I rested for 5 years before, now I'm back on

How can I take a rest day when I need to get my 52 sets per muscle group in the week?

If you’re watching this you probbaly need a rest day

I worked as an exercise physiologist and even had ACSM's now defunct RCEP certification and master's in exercise physiology, yada yada. I took two decades off of working out to drink beer and work. I'm back now and pretty jacked for a 52 year old, but during my exercise haitus, I had the privilege to work as an exercise physiologist, training 50-100 year old people. I taught a strength training class to 50-100 year old people for over a decade. The advice in this video is fugging spot-on not only for my washed-up pathetic story, but for mature adults in general. Keep on keepin' on Dr Mike!!!!

Periodized your rest bro. Attack it! Start with a rest minute, then a rest hour, then a rest day, week, month, year, decade, score, life.

As one of the 1.5 female viewers, I find the glimpses Dr. Mike gives us into the male psyche to be absolutely fascinating.

Love this guy's delivery. His students must have a blast every lesson

Videos are so good these days thank you Scott and Dr. Mike ❤!

I've been taking a rest period for 18 consecutive days. Thanks for the advice Dr. Mike.

I like the new layout over the powerpoint screen. Feels super clean!

0:00 Defining Rest Days 5:26 Things to Avoid? 13:03 Things to do 17:51 Recovery Training Days 24:26 Timing Rest Days

You're awesome! I came for the advice but subbed for the personality. Keep up the great information!

I do 7 rest days a week. Optimal growth

It's a stand-up show, it's a history lesson, we got music and an impression, and we sure as hell got some training info as well. And he's an American (I think) who knows about Scandinavia. This is prime entertainment. Greetings from Norway 🇳🇴.

I’ve been on a 20 year rest days. These videos are highly motivational. Thank you, Dr. Mike

Not many youtubers can keep my attention like how you can my guy, definitely got a new subscriber! You remind me of one of my teachers I had back in high school, he had a great way of blending things to learn with jokes to keep engangement up and make learning new things more fun! Keep it up brotha!!!!

Just want to say that I love the text style in this video. I think it strikes a great balance between the “get the info on the screen” nature of the old slides and the “higher production value” of some of the other styles you’ve been experimenting with recently. This looks clean but retains the lecture feel-hope it sticks!

This is the exact thing I needed to talk myself out of going to the gym today.

i love the way he goes completely off course keeps my attention up, love ya man♥

Once you said 10,000 steps a day at the beginning is ok, I immediately liked. Low impact cardio ❤️

I started getting the best gains of my life after I stopped going to the gym every day and cutting my time in the gym down to 45-60 minutes. I used to go to the gym 6-7 days a week and workout for about 2 hours per workout. Now I workout only 3-4 days a week for about an hour, hour and a half max. Im making newbie gains doing it this way even after lifting for several years

I’ve been on a rest day split and my systemic fatigue is at an all time low. Sounds like I’m on the right track, thanks Dr. Mike!

6:25 I have being watching you since last week, your sense of humor is just unique! Congrats my friend, you just won another subscriber! 👏😉

absolutely spot on, I find it hard to take a rest day as I push myself hard and I generally look forward to the gym for stress busting but I took a rest day last night and it really does make you feel better. and back to the grind today!!!

perfect to watch on a rest day

I learned the hard way that days off are a 100% must. After a certain age, especially after a life time of extreme sports, combined with natural aging degeneration, ligaments are not what they used to be. No days off, not allowing enough time to reset and heal got me to a critical situation. My fitness goals changed from pumping hard and getting big to being grateful that I can come back and be able to train the next days without pain and arm numbness and crap like this.

absolutely love this channel. tysm for making these videos

Thank you bro. God bless you and your family.

It is crazy how not even a comedy special can make me laugh more than dr Mike. He is insanely funny ❤

I opt for taking my rest days 3 of my work days and train 4 days a week. Weekend training works better IMO because I’m not as tired from my physical job

This video is exactly what I needed thanks so much

I love how real you are. Top tier content.

I train hard and long for 3 days a week. I love my rest days and i love my training days. At this frequency i feel like i will be able to go on for my entire life.

Currently on Mike Mentzer's 1 on 14 off routine.

This video is soooo precious to me! Thank you

Ive been watching this guy's videos for weeks now. I can see the changes in the mirror and on the scale every week.

One of the most important things to me is to have energy to do my day job and other activities when I’m not working out. So this is something I’m always trying to dial in, as a recreational lifter/fitness person. Great video, very informative.

Listening to RP lectures is how I rest.

That is so helpful to bring up systemic fatigue and the factor of mental stress/psychological stress. These types of fatigue are often overlooked or minimized. Thanks Dr. Mike🙂

Thank you for this video. Great insights!

Thank you for still having these in-depth lecture type videos

MRI disclosed tendinonsis in rotator cuff, got me feeling down, but Dr. Mike's innuendos get me back up. Stay healthy, friends.

Thank you for making this content man.

I love you dude. The information and the jokes are on point.

I have tried both, been training for years and I gotta say...rest days are important. I used to train 6 to 7 days a week and I started to feel like absolute shit. Heck, I just took 2 restdays and I became back feeling so good and strong. If you train extremely hard like me, restdays are critical. On my restdays I don't do nothing though. I do a bit of low intensity cardio. But lifting weights hard without rest days is not gonna get you the most bang for your buck, it's obvious.

The side rants are the reason for my subscription…. ❤

first video ive ever seen of you guys, love the banter and personality, as well as the detailed information, instant like and sub

Lovely! Great Entertainment,Content, Knowledge and Bro Vibes ! Keep Up The Good Work! God Bless You All!

I like the new graphics! good job Scott!...you too Dr. Mike, great content as usual

6-8 sets 7 days a week until I get my 52 sets in for 12 weeks or die. Got it.

thanks for the topic. i appreciated ever minute of it.

Your videos are a HUGE fatigue reducer 🙏👏

I appreciate your back to the basics type of videos!

I never really take test days because I be looking forward to the gym but have been hitting a plateau. Gonna try 2 days off in a row… BELIEVE IN MIKE

Not using rest days was what kept me from pursuing long term health. I would always reach a point where I get hurt or couldn’t push myself as much as I wanted. I always thought I was being lazy. Turns out I wasn't resting enough 🔥🔥🔥

This dude is hilarious and gives great advice love this channel

That’s one helluva thumbnail. Looking great Dr Mike 💪🏾

Cool story I have about tracking & strategies: I found that at the very start during noob gains territory (1-3 months out), rest days may be considered a bit “optional” - When I started last October I was essentially doing a very unfocused upper / lower split, mixing muscle groups in a day, and the form was dubious back then. But I had the huge advantages of being extremely sensitive to creatine (turns out I really needed it), and actually focusing on protein quotas (related to the creatine?) was huge for me. At the start I also used this cheap C4 powder I got at Wal Mart, and the caffeine helped a lot too. So my I gunned it from October all the way to March on a 24/7 full body routine, gradually getting better gym clothes, finding this channel in December which made me adopt the PPL which eventually stabilized into the Upper/Lower split I use today. Once I deviated from the old improvised routine to the structured split, I noticed how the fatigue was starting to catch up with me once the novelty of creatine’s effect started to not be a factor, noon gains / adaptive response was normalizing, and the caffeine from that shitty C4 stuff was starting to mess with my sleep. Only thing that held true was my high protein diet with fiberous sides, but March to April the fatigue was so tough. At this time I started to follow RP and implemented a tracking notebook - I plugged my numbers into Excel and realized my week-to-week strength growth’s rate of change was slowing down, yet my weight was still increasing linearly. Meaning I was probably gaining more fat than muscle and slowly decreasing my intensity without knowing it. Sensing that my initial noob routine was basically sustained off the temporarily compensating effects of noob gains + adaptive response from eating a healthy diet for the 1st time ever, I finally implemented rest days - Sundays only at first, up to today where I take Mondays, Fridays, and Sundays off. Plugged the data in again and TLDR: rest days are kind of like mini windows of “noob gains”, I think that initial noob period where I went absolutely ham at the gym was kind of educational and sustained with the help of real noob gains. But once that effect where’s off, you gotta start using rest days or else your strength will quantitatively begin to plateau

This was terrific! Excellent information and hilarious asides

love your commentary brother, you educated me and made me laugh at the same time. you/re a great teacher

Yes! I need 2 rest days a week. It’s great for me mentally.

So I just need to stay in sauna eternally, noted. Thank you Dr. Mike! Terveiset Suomesta!

I like that you’re a no bullshit typa dude but can still make it fun at the same time

doing low workload mike mentzer style training, i am always pumped to hit the gym, best part of following this low volume low frequency training

I was gonna hit the gym this weekend, but your Finnish accent gave me both systemic and psychological fatigue. I figured I'll do ice swimming + sauna combo instead. Much love from Finland 🇫🇮🫶

I m doing rest days 7 days a week, and I m feeling PUMP!

Really nice for him to acknowledge sauna and especially how its from Finland.

Really enjoying the videos on this channel, you make it very entertaining but informative ! Subscribed.

My body let's me know when enough is enough. Down to the point of feeling sick when I've been lifting day after day after day. When I get to that point I know it's time to take a day or 2 off. Your body has ways of letting you know.

I have gone over 1 year without a rest day. Initially I did full body one day and cardio the next, then transitioned to upper one day and lower the next with cardio once a week, and now I basically do PPL and then cardio in a 4 day cycle. Physically and psychologically it has pushed my limits beyond what I thought I could ever do

I love this style. It's like I'm consulting with him. It's relaxed

Again, great visuals. Go, Max, go! Vid is great too, obvs.

I build my lifting around my life and M-F 5 sessions per week lifting fits well and active recovery on Sat-Sun for me is good 👍 (I have a wife and 2 kids and a life outside the gym, but I've been taking lifting seriously now since March 2020) 💪

Rest day is when you train the rest muscle! 😊

Good channel, good advice, good comedy, good man. A+

Very interesting about the icing/heating!

As a physician, I'm glad there is someone who is not a physician talking about rest and recovery because I have a hard time getting patients to actually rest to prevent overuse injuries, and not understand it's hurting their gains.

Used to train 7 days a week for about 1hr and a half PPL split when i was 16 Can say that it certainly caused me to plateau early since i wasn’t recovering enough

Dude you’re too funny! Love your content bro!! Much love from Pomona, CA ❤💪💪💪

The more i listent to Dr Mike the more i achieve and accomplish and improve my diet, nutrition, and bodybuilding. Im successfully finding great mentors in all aspect of life and its thanks to youtube. This is also inspiring me to make my own channels and continue my martial arts discipline. I have more in common with this amazing human than i thought.😂❤ thanks Dr. Mike

I only train 3 times a week but with 2hr sessions. Gives me a balance to stay consistent and enjoy other things

I like the transparent slides. slick looking

God these videos are informative and funny af. Having him as a professor must be a treat.

This video is what got me to approach my workouts from a better perspective. I was trying to exercise every single day at home straight after work for several months and dear god I was losing my mind. Taking a rest day where I can just relax at home is psychologically fortifying.

Woahhhhh no more power point slides?? Take me back to my college lectures NOW!!

I used to be the push, pull, legs, 6 days a week with 1 rest day kinda guy. I was absolutely tired and exhausted. I did it for a solid 7-8 months and I’ve changed my split recently to 4 days a week, increased intensity and I train each muscle group once a week. I feel so much better. I’m not in professional realm where I compete I am just trying to maintain.

Was running a PPLPPL rest routine with too much spinal loading (Squats,dead’s, ohp, bent rows). Ended up with a disk injury in my mid back. Switched to PPL rest repeat and replaced movements with ones that don’t load the spine as much. I feel so much better now and still making gains.

Thank Mike great tips 😊

A few questions: 1. Not sure how accurate it is but the ubiquitous muscle protein synthesis chart shows the majority of synthesis occurs within the first 24h after training. Would training the next day really be that disruptive to this? 2. Can you make a video on how systemic fatigue actually works? We’re always told that it’s accumulated over time, but why exactly is 1-3 days of rest per week the perfect amount? 3. If training the next day disrupts the recovery process of the previous day and muscles experience the most growth within 24h, then with respect to hypertrophy wouldn’t the rest day only benefit the muscles targeted the day before?

If you don't need rest days, you aren't training hard enough on your work days.

Love your content

I’m turning 52, two days after Valentine’s Day!! I remember when I was younger and I had a high metabolism. I was very strict about my diet and work out routine I’m going to hire a personal trainer to reach my fifty pound weight loss goals. I have realized that meditation is key for physical stress.

Here's my setup: Monday FB 1, Tuesday FB 2, Wednesday full rest day, Thursday FB 1, Friday FB 2, and rest on the weekends. Having the two days off on the weekend definitely gets me pumped to be back in the gym on Monday, and knowing that I have days off coming up encourages me to push hard when in the gym! It's a good balance for me 😊

Dr. Mike! I'm one of the 1% of female viewers. Can you do a video on glute medius growth? Thanks!!! Love your channel!

7:20 is the moment I Subscribed I trust this man with my Life

Btw thx man great video, never thought about psychological rest on rest days

So, this is great info and well presented, as always. However, What if, like myself, it's not possible to avoid stressful activities for any 1 day of the week? My work 'schedule' requires me to be available 06:00 - 14:00 some days, 14:00 - 22:00 some days, and weekends I'm on call, where my job demands heavy lifting from me (I move furniture, beds, wardrobes, sofas etc, for a delivery company). So the days I can actually train to maximum potential is sporadic, and I have no guaranteed weekends to dedicate to rest. Am I just destined to lose gains until I become a personal trainer and have control of my own time?

I hate rest days. Primarily because I find them horrible for my mental health. Training every day is such a key for my mental health. The only time I take a rest day is if I'm sick. But that said I don't go hard every single day in the gym. Sometimes I go very easy.

Thanks!

Tons of great info. Thanks. I too also never talk baby talk to children, only dogs. Dr. Mike is my go expert.