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Why do you need to let your muscles rest after training? To understand this, let's look at what happens when you train. By placing strain on your muscles through exercise or resistance such as lifting weights, small micro-tears occur. These little tears are nothing to be afraid of - in fact, if they didn't occur, you would not get stronger - but they do need to be repaired.

Similar to when you drive a car and swerve to avoid something on the road, in order to get that car back on the road, you oversteer in the opposite direction. After exercise - after a swerve in your daily routine - your body will do the same; it oversteers. It overcompensates to get you back on track, repairing the micro-tears and then some. By putting in a little bit of extra reinforcing, it gets stronger. This is the principal behind training. Your body puts in extra reinforcing in order to cope with the exercise.

This process takes energy and time - generally between 24 - 48 hours. This is why it is not recommended to train the same body part two days in a row. If you train everyday, you are not allowing the 24 - 48 hours required for your body to oversteer, to overcompensate; to get stronger.

Instead, when you train day-after-day, your muscle tears are not repaired. And your car - that is, your body - can run right off the road. If your car runs gently into the gravel, it will simply slow down - you will feel tired and lethargic. If it runs off at top speed, you will end up with an over-training injury. Neither of these situations is ideal, and defeat the purpose of training in the first place.

When starting out in training people tend to give it their all. Women are great at this. We love to throw ourselves into a new activity with gusto. The exercise then generates endorphins. It can become - quite literally - addictive in as little as a few weeks.

The motto 'everything in moderation' should be remembered here. If you feel the urge to train everyday, all you need to do is vary your workouts. You may choose a 'Split' program, where you train different body parts on different days, or you may choose a 'Full Body' program yet break it up by interspersing the workout with Cardio. Walking on the Treadmill, taking an Aerobics class or working out on a Cross Trainer are some great options. You may even choose a different activity all together such as swimming, on those alternate days while your muscles repair.

Split programs are popular with gym-goers who prefer to train primarily with weights,

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