Quote:
Originally Posted by KSigkid
I think that it's 24-48 hours for the body part in question. So, if you do shoulders one day, you should give 24-48 hours before you do another shoulder workout.
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That's correct. You should have your training days (particularly for lifting) divided up into splits.
This is how I do mine, for example:
Monday - Shoulders & Triceps
Tuesday - Back
Wednesday - Day off from lifting, cardio ok
Thursday - Legs and Calves
Friday - Chest & Biceps
Sunday - Day off from lifting, cardio ok
The reason for the rest is this: when you are lifting and you feel that "burn", what you are actually doing is putting tiny microscopic tears into the muscle (it sounds bad, but it is actually good). However, the body needs ample time to repair those muscles, so you don't want to be working the same muscle group every day; the muscles will not have adequate time to heal and repair. I hope this helps.
navane: you didn't mention what order you are doing your workout in, but you should be lifting weights first, doing cardio second. If you do cardio first, you will use up a lot of glycogen in your muscles, and you will not have as much energy stores to draw on when lifting. With cardio, it doesn't really matter, but with weights, you don't want to hurt yourself doing resistance exercises.
P.S. Don't make Monday to be "Chest Day" for you, as you will have a hard time finding free chest equipment. This is because Mondays are "International Chest Day" for ALL MEN, EVERYWHERE, AT ALL GYMS. Just drop in to any gym on a Monday and see if I'm right!