Dr. Bret Contreras

But in general, everyone can recover from two times a week.

But you might not be able to recover if you do, you know, touch and go deadlifts, you know, to failure being like where you're maintaining really good form.

But some people can just round their backs and keep going.

And then the next day you feel like you got hit by a bus.

And a lot of times it's the muscle damage.

But it might not just be muscle damage.

It could be connective tissue.

It could be fascia and other –

you know, structures too that are just, if they're damaged, it signals the central nervous system, hey, don't maximally recruit these muscles.

So if pain inhibits muscle activation, damage, it's probably a wise, you know, evolutionary strategy for the body to say, hey, chill, you're not recovered yet.

Let's limit the gas pedal.

How much, you know, let's put the brakes on a little bit so this person can't keep hurting themselves.

But you want to be recovered, so you sometimes have to adjust the variables, which are exercise selection.

That's probably the most important.

Volume, effort, how hard you push yourself.

These are your tools.

Program design is an awesome tool.

concept.

And there's an art to this.

We have a lot of science, but there's an art to combining them all.