Exercise offers a variety of benefits, including the ability to maintain movement due to improvements of muscular and cardiovascular endurance. However, the stress that exercise places upon your neuromuscular system can cause you to become fatigued and weak. It's essential that you schedule adequate rest periods between your workout sessions in order to allow your body to fully recover and to maximize your results.
Muscle Breakdown
When you participate in strenuous exercise activities, whether it's an aerobic workout like uphill running or a high volume weightlifting session, the stress from your workouts causes your muscle tissue to break down. Your muscles are not used to that stress, and as a result, after your workouts they are left damaged and have minor tears throughout their fibers. This breakdown, caused by what's referred to as overloading during your workouts, is important to developing muscular strength and endurance because it's what stimulates your muscles to then adapt and heal at an increased size and able to produce a greater amount of force.
Weakness
During the 48 to 72 hours after your workouts, your body takes steps to heal your damaged muscle tissues. However, while this occurs, your muscles are likely to be sore and feel weak. According to the University of Colorado's Roger M. Enoka, neuromuscular fatigue and a depletion of your energy stores cause this muscular weakness, which is demonstrated by the inability of our muscles to produce the same amount of force they're typically capable of.
Importance of Rest and Recovery
If you do not provide your muscles with an adequate amount of recovery time, you will adversely affect your potential benefits from exercising, according to Keith E. Cinea of the National Strength and Conditioning Association. You will keep breaking down your muscles and causing weakness without reaping the rewards. Beginners need about 48 hours of rest in between workouts that break down their muscles, while more advanced exercisers who typically complete workouts of greater volume will need about 72 hours of rest. For example, intense cardiovascular sessions or weight training workouts can be completed on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule to provide 48 hours of rest. Lower intensity exercises like slow jogging, which doesn't provide enough stress to break down your muscle fibers, can be completed on consecutive days.
Overtraining
Consistently disallowing your muscles enough recovery time can lead to a condition called overtraining. Overtraining is when you constantly feel weak and fatigued and your workout performance is adversely affected. According to strength and conditioning specialist Keith E. Cinea, sometimes overtraining can even cause you to detrain, or lose muscular strength, tone and endurance despite your frequent workouts.
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