The importance of exercise recovery to help weight loss

In light of my tendon injury or muscle injury- I'm not sure which.. (boy it hurts), I was reminded again about the importance of recovery periods and muscle recuperation.  On Friday, I shouldn't have lifted using that muscle group but should allow it to rest.  Saturday we concentrated on legs alone and left the upper body alone.  Below is an article by Jillian Michaels about the importance of exercise recovery.  Check out the original article by clicking on the title.

The importance of exercise recovery to help weight loss

We are always being told to exercise more in order to lose weight, after all the more regular we workout the more calories and fat we burn. So it may seem weird to discuss the importance of gaining plenty of rest between exercise sessions. However once you understand why muscles need quality rest you'll be able to plan an exercise regime that will be more effective for you and your individual needs rather then attempting to follow a workout plan found from a magazine, one that may cause more harm than good!
When we exercise our muscles breakdown, tiny fragments of protein within the muscle cells shatter. The more we exercise during a workout the greater the muscle catabolism (degradation); it’s one of the reasons why we actually become weaker as we progress through a particular routine. How quickly muscles degrade also depends on the strength of the individual and the intensity of the exercise. Obviously the stronger and fitter the person the slower the rate of breakdown, also the more effort we put into an exercise the faster the rate of muscle catabolism, it’s the reason why we can all walk a hell of a lot further than we can run!

After any workout routine the muscles need to replace all elements lost, both proteins and energy stores need replacing for muscles to make a full recovery. But if muscles are not given enough time to recover fully before another workout is repeated then the muscles progressively become smaller. What this could mean for weight loss is a gradual decline in lean tissue, thus lowering the metabolism over the course of a few weeks. A lowered metabolism could be disastrous for a dieter because less calories are burned overall, meaning they must either lower calorie intake even further (not always recommended) or burn more energy through more exercise which will only exasperate the problem. This can be another cause for the common weight loss plateau for those who do exercise regularly.

Our muscles calorie burning potential can only help us lose weight if they are allowed to reach their fat burning potential; this is the reason why recovery between workout routines is so important. To help muscles recover there are a few tricks we can use –

• Do not lower calorie intake below 1500 per day
• Eat a little high quality protein at most meals
• Get plenty of sleep
• Try to rest a day between hard workouts.

If new to exercising try to train every other day rather than two consecutive days in a row
As fitness levels grow its possible to increase the number of training days in a week and still be able to recover within a day. Another reason why we should all start off any routine slowly and attempt to build up gradually!