Mike Mentzer said it simply and best: "Any amount of training -- whether it be short or long -- is always a negative factor, in that it drains some of our resources. The less we disturb our recovery ability, the more we will have available for growth."
Recuperation is vital for the bodybuilder. The faster he recovers from a workout, the sooner he can train again. And the sooner he can train, the faster he will grow. On the otherhand, if recovery from training does not materialize, then further training cannot give a positive effect. In fact, just the opposite can occur. You will grow stale and lose size, strength, and even enthusiasm.
Repeated training without full recuperation will dig you into the deepest sticking point ever. Your motivation will suffer; your muscles will shrink; brute power will ebb; and -- hell of all hells -- the pump will evade you. Gironda has a word for it, his own word: overtonis. Hear his pronouncement:
"Overtonis is my expression for the condition caused by too many sets and too many different exercise combinations, for the overwork which causes muscle tissue loss, hormone depletion, weakness, a smoothed-out or stringy appearance, inability to produce a pumping effect, and general lassitude or weakness. Overtonis stops the central nervous system from pumping blood into capillaries that might otherwise rupture. It is a safety valve activated by hormone loss. Going past the pump (too many sets when the body is not used to it) is the most common cause of overtonis."
Poor recuperation first rears its ugly head the morning after. That is to say, the day after your workout. As you open your eyes to a new dawn, you feel decidedly groggy. In fact, you may feel disinclined to get out of bed. You feel tired and lack interest generally. Your body is saying to you: "Boy, I really had a workout yesterday. I need more time to recover."
This tired, almost exhausted feeling you have on arising is not always accompanied by sore or aching muscles. What sore muscles usually mean (but not always) is that the body is recuperating, and that the healing process is well underway. Of course, if there is any soreness present, the muscle has not fully recuperated, but at least the healing process is taking place. The general opinion is that a slight soreness in the muscle the next day is ideal. It shows that your workout routine got to the body. But if the soreness is extreme, then you have overdone it, and adequate recuperation will take longer.
(Reprinted from “Beef It! Upping The Muscle Mass”, by Robert Kennedy, copyright 1983)