Not enough recovery time?

I've been lifting weights for about 3 months now, alternating 2 upper, 2 lower body workouts per week. Now, I've been told that sufficient recovery time (48-72 hours for each muscle group?) is necessary for muscle growth, and so far I've agreed, but recenty it just feels like I should be doing MORE, particularly upper body, and feel all fidgety and jumpy just wanna wanna go toss that iron around!
But,
would i be sabotaging myself? I've been using a few recovery supplements (by EAS, on recommendation of a friend, until I actually went to one of those nutrition stores and WOAH there's a lot to confuse you...) and am eating well, +protein shakes, between 7-8 hours of sleep... can i get some input form anyone here? thanks.

[Nortical]

Rest is essential for muscle growth.

When you are lifting heavy weights your muscles get torn apart and breaks down. When you rest they recuperate and grow back bigger and stronger.

Now if you lift heavy and then only rest one day and then lift heavy again, your muscles will never get a chance to repair themselves and grow. You will get no results.

Well, if you've just begun lifting, I suppose you start out pretty easy with weights that you can easily handle. And if your workouts aren't very intense, you obviously don't need very much rest. But you should take a few days rest for each muscle anyway.

Now if you lift heavy weights with high intensity, you'll need a lot more rest.
I lift heavy weights and I take a whole week rest for each muscle.
I workout 4 days a week and work 2 muscle groups at each session. (Tuesday: Chest, stomach -- Thursday: Back, shoulders -- Friday: Biceps, triceps -- Sunday: Legs).
In most cases, a whole week isn't necessary for rest, but it sure won't hurt.
Of course the optimal rest time varies from individual to individual. I get great results from much rest.

IMO, working each muscle to total fatigue once a week or every five days is the best way to go, at least for me. If you want to build giant muscles, that is.

Good luck!

Norti

If you are just starting out i guess you can rest for 2-3 days. But as you progressively get stronger, and as your workouts get more intense, then i would say that you need at least 5 days of rest between body parts.

I myself get about a week's rest for each body part. I could probably get away with less but it would reek havok on my schedule. Well, Im making progress and that is all that matters to me. When you read a lot of info from fitness sites, and fitness books (like weight training for dummies), you get a lot of @#%$ like, "you need 2-3 days rest between bodyparts". That ok for the pussies that only train biceps, abs, and chest, and run their asses off on the treadmill. But if you want to gain some serious strength and mass you gotta give it more time.