Rest Week is Here! Let’s see how good I do at this. As far as I’m concerned I think I had way too many rest weeks in my life, but this one has a purpose. There’s a theory about muscle development that I subscribe to that says recovery time is just as important as working time. To sum it it, it goes a little something like this: If you lifted 1 pound, you’d need a second or two to recover to do it again (to be able to lift the weight in perpetuity, with the right fuel). If you lifted 5 pounds, you’d need a few more seconds to recover to do it again. If you lifted 20 pounds, you may need a few minutes to recover to do it again, and so on. There is an amount of weight (force, exertion) that it may take months, even years, to recover from to be able to do it again.
Our muscle ‘breaks down’ for lack of a better analogy and rebuilds through rest. Tonight when I sleep (if I fed them the right ingredients) my muscles will grow stronger based on what I did this week. That’s why every 5 weeks or so, I rest and let the muscles rebuild. My body mass is the amount of weight I’m bearing through running, biking and swimming. I’ve been carrying this weight since I’ve been able to walk, but it’s not just gravity I’m fighting, it’s also the force I’m using to move it horizontally. My recovery time for using the force should be sufficient enough to be stronger next time I want to use it (not the same invisible Force Yoda talked about unfortunately). Makes sense, right?
What’s the appropriate amount of rest? I have no freaking clue! Should lifting 20 pounds take 3 minutes to recover from or 8 minutes? Should running 10 miles take 3 days to recover from or 7 days? Dunno. I do know that too short amount of time and too long amount of time to recover isn’t good either. So here I am, in school (life), learning about the appropriate amount of time to recover from an activity and I’m finally paying attention.
Working out gives me an immediate rush of endorphins. I get immediate feedback and know how I feel instantly. Resting on the other hand has no endorphin rush, and no apparent immediate feedback. That’s why resting is going to be as difficult as my workouts. I have to use this muscle theory that I can’t hear, taste, smell, feel, or see and have faith that it’s going to work. So in essence, I am using the Force….. only I’m using it to rest.
