Peak Overcompensation Point – In Order To Grow, You Need To Recover

(Posted on Aug 20, 2012) – Main image used from musclehack.com

Peak Overcompensation Point

Peak Overcompensation Point or POP is all focused on the rest the body is allowed. I’m not just talking about sleep for an overall healthy mind/body state. I’m focused on the rest needed for the muscles being worked.

See, a workout is a catabolic activity used to stimulate growth. This is because anabolism (growth) is stimulated by catabolism (breakdown). This “negative-feedback loop” is the body’s way of saying “I need to grow to push more weight.” From there, the body goes to work repairing, compensating, and then overcompensating for the damage done. This leads to the Peak Overcompensation Point or POP.

What is POP

POP is the period of time where your muscles have fully recovered and can be trained again. If one waits too long after the POP, the muscles will start to atrophy, whereas, if one doesn’t wait long enough for the muscle to fully recover then that’s where the muscle becomes “overtrained” (for lack of a better term).

How do you know?

To find the right time to train the muscle again, there a few options you can do. You can wait until the soreness has subsided and literally feel it out that way, or you can lift the muscle again and see if you are able to push more weight then you did the previous workout. If more weight can be pushed the you found your time period for the particular muscle group, if you are weaker or just about the same, try adding another rest day or two to the previous amount of rest days. The process of recovery and growth will start to kick in right after the workout so be mindful and take note of how your body feels and works. Remember, your body is different than my body!

This article by Vinny Russo was originally posted on beastsports.com