Recovery Is Probably Not What You Think it Is
Neither is this article.
So, my body is changing faster than it ever has.
However, I took a couple years off so much of this is getting back to where I’ve already been. That said, I am still surprised at how fast my shape is changing, how many people are pointing it out and how quickly the strength has come back.
When something is surprising, it’s often because there is piece of information or understanding missing.
Oftentimes, that piece of information or understanding exists in one place, but you’ve failed to recognize what it looks like in another.
I was talking through my surprise today with Lukas, and I was explaining it I realized where the gap was. I’ll save you the details and the process for now (because I’m effin’ tired) and get straight to the realization…
We think of muscle growth like this:
Damage muscle in gym
Recover while resting
Repeat
Nearly everyone believes that to be the path to growing muscle.
But it’s not.
Before we go any further, it’s time for a Guardian Academy1 Principle. Gather ‘round kids!
TGA PRINCIPLE: It’s far more difficult to change a complex system than it is to maintain one. It requires significantly more resources because a system will fight to maintain homeostasis.
Okay.
Back this whole
Damage muscle in gym
Recover while resting
Repeat
As a way to build new muscle…
…do you see the problem yet? Just sit with it and think on it for a second.
Okay, here we go.
Damage muscle. First, damaging the muscle is not really the goal, triggering the mechanism that tells your body you need more of it to survive is. You need to do enough to flip the switch, but more damage beyond that does not flip the switch harder. Damaging or breaking down a muscle is kind of a stupid goal.
Recover while resting. Yes, assuming food and sleep are sufficient, this step makes sense. Except recovery, by definition is getting back to where you started - which is relatively easy - because homeostasis and stuff. Recovery, especially local, doesn’t take as many resources as some people think.
So what gives?
…and if that’s the case, why is working out LESS yielding far better results?
Because there is a third step nobody effin’ talks about.
This is, in my opinion, FAR more accurate and effective in terms of growing muscle:
Trigger the mechanism. Any work beyond the minimum to do so cuts into the next two steps unnecessarily - because flipping a switch harder does not get more of the desired outcome.
Compensate/Recovery. Because duh. This requires sufficient sleep and nutrition to recover back to the starting point.
Overcompensate or super-compensate. This is the HARDEST part because it’s making a change to the baseline of a complex system. This is where the actual growth beyond baseline happens…AND NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT OR THINKS ABOUT IT.
Training again when or because you are recovered - if your goal is muscle mass - is stupid. You’re bulldozing the part where new muscle is actually built so you can train —> recover —> repeat.
That’s a lot of work to stay in the same place.
It’s like trying to build a mountain by digging a hole, putting the same dirt back in and then digging the same hole again.
LOLZ.
Can you see the issue? The issue is the ASSUMPTION that recovery and overcompensation are the same thing and acting as such - when they aren’t.
Go talk to anyone that was worked hard to build muscle - they’ll share the same anecdote:
“I took a week off and came back more muscular and stronger, it doesn’t make any sense”
Except it makes perfect sense.
Allowing for overcompensation make your muscles bigger and stronger.
There is NO REASON that a recovered muscle would be stronger than it was before. It’s RECOVERED, not improved.
Looking back, I already knew this.
This shows up in every complex & adaptive system.
I have no idea why it took me so long to figure it out in this domain for this purpose - but it did. **Okay, I do know why. Deep down I was afraid I wasn’t doing enough or wouldn’t keep up…or would feel lazy if I did less. I let my feelz blind me to what I already know. Shame on me.
So.
Recovery probably isn’t what you think it is.
It’s simply: back to baseline.
It’s the necessary step before overcompensation (progress), but it is NOT it.
Hope that makes sense.
Lukas is in the office today and we spent some time drawing this out to make sense of it. It also makes perfect sense when you see it drawn out. Will share it someday. Maybe.
Onward.
Nic
PS. We did legs today and it was stupid.
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Great share and makes sense. I would love to see the overcompensation part. How do you get your body to overcompensate past baseline recovery. The example in my mind is lifting 45lbs for 5 reps on bench (typical bar weight) and then convincing your body to recover like it lifted 250lbs for 10 reps. Is it in the time period of recovery?