One thing that I cant get out of my mind that somebody on here said, and I cant remember who, was that “Rest is under-rated in this game”. Does anyone have any real-life examples of how maybe a 2 day rest improved there performance/strength, or maybe a 3 day rest. Just want to explore this foreign concept a little more. This is something that my routine has been sorely missing.
For most beginners, rest is overrated.
For all others, rest, active and passive is very important. Certainly anyone who has ever taken a successful deload can give you an example but you probably have already read something about 3 weeks on 1 week deload cycles.
As for days of total rest, most people on a mon-wed-fri split will tell you that the strongest day is monday.
yea i can feed into that. when i was doing rippetoes, i was adding weight to my squat 3x a week. i plateaued at 245 for 5 reps. the next day, i knocked it down to 215 and worked back up to 245 over 6 sessions (3x a week) at that point, i was like screw it im going to starrs. so i tested my 5rm, and it was 265, prolly coulda done 270.
point being that i rested via resetting, and was able to wield 20-25lbs greater than my las pr. thats without having touched 245 in 2 weeks, or anything above that at all. its kinda like a dual factor thing. when you can no longer make weekly progress (assuming your diet, lift increases, and yes, rest are in check) that’s when you’ll be an advanced lifter and you’ll find deloading quintessential to making gains. unless you wanna grind away like the oldfashioned bodybuilders that did 5 hours a day 5 days a week, including an hour on abs, and max out with a 300lb bench and a 300lb squat (hurt his knee) i knew one. he thinks everyone is on the juice lol. well just about anyone over 500lb bench and 700lb squat is, but still.
i usually take 1 week off a month, and i always feel stronger when i come back. works for me
I think rest is very underrated. Like stated previously, taking a week off can do great things for your body. Getting at full 8 hours of sleep every night is very important too in my opinion
i dont believing in taking a week off every 3 weeks if im on a roll in the gym ill keep going itel it dies out then take break longer then a weekend.
but i do believe you need to find your right amount of sleep if its 7 hours or 9 find it and do it all the time and your lifts will improve
Usually when I stop making progress I stop for up to a week. Then I push real hard the first few days back. Then continue until progress is slowed again and repeat. Having said that remember everyone is different so you will have to try different things till you find your way of doing things. Good luck!
I think there is a point at which you start going backwards if you train to often, and then rest is very important.
I think squating or benching 7 days a week, changing reps every workout and then takeing a full week off would work wonders as far as a plateau breaker for strength and muscle gain.
But then again Im the kind of guy who trains way to often and as soon as I take enough time off I hit a new max.
Rest rules the game.
within the last few months, i started sleeping 9-10 hours every single night. i’ve never made such good gains before
[quote]midwestathlete wrote:
i usually take 1 week off a month, and i always feel stronger when i come back. works for me[/quote]
I think you’re resting a bit too much. I don’t think I could ever put together a good rhythm with 3 weeks on/1 week off.
I take a week off after about six weeks on. As a matter of a fact I just took the last week off.
I’m fuckin ready to get back at it this week!
A week off here and there is a good way to re-charge the batteries.
Good regular sleep habits are important, too.
sleep is really important. I got maybe 5hrs sleep last night as my girlfriend had a few bad dreams and kept me up all night, and my workout suffered, missed more snatchs then I should have. Bet if I had another 3-4 hrs of solid sleep I would be fine.
Rest is underrated if you been training for longer then a year I say, and even so that depends on how you train… I need a TON of rest because I train 4-6 times a week 2-4 hrs at a clip and squat just about everyone of those sessions.
the more rest the better!!