Rest Weeks Necessary or Not?

Training Bodybuilding
21

[quote]Professor X wrote:
I work through quite a bit of minor pain. Whether he should is up to him and his doctor. Further, he should be trying to find out why he is injuring himself so much when, judging by his picture, he isn’t really carrying all that much size. [/quote]

Like I said earlier, at least some in the medical field think the best way to recover from physical strain/injury is by working through it rather than resting. It only took a couple weeks of working out after straining my other arm before I was back to normal, no rest needed.

I think the reason for the arm strain is mostly due to the weighted pullups I’ve been doing. I consider it one of the best exercises out there, but it does put a large strain on your forearms if you use good form and go full range.

22

[quote]mr popular wrote:
Airtruth wrote:
I guess your point B ain’t far enough, otherwise you would have to stop and get gas. Then you can either be the type of person to wait until your car can’t go anymore and get gas, or you can stop at a quarter tank and get gas. Just remember if you wait until your tank is completely empty if your no where near a gas station it’s going to take a while to get some gas in your tank.

What the fuck are you even talking about?

In this analogy, gasoline is comparable to FOOD, which you obviously need to be filling up on regularly to get to your destination.

Are you trying to say I’m going to run out of food someday or something…?[/quote]

Lol this might surprise some people but food alone doesn’t help you recover. You need the right combination of damage, nutrients, and rest to recover (Recover = Gas, for you slow motherfuckas). Try benching 75% 1rm 3 sets of 10 every day for the next 3 months and see if your bench goes up.

23

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Airtruth wrote:

Pick a sport means, you name a sport and I will tell you the athletes that play that sport that plan weeks off from either there sport or their training.

I don’t care who plans weeks off. It means nothing to me unless this person is making so much progress that it puts most advanced trainers to shame. I am not lifting weights to be average. This discussion is about whether the people HERE should be taking regular weeks off.

The answer is NO, they should not unless they are truly training so hard and making so much progress that most would call them ELITE.

Honestly I think .05% of people on this board are here to compete, that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying just as hard. How many are trying hard, I’d say close to 50% of the people who come on here are trying their best, are they successful…no, but I highly doubt there lack of success is because they took a week off every 3 months.

Their lack of success is likely because they are NOT trying that hard whether that be in the kitchen or in the gym. [/quote]

Ok… and if they are trying that hard in the gym for 3 months, but not in the kitchen theres going to be even MORE of a reason they should take a week off from their training. Which is basically overdoing it on a starvation diet.

All of that is getting even beside the point that I’ve seen more poeple respond better to one week off then those who do the same shit day in and day out.

24

Ummm no one said to do the same shit day in and day out - that would be retarded. Of course if you use 75% of your 1RM and always do 3x10 with the same fucking weight you aren’t going to progress. Its all about making progress, adding weight or adding reps every week and when you stall on that lift you swap it out for another one for a while and make progress on that lift.

25

[quote]forlife wrote:
Professor X wrote:
I work through quite a bit of minor pain. Whether he should is up to him and his doctor. Further, he should be trying to find out why he is injuring himself so much when, judging by his picture, he isn’t really carrying all that much size.

Like I said earlier, at least some in the medical field think the best way to recover from physical strain/injury is by working through it rather than resting. It only took a couple weeks of working out after straining my other arm before I was back to normal, no rest needed.

I think the reason for the arm strain is mostly due to the weighted pullups I’ve been doing. I consider it one of the best exercises out there, but it does put a large strain on your forearms if you use good form and go full range.
[/quote]

I’m in the medical field. I agree.

26

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
mr popular wrote:
Airtruth wrote:
I guess your point B ain’t far enough, otherwise you would have to stop and get gas. Then you can either be the type of person to wait until your car can’t go anymore and get gas, or you can stop at a quarter tank and get gas. Just remember if you wait until your tank is completely empty if your no where near a gas station it’s going to take a while to get some gas in your tank.

What the fuck are you even talking about?

In this analogy, gasoline is comparable to FOOD, which you obviously need to be filling up on regularly to get to your destination.

Are you trying to say I’m going to run out of food someday or something…?

Lol this might surprise some people but food alone doesn’t help you recover. You need the right combination of damage, nutrients, and rest to recover (Recover = Gas, for you slow motherfuckas). Try benching 75% 1rm 3 sets of 10 every day for the next 3 months and see if your bench goes up.

[/quote]

Why would anyone in their right mind train the same exercise everyday for 3 months?

However, I can definitely train 6 days a week going heavy for my entire body for 3 months and NOT need to take a week off.

Are you practicing making less and less sense?

27

[quote]Airtruth wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Airtruth wrote:

Pick a sport means, you name a sport and I will tell you the athletes that play that sport that plan weeks off from either there sport or their training.

I don’t care who plans weeks off. It means nothing to me unless this person is making so much progress that it puts most advanced trainers to shame. I am not lifting weights to be average. This discussion is about whether the people HERE should be taking regular weeks off.

The answer is NO, they should not unless they are truly training so hard and making so much progress that most would call them ELITE.

Honestly I think .05% of people on this board are here to compete, that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying just as hard. How many are trying hard, I’d say close to 50% of the people who come on here are trying their best, are they successful…no, but I highly doubt there lack of success is because they took a week off every 3 months.

Their lack of success is likely because they are NOT trying that hard whether that be in the kitchen or in the gym.

Ok… and if they are trying that hard in the gym for 3 months, but not in the kitchen theres going to be even MORE of a reason they should take a week off from their training. Which is basically overdoing it on a starvation diet.

All of that is getting even beside the point that I’ve seen more poeple respond better to one week off then those who do the same shit day in and day out.

[/quote]

Wait, so if someone isn’t eating enough, instead of getting them to eat more, your recommendation is take more time off?

Why even try?

If someone isn’t eating enough, they can take YEARS off and they still won’t make any progress until they learn to eat more.

28

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Airtruth wrote:
Professor X wrote:
Airtruth wrote:

Pick a sport means, you name a sport and I will tell you the athletes that play that sport that plan weeks off from either there sport or their training.

I don’t care who plans weeks off. It means nothing to me unless this person is making so much progress that it puts most advanced trainers to shame. I am not lifting weights to be average. This discussion is about whether the people HERE should be taking regular weeks off.

The answer is NO, they should not unless they are truly training so hard and making so much progress that most would call them ELITE.

Honestly I think .05% of people on this board are here to compete, that doesn’t mean they aren’t trying just as hard. How many are trying hard, I’d say close to 50% of the people who come on here are trying their best, are they successful…no, but I highly doubt there lack of success is because they took a week off every 3 months.

Their lack of success is likely because they are NOT trying that hard whether that be in the kitchen or in the gym.

Ok… and if they are trying that hard in the gym for 3 months, but not in the kitchen theres going to be even MORE of a reason they should take a week off from their training. Which is basically overdoing it on a starvation diet.

All of that is getting even beside the point that I’ve seen more poeple respond better to one week off then those who do the same shit day in and day out.

Wait, so if someone isn’t eating enough, instead of getting them to eat more, your recommendation is take more time off?

Why even try?

If someone isn’t eating enough, they can take YEARS off and they still won’t make any progress until they learn to eat more.[/quote]

It seems like every time I come back to the bodybuilding form this same topic comes up, with professor X saying the exact same common-sense things.

29

[quote]threewhitelights wrote:
If you have to ASK if you need time off, you don’t need time off. [/quote]

This is exactly what I was going to say. I currently am taking a few days off because of a stomach virus and going to the gym has never even occurred to me.

It just does not make sense to me why you would intentionally take time off if you are progressively getting bigger and stronger in your training (which is what should be happening provided that heavy lifting and food intake are in place).

30

[quote]josh86 wrote:
Ummm no one said to do the same shit day in and day out - that would be retarded. Of course if you use 75% of your 1RM and always do 3x10 with the same fucking weight you aren’t going to progress. Its all about making progress, adding weight or adding reps every week and when you stall on that lift you swap it out for another one for a while and make progress on that lift. [/quote]

No shit sherlock.
That was an extreme example since anything beyond a days rest you can’t comprehend. Expand your though process and the formula fits like a bell curve, for recovery days, as well as recovery phases. When applying it to a phase, a week off is as important as a day off within a regular week of training.

31

useless arguing,

no one here can tell anyone else when to take a week off,

one will usually take afew workouts off or a week off when one has really fatigued, injured themselves or has plateaued,

when that point comes its complitely determined by you and you only, doesnt take a genious talking 10 paragraphs to figure this out, its as simple as that

32

[quote]Airtruth wrote:

I just don’t get it.
[/quote]

Fixed.

33

[quote]forlife wrote:
When I first started lifting, the books and articles I read said that rest weeks every 2-3 months were important. If you didn’t take them, your fitness goals would be sabotaged.

However, I’ve heard some people say they never take time off from the gym and do fine.

Is this just an individual thing, or do people generally need to take a break every now and then to let their body heal/recover?

My take right now is that unless my body is sending me clear signals that I am overworked, I am going to keep hitting the gym every morning.[/quote]

For me I train hard always and never plan time off. Time off comes when im busy, and it seems like a good time to take that break.
But a few times I have taken half a week or so consecutive days off, because my system felt beat and over trained- resulting in no gym results, if anything me feeling weaker.

These kinda of breaks result in you coming back stronger, and for that reason yes then take a break from the routine.

34

[quote]josh86 wrote:
Airtruth wrote:

I just don’t get it.

Fixed.[/quote]

mmmmm…Your trying too hard