How can i recover faster after workouts?

[BlackMaze]

My recovery is very slow but mostly this is true for the legs. I trained on monday and they are still hurting. The other muscles recover much quicker but the legs seem to need much more. Will it get faster with time? Is there a good way to speed up the recovery? More protein and more sleep is what i heard helps. Is there something else that could help? 

[Michael569]

There is a phase of adaptation. If you have been trying new forms of exercise, doing lifts or moves you haven't done before your muscles will take longer to recover than if you were, for example, a veteran lifter. The more often you put your muscles under stress, the less severe the DOMS will be. 

Could be that you trained in a new, unusual way and that blasted your myofibres much more than usually so the microinflammation takes longer to resolve. I'd just leave it do the work or just do more upper body stuff in the meantime

If you can do some stretches and make sure to eat well and enough calories. Recovery and repair takes a lot of building materials so keep your body well nourished. 

Certain things like alcohol may slow down the repair because they will require a redeployment of resources

 

[BlackMaze]

@Michael569 Thank you. Yeah i do those bodyweight sets until failure with good form and i go on and on and in the end i can't sit for 5 days. The other muscles recover in 2 days but for the legs i wonder if it is even possible without supplements. I do recall however in the gym that my recovery was better between leg days after the first 2 painful ones. But this is something else because i push until failure. I could push less maybe but these are the instruxtions. Is it worth it to supplement with eaa? Some people swear for the effectiveness. 

[Michael569]

9 minutes ago, BlackMaze said:

But this is something else because i push until failure

Maybe you pushed extra hard and ass a result of that it will take longer for the microdamage to be repaired. I've experienced these super long feeling of soreness especially in times where I was out of the gym and then did heavy squads. 

You can't go wrong with trying some BCAAs, they make up around 40% of your muscle protein structure so there is definitely a rational for that but you can get them super easily from food. You may look up which foods are specifically high in leucine, isoleucine and valine (BCAAs) but since your body can swap up amino acids all the time in the transamination process, you'll end up having enough of them anyway. 

In the real world, what you can do is adding some more tofu, more beans, more lentils into your meals. Combined with good wholegrains you'll get the full profile of all your essential amino acids. Also, you can increase your caloric intake somewhat and see if that helps. 

[Lyubov]

I think you should start barbell strength training. It sounds to me like you are doing just random exercises now you don't really know much about that aren't really an actual program and you are over training an area of the body. I'm guessing you want to get stronger? Look up "starting strength" on youtube and "barbell medicine" also "barbell logic." Starting strength has a book on this method as well as a programming book called practical programming. Barbell training is basically the best training method for strength and fitness. Basically you need to clean up your training method and get on an actual program so it is actually effective and can be tracked. Then from there we can hone in on your recovery period if there are any problems there. Most novices won't face problems during their recovery period unless if they are having sleep problems or eat like one meal a day.

Edited February 26, 2021 by Lyubov

[BlackMaze]

@Michael569 thank you i already try to add more tofu and beans in my diet. I was talking about eaa and not bcaa. They have all 9 essential amino acids but other than that i don't know much. Some people i know say that they saw a big difference by supplementing with them in performance and recovery. 

@Lyubov thank you for your suggestions. I actually do the xero program at level - 1 from athlean-x. It's not something random and i already saw some gains. It's a very good program but the only problem is that i have many more rest days than i should according to the program. After finishing the xero program i will either continue with xero 2 or do some calisthenics or barbell training as you suggested. My goal is not necessarily just strength. I prefer to be more athletic than just buff. My sleep is not the best but i'm working on it. 

Edited February 26, 2021 by BlackMaze

[The0Self]

The adaptation response only lasts 28-48 hours after a session, so if you aren’t training 3 days a week for the same lift, you’re shooting yourself in the foot. After training for 2 weeks like this you will no longer get sore. Soreness is not a marker of recovery, just so you know. Just don’t work out so hard that you’re unbearably sore. Soreness on a proper program should not persist much past the 2nd or 3rd week

[BlackMaze]

@The0Self yeah this is what i was afraid of. It was the first week of the second level after i completed the first month. The thing is i completed the first month in 2 months because i was getting sore. Now the program basically has 18 sets of bodyweight exercises till failure. Everything else recovers just fine but my legs are getting destroyed everytime. Should i just push less then? I do see gains just slower because i need to recover for longer everytime. 

[The0Self]

58 minutes ago, BlackMaze said:

@The0Self yeah this is what i was afraid of. It was the first week of the second level after i completed the first month. The thing is i completed the first month in 2 months because i was getting sore. Now the program basically has 18 sets of bodyweight exercises till failure. Everything else recovers just fine but my legs are getting destroyed everytime. Should i just push less then? I do see gains just slower because i need to recover for longer everytime. 

As a novice you will never need longer than 48 hours to recover, you just might get really sore if you come in and blast a particular lift once a week. Do it 3 times a week and you will very quickly no longer get sore. I highly recommend a standard proven linear progression program like Starting Strength (not my favorite but it's better than 99 percent of programs out there).

Here's an example of a good program, 3 days a week, these sets are after at least 2 sets of ramped warm up immediately prior for each lift:

Chin 3x5 (weighted, obviously)

Dip (or bench press) 3x5

Deadlift 1x5 (eventually alternate with Squat 3x5, once you're unable to add 10 pounds to the DL every session)

Press 3x5

Curl 2x8 (strict, standing with barbell) (optional)

Add weight or reps every time or as often as you can. Always stay in the 5-15 rep range; 5-10 is better.

~3min rest between work sets

Edited February 26, 2021 by The0Self

[BlackMaze]

@The0Self thanks i will try that when i will start a gym membership again. For now i am very happy with this bodyweight program and i will finish it maybe more than once before starting lifting weights again. I do have the starting strength book but i haven't read it yet. 

[Average Investor]

I find that having a mix of different workouts and stretches helps a lot. I have been doing yoga a few times a week, cycling, and jogging. I use to just jog all the time and I get injured much less now. I also stretch 2-3 times per day. I also try to give myself one day a week to rest fully too. 

[Lyubov]

5 hours ago, BlackMaze said:

I prefer to be more athletic than just buff. My sleep is not the best but i'm working on it. 

this is a misnomer. there aren't different kind's of strength and really only two distinctions to be made in fitness. strength and conditioning/endurance. what do you mean exactly by athletic?  

Edited February 26, 2021 by Lyubov

[Lyubov]

4 hours ago, The0Self said:

Here's an example of a good program, 3 days a week, these sets are after at least 2 sets of ramped warm up immediately prior for each lift:

Chin 3x5 (weighted, obviously)

Dip (or bench press) 3x5

Deadlift 1x5 (eventually alternate with Squat 3x5, once you're unable to add 10 pounds to the DL every session)

Press 3x5

Curl 2x8 (strict, standing with barbell) (optional)

Add weight or reps every time or as often as you can. Always stay in the 5-15 rep range; 5-10 is better.

~3min rest between work sets

Bolded are the lifts to focus on as a novice. No reason for a novice to be doing curls. It's a specific accessory lift and the arms will get plenty of attention doing bench and press. 

ideal novice program is 3 days a week 

d1

3x5 squat

3x5 shoulder press 

1x5 deadlift

d2

3x5 squat

3x5 bench press 

1x5 deadlift

d3

3x5 squat

3x5 shoulder press 

1x5 deadlift

upper body rotates each workout 

add 5 pound increments for upper body add 10 pound increments for lower body 

deadlift is likely to plateau first which in that case it is removed from d2 and replaced with a back exercise like chin ups or lat pull downs or barbell row 

when squat starts to get real heavy but progress is still being made, d2 can then have a light squat of 30% off the work load of the last d1 workout. when this program is exhausted it is onto an intermediate program which is more complex. but uses the same lifts and may have an accessory workout in it depending on what area needs it.  not all lifts are likely to plateau at the same time so a novice to intermediate program is usually implemented in parts, with each lift being altered that has plateaued until the entire program is considered intermediate. 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Lyubov

[BlackMaze]

@Lyubov i mean having both, to not focus only on lifting more (when i start weight lifting again) but also to have endurance, explosiveness etc. To have the right body for parkour for example would be the ideal for me while also being able to do calisthenics. I do love however the deadlifts, squats, shoulder and bench presses. The gyms are closed and i think i will just postpone it for a year before i go to the gym because i'm very happy with what i'm doing right now. 

@Average Investor you are right i could do that. I already do some yoga when i'm sore + massage and also i'm going to start using a foam roller but yeah i don't run and i miss it. I also like jumping rope but i do it rarely. That's a good idea for the sore days thanks. 

[Lyubov]

1 hour ago, BlackMaze said:

@Lyubov i mean having both, to not focus only on lifting more (when i start weight lifting again) but also to have endurance, explosiveness etc. To have the right body for parkour for example would be the ideal for me while also being able to do calisthenics. I do love however the deadlifts, squats, shoulder and bench presses. The gyms are closed and i think i will just postpone it for a year before i go to the gym because i'm very happy with what i'm doing right now. 

generally speaking there is no right body per-say when it comes to parkour (lets leave out outliers, for example some power lifter that is very strong but incredibly overweight due to their dirty diet or some disabled person). There are fit people and unfit people. Or strong people and weak people. You want to be strong so you can do parkour more effectively and lift your body weight over obstacles and launch yourself with powerful jumps and leaps. 

https://startingstrength.com/training/how-to-do-conditioning-it-depends

https://startingstrength.com/article/strength_and_conditioning

these articles go into detail about how to implement and train for conditioning while getting stronger or what to focus on before the other. 

https://startingstrength.com/article/the-power-clean start reading half way down, he goes into some dumb personal story at the start

The power clean can be implemented into programming towards the end of novice or intermediate to train for what you call explosion or the application of strength exerting force rapidly. 

Right now a lot of these lesser programs that don't make use of barbells you will see some progress b/c an untrained, weak person will make progress with any stress placed upon their body. It's optimal over sitting on the couch all day and doing nothing  But if you really want to make progress and reach your top athletic ability look into the tried and true method of barbell training when the gyms reopen where you are. Keep doing what you are doing though. No exercise is always worse than not the most optimal or effective method/program. 

Edited February 26, 2021 by Lyubov

[BlackMaze]

@Lyubov thank you for the detailed answer really helpful. I wouldn't call myself weak i was fit in the past but never really got into weight training seriously mostly bodyweight and cardio. Then i didn't train consistently for years and lived unhealthy that's why i'm unfit. I'm already changing that. Xero is tough for everybody! Don't underestimate it just because it doesn't involve barbells. But sure the same gains would be easier probably with weights but i prefer to workout at home for now. 

[The0Self]

@Lyubov Starting Strength is a fantastic program but it's not the end-all-be-all, and especially not if one isn't willing to eat a rather unhealthy amount of food. This is a spirituality forum, not a get-strong-at-all-costs forum. Not doing weighted chin ups as a novice is generally a mistake. The program you illustrated has no scapular retraction (until DL stalls, but that generally takes a while), but basically if one is simply progressively overloading (via additional reps or preferably weight on the bar) every session (at least once a week but most preferably 2 or better yet 3) in the 5-15 rep range on the press and the deadlift, and preferably the chin as well, everything else is basically just details.

And the 2 sets of curls are optional, as stated. They're easy and aren't going to cause one to over-train, and many guys simply enjoy doing them. They are pretty much unnecessary, but at least do chins to get scapular retraction.

Edited February 26, 2021 by The0Self

[BlackMaze]

Yeah i think i read only the first chapter or so. I'm definitely not willing to drink so much milk. I eat everything again but i'm not drinking any milk. I don't want to just get strong at any cost but to do it in a healthy way. Otherwise i would buy supplements with 1000 calories/scoop. 

[The0Self]

2 minutes ago, BlackMaze said:

Yeah i think i read only the first chapter or so. I'm definitely not willing to drink so much milk. I eat everything again but i'm not drinking any milk. I don't want to just get strong at any cost but to do it in a healthy way. Otherwise i would buy supplements with 1000 calories/scoop. 

If you have access to a chin up bar and dip bar you can get started on weighted chins and dips asap. They are basically like DL and SQ for the upper body.

You can do sprints or some kind of weighted carry or even max incline walking on a treadmill (or climbing stairs) with a heavy backpack on (facing forward; on chest rather than back) to have decent lower body development while waiting on the gym.

Yeah I'm much more concerned about health these days, rather than brute strength. Leanness is fun to play with too, and the girls love it and it's pretty easy to do by just waiting as late in the day as possible to eat, and getting at least 100g of protein a day.

[Lyubov]

24 minutes ago, The0Self said:

@Lyubov Starting Strength is a fantastic program but it's not the end-all-be-all, and especially not if one isn't willing to eat a rather unhealthy amount of food. This is a spirituality forum, not a get-strong-at-all-costs forum. Not doing weighted chin ups as a novice is generally a mistake. The program you illustrated has no scapular retraction (until DL stalls, but that generally takes a while), but basically if one is simply progressively overloading (via additional reps or preferably weight on the bar) every session (at least once a week but most preferably 2 or better yet 3) in the 5-15 rep range on the press and the deadlift, and preferably the chin as well, everything else is basically just details.

And the 2 sets of curls are optional, as stated. They're easy and aren't going to cause one to over-train, and many guys simply enjoy doing them. They are pretty much unnecessary, but at least do chins to get scapular retraction.

I don't think you need to eat a rather unhealthy amount of food to make progress on it. Programming can be tweaked at the intermediate phase to accommodate for one's dietary intake as well as the light day I threw in there. I also brought in back exercises and the barbell row which for many will usually be worked in around the second or third month with the light day. Most novices can barely do a few chin ups so those are worked up to using lat pull downs or a similar exercise.  

9 minutes ago, BlackMaze said:

Yeah i think i read only the first chapter or so. I'm definitely not willing to drink so much milk. I eat everything again but i'm not drinking any milk. I don't want to just get strong at any cost but to do it in a healthy way. Otherwise i would buy supplements with 1000 calories/scoop. 

You don't have to. Many people have improved on the diet advice of the original author. Barbell medicine and Barbell logic I think have basically taken everything from Starting Strength and improved on it and made it more holistic. Strength training programming isn't inflexible. It can be adapted and can accommodate your diet/recovery if you aren't doing "bulking"  (which I don't) that is eating insane amounts of food/protein because they are trying to set new high records constantly.