I know your supposed to give your muscles a day off to let them rebuild. What’s optimal? What’s helpful and what’s harmful?
Would bed rest be ideal?
Is stretching good or bad?
How about a few pushups or pull ups… are they harmful?
It depends a little on the individual: a hard gainer might want to take the day off from all exercise, especially after a really heavy workout of large muscle groups, while an easy gainer could do another workout. Or, a cardio session can be a good alternative to lifting the day after a heavy weight workout.
Assuming you’re working parts of the body on different days (e.g., chest, shoulders, arms, back, legs)…
If you work, say, chest on Monday, you might not want to work anything on Tuesday that would also work the sore chest muscles (like shoulders or triceps). Legs might be better. But heavy weightlifting takes a toll on your entire body, so laying off it completely can be best.
And in still another complication, a moderate weight workout that does involve recently worked muscles (say, pushups the day after a shoulder workout) can help recovery by getting blood into the recovering muscles.
Sorry I can’t be more definitive – weight training involves a lot of experimenting.
It depends on what you’re trying to achieve. If you’re hoping to get stronger forget the day of rest. Strength athletes often train the same muscle groups on consecutive days, alternating days are generally lighter in terms of volume though. The strongest people the average person is likely to encounter are labourers of various types, lots of strength with no days off to recuperate.
If you’re goal is to get bigger or more toned than I don’t know; I suspect the rest is much more crucial with that type of training so that the muscles can heal fully.
Eat lots of protein, get lots of rest, hydrate. Stretching probably.