In many forms of professional training, it is common knowledge that rest leads to the recovery of muscles from damage. Exercise scientist Dr. Mike Israetel highlighted this in a podcast with Dr. Ryan Gleeson, where he talked about some particular habits of elite athletes. He pointed out how they would never miss a chance to rest up.
In an Instagram post featuring a clip from the podcast, Dr. Israetel was quick to highlight how elite athletes made use of their moments to relax wisely. No matter how hard they liked to train, they’d always take their recovery time seriously.
But it wasn’t just their recovery time that seemed peculiar to the exercise scientist. He also brought to light, why some of the best athletes in the world performed so well in their respective sports. It wasn’t necessarily due to spending hours training at the gym or field.
“One of the reasons why some of the best athletes are some of the best athletes is because their default state is one of relaxation.”
Being in a relaxed state of mind as the default state does not just enhance the recovery time of the athlete but it also helps curb the tendency to overtrain. Consequently, if they don’t train too much, they reach their goals at the optimum stage and don’t end up stretching their capacities.
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Dr. Israetel also commented how he’d seen some athletes not necessarily working hard, but drawing boundaries at their recovery time. They leave to unwind as soon as the training session for the day ends. Noting this as one of the elaborate plans elite athletes carry out, Dr. Gleeson wrote:
“If you want to win the long game, you have to understand that rest isn’t a weakness, it’s a strategy.”
Rest serves as a great time for one’s muscles to repair themselves and grow stronger. However, it raises the question of how often one should train for optimum results. Luckily, Dr. Israetel had already answered this earlier.
Balancing training and rest periods according to Dr. Mike Israetel
In a podcast with popular host Chris Williamson, Dr. Israetel addressed a bunch of exercise-related questions and doubts. One of them was to determine the number of days in a week dedicated to training, depending on different muscle groups.
Dr. Israetel recommends two to four times a week for one group of muscles, which should be sufficient. However, a sure-shot formula for the same cannot be determined since every individual has different needs.
