Should you train a muscle every other day for faster growth? Or is it best to rest 3 to 4 days for full damage recovery?
There’s a theory based on protein synthesis that says hypertrophy occurs FIRST after a workout—BEFORE damage-repair begins.
That’s counterintuitive, but here’s how hypertrophy researcher Chris Beardsley frames it, at least from my understanding:
1) When you have ONLY muscle damage from a deep cut or bruise, muscle protein synthesis (MPS) for repair begins more than 24 hours AFTER the injury. But…
2) When you weight train, you get muscle damage PLUS hypertrophic stimulation. Now myofibrillar protein synthesis (MYOPS), which signifies growth, begins immediately, lasting for about 36 hours. MPS for damage repair still begins at around the 24-hour mark.
Beardsley says that appears to indicate that hypertrophy occurs FIRST in that first 36-hour window BEFORE damage repair starts. Therefore…
He says it’s best to train a muscle more frequently—36 to 48 hours later to prevent any atrophy; you keep growth continuous.
IF this is true, an every-other-day full-body routine would be best. THE PROBLEM…
When you train a muscle 48 hours later, repair is still happening. How can you grow a muscle if it’s accumulating damage without ever healing?
Ah, but there is a way to use that frequency while allowing repair to happen—and it can increase your muscle growth significantly.
The solution tomorrow. Spoiler alert…
It’s full-body workouts with a twist: You prioritize half your muscles first, then de-emphasize the other half with non-damaging work. You flip-flop that at your next workout. It’s alternating A and B, each a unique full-body workout with a different half prioritized….
A version of that with STX is the Wave Full-Body Workout from The Ultimate Mass Workout Reloaded, Chapter 5. More tomorrow.