Strength Training, the Rested Effort, and the Art and Science of Recuperation

by Dr. Ken Davis and Marty Gallagher | Feb 1, 2025 | Fitness, Issue 187 | 0 comments

The more complete the recovery, the more often result-producing sessions can be undertaken. The goal of strength training is something quite profound: strengthen and build muscle, thicken brittle bones,...

The more complete the recovery, the more often result-producing sessions can be undertaken.

The goal of strength training is something quite profound: strengthen and build muscle, thicken brittle bones, increase tendon and ligament tensile strength, and improve mobility and functionality, all of which add up to an improved quality of life. The good news for the neophyte strength trainer is that if done right, resistance training strength gains come quickly and with a surprisingly small amount of training time needed. With the right system, tools, situation, and attitude, the untrained can increase raw strength by 50% in 60 days with a total training time of one hour per week. For the frail and getting frailer, this is life-changing.

No matter how old or deep a physical hole one might be standing in, practical strength training will factually, irrefutably make any body stronger, thereby improving the quality of life. Resistance training is all about struggle and numbers. It is called “resistance” training because a lack of resistance equates to a lack of results. Modern fitness teachers seek to take the resistance, the struggle, and the gut-busting effort out of resistance training, making it a more sellable commodity. The strength gains are a result, not of avoiding or exorcising struggle; gains come from seeking out and embracing the struggle, for example, some form of maximum physical effort.

If something can be reduced to a numerical identity, it can be improved upon. Fuzzy goals are never attained. Strength training is all about numbers: sets, reps, session duration, time between sets and sessions, session content, and “intensity enhancers.” Strength trainers periodize; periodization is intricate numerical preplanning. The trainee creates appropriate, realistic, obtainable, motivating performance and physique goals. Overarching goals are set in a time frame. Twelve weeks is a typical length for a periodized “cycle.”

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The secret to success is to purposefully and maximally stress muscles to such a severe and consistent intensity that the stressed muscles strengthen and grow; this is a defensive bodily reaction. The body will not strengthen and grow in response to lesser stresses, as there is insufficient psychological incentive. To trigger the adaptive response requires some expression of 100% effort. Further, the 100% effort needs to occur when the body is 100% rested. If a 100% effort is undertaken when the body is 78% rested, results will be necessarily subpar – how could they not be?

Every strength trainer can use empirically proven recovery-accelerating protocols and procedures to hasten complete, 100% recovery. The quicker the trainee attains 100% recovery, the more sessions they can accomplish. A man recovering every third day can train 10 times in 30 days, whereas a man needing five days to fully recover trains six times in 30 days. Recovery enhancers can take many forms. Below is a partial listing of techniques and tactics, tools, and strategies used by elite strength trainers with varying degrees of success. Here is a partial listing of popular and battle-tested ways to speed up workout recovery.