Resting for your Benefit
High intensity training is important for individuals who want to be successful athletes. The saying “practice makes perfect” stands true no matter what realm of competition you want to join: from basketball to mixed martial arts. However, for the MMA competitor, there is often one important aspect of training that is forgotten or overlooked and that is resting. Rest and recovery is vital when training for any type of competition and plays a role in how well you compete.
The human body is an organism that is trained to adapt to its surroundings and experiences. That’s how man evolved to where he is today. It’s this same ability to acclimate itself to the surroundings that make recovery during training an important piece of the puzzle.
Training for mixed martial arts includes going through a number of routines. These routines may include weight lifting, yoga, cardio vascular work, or time learning new techniques. In between these training sessions you have to give your body ample time to rest 
and rebuild. The actual training session is not the only part that builds your fitness level; it’s the rest period in which your body rebuilds itself to handle the stress that was just placed upon it. The time period between training sessions is considered your rest and recovery time.
For example, if you train for 2 hours a day, 6 days a week, that totals 12 hours of training each day. That leaves 156 hours of rest and recovery time for that week. Now while you may think that’s ample time to recovery, it’s important to schedule your training sessions so specific portions of your body receive the rest it needs, when it needs it. So you will want to space out your workouts that affect particular body sections. Use this example for weightlifting. Let’s say you work your chest and arms on Monday. You should wait until Wednesday to do more exercises for these sections of your body. That 24 hour period of rest will help your body recover and be ready for the next workout. On that Tuesday you should focus on other parts of your body. This is just one example of how to help your body recover.
Additional factors determine how much rest time you will need during training. These include, but are not limited to, your age, experience and nutritional habits. You have the ability to control some factors, such as your eating habits, but you can’t do anything about your age. During your rest and recovery time periods you can do such things as receive a professional massage to help your body recover. Heat and ice are also other options to help your body rebuild.
No matter how you plan on tackling it, rest and recovery time must be built into your workout plan. Without it your body and improvement will both suffer.
Resting for your Benefit,
