I’ll make this quick. I haven’t trained in over three weeks and I haven’t been watching what I eat. I’ve started eating bread again mixed with some serious reeses/dove chocolate binges.
However, I weigh the same as I did before I took this break and I look much better. My mid section is more defined, arms veinier, legs more cut up, etc.
The question I came here to ask is…did my body just need a break? I had been dieting and training fairly strictly since last April without a real break. Carb cycling was more of a lifestyle and less of a diet, but recently I’ve had a crazy sweet tooth.
[quote]Professor X wrote:
Even most pro bodybuilders would notice some degree of lessened muscle tone after 3 whole weeks off.[/quote]
x2
I could understand an increase in leanness/vascularity after one week off, assuming you were seriously undereating for the amount of work you were doing- three just sounds impossible.
I guess you could hypothetically be eating so little right now that you are running at a deficit and leaning out, but that is a pretty serious stretch. It’s pretty damned easy to be eating a caloric surplus if you’re throwing down candy without any restriction.
I’ve took this past week off from the gym. Can’t give it up completely and have did mostly bodyweight exercises in almost a GVT mimic. So volume and weight went down drastically, so it can be called a de-load week. Diet remained the same really, and I’ve leaned up.
I couldn’t imagine going a full 3 weeks doing nothing… You should def. start lifting again.
I guess pictures would really tell the truth…by the way do not underestimate what water and carbs can do. If your diet was sensible I would get back to it ASAP.
Recovery mate
I decided to take a break for a week and didn’t do any ab work for a few months.
When I trained again I did ab wheel roll outs to absolute failure and said to myself that if progression means growth then that’s what I’ll work from
What I found was my abs hurt for a week straight
Everytime I tried to do abs they would hurt and I would only be able to do a few roll outs.
I found that after 2 weeks all of a sudden I had doubled the amount of roll outs I had done originally.
I now train once a week and contemplating training once every two weeks.
I have been dieting however and this does limit recovery so when bulking more workouts may be needed??
How ever I am learning that your recovery abilities are what matters
[quote]Barret wrote:
I guess pictures would really tell the truth…by the way do not underestimate what water and carbs can do. If your diet was sensible I would get back to it ASAP.[/quote]