Bodybuilding Recovery: Fabian's Protocol Between Training Splits

In bodybuilding, muscle is not built in the gym but in the days after it. That sounds like a poster slogan, yet it decides how you build your split: if your chest is still beaten up on Thursday, the second chest session of the week does very little. The basics of sleep, nutrition and recovery tools are covered in our complete guide to muscle recovery. This article is about what is different when you lift: high volume, several sessions per muscle and the diet phase before a show.

How long does a muscle need to recover after lifting?

After a hard session with plenty of sets close to failure, the fibres are stressed, glycogen is low and your nervous system is tired. How long recovery takes depends on volume, exercise choice and training age. New exercises and lots of eccentric work, such as Romanian deadlifts or deep walking lunges, stretch it out considerably.

A meta-analysis by Schoenfeld and colleagues (2016) helps with planning. With weekly volume matched, training a muscle group on two days a week produced more growth than training it on one. Whether three days is better still, the authors could not say. In practice, most athletes I coach land on 48 to 72 hours between two hard sessions for the same muscle. Small muscles such as calves and abs cope with shorter gaps; hamstrings after heavy deadlifts often need longer.

Which training split suits recovery?

Your split is your most important recovery tool, ahead of any device. It sets how much rest each muscle group gets.

Watch for overlap. Shoulders and triceps work on push day, biceps and rear delts on pull day. Put heavy deadlifts the day after squats and you hammer your lower back and hamstrings twice in a row. Clashes like that cost more recovery than any missed session in the boots.

What matters more than any recovery tool?

• Sleep: An expert consensus (Walsh et al. 2021) names less than 7 hours a night as a risk factor for athletes and advises taking individual needs seriously. During my contest prep, a fixed bedtime is non-negotiable.
• Protein: The ISSN (Jäger et al. 2017) recommends 1.4–2.0 g per kg body weight a day, split into servings of 20–40 g every 3–4 hours.
• Energy: Eat too little for too long and you recover more slowly. You feel that most during a cut.

Which tools help between sessions?

Recovery tools are optional in bodybuilding. They can ease soreness and make a muscle feel better, so your next session runs more smoothly. A meta-analysis on sports massage (Davis et al. 2020) found small gains in flexibility and soreness, but no better strength. Expect the same from devices.

Compression boots after leg day

After heavy squats and leg press, quads and glutes often stay stiff for two days. A small study of 20 trained men (Haun et al. 2017) had them squat heavy on three consecutive days, followed by pneumatic compression or a sham treatment. The compression group kept their pressure-pain threshold and flexibility better; maximal strength did not differ. A boots manufacturer part-funded the study, so read it with that in mind.

My approach: 20–30 minutes on a low to medium setting on the evening after leg day, and another session the next day if needed. The Revive Active compression boots have 7 pressure levels, 5 modes and session times of 15, 30 or 45 minutes. Exact figures for time, pressure and frequency are in how to use compression boots. Whether 4 chambers are enough for your leg days or the 8 chambers of the Pro make more sense is covered in Revive Active vs Revive Active Pro.

Massage gun for single muscles

For chest, lats, shoulders or calves, a massage gun is more targeted. Konrad and colleagues (2020) treated the calf with five minutes of percussion: ankle range of motion rose by just over 5 degrees and strength stayed the same. Before training, 30–60 seconds per muscle on a low speed is enough; afterwards or on a rest day, 1–2 minutes. After deadlifts and rows your back has its own rules: the guide to using a massage gun on your back shows where to work and what to avoid. For single knots in the neck or shoulder, have a look at trigger point massager vs massage gun. The Revive Pulse Pro massage gun has 5 speeds and 5 attachments, including a heating and cooling head. Where not to use it and which head suits which muscle is covered in how to use a massage gun properly. If you are torn between the two devices, read compression boots or a massage gun.

Heat for soreness, cold with care

Heat is the simpler tool when you are building muscle. In a study of 100 participants (Petrofsky et al. 2013), heat reduced soreness after squats, most clearly moist heat applied straight after exercise. I am careful with cold in a building phase: Roberts et al. (2015) had men sit in cold water for 10 minutes after every strength session for twelve weeks. They gained less strength and muscle than the group that did an easy spin on the bike instead. When cold still fits and how to dose it by training goal is covered in does cold therapy slow muscle growth?

The Thermo Flex heat and cold device has 3 heat and 3 cold levels and straps on, which works well on the lower back after deadlifts. When to choose which is explained in heat or ice for sore muscles.

My weekly protocol for a push/pull/legs split

This is a typical plan I use with athletes in an off-season phase. The tools are options, not appointments.

What changes during contest prep?

In a diet, less energy comes in while training volume often stays high. Many athletes notice that soreness lingers and the weights feel heavier. A review on natural bodybuilding prep (Helms et al. 2014) recommends losing only about 0.5 to 1 per cent of body weight a week and eating 2.3–3.1 g of protein per kg of lean body mass to hold on to muscle.

During my own prep I pay even closer attention to sleep in this phase and would rather keep volume a little lower than add another set every week. I tend to use recovery tools more often then, because they cost little energy and help me switch off in the evening. For soreness in general, have a look at nine tips to reduce muscle soreness.

Common recovery mistakes in bodybuilding

1. Using soreness as proof of a good session. Measure progress by load and reps, not pain.
2. Adding volume every week. Without lighter weeks, fatigue piles up.
3. Ice baths after every session. Leave them out while building.
4. Running the massage gun too long and too hard. More than 2 minutes per muscle rarely adds anything.
5. Trying to massage away joint pain. Sharp pain in a shoulder, elbow or knee needs checking by your GP or a physio.

Who is this protocol for, and who should be careful?

If pain does not ease within a few days, get it checked by a doctor.