Peak Overcompensation Point - In Order to Grow, You Need to Recover

POP (Peak Overcompensation Point) is all focused on the rest you allow you body to have. I’m not just talking about sleep for an overall healthy mind/body state. I’m more interested in the rest needed for the muscles being worked. See, a workout is a catabolic activity used to stimulate growth. This is because anabolism (growth) is stimulated by catabolism (breakdown). This “negative-feedback loop” is the body’s way of saying “We need to grow to push more weight.” From there, the body goes to work repairing, compensating, and then overcompensating for the damage done. This leads to the Peak Overcompensation Point or POP. POP is the period of time where your muscles have fully recovered and can be trained again. If one waits too long after the POP, the muscles will start to atrophy, whereas, if one doesn’t wait long enough for the muscle to fully recover then that’s where the muscle becomes overworked. To find the right time to train the muscle again, you can wait until the soreness has gone and feel it out that way, or you can lift the muscles again see if you are able to push more weight then you did the previous workout. If more weight can be pushed the you found your time period for the particular muscle group, if you are weaker or just about the same, try adding another rest day or two to the pervious amount of rest days. The process of recovery and growth will start to kick in after the workout! Another form of rest is the rest between sets. If you don’t allow enough rest between sets you’ll limit the amount of load you can place on the intentional muscle in consecutive sets. Depending on body types, the rest may vary from person to person. Optimally you should rest no shorter than 45 seconds to no longer than two minutes.  In a nut shell in order to grow you need to recover.   Vincent Russo, 25 years old from Kenilworth NJ. Has a BA in Biology from Fairleigh Dickinson University in Madison NJ. A Bodybuilding.com Team Athlete, Silver Model, High School Football Coach, Substitute Teacher, Waiter/bartender. Was a top 5 finalist out of 500 guys for bodybuilding.com‘s 2012 BodySpace Spokes Model.  Compete in the Men’s Physique category where in recent competitions placed 2nd in NPC East Coasts (Nov. 2011), and 3rd in Bodybuilding.com‘s BodySpace Spokes model competition (LA Fit Expo 2012).