Recovery

This is probably a topic that gets overlooked a lot in weightlifting or any form of exercise for that matter. I'd give it just as much credibility as the actual process of lifting weights in terms of its contribution to results. People often fall for the mistake in thinking that building muscle, strength or whatever is only a function of their time actually spent in the gym lifting weights. This couldn't be farther from the truth. Think of weightlifting as two parts; the breakdown of tissue (catabolism), and then the regeneration of muscle tissue (anabolism).

Time spent in the gym actually stimulating the muscles by lifting weights ends up in catabolism and lots of microtrauma in the muscle tissues. Loosely speaking, muscle tissues are torn and broken down to some degree. It's the time after that that contributes to the rebuilding of muscle mass. You build muscle when you recover, plain and simple. You can do a thousand squats and a million deadlifts, but unless you're contributing enough to your body's recovery you won't achieve crap.

The biggest factors in recovery are sleep and diet. Other things can also help and I'll discuss them later. I don't know or care which is more important; sleep or food, but without both you're not going to get anywhere. Sleep a lot, tons and tons of studies have shown that regeneration of muscle tissue happens while sleeping as well as the repair of many other cells and tissues in the body as a result of the interaction and work of thousands of hormones and cellular processes. I've had days where I slept a few hours only the night of a heavy workout and woke up trashed the next day. Then there were nights where I got 8 hours of sleep or more and I woke up feeling like new. Unless you experience it it's hard to tell the benefits of a good nights sleep.

Food is the other major factor. A solid diet high in protein for muscle tissue anabolism is very important. I supplement with Omega 3, if not for its millions of other health benefits then solely for its contribution to anti inflammation. Food is fuel for your body, if you stress your body with weightlifting and don't provide it food it won't grow and repair. I wrote a post way back about convenience; the reason it relates to this is that people often find it difficult to eat enough food because they're constantly on the go between work and school and what have you. Make food in large quantities at home and take with you for the week. It's not hard and doesn't take a lot of effort. Good snack foods to take with you when you're out are nuts, tuna, yogurt, trail mix, string cheese, fruits, veggies. All of these are whole foods with essential vitamins and minerals as well as good fats and protein which your body will need when recovering.

I said I'd mention a couple of other small things that could help; foam rolling is a good one, it helps take out the knots in your muscles by applying your body weight on a foam roller to sort of 'iron' them out. Also ice-packs are obviously a good one. I use Voltaren cream or any other muscle cream would do, just something to apply heat, one of those icey hot type creams would do.