups. Lower body muscles typically recover a little faster than upper body, but that’s not always the case!
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▪️ Based on: Chen, T. C., Yang, T. J., Huang, M. J., Wang, H. S., Tseng, K. W., Chen, H. L., & Nosaka, K. (2019). Damage and the repeated bout effect of arm, leg, and trunk muscles induced by eccentric resistance exercises. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports, 29(5), 725-735.
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