Hello mr Bones.
read the classic Power to the People, and your questions will be answered
+1
Power to the People is a really excellent resource. I've read and re-read it many times and I still seem to learn something new every time. Long rest times are certainly the way forward if your focus is on pure strength and not muscular growth.
In answer to your Joe Rogan question, the key variables involved in managing a daily training program are training history, and the intensity and volume of the daily workout:
- Training history: An experienced lifter will have made numerous adaptations to allow for greater training frequency (up to and occasionally beyond twice a day, six days a week). A novice lifter may need more time to recover between sessions.
- Intensity and Volume: The training load/resistance used and the amount of sets/reps performed will also determine how much recovery is required after each training session. An experienced lifter will probably be able to recover from either a high volume at a low intensity (high reps, many sets, less challenging exercises/lower weights) or a low volume at a high intensity (heavy weights but fewer reps and sets with longer rests between).
If your goal is strength or endurance, either of those qualities can be developed with daily training sessions with either high intensity and low volume (strength) or low intensity and high volume (endurance) provided that muscle tissue breakdown is avoided.
For bodybuilding type training (which 99% of gym trainees seem to engage in whether they're aware of it or not), both moderate-high intesities and moderate-high volumes are used, resulting in breakdown of muscle tissue and the accumulation of fatigue. In this case, recovery days between sessions may be necessary or, at least, training separate muscle groups on different days. While it is certainly possible to train for strength/skill/endurance on a daily basis, muscle growth needs rest days (unless the trainee is seriously chemically enhanced or genetically abnormal). Sorry for the long-winded answer; I hope that sheds some light on the subject.
If you're after a program to start right away, the
articles section on the StrongFirst website has plenty of excellent programs for a variety of goals. Failing that, if you can let us know what your goals are, there are plenty of knowledgeable folks on this forum who I'm sure would be delighted to give you some pointers.
Congratulations if you actually read this far and welcome to the StrongFirst forum!