During a weight training session, your muscles undergo a series of changes. “When we weight train, we’re tipping the first domino toward increasing muscle size, strength, and/or performance,” says Josh Honore, NASM, CPT, and coach for Row House.
Initially, your body will use stored glycogen for energy, and as this gets depleted, it will start to break down fat and protein for energy, depleting your muscles’ energy reserves and breaking down muscle fibers. As a result of this process, muscle fibers can tear and fluids can be lost, which can cause soreness and inflammation. In response to these tears, muscles send a signal that they are injured, and specific cells that grow and regenerate muscle cells respond.
“The actual adaptation happens at rest,” explains Honore. “If you don’t give the body enough time between workouts, your adaptation process gets cut short. You leave valuable gains on the table and can enter your next workout without being fully recovered,” adds Honore.
Rest is equally important for our mental health. Many of us turn to exercise as a stress reliever, but overtraining can lead to burnout1, stress, and anxiety. When you weight train, you’re raising your heart rate and increasing the cortisol in your body. The problem is, when you are going through a stressful time in life and adding a rigid weightlifting schedule on top of that, you may do more damage than good.
Instead of thinking of exercise as a “chore,” think of it as something you get to enjoy. The key to a healthy lifestyle is to make exercise enjoyable and rewarding rather than a source of tension or stress.
