Flibbertigibbet

Flibbert,

What you really need is a Jacuzzi in the middle of your living room. That way you and your roommates would have control over who’s hot and who's not and who has access to your tub. Also... if and when you decide to have sex in your Jacuzzi, you won't be breaking any rules. You of all people would clean up after yourself. So work out (and scope out) at the local gym. As long as you have that Quasimodo thing of yours under control, I’m sure you won’t have any problem luring men back to your lair.

Tiberius

Recovery is essential to any bodybuilding plan. If you don't need 2 days off between workouts, you soon will. And once you're past the beginner level, 4 days is recommended. I work out every 2 weeks, using a split routine no less and slowly but surely keep adding weight. And I'm by no means huge.

Check out maxcontraction.com to see what kind of workout I do.

This is the reason I don't read anything about working out. It's like global warming to me. ;op A million people are all saying lots of different things about what's good and what isn't, what works and what doesn't. And I'm not actually interested enough to really research it myself. I just do what my trainer tells me to do.

Flibbert,

Hah! Yeah, it is a bit like that. Ask 10 people how much recovery time is needed, get 10 answers.

But recovery time is a near-universally accepted principle. Yeah, this guy will say you need 2-4 days, and that guy will say you may need 4-7 days. But just about everyone is going to say you need at least 2 or so and ever more time as you progress to heavier weights. The heavier the weights you use and the more intense your workout, the more rest you need.

The guy I linked to actually ran an experiment and measured growth over time. The average (average mind you) recovery time that it took for people to recover from a workout was 7 days. (these were people who had been working out for a bit; beginners can rest less because they put less stress on their systems) But it varies quite a bit on what stage of development you're at, and most of all how favorable your genetics are. When you see big freaks who go to the gym for 6 hours every day and get bigger, this is a result of genetics (and steroids). Don't kid yourself into thinking that what works for them will work for you. Us mere humans need more rest.

Workouts are actually quite destructive to your muscle mass. What they do is provide a stimulus to grow and overcompensate for this destruction. If you do not allow the proper amount of time to both recover and overcompensate then you will get weaker and weaker instead of stronger. Each workout will dig you further into the hole, as it were.

Likely, you are still very much at the beginner stage and aren't taxing your system a lot. 2 days may work fine for you for a while. But sooner or later, you will need to rest more. Since I assume you don't have access to the measuring equipment that Mr. Little used in his experiment, the best you (or I) can do is make an educated guess as to how much rest is needed.

But one thing I can tell you is that you won't do yourself any harm by erring on the side of caution. Muscle won't atrophy unless you go a very long time indeed without working out. (we're talking a month or more)

Just remember: you grow when you rest, not in the gym.

So anyway, now that this is a personal blog, go ahead and tell us what your lifting regimen consists of.

(I don't know if you noticed this, but if you click on my profile, it says one of my hobbies is bodybuilding. Does it show?)