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How do you tell if you're recovered? (or not recovered)

jj80

Member
I've been doing some reading lately on training programs, and it seems that the best athletes, no matter what program they follow (5/3/1, push/pull/legs, HST, Max-OT, etc.) seem to make some adjustments/additions to the program - to frequency, volume or intensity - which in turn affects their recovery.

When you get to the next workout, what are some indicators that tell you you've added too much volume, are working out again too soon, or used too much intensity on the previous workout? What tells you you are not yet recovered? Perhaps you just go by performance?

I read about one athlete who would get on the bench and bench press a broom - if something felt 'off' he'd take the day off, and try benching the following day. For me I've always found it difficult to gauge. I remember one PB I hit on bench was done on a day I really didn't want to work out cause I was still sore - but when I got under the 105kg it just felt like 100kg and flew up for a rep PB.

The flipside to being recovered but not feeling ok I guess is the question - is it possible to FEEL ok but not yet be totally recovered? I remember when I hit 140kg on bench I felt fine 2 days before but I gave it 2 more days just because other people waited that long after finishing Smolov - I got great results.

Any words or advice?

Note that other programs are deliberately designed so you don't recover completely from workout to workout - I believe Smolov and Sheiko are examples - Mike Tuscherer describes this training as 'concentrated training' in his ebook and says it's necessary for very advanced lifters to progress. I'm referring more here to typical bodybuilding workouts/philosophy which states you need to recover between workouts. I'm also not talking about deloading here....
 
I train until I get a ~5% drop off in strength. So I will lift a top set of 100kg for 3 for example. Then I will drop the weight 5% to 95% and do more sets of 3 until I can't do a set of 3 again. Or I know that the difference between my 2RM and 3RM is 5% roughly (it is) and I'll do 100kg for lots of set of 2 until I can't get another set of two

If I am dieting hard or having trouble recovering, I use a 3% drop off which sounds exact and complicated but really it's just training until I feel like I am half way to that 5% drop off (you get a good idea on feeling this out)

If I am eating a lot or finding I am killing shit then I will use a 7% drop off which in the example above would be say singles 100kg until I am starting to grind them out

I have a chart of my 1-10RMs and list the percentage of 1RM to each RM so I know for each lift where the 3, 5 and 7% dropoffs are

Because of this, doesn't matter if you train daily or weekly, whatever. It autoregulates so if you're doing high frequency you will automatically do less to accommodate. Training a lift once a week, it allows you to rack up insane amounts of volume because you're very rested and yeah, it will take you longer to recover from
 
Quite simply by feel, and by following a well structured program like Sheiko / Cube / Smolov etc.

When powerlifting is concerned you are going to feel beat up regardless, time under the bar will tell you when you're ready or not ready for that workout. But as you said, you set a PB on a day you mentally weren't ready for training, I've also had this experience. I normally find when I drag myself to the gym, have some pre workout and turn on Fear Factory then I'm ready to tear the place down.

I'm also not afraid to shut down an exercise or session if I'm really not feeling it, live to fight another day!
 
In my workouts I always target around 95% intensity, no matter what to ensure the progress.

However I fully understand that my body status, the actual level of my 100% can be changing day by day.
It depends on many things, like:
-diet (how much and what you ate and when)
-sleep (how much and the quality)
-nervous system (stressed, focused, relaxed)
-climate (temperature, humidity)
-and many other craps, like moon phase etc...

Therefore it is important to listen to your body and when you feel pumped and energised go for a couple of extra reps and when you are down a bit easy the load.
It can be a double edged sword for beginners who could always find a good excuse why not to execute the plan, this way - it is a thin edge, you need to learn your body signals.

Bulgarians do this way: if the "plan" says 90% x X reps then they test they ACTUAL max on the very day and they aim the 90% of that on that day. Obviously the max is changing slightly day by day, so does their 90%.

It is similar to what Oni does, I believe, he tests his 100% and he determines the 95% as a threshold - on that day.
 
Also, as a guide line they say that if you still feel a tension or a slight pain in your target muscle group it is ok to train again.
If it is a severe DOMS and actual, sharp pain, have another full day rest.
 
Recovering between sessions is over-rated. Are you training to have as much weight on the bar as you can every session or to get stronger long-term?
 
aljada said:
Recovering between sessions is over-rated. Are you training to have as much weight on the bar as you can every session or to get stronger long-term?
Click to expand...

Sounds like you're alluding to concentrated training, the effectiveness of which I don't dispute, but refer to my comments in the OP.

Interested in this for the purpose of designing my own training methods - I believe concentrated training is well beyond my capabilities in this regard - and recovery between workouts works just fine for beginner/intermediate (as I have read) hence why I want to isolate the discussion to it.
 
I think over time you learn to listen to you body and when you can and cant train.
I try to train everyday, if I'm not feeling it I will just stay home and hibernate.
 
Go by feel. I usually know by the first warm up set if my body is ready to tackle the workout or not. In spite of this, even if I don't feel as recovered as I should, I still haul my ass to the gym because really, there is no excuse for being lazy (unless I am physically sick or injured).
 

The more you train, the quicker you will get better. The percentage of max weight on the bar doesn't matter anywhere near as much as the volume.

Five triples three times a week at 80% is much better than three triples once a week at 90%.

In other words, as long as you aren't injured, train. The weights may go down session to session, but once you deload you'll super-compensate and end up getting stronger more quickly.
 

Learn to use fatigue percents
 
Use heart rate variabillity, dont ask, just google it to hard
To explain,
Only thing i can advise is get polar h7 HR monitor then we can go from there
 
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