Just watched a pretty compelling video where a guy explains how taking a full week off from weightlifting & cardio can help those of us over 50 “heal” and feel better.
Has anybody done this? No weights, no cardio, no yoga – just walking as your daily exercise, for a full week.
I really look forward to going the gym almost every day – taking a week off would be hard … but if it helps … ?
What video?
Sounds like BS. If you need the rest, take it.
Several times before, though rarely voluntary - more like it just ended up happening due to travel, physical ailments, etc. I always FEEL smaller and weaker from the lack of glycogen bloat, but as long as I was eating enough, when I return to the gym I usually crush the workout and within the day I look bigger again. I’ve set a bench press PR under those conditions.
Did this before my most recent strongman comp.
It was nice.
Not so much needing a rest as much as I’m needing improved sleep at night. I suspect that too much gym is the main reason my sleep is disrupted these days.
I often take periods off, and in fact have been in an “off” period for awhile right now. Over the long term it has more benefits than drawbacks. It gives your CNS and muscles a well deserved break.
Contrary to popular belief - it won’t really slow down your gains at all.
I have to qualify as taking a “cheat week” off as I did two lightweight resort workouts while on my vacation. I returned and usually when I take ~a week off I feel I come back a couple reps weaker on my upper body lifts. Not this time. I maintained my strength through the break and a couple nagging aches are gone. Win for this guy!
I like what I call a “working rest” where you do your normal routine but with about 50% of your 8 to 10rep max. Keeps “healing” blood flowing throughout and muscle recovery is a non issue.
If you’re really run down and your sleep is thrown off, you probably should slow down and let things get back to normal. Especially if you’re getting other signs of trouble like inability to concentrate or lack of appetite. And if you’re getting old guys issues like prostate and libido stuff. That’s the feeling of your testosterone falling off.
Taking drastic measures to get things back to normal as fast as possible is probably better than lingering on doing half assed training and half assed recovering and just dragging out your issues.
Did this 2 weeks ago as part of my family vacation. No training just walking and a little swimming. Was nice.
Yeah, this summer I traveled to Italy and caught Covid on the return trip home. In all, I didn’t train for a month.
I don’t recommend skipping training for a month. Nor do I recommend the newest Covid variants.
But…I felt noticeably better–knees, elbows, wrists, shoulders–after about ten days of just walking. And strength comes back quickly, even if recovering from an illness, with relatively light weights and modest effort.
In the long-term, a week is nothing to worry about.
Yes. I went to Italy last year and walked, swam in the ocean, hiked, ate lots of great food, and did not work out. It was splendid.
I like to take a full week off anywhere from 1-4 times a year, usually when I have something better to do, i.e. vacation. I always come back feeling like a million bucks and never miss a beat. Sports have offseasons for a reason.
I suspect this will be an unpopular opinion on this site, but if the thought of not training for a single week causes you severe stress, i think you should re-examine your relationship with the gym. That seems unhealthy to me.
the actual time ranges from a few days to a coupe weeks (the latter being more rare) but yes, and pretty frequently.
Like others have mentioned I don’t necessarily loaf around the whole time, and generally participate in active leisure but that’s mostly because being too sedentary stresses me out as I simple hate sitting still.
Same - there’s always times something is better to do than the gym. Family vacations are great examples
I do it once in a while. Rest the joints for a bit. Sometimes you go back and feel rusty but sometimes you go back and set records.
Same issue. I work 2nd shift and lift before work. If I do 2 a days I start to catch a second wind and can’t sleep more than 4hrs.
In my strength training I’ll skip a workout before trying to set a new PR, but I never deliberately take a full week off from weightlifting.