Hi, it’s Fitness Coach Will Levin of Older Guys Fitness here to talk about rest and recovery from exercise for men over 40. Rest and recovery, known as “recovery,” is just as important as exercise. During recovery your body adapts to the stress of exercise and propels you toward your fitness goals. People of all ages need recovery in any fitness plan, but for men over 40 recovery from exercise is especially important.
THE BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE RECOVERY
Effective recovery is just as important as exercise. The importance of recovery relates to the concepts of “progression” and the General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), which I discuss in my blog post, Periodization and Progression in Fitness Plans for Men over 40. GAS describes how the body responds and adapts to physical stress; such as stress created by a resistance (weight) training program. In other words, GAS means building back stronger after exercise.
During your workout you apply physical stress to the body. In order to adapt to that physical stress, the human body needs to rest and recover in a specific and effective way. So one benefit of effective recovery is to maximize what you did during the workout. Conversely, if you don’t recover effectively you lose some of the benefit of your workout.
Another benefit of effective recovery is that it avoids the risk of overtraining and injury. For men over 40, the risk of injury is always present. An injury can set your whole program back weeks or months.
WHAT TO DO ON REST DAYS TO MAXIMIZE THE BENEFITS OF RECOVERY
Recovery in general, for people of all ages, applies to resistance training and to moderate/high intensity cardiorespiratory training. On rest days from your fitness plan, there are specific actions you should take to maximize recovery.
- Proper Nutrition. You should be eating a lot of protein and carbs. Protein will aid in repairing muscles and carbs will restore glycogen that was depleted from your workouts, restoring energy.
- Sleep. Get at least 8 hours of good sleep each night. This is crucial to your recovery and to your body adapting to the stress of your fitness plan.
- Hydration. Drink a lot of water, which will help transport nutrients to your muscles.
- Stretch. Complete a full body stretch one or two times that day.
- Listen to your body. If you are exhausted the day after a workout, you need to take it easy. But still do your stretching. If you feel you have enough energy, you can do some light activity, like walking.
OLDER GUYS FITNESS 40+ MUSCLE MASS: REST AND RECOVERY
Let’s use the Older Guys Fitness 40+ Muscle Mass program as an example in order to show differences in recovery for men over 40. My 40+ Muscle Mass program is 90 days and the acute variables are custom designed for each individual client.
With my custom 40+ Muscle Mass program, after each workout your muscles are damaged by tears in muscle fiber. So part of your rest and recovery day will include a high protein diet because protein is essential for repairing and building the damaged muscles, which makes your muscles bigger and stronger.
MIKE AND STEVE
Let’s say I have two clients: Mike (45) and Steve (58). Both men jog regularly, have their body fat under control but have not been in the gym, or done any resistance training, in two years. They are both in good health. Both men want to build muscle mass. (Each individual client is different, so I will generalize in this discussion.)
On rest days, both Mike and Steve will be advised to do everything in the previous section: high protein diet, 8 hours of sleep, hydration, stretching and maybe some light activity.
As men age they need more recovery time after a workout. That means more rest days between workouts. Mike at 45 will be able to do more high intensity workouts more times each week and thus will need fewer rest days. On the other hand, Steve at 58 probably won’t be able to match the intensity and volume that Mike does and will need more rest days between workouts.
I would have Mike workout Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday with rest on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. I would have Steve resting two days between each workout, so the days each week would vary. At 58 Steve needs more time to recover to get the benefits of his workouts. And there is nothing wrong with that. It’s simply the course of nature and aging.
As Mike and Steve advance through the 90-day Older Guys Fitness 40+ Muscle Mass program, depending on how they feel, I may reduce their rest days by increasing workout frequency. Both will definitely increase the intensity and volume of their workouts by increasing load and sets, which I discuss in my blog post Periodization and Progression in Fitness Plans for Men over 40.
To sum up, in order for the GAS principle to work optimally, rest and recovery is supremely important. The actions taken on rest days affects the benefits you get from your workout. As men get older they need more rest and recovery.
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