Is resting every other day enough?

Question

I am an ectomorph, if you don't know what that is look it up, but basically the short definition is it's the "skinny person, the hard gainer, can't gain weight in fat, and gains muscle very slowly" ... now I heard that a good workout for us is a hard but short workout like heavy weights, but it shouldn't last much longer then an hour, of course depending what you do... and it also said rest periods were important.... my question is "Is resting every other day enough?" ... I was going to do bench press, upright rows, and curls one day.. and the next day squats, toe raises (with weights), and leg curls and extensions.; upper body one day, lower body the next, and continue .. and take one day a week for just resting. Is that good?

I eat like 8 meals a day, and they are all moderate to large in size, with the exceptions of a few snacks... I eat healthy, virtually no junk food (although I have my moments) .. I am 6'1 and 140lbs. and I probably get about 2500-3000 calories a day... more on a good grocery day. I eat pizza and hamburgers, but also chicken and rice... I don't starve myself ever on purpose, my body is just naturally fat free in a sense.

Answer 1

you don't even have to rest every other day if you vary your training intensity daily. the intensity of training is what dictates the frequency of training.

the majority of "hard-gainers" simply do not consume enough calories to create a caloric excess for there to be weight gain. resistance training only stimulates the muscles and central nervous system. the diet that you follow determines the size of the body and the body composition. so if you weight 150 lbs then you would take your body weight x 20 and that's how many calories a day you should be consuming.

BW = 150
BW x 20 so (150) x 20 = 3,000 cals

so start at 3,000 calories daily if there is no weight gain for 2 weeks increase your cals by 10% each week until weight gain occurs. at that point start taking bi-weekly body fat measurements so you can make any neccessary adjustments to the diet.

Answer 2

Alternating cardio with weight training is the key.
If you exercise 5-6 days a week, and rest at least one day a week and eat healthy (enough protein, good fresh fruits and veggies) you should do great.
Resting every other day would defeat the purpose.