# Weight training question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 28, 2005, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783 "2005-09-28T02:09:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/21 "2005-09-30T03:16:44Z")
Not sure what else I can say. Your CNS takes a beating from heavy lifting and needs time to recover. If you’re feeling tired, groggy, and uncoordinated, it’s the culprit. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/22 "2005-09-30T07:49:33Z")
Followup question: There are so many “rules” like those we’ve been discussing in this thread. 60-75 minutes, don’t lift every day, work each muscle group in turn and so on and so on. So how come people with heavy physical jobs have the kind of body that I’d kill for? They lift all day, every day. They don’t let the muscles grow for 48 hours before lifting again. They don’t stop after an hour. Why does it work for them when it would apparently be disaster for me? ---
**Author:** ![teemingONE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b4bc9f/32.png) [@teemingONE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teemingONE)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/23 "2005-09-30T09:38:35Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Followup question: There are so many “rules” like those we’ve been discussing in this thread. 60-75 minutes, don’t lift every day, work each muscle group in turn and so on and so on. So how come people with heavy physical jobs have the kind of body that I’d kill for? They lift all day, every day. They don’t let the muscles grow for 48 hours before lifting again. They don’t stop after an hour. Why does it work for them when it would apparently be disaster for me? I’m not an expert on this but I’d say what you’re seeing is endurance. ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/24 "2005-09-30T10:31:53Z")
> [@teemingONE](#): > > I’m not an expert on this but I’d say what you’re seeing is endurance. What I’m seeing is bulging muscles. ---
**Author:** ![Epimetheus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c4cdca/32.png) [@Epimetheus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Epimetheus)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/25 "2005-09-30T11:58:09Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Followup question: There are so many “rules” like those we’ve been discussing in this thread. 60-75 minutes, don’t lift every day, work each muscle group in turn and so on and so on. So how come people with heavy physical jobs have the kind of body that I’d kill for? They lift all day, every day. They don’t let the muscles grow for 48 hours before lifting again. They don’t stop after an hour. Why does it work for them when it would apparently be disaster for me? Probably a lot of factors. I worked many jobs like the one you mentioned, and I rarely saw somebody that had a body I’d kill for. If they did it was either due to genetics or they did stuff on the side- Like lift weights 3-4 times a week for no more than 90 mins and eat 4500+ calories a day. To build up muscle you need stress them out and allow them to heal. If you work them out too much, and work out the next day, they have no time to heal. The muscle doesn’t get built up while you are working it out, it gets built up when you are resting. People that lift stuff all day every day have to deal with injuries and the like due to repetative lifting. Repetative lifting tires the muscle and does an overabundance of damage to it, which can lead to injury. People that bend down all day don’t have super muscular backs, and people that move heavy boxes do not have bodybuilders physiques. Not from the lifting all day every day. They may lose weight from burning lots of calories, but that isn’t what we are discussing, is it? > [@Rewsom](#): > > When I was training to compete in Olympic weightlifting I lifted every day, 5-6 days a week, several hours a day, the same exercises every day. > > Even though I was spending 2-3 hours a day “exercising,” most of the time was spent sitting down and resting between sets. > > I saw a few people above say that you shouldn’t exercise the same body part two days in a row, but I made the best strength gains of my life exercising the same body parts every day. Yeah, just for those that know, and I don’t mean to be depressing, but it takes special genetics to compete at an olympic level. In any sport- not just anybody can do it. Many, many people train from early childhood and spend thousands of hours into practice and don’t make the grade. Olympic weightlifting is very similar. Also, there is only really three exercises (two if you don’t count the squat), the jerk and clean and the snatch. These exercises are done explosively and take a lot out of a person. It is amazing to see OL do this day in and day out, and they do. However, not everybody can do this, and MOST olympic lifters don’t exactly have “great” bodies. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/26 "2005-09-30T13:29:43Z")
What **Epimetheus** said – a lot of factors, with genetics being one of the biggest. We called that the ‘basketball illusion’: since people who play basketball seriously tend to be tall, can we conclude that playing basketball makes you taller? No, merely that tall people are drawn to basketball. Similarly, naturally strong people are drawn to sports (and jobs) at which they will excel. (For this reason, copying the training routines of genetically-gifted bodybuilding champions is often the _worst_ way to train – as Vince Gironda used to say, don’t ask a racehorse how to run faster). So a well-built manual laborer probably was more or less in that shape when he took the job. This might have been less true in the past, when the only heavy lifting people did was in performing hard labor. But more outstanding physiques today are created in gyms than in the workplace. > [@Priceguy](#): > > Followup question: There are so many “rules” like those we’ve been discussing in this thread. 60-75 minutes, don’t lift every day, work each muscle group in turn and so on and so on. So how come people with heavy physical jobs have the kind of body that I’d kill for? They lift all day, every day. They don’t let the muscles grow for 48 hours before lifting again. They don’t stop after an hour. Why does it work for them when it would apparently be disaster for me? ---
**Author:** ![slortar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@slortar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slortar)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/27 "2005-09-30T13:50:16Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Followup question: There are so many “rules” like those we’ve been discussing in this thread. 60-75 minutes, don’t lift every day, work each muscle group in turn and so on and so on. So how come people with heavy physical jobs have the kind of body that I’d kill for? They lift all day, every day. They don’t let the muscles grow for 48 hours before lifting again. They don’t stop after an hour. Why does it work for them when it would apparently be disaster for me? Keep in mind that people involved in heavy manual labor also don’t do much progressive training either. I mean, I don’t see many construction workers challenging themselves with heavier wheelbarrow loads week after week. “Hey, Bill, I see you’ve worked up to 15 2x4’s this week.” “Yeah, Steve, I was doing 14 last week, but that seemed kinda easy so I added one this morning. I just wasn’t feeling beat down enough at the end of the day.” Training stress after the initial “burn in” period on the job just isn’t as intense. I’m not saying it won’t kick your ass or make you bigger over a long period, it’s just not the same magnitude as the sort of torment powerlifters put themselves through in one of their routines. ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [September 30, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783/28 "2005-09-30T14:15:45Z")
> [@Priceguy](#): > > Followup question: There are so many “rules” like those we’ve been discussing in this thread. 60-75 minutes, don’t lift every day, work each muscle group in turn and so on and so on. So how come people with heavy physical jobs have the kind of body that I’d kill for? They lift all day, every day. They don’t let the muscles grow for 48 hours before lifting again. They don’t stop after an hour. Why does it work for them when it would apparently be disaster for me? Very low intensity. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weight-training-question/323783.md?page=1)