Laying Off

How long can you take a break from lifting without some muscularity? I have been lifting 3-4 times per week and also running and swimming regularly and I feel like I may be overtraining. I haven’t taken any time off since early August and I am no longer excited the way I usually am to work out. I am thinking I may chill starting next weekend until the first of the year, an actual layoff of two weeks. I then will begin an Ian King mass program. Is this too long? Will I turn into a fat candyass?

Two weeks is OK. You might lose a small amount of strength but no size to speak of. The strength will come back as soon as you pick up again. You may want to lower your caloric intake a bit while not working out.

I recently took a 5 week break (work reasons)with the odd workout at home on the weekends. I felt depressed, weak - generally just shity. I came back end of October and gained 7 pounds in 2 weeks and I still haven’t lost it. You would be amazed at how easy it is to get back what you “think” you’ve lost. I now take a 2 week break every month to prime the body for growth. You are overtrained.

Agree that you’re overtrained. Also agree that you should watch your total cals very closely during any lay-off. According to Poliquin, detraining effects generally start about five-six days after cessation of exercise. If it were me, I’d take a week off, followed by a light program like the first phase of Growth Surge for as long as it takes you to get motivated again. Even if you take more time, however, and your training age is fairly high, you shouldn’t have much problem “coming back” after a longer lay-off.

Actually I make it a habit to take one week off from training every three months. Strength goes down slightly but I noticed that I actually gain size during that time.
I think of it this way – every week you are constantly tearing down and rebuilding from weight training. Your body adapts to it quickly. Suddenly, you stop training but your body thinks “Hey - its Tuesday, I need to rebuild after Mondays leg workout” but in actuality it never was torn down. I don’t think it can be fooled for very long but it does give your body time to get that long deserved rest it was looking for and helps to rebuild that psychological edge.

I figured that I was overtrained, but I have a hard time stopping working out, even though I know it will be good in the long run. I think another sign of overtraining is feeling really guilty if you miss a workout and obsess about not eating as clean as you should. Plus I haven’t gained any mass in over 6 weeks! I hope the couple of weeks off will prime me up and I’ll hit it hungry and ready to go for 2002. Maybe thats rationalizing for sittin on my ass eating christmas cookies.