Thread: Question about time off...

the most important thing is to listen to your body

As far as I have been told is that you take a whole cylce off(usually a week for most people) and just keep your diet clean if thats what your going for. For me I only work one body part once every seven days so I would just take a whole week off. But gr81 said it all, if you feel rested enough you need some more time then take a little bit longer. You should definatly rest up some though.

If you feel totally recooperated. Not an ounce of soreness, or even a feeling you've lifted... then hit the damn weights. I know how you feel about that, I recently had a wrist injury and haven't been able to lift - but monday :-) can't wait!!!


gooodluck

Thanks for the advice! I usually do lift instinctively anyway. Worked out today and felt great! I hate taking time off!

Originally posted by gr81
the most important thing is to listen to your body

What he said!

There is more than just overtraining and sore muscles. You have to be careful to let your CNS recoup!!!

Yeah...that's the reason I asked. Muscle soreness never lasts long for me anymore anyway. Do you think I need more time off DG?

You need to rest at least 1 or 2 days a week not to overtax your Central nervous system.

If you don't take time off , sooner or later your body will force you to you take time off , whether you like it or not.

Every serious bodybuilder knows that after the Peak Phase of your training you should take 1-2 weeks off to give your body a chance to recover from all that you've been putting it thru.

If you can't stay away that long at least go light for a little while.

Originally posted by gr81
the most important thing is to listen to your body

absolutely 100% true, and very difficult to do.

yup, it is easy to ignore it and out more and more stress on it

Originally posted by dg806
You need to rest at least 1 or 2 days a week not to overtax your Central nervous system.

I only workout 3-4 days a week anyway. I was referring to taking a week or so off every month or two. I've been training for about 4 years now and usually try to do this. I just hate staying away and was wondering how long you really need to take!

There is no set period of time, as it depends on your method of training and the state of your body.

If you're worn out, but still wish to lift, you can cut the weight in half, still performing the same number of sets and reps, as an example.

If your CNS is beat down, cumulative fatigue training that employs numerous sets with a relatively low weight, is a good option.

Thanks Dante! That's what I was looking for. I feel great, so game on!

Here's something else to consider, with regards to "overtraining."

There are many people who didn't make the progress they sought, and when they pulled back on their volume, almost miraculously, they grew.

Tell me, though, does this mean they were absolutely overtrained (as in, they couldn't handle more, in any situation), or that they were situationally overtraining.

By that I mean:

So many people want to get big, but so few are sufficiently meeting the caloric (and nutrient) demands that their method of training requires. When you are dieting, without anabolics and such, do you expect that you'll be able to train for hours on end?

A similar notion should rest in your mind when speaking of "overtraining." Often we are training incredibly hard, seeking hypertrophy, refusing to providing the building blocks necessary for growth. In that case you either have to eat more, or train less (or train less, if you are truly going well beyond your physical capacity to recover, in any context).

Dante: Many lifters both overtrain and simultaneously fail to eat sufficient calories to maintain proper growth and recovery.

These two things are the biggest mistakes bodybuilding enthusiasts make.

And that is why a great deal of them are unhappy or frustrated with their results and why many of them quit after a few months.

Take my statement for what it was:

Establishing a context.

Training isn't the only factor one has to look at when seeing why something fails to go as planned (speaking of hypertrophy and/or strength).

It is one factor, and there is another. One of the biggest mistakes that we've all made was doing 20 sets per bodypart---almost all of them being to failure.

But even for experienced lifters who have made progress, often they pay attention only to their frequency of training (when speaking of overtraining), much to the neglect of the nutritional aspect in terms of caloric intake.

Originally posted by gr81
the most important thing is to listen to your body

great that is the point
we r not working out with time...but with our body
?

personally i don't like to take time off, unless its a holiday or i'm ill

i'd rather switch my routines, like a intense every other day routine, or a 5 day split, or weights and CV every day then switch it to just a 2 or 3 day weights split... in that period my body will have greater time to heel and recover (and hopefully grow), at the same time i won't lose all the gains that i would if i just took a whole week off... coz it can take me months to recover from a full week off the weights

peace

you won't lose much in a week.

If you don't give those joints, ligaments and tendons a break ever once in a while eventually they'll go snap.

Originally posted by vanity
you won't lose much in a week.

If you don't give those joints, ligaments and tendons a break ever once in a while eventually they'll go snap.

for every 1 week you take off... 3 weeks of progress is lost

if you wanna take a week off and waste a month of your training go ahead, but thats not my idea of making progress

you take the week off this week and see how you feel in a weeks time

no body got big by taking weeks off every month, you gotta keep it going, be consistant and don't miss a day, let alone a whole damm week!

please explain how my ligaments and tendons will go snap? when i'm lifting with correct form and have 4 rest days a week?

Originally posted by young d
for every 1 week you take off... 3 weeks of progress is lost

if you wanna take a week off and waste a month of your training go ahead, but thats not my idea of making progress

you take the week off this week and see how you feel in a weeks time

no body got big by taking weeks off every month, you gotta keep it going, be consistant and don't miss a day, let alone a whole damm week!

please explain how my ligaments and tendons will go snap? when i'm lifting with correct form and have 4 rest days a week?

this is the worst post I have read in a while youngD, where the hell did you hear this crap? I would love to hear some evidence to back up the fact that for every week you rest, you lose 3 weeks of progress, that is a bunch of BS. If musle broke down and atrohy occurred that quickly then think of how much you would need to eat to preserve muscle every day. In fact by your rational then during rest time your body wouldn't be growing, it would be in a catabolic mode. that is ridiculous man. Taking a week of is very important every now and then unless you are juicing years round. your consitancy is not lost after a week off. you have no factual info to back up these statements do you? your body needs a break, you can't just weight train heavy for years with no break, we are not meant to do that. Our human bodys are not meant to build muscle, you are doing something that is unnatural, placing a great deal of stress on the CNS, joints, tendons, and muscle groups and constant stress over time with no recovery breaks you will regret. I am not trying to give you a hrad time bro but I challenge you to come up with any legit factual info backing up your claims man. Yoiu won't be able to b/c every person who is educated knows that it is a good idea. believe that!

completely agree with great1 here... wow, overtraining is the #1 reason why people don't make progress... well, not counting giving up altogether... hehe...

everyone needs rest, and it's all up to how well you understnd your body and it's requirements.

Originally posted by young d
for every 1 week you take off... 3 weeks of progress is lost

I'm down with Tupac.

Well said.

quit hatin!

if you guys can take weeks off all the time and make gains thats nice, unfortunatly that ain't happenin over here, i will have about a week off every 6 months and thats it!

i'm just been real, i'm going from my personal experiences of holidays/time off n' shit, and what ppl have told me over the years, missing days ain't good let alone a week!

i'm ecto i struggle putting weight on, if i stop lifting the weight comes off.... you ain't me, so you prolly can't picture the situation but that is what happens, there is no 1 RULE to say people will make better gains taking a week off every month, or people will make better gains take a week off a year

Fake1 has the big rep so every1 hop on his dick yeah!

its all good

I took a week of about 2 weeks ago and upped my 4 rep max by 20 lbs. I see that as progress, not regression.