Haven’t missed the gym since Christmas. Is it necessary to have rest days if I’m doing PPL?

[paigek91]

I do PPL. I believe I saw a nippard video a while back that said rest days aren’t necessary on this split because the muscles are being rested the two days they aren’t being trained. So is this information correct? Or outdated? Or am I remembering it wrong.

My upper body feels great. My lower body is sore and I was cramping yesterday a little bit but I blame that more of me hitting pendulum squats for the first time on Monday.

Should I take a rest day or should I just keep going? Yesterday was push and today is pull. I was gonna take a rest day Thursday if they’re necessary.

I’m also a type 1 diabetic and my doctor says daily exercise is good. With my job I walk about 8k-15k steps at work alone

 

[timelesstim]

@paigek91 Are you making consistent progress?

If yes, keep at it.

If no, try adding a rest day.

 

[paigek91]

@timelesstim It’s hard for me to judge progress in just 2 weeks but I’m not getting weaker

 

[timelesstim]

@paigek91 Fair enough, personally I would put a rest day in after each PPL sequence. But if it's only been two weeks you can probably just stick with it for a bit and make changes if/when you feel you need to.

 

[visavisavis]

@paigek91 If it’s just two weeks so far you’re still quite new to the program and prob not at weight that’s taxing your body the way it will in a few months. If you’re comfortable, push ahead, but once recovery becomes an issue days off will be necessary.

 

[paigek91]

@visavisavis I’m not on a program I just lift heavier and heavier weights. I usually only give myself 1-2 rest days and those historically have only been when I was busy. I am the least busy I’ve ever been in my entire life right now so I figure why not hit the gym every day it’s better than wasting away at home

 

[visavisavis]

@paigek91 You might be able to get away with the recovery then honestly- I usually do PPLRPPLR, but I have a ton of kids and they usually mess my sleep up at least once a week so I need that extra day to catch back up. Not being busy outside the gym will help your recovery a lot.

 

[easy813]

@paigek91 PPL is the "program"

 

[paigek91]

@easy813 Ppl is a split. To me a program is a specific set of exercises and progressions within a given split.

I’ve been doing ppl since I graduated high school

 

[tommy2]

@paigek91 I’ve wondered about rest days myself. One thing I’d ask myself is if I don’t need a rest day after a full split, did I go hard enough? Maybe slightly heavier weight, more reps, more exercises? I’m. It saying it’s the case, but maybe?

 

[blw1975]

@paigek91 I think your mind and body will thank you for at least one rest day. You can definitely go every day if your body holds up, but you do risk some burnout. And, in my personable experience, some cranky joints.

 

[needheaven]

@paigek91 Fatigue can build slowly over weeks so taking rest days can prevent you from burning out too fast eventually even if the current week feels fine. 6 days a week is already the high end of lifting days so its not like you are going to get better results by 7 days per week, all knowledge points to a rest day being better than a lifting day here. If you are good on cardio even doing something like stretching on the 7th day can be good.

 

[runningfromlawlessness]

@paigek91 In my 20's and in the military, I pushed myself hard every day. Rarely did I take a rest day. The end result was multiple injuries. For longevity, my advice is to take at least one rest day.

If you're lifting hard, it's not just the muscles. You have wear and tear on the joints, tendons, and ligaments. None of those progress in strength or recover as quickly as the muscles do. Then you have the stress on your central nervous system. It all needs a break to heal at some point. If you don't give it some rest, it will force the issue sooner or later.

If you're hell bent on going every day, adjust the intensity to allow for a better chance at recovery.

 

[alchemist_jay]

@paigek91 I’m doing PPL and only train 3x a week. Can you make suitable gains on my schedule?

 

[jess1]

@alchemist_jay Yes. It used to be a popular way to train. It’s how I’m training now and training is going very well.

 

[alchemist_jay]

@jess1 It’s either this or full body I just can’t decide

 

[jess1]

@alchemist_jay Just try both for six weeks and see what you prefer.

If doing PPL three times a week I personally feel I need to do a big compounds. Maybe it’s mental, but if I’m only training legs once a week and limiting the volume I’m doing, I want to squat heavy and then do a bunch of volume after.

 

[alchemist_jay]

@jess1 Are you saying you prefer PPL or Full Body? If you were doing full body, you could still squat heavy and continue other exercises…on Full Body I’d split compounds up each session (eg, Squat DL and Bench)

 

[jess1]

@alchemist_jay I prefer P/P/L personally.

 

[that_guy_you_are]

@alchemist_jay If you can only work out 3 days a week, full body would be your best bet. I think Upper/Lower would be much better, if you can get in the gym 4 days a week.