How to Maximize Recovery and Recuperation

 

Old-school lifters like Bernie Baron (shown here finishing a heavy clean and jerk in a contest back in the early 1940s) understood the importance of recovery and recuperation much better than most modern trainees. 

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Many trainees struggle with recovery and
recuperation - in fact, I probably should
say that ALMOST ALL trainees struggle
with it.

It's particularly common among older
trainees - but make no mistake about
it - the recovery puzzle is a problem
for trainees of all ages.

And it's a problem for trainees at all levels
of strength and development - from total
newbies to intermediates to advanced
trainees.

What do I mean by recovery?

Many trainees think that "recovery" means
a special kind of workout you do on your
"off" days - such as kettlebell training,
bodyweight exercises, cardio, lugging
and loading drills, or the farmer's walk.

But that's not recovery.

That's "active rest."

It may or may not help very much - but
that's a topic for another day.

The term "recovery" means your body's
ability to repair the damage done by any
given workout - and to restore itself to
where it was prior to the workout.

After a hard workout, your body needs
at least 48 hours for recovery - and in
many cases, it may need 72 to 96 hours
for full recovery.

That's why old-school training programs
were usually performed three days per
week.

The three day per week schedule gave
you 48 hours recovery time after two
of your weekly workouts - and 72 hours
recovery time after the third workout.

But if you train extra hard and heavy,
two workouts a week may be even
better - because you have more time
to recover after each workout.

And some trainees do very well hitting
the iron every fourth or fifth day.

Peary Rader noted the case of a man
who went on a specialization program
in the deadlift - and trained once every
SIX days - and ended up gaining 20
pounds of muscle and increasing his
strength so much that he was able to
set a world record in the deadlift!

I know, I know - that sounds impossible.

But it happened.

And it illustrates a very important point.

In short, the key to recovery is very
simple: it's giving your body the time
it needs to "bounce back" after each
workout.

Rest time = recovery time.

Meaning that rest days are just as
important as training days.

In other words - paradoxical as it may
seem - you do better by training less
and resting more . . .

As always, thanks for reading and have
a great day. If you train today, make it a
good one.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. For more tips about recovery - and for
workouts and training schedules that help
you maximize recovery, see these books
and courses:

Chalk and Sweat

http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html

Gray Hair and Black Iron

http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html

Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html

Dinosaur Strength Training Secrets,
Vol. 1

 http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html

(Also available in PDF and Kindle

editions - see the below link for

my Kindle books.)

Dinosaur Strength Training Secrets,
Vol. 3

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_03.html

(Also available in PDF and Kindle

editions - see the below link for

my Kindle books.)

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day:

"You can train more and gain less - or
train less and gain more. The choice is
yours."

- Brooks Kubik

Brooks Kubik's Kindle Books

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

We have over 25 books and courses in the Kindle store - including these:

 
For even more Kindle books by Brooks Kubik, visit:

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

The Recovery Puzzle

Old-time champions trained much less than modern-day trainees - but achieved much more than typical trainees who may spend 10, 15, or 20 or more hours a week in the gym.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We'll talk training in just a minute - as in,
the recovery puzzle - but first let me cover
three quick updates.

1. Which Is Your Favorite?

John Wood has added some great new tee
shirts and other swag to the Retro Strength
store.

Check them out and let me know which of
the designs is your favorite:


https://www.retrostrength.com/shop/

2. The Dino Files

Go here to grab the Oct. Nov, Dec and Jan
issues of The Dinosaur Files strength
training newsletter:

Oct - Jan issues

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html

And go here for the Feb issue:

Feb issue

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur-files-february2018pdf.html

I'm working on the March issue and hope
to have it out soon - and it's going to be
another good one!

3. The Strength Secrets Facebook
Group

Have you joined the Strength Secrets
Facebook Group? If not, go ahead and
sign up - it's a fun place, with plenty of
good discussion about sane, sensible,
real-world strength training:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/strengthsecrets/

4. The Recovery Puzzle

Many trainees struggle with recovery.

It's particularly common among older
trainees - but make no mistake about
it - the recovery puzzle is a problem
for trainees of all ages.

And it's a problem for trainees at all levels
of strength and development - from total
newbies to intermediates to advanced
trainees.

What do I mean by recovery?

Many trainees think that "recovery" means
a special kind of workout you do on your
"off" days - such as kettlebell training,
bodyweight exercises, cardio, lugging
and loading drills, or the farmer's walk.
But that's not recovery.

That's "active rest."

It may or may not help very much - but
that's a topic for another day.

The term "recovery" means your body's
ability to repair the damage done by any
given workout - and to restore itself to
where it was prior to the workout.

After a hard workout, your body needs
at least 48 hours for recovery - and in
many cases, it may need 72 to 96 hours
for full recovery.

That's why old-school training programs
were usually performed three days per
week.

The three day per week schedule gave
you 48 hours recovery time after two
of your weekly workouts - and 72 hours
recovery time after the third workout.

But if you train extra hard and heavy,
two workouts a week may be even
better - because you have more time
to recover after each workout.

And some trainees do very well hitting
the iron every fourth or fifth day.

Peary Rader noted the case of a man
who went on a specialization program
in the deadlift - and trained once every
SIX days - and ended up gaining 20
pounds of muscle and increasing his
strength so much that he was able to
set a world record in the deadlift!

I know, I know - that sounds impossible.

But it happened.

And it illustrates a very important point.

In short, the key to recovery is very
simple: it's giving your body the time
it needs to "bounce back" after each
workout.

Rest time = recovery time.

Meaning that rest days are just as important
as training days.

In other words - paradoxical as it may
seem - you do better by training less
and resting more . . .

As always, thanks for reading and have
a great day. If you train today, make it a
good one.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. For more tips about recovery - and for
workouts and training schedules that help
you maximize recovery, see these books:

Chalk and Sweat

http://www.brookskubik.com/chalk_and_sweat.html

Gray Hair and Black Iron

http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html

Strength, Muscle and Power

http://www.brookskubik.com/strength_muscle_power.html

Dinosaur Training: Lost Secrets of
Strength and Development

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_training.html

P.S. 2. Thought for the Day:

"You can train more and gain less - or
train less and gain more. The choice is
yours."

- Brooks Kubik

BEFORE YOU LEAVE . . .

We have more than 25 Dinosaur Training books and courses in the Kindle bookstore - here are several of them - head on over and take a look at the others:

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

How to Train for Lifelong Strength and Health!

Like all great champions, George Hackenschmidt knew there were times to train hard and heavy - and times to take it easier - and times to rest up and recover for the next workout.

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

Two quick notes and then we'll talk
training.

1. The January Dinosaur Files

Should be ready very soon - we're just
doing the final formatting and tweaking
to get the little monster to come in at
the right number of pages.

I'll send an email when it's ready.

In the meantime, go here to grab the
Oct, Nov and Dec issues:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_files.html

If you prefer to grab a one-year, 12-issue
subscription to the Dinosaur Files, shoot
me an email - we can make it happen.

2. Special Mini-Course for Older Dinos

I have a special mini-course for older
Dinos. It's available in PDF with immediate
electronic delivery, and the PDF is printable,
so you can print it and save it as a hard
copy.

You can find the little monster right here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/minicourse_01.html

This is a great little course with an all-new
workout for older Dinos. Give it a look!

3. Golden Advice for Dinos

Here's an email that I found waiting for me
when I fired up the old email a couple of
days ago.

It's a "confession" email, so I won't share
the name of the author - but it comes
from a longtime Dino.

Here it is:

Brooks,

I've got as confession to make.

Training the Dino way is easy for me!

Training was always such a battle when I did
it the wrong way - mistaking exhaustion for
lack of will and motivation.

Lifting heavy weights isn't easy, but when you
enjoy it and want to do it, it's really not that
hard.

But still, in about a third of my workouts I
don't feel energized or enthusiastic.

That's when getting golden advice in your
daily emails really helps.

Advice like "when in doubt do less."

So when I feel tired or am just not into it
mentally, I take an additional rest day or 
just do less and/or go lighter.

It's simple, but it makes training easy
again - and I love training now that I am
doing things "the right way."

Longtime Dino

Thanks for your email and your kind words!

I'm glad my advice has been helping - but
I'm not surprised.

One of the important rules of successful
training is to listen to your body. There are
times when your body is telling you - often
very loudly - that you need to take it easy,
scale back a bit, or even throw in an extra
rest day. You need to listen to your body
when it sends that kind of message.

Of course, that's not to say that you should
mistake laziness for helpful feedback - and
it's not to say that skipping a workout is
always a good thing.

But it's important to train sensibly and
intelligently - and not to let your ego
dictate what you do.

Remember, strength training is - or at
least, it SHOULD BE - a lifelong endeavor.

It's not something you do for awhile and
then stop.

Ideally, you start young and keep on training
for the rest of your life - even into your 60's,
70's, 80's and beyond.

The only way to last that long is to train smart -
to listen to your body - and to know when to
push hard and when to hold back.

And yes, as you noted, "Less is more."

That's actually one of the hardest things for
trainees to accept - but it's also one of the
most important!

As always, thanks for reading and have a
great day. If you train today, make it a good
one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Old-school bodyweight training is a
great change of pace - and it's easy to
combine with barbell, dumbbell and kettle-
bell exercises. I cover dozens of fun and
effective old-school exercises in Dinosaur
Bodyweight Training - and give you 50
different bodyweight workouts.

Go here to grab a copy:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_bodyweight.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right
here at Dino Headquarters:


Hard-copy and PDF

http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

Kindle

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html


P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: 

"The ultimate goal is lifelong strength
and health." 

- Brooks Kubik

BEFORE YOU LEAVE . . .

We have more than 25 Dinosaur Training books and courses in the Kindle bookstore - here are several of them - head on over and take a look at the others:

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

http://www.brookskubik.com/kindle.html

More Thoughts on Training Frequency

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

We have a ton of older Dinos, and
I thought I'd start out by sharing a
blog post for older lifters. It's by
Charles Poliquin, the Strength
Sensei, and it has some very
good ideas for older strength

athletes:

http://www.strengthsensei.com/can-you-reverse-age-related-strength-loss/

You'll also see a nice reference to
Dinosaur Training  Secrets, Vol.2,
"How Strong Are You?" Charles
really likes the course, and thinks
it has some excellent strength
standards for balanced development.

And for the record, so do I. That's
one of the reasons I wrote it.

You can grab the little monster in
the kindle e-book edition right
here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets2_kindle.html

If you prefer hard-copy, go here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_02.html

In other news  . . .

We received a ton of responses to
yesterday's post on workout frequency.
Here's a summary of what you had to
say:

1. Many Dinos reported that they do
best using a divided workout program
and training once every 4 or 5 days.

a. This is a very common schedule for
older Dinos because it allows for good
recovery and recuperation between
workouts.

b. It also helps avoid the joint problems
that can result from pounding an older
body too often.

2. Many Dinos also noted that their
optimal workout frequency differs
from one exercise to another. That's
a very important and little known
point.

a. Many Dinos said they need to do
a pressing exercise in each workout.

b. However, the same Dinos noted
that they do better on their pulling
exercises if they allow more rest
between sessions.

c. This is similar to many powerlifting
programs where you train the bench
press more often than the deadlift
because the deadlift requires a longer
recovery time between workouts.

3. Several Dinos noted that they do their
extra-heavy exercises -- such as heavy
partials in the power rack -- less often
than their lighter exercises.

a. Two Dinos noted the same thing
about heavy, awkward objects.

b. Similar points would apply to death
sets or the 20-rep breathing squat.

The bottom line for all Dinos is this:

Once you start to handle some serious
iron, you'll probably do better with much
less training than you think -- and that
goes double for older Dinos.

Remember, you stimulate gains in strength
and muscle by training -- but you need to
give your body the time it needs to grow
stronger and bigger in response to the
training stimulus -- and that requires
the right amount of non-training time.

As always, thanks for reading and have
a great day. If you train today, make it
a good one.

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. Gray Hair and Black Iron is the number
one book about effective training for older
Dinos. Go here to grab a copy:

http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html

P.S. I cover workout frequency, abbreviated
training, and ultra-abbreviated training in
Dinosaur Training Secrets, Vol. 1:

Kindle e-book

http://brookskubik.com/dinosaursecrets01_kindle.html

Hard-copy

http://www.brookskubik.com/dinosaur_secrets_01.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses -- and
links to my other e-books on Kindle -- are
right here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "One of the keys
to training success is to find your personal
requirement for optimal training frequency."
-- Brooks Kubik

*******************************************

Resting Outside the Box!

Hail to the Dinosaurs!

You've heard the phrase "think outside
the box."

Well, what about resting outside the box?

Here's a great email from Captain
Jeffrey Alton of the Greensboro, NC
Fire Department. He headed it "Resting
Outside the Box."

Captain Alton began by telling me a bit about
his training career. He's 54 now. He started
training at age 14, doing the typical muscle
pumper nonsense. he built some strength and
muscle, but not as much as he wanted, and in
his twenties he hurt his shoulder. The injury
bothered him for decades.

And then, two years ago, a friend gave him a
copy of GRAY HAIR AND BLACK IRON. It totally
changed his training.

He dropped the muscle pumping and started to
train Dino style -- hard and heavy on the
basics.

Currently, he's doing squats, deadlifts, snatches
and clean and jerks -- and his shoulder no longer
hurts! (Which shows you what those booby-building
workouts can do to your body.)

Anyhow, the purpose of Captain Alton's letter was
to share something that's given him great success.
He thought (and I agree) that other Dinos might
benefit from his ideas about rest between workouts.

Here's what he wrote:

"Being a firefighter I work an odd schedule. I work
24 hours on duty and then 48 hours off duty. I only
workout at the fire station. I run a paint business
on my off days which makes me so tired I don't want
to workout at the end of the day.

This workout schedule gives me two days rest between
each workout.

I lift on Mon, Thurs, Sun, Wed, Sat, Tues and Fri and
then repeat the schedule because the next work day is
Mon. I do four different workouts on a rotating
schedule. Which means I repeat each workout every
12 days.

Most serious lifters follow a routine which fits into a
seven day week, perhaps lifting on Mon, Wed and Fri or
something similar. But extending the workouts over a
longer period works better for me, not only because it
fits my schedule but because it fits my body and gives
me more rest between workouts.

I hope this information is beneficial to other Dinos.

Thanks for your time and commitment to lifters like
me.

Your friend at the Iron Bar,

Captain Jeffrey Alton"

So there you have it -- and now you know what I mean
when I talk about resting outside the box!

I've said this before, but it bears repeating. To make
good gains, you need to train the right way -- but you
also need to get enough rest to allow your body to
recover from your workouts.

Many Dinos have made great gains on three workouts per
week, using a divided workout program.

Others have made their best gains on TWO workouts per
week -- or on three workouts every 10 days -- or (as
Captain Alton has found) four workouts every 12 days.

The bottom line is, REST IS IMPORTANT! Make sure you
schedule your training so you get enough rest between
workouts.

As always, thanks for reading and have a great day.
If you train today, make it a good one!

Yours in strength,

Brooks Kubik

P.S. If you're over the age of 35, you NEED Gray
Hair and Black Iron. Go here to grab a copy:

http://www.brookskubik.com/grayhair_blackiron.html

P.S. 2. My other books and courses are right here:

http://www.brookskubik.com/products.html

P.S. 3. Thought for the Day: "You need training days
and you need rest days. One won't work without the
other." -- Brooks Kubik