what happens when we rest?

During exercise we put extra stresses and strains on our muscles. When we do this we create tiny tears in the muscle fibres, and we often feel this a soreness a day or two later (a phenomenon known as “DOMS”, or Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness).

During rest, between bouts of exercise, our bodies will go about repairing these micro-tears, and this most often occurs during our sleep. In the process of repairing, out body “remembers” that a certain level of stress/effort caused the muscle fibre to break last time round, and will repair it to be more resilient – stronger – next time.

Thus, when it comes to getting stronger, that actually happens when we are asleep or resting, and not when we are exercising!

So – don’t overdo it, you won’t give yourself a chance to get stronger, and are more likely to injure yourself as a result.