SUPER COMPENSATION or how often to pump a muscle?

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Muscle grows during rest, not during exercise. In training, your muscles only break down. With proper rest, these destruction are restored, but they are restored not just to the original level, but with a margin. This process is called supercompensation.

For example, when training biceps, you tear muscles, microtraumas are formed in them, which then your body tries to return to its original level. Why does the body need this? And then that it is beneficial to him. The body seeks to balance the human condition, because it saves its costs. If you still have damage, then this will lead to an overuse of energy.

Imagine a car factory that breaks down to make carburettors for new cars. Then, the owners of the plant will have to buy some of the carburetors from other factories, at a very high price than if they did it themselves. The plant does not benefit from such increased costs. Naturally, the plant will be keen to repair the damage to the carburetor machine faster in order to keep costs down. Our muscles do the same when recovering from a workout. In case the next time the machines at the plant break down again, the administration buys additional machines, which is quite logical. If the director buys too many machines for production, then most of them will be stupidly idle without work. Because they consume a lot of energy, people, production lines, etc., they simply do not exist. This is too BIG STOCK, WHICH IS NOT PROFITABLE. Our body reacts just like in this example with the plant. Our body does not like it when muscles grow too much, because this will lead to a large expenditure of energy, and it tends to reduce them to an initial level, which is called equilibrium or homeostasis. Returning to our plant, it must be added that a large purchase of new machines is not profitable for the administration, but buying a couple of additional machines in reserve is quite another matter. Suddenly tomorrow there will be a new breakdown and again you will have to use the reserve. So it is in the muscles! The logic is to restore the original level after training + give muscle fibers from above, in case of a new training. when the muscles grow too much, because it will lead to a large expenditure of energy, and it tends to reduce them to a baseline level called equilibrium or homeostasis. Returning to our plant, it must be added that a large purchase of new machines is not profitable for the administration, but buying a couple of additional machines in reserve is quite another matter.

Suddenly tomorrow there will be a new breakdown and again you will have to use the reserve. So it is in the muscles! The logic is to restore the original level after training + give muscle fibers from above, in case of a new training. when the muscles grow too much, because it will lead to a large expenditure of energy, and it tends to reduce them to a baseline level called equilibrium or homeostasis. Returning to our plant, it must be added that a large purchase of new machines is not profitable for the administration, but buying a couple of additional machines in reserve is quite another matter. Suddenly tomorrow there will be a new breakdown and again you will have to use the reserve. So it is in the muscles! The logic is to restore the original level after training + give muscle fibers from above, in case of a new training. that a large purchase of new machines is not profitable for the administration, but buying a couple of additional machines in reserve is a completely different matter. Suddenly tomorrow there will be a new breakdown and again you will have to use the reserve. So it is in the muscles! The logic is to restore the original level after training + give muscle fibers from above, in case of a new training. that a large purchase of new machines is not profitable for the administration, but buying a couple of additional machines in reserve is a completely different matter. Suddenly tomorrow there will be a new breakdown and again you will have to use the reserve. So it is in the muscles! The logic is to restore the original level after training + give muscle fibers from above, in case of a new training.

Let’s further understand the supercompensation using our plant with you. For example, there have been no breakdowns at the plant for several years, additional machines are not used in any way. Time goes by, technologies change. Does it make sense to change the spare machine if everything is fine? Most likely this car will be written off for non-ferrous metal. A spare machine is needed if breakdowns constantly occur in production, etc. If the plant is already good all the time, then the stock loses its relevance. In the muscles, everything is exactly the same. Breakdown is a workout in which you destroy the balance of your body. By creating spare muscles in case of new breakdowns, growth is obtained. If the training is not repeated for a long time, the stock loses its relevance and the muscle returns to its original state.

And so again: first, you destroy your muscles, and they fall below the initial level, then, due to compensation, the muscle returns to its original level, after which supercompensation occurs, with it, the body creates muscles more than the initial level. If the training is not repeated in the near future, supercompensation will be lost, i.e. your muscles are back to their original level.

The challenge is to get into the peak of supercompensation, because if you train too early, muscle breakdown occurs before supercompensation, thereby you simply kill the effect of the previous workout. If you train too late, muscle breakdown will occur after supercompensation. When we train to achieve supercompensation, we simply do not allow sufficient time for muscle growth.

So, HOW DO YOU GET IN THE PEAK OF SUPER COMPENSATION? Not everything is as smooth here as in theory. There is no formula for calculating the peak of your supercompensation for specific muscle groups because there are many factors involved. The peak of supercompensation is caught by experimentation. For example, chest workout. Today I bench 100kg 5 times. After that, I rest exactly on the chest for exactly 4 days. After recovering, I press 100kg again. And I get it again 5 times. We conclude that we have not become stronger, which means that we are at the initial level, supercompensation has not yet occurred. Now I am increasing the rest to 7 days. Again I press 100kg and it turns out to press 6 times. Aha! So I increased the bench press by one repetition, which means the muscles have become larger and, as a result, stronger. With this experience, everyone can find their own recovery period for supercompensation.

If your period for supercompensation is 15 days or more, then the best solution in this situation would be to stick another, but EASY, 50% workout between these two workouts. What is it for? It is known that muscles recover better with active rest than with passive rest.