On Mon, 19 Mar 2001 12:20:56 -0800, Wally Day <[log in to unmask]> wrote: >I've known very muscular athletes >(read gymnasts) and very muscular construction workers >who work their muscles hard every single day and do >not seem to suffer from decreases in muscle. Most construction workers I've ever seen are just overweight. Gymnasts are special I think; I don't know what they do; but I know there aren't many 48 year old gymnasts :-). One study http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0002.htm found 36 hours is needed for recovery. >In >light of this, how can placing a lesser load on the >muscle cause it to decrease, especially if the muscle >is still being trained (let's say on alternating days) >by the heavier demands. Even lower weights can interfere with the rebuilding. Philip Thrift http://www.paleofitness.com