Monitoring Recovery for the

Bodybuilder
Dr. Jacob Reed, PhD, CSCS
Why?
• Plan
• Train harder
• Understand the process
• Individualize
• Determine “readiness”
• Prevent Injuries
Simply put…
• Answer questions
• How much should I train X body part?
• Where have I been?
• Where am I going?
• When are injuries/sickness occurring?
• Am I recovering?
How do we do this? (without going crazy)
• Cause and effect
• Training volume
• Physiological AND psychological responses
 Training Volume: Internal vs External Loads
Internal External
• How hard the body worked to • The work it did
complete the task • Subjective
• Subjective • RPE x time (aka sRPE-TL)
• RPE • Objective
• RIR, from fail, reps left, etc • Training volume
• Objective • Total
• Heart rate • Body part
 Physiological Responses
• Objective • Subjective
• Week to week performance • Bar weight feel
• Body weight • Desire to train
• Sleep • Wellness
• Hours • Fatigue
• “Quality” • Signs of sickness
• Resting heart rate • Soreness
• Aches and Pains
• Pump/mind-muscle connection
feeling “flat”
 Psychological Responses
• Objective • Subjective
• sRPE-TL (kinda) • Wellness
• General stress
• General health/well-being
• Helplessness
• Desire to train
 Wasn’t this supposed to be easy?
Load Response
• sRPE-TL • Body Weight
• Total session • Resting Heart Rate
• Body part
• Wellness
• Training Volume • Fatigue
• Reps x weight • Sleep
• RIR • Hours
• “Quality”
• Soreness
• Stress
• Illness
• Type and severity
 Load: sRPE-TL
• Total session Rating of Perceived
• RPE x total duration Exertion (RPE)
• Global quantifier 1 Very Very Easy
2 Easy
• Body part specific 3 Moderate
• bpRPE x total duration 4 Somewhat Hard
• Aka: dRPE 5 Hard
6
7 Very Hard
8
9
10 Maximal
 Load: Training Volume
Simple Complex
• Entire body • Primary body parts
• Weight x total reps each exercise • Shoulders
• Add all together • Biceps
• Body Part • Triceps
• Sets • Horizontal Back
• Vertical Back
• RIR • Glutes
• Compare previous week(s) • Hamstrings
• Movement specific • Quads
• Body part specific • Calves
 Response
• Bodyweight
• ~3 weigh-ins per week
• Heart rate
• Resting
 Response: Wellness
• Fatigue
Metric 1 2 3 4 5
Fatigue None A Little Moderate Quite a Bit Extreme
Desire to Train None A Little Moderate Quite a Bit Extreme

• Sleep Insomnia
Helplessness
None
None
A Little
A Little
Moderate
Moderate
Quite a Bit
Quite a Bit
Extreme
Extreme
Less than 4 About 4 About 6 About 8 More than
• Hours Sleep Duration
hours hours Hours Hours 8 Hours
Good Have a Cold Headache Stomachache Fever
• “Quality” Illness
Nausea Allergies Sore Throat Other:

Illness Severity
• Soreness (include all illness
in one rating)
None A Little Moderate Quite a Bit Extreme

• Stress Muscle Soreness

Neck
Butt
Arms
Quads
Chest
Hamstrings
Back
Calves
Abs
Other:
Soreness Severity

• Illness (include all

soreness in one
None A Little Moderate Quite a Bit Extreme
rating)
• Type and severity Muscle Pain
Neck Arms Chest Back Abs
Butt Quads Hamstrings Calves Other:
Pain Severity
(include all pain None A Little Moderate Quite a Bit Extreme
in one rating
What do you do with it?
• Observe
• Contemplate
• Repeat
• Plan
• Change
What: Observe
What: Contemplate and Repeat
What: Contemplate and Repeat
What: Contemplate and Repeat
Plan
References
• Stone, Michael H., Meg Stone, and William A. Sands. Principles and
practice of resistance training. Human Kinetics, 2007.
• McLaren, S. J., Smith, A., Spears, I. R., & Weston, M. (2017). A detailed
quantification of differential ratings of perceived exertion during
team-sport training. Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, 20(3),
290-295.