Rest and recovery are essential for muscle hypertrophy when it comes to the sport of bodybuilding. Lifting weights in the gym simply leads to micro tears in the muscle tissues. When these tears recover, the muscle becomes denser and stronger, ultimately leading to bigger muscles. In order to get the most gains, bodybuilders prioritize a faster recovery so that they can train the muscle group again and get bigger. 

When it comes to training, there are two schools of thought. One believes in a very strict approach to training, while the others believe in going all out. Bodybuilding veterans like Mike Mentzer and Dorian Yates preached about training in a very optimized manner in order to avoid overtraining. However, bodybuilders like Lee Priest and Arnold Schwarzenegger believed there is no such thing as overtraining as long as you eat and sleep properly. In a recently resurfaced video, Priest explained his take on the topic while giving an instance of ‘The Austrian Oak.’

Lee Priest’s approach to training

IFBB Pro Lee Priest is one of the only few bodybuilders who have won against 8X Mr. Olympia Ronnie Coleman. Priest’s victory came in 1997 at The Ironman Championship, just a year before Coleman won his first-ever Olympia title. With years of experience under his belt, Priest believes that there is no such concept as overtraining. A resurfaced clip of ‘The Blonde Myth’ on Instagram saw him revealing during a podcast that Arnold once disclosed to him that he trained his chest twice a day sometimes. 

Priest stated, “When it comes to bodybuilding, you’re telling me you want to be this massive figure but only train 45 minutes a f**king day? What you gonna do with the rest of your time?” Adding to this, he said, “I haven’t been a big believer in overtraining as long as you bust your a** and train hard, and you get all your meals in and get rest in, you not gonna overtrain because human body can take a lot of punishment.”

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“When I talked to Arnold he said, “Sometimes I’d hit chest twice a day, then I’d go to the beach and eat, relax, go back and train again and then might be every third day, I’d hit chest again,”” Priest concluded. 

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While Priest’s views might be accurate for some individuals, it is always best to try out various things and see for yourself what works best for your body. Do you agree with Priest’s take on overtraining? Let us know in the comments.