Taking Time Off

Bigger Stronger Leaner Competitive Bodybuilding
21

Listen to your body.

Recently a lot of T-Nation articles etc. have been boosting the idea of 3 weeks hard, 1 week back off. This need not be a full week off but just a light week. This protocol has some merit, but everybody is different and has different recuperative powers.

I’m personally taking a week off but I was training really hard for a while, and I hurt my back last week, so I’m using my gym time to go get some PT and stretching.

If you are not injured, have no niggles, and are still making progress, you may not need a week off. If you are feeling flat and run-down or have plateued for a while, time off may actually give you more benefit than training.

Only you can judge this.

22

[quote]MNguns wrote:
I find your rationale for not taking 30-60 days off interesting.
An argumentave one, yes.

Ponder this.
Let’s use a baseball player as an example. A CLEAN baseball player @ that too.

Late winter early spring. Report to training camp.
Spring-fall. competitive phase.
fall-mid winter. Transition phase.

Transition phase? WTF? Simply put Don’t train.

Now please don’t read this and think I know all about baseball players. I’ don’t. This is my example from what I know. I’m not arguing that a transition phase is necessary. Appropriate…? Probally. Will you loose gains over this time. Probally yes. But relax they will come back.

I feel a transition phase for the annual plan should be between 2-6 weeks of no gym time.

Crap… I just opened another can of worms.
[/quote]

I offer up no scientific studies as my rationale, only because I feel they are completely unnecessary when dealing with this current discussion.

I’ll point to a specific statement of yours:

“I’m not arguing that a transition phase is necessary. Appropriate…? Probally. Will you loose gains over this time. Probally yes. But relax they will come back.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in getting my gains “back” after voluntarily losing them.

If I can keep from losing them in the first place, by say, NOT taking months off from training for no physiological reason, then that’s what I’m going to do.

That way, I can keep my current gains, and if I’m lucky, perhaps continue to make additional gains, which, last time I checked, was one of the primary goals of training in the first place…

23

i find that taking a week off isnt too bad it just overall causes me to not improve for about two weeks. However, taking two weeks off seems to take a long ass time to come back from.

Anyone ever notice that some muscles atrophy much more than others with time off? My back always comes back almost instantly after time off but my chest seems to atrophy like crazy and then take forever to come back

24

i am currently taking a week off, it feels good going to sleep once i come one instead of getting my blood pumping with some lifts.

Although i cant wait till i start working out again.

25

Take time off when needed.

26

[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
MNguns wrote:
I find your rationale for not taking 30-60 days off interesting.
An argumentave one, yes.

Ponder this.
Let’s use a baseball player as an example. A CLEAN baseball player @ that too.

Late winter early spring. Report to training camp.
Spring-fall. competitive phase.
fall-mid winter. Transition phase.

Transition phase? WTF? Simply put Don’t train.

Now please don’t read this and think I know all about baseball players. I’ don’t. This is my example from what I know. I’m not arguing that a transition phase is necessary. Appropriate…? Probally. Will you loose gains over this time. Probally yes. But relax they will come back.

I feel a transition phase for the annual plan should be between 2-6 weeks of no gym time.

Crap… I just opened another can of worms.

I offer up no scientific studies as my rationale, only because I feel they are completely unnecessary when dealing with this current discussion.

I’ll point to a specific statement of yours:

“I’m not arguing that a transition phase is necessary. Appropriate…? Probally. Will you loose gains over this time. Probally yes. But relax they will come back.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m not really interested in getting my gains “back” after voluntarily losing them.

If I can keep from losing them in the first place, by say, NOT taking months off from training for no physiological reason, then that’s what I’m going to do.

That way, I can keep my current gains, and if I’m lucky, perhaps continue to make additional gains, which, last time I checked, was one of the primary goals of training in the first place…[/quote]

Well said. I do find it funny where some of the larger trainers on this site stand on the issue.

27

Do you feel tired? Are you still making gains? Do you have any nagging injuries? Are you going balls-to-the-wall every workout without any periodization?

If not, why bother with a week off? Just listen to your body. If you feel the need, you don’t even need to take a week off, just lower the volume for a week or two to maintain yourself and reset yourself.

28

I generally don’t know if I need a week off until a few weeks after I’ve taken it. I’m always trying to learn more about my body but what I’ve noticed is that several times when I’ve taken a week or 10 days off for vacation or another reason I’ve hit big PRs within the following month. It doesn’t seem to work if I do it more than once every 3-5 months though.

On the micro (or would it be meso?) level, I take an extra couple days off or do a few easy workouts roughly every month when I start feeling worn out.

I suspect that there may be more variation from individual to individual with this topic than nearly any other. Experiment and find what works for you. So… yes, I would say take that week off now and see how you respond a few weeks down the road. Stay active, but not too active (don’t cheat).

29

any one ever heard of 2 steps foward 1 step back think about it you cant just keep working out 4 the rest of your life and never take more than a week or two off
your body would never know what it was like to be relaxed again

oh wait yes it would when you wear yourself down to the point where you cant workout anymore thats ok blame it on old age

nobodys saying take months off im taking 2 weeks trying to figure were it should be roughly between 3 and 6 months

but i do think a month or so sounds good after a few years

hey do you really think you can lose gains that you worked your whole life for in 2 weeks

30

[quote]jjay wrote:
any one ever heard of 2 steps foward 1 step back think about it you cant just keep working out 4 the rest of your life and never take more than a week or two off
your body would never know what it was like to be relaxed again

oh wait yes it would when you wear yourself down to the point where you cant workout anymore thats ok blame it on old age

nobodys saying take months off im taking 2 weeks trying to figure were it should be roughly between 3 and 6 months

but i do think a month or so sounds good after a few years

hey do you really think you can lose gains that you worked your whole life for in 2 weeks
[/quote]

Dude, I’ve trained for the last 11 years at least without more than a week off. Any extended time off even approaching a week has been because of natural disasters or being in a country that had no weights. Your understanding of the issue is warped if you think the human body is that fragile. Perhaps your body is. Everyone else on the planet isn’t the same as you.

31

[quote]jjay wrote:
any one ever heard of 2 steps foward 1 step back think about it you cant just keep working out 4 the rest of your life and never take more than a week or two off
your body would never know what it was like to be relaxed again

[/quote]

2 steps forward 1 step back is an absolutely horrid way to approach weight training.

I’m not sure what massive dose of anabolics you’re using to make that theory effective, but most people don’t find gains so amazingly easy to come by that they can just let muscle waste away as they “relax”, and then have slabs of lean mass fly back onto their frame during their “2 steps forward”.

True progress is hard to come by. I’ll be damned if I’m going to voluntarily lose some of it, just hoping that I can gain it back the next time I decide to start training again.

Inconsistent training is one of the biggest culprits for the majority of poor physiques I see.

You know, the “So I lifted for 6 months in 1996, and then I took 2 years off, and then I lifted for a year and a half, and then I took a year off, and then I lifted for 3 whole years, and then I took 6 months off, and then I lifted for 3 months, and then I took 2 years off, and then I lifted for a year…” And basically they have the same physique and strength that they started with.

My body knows how to relax. My weight training consumes around 6-10 hours of the 168 hours in a week. It’s not THAT stressful, give me a break…

32

Planning to take time off is silly to me. You people must have some perfectly structured lives to need to plan for time off. Life gets in the way too much for me to need to plan time off.

33

I recently took just 11 days off (because of life, basically), and it was too long. Very noticeable drop in strength, though it came back quick.

The best for me has been not time off, but easy weeks…volume and weight to 60% as per Jack Reape’s Backoff article. When i do that, I leave the gym feeling very fresh and not at all tired, but I keep my strength and flexibility. It’s like the body needs a constant reminder of what it needs to do, it doesn’t need a constant pounding.

34

so i did a google search on overtraining and they had some pretty good articles i didnt read all of them but whatever i thought id share it with you

35

[quote]Professor X wrote:
Dude, I’ve trained for the last 11 years at least without more than a week off. Any extended time off even approaching a week has been because of natural disasters or being in a country that had no weights. Your understanding of the issue is warped if you think the human body is that fragile. Perhaps your body is. Everyone else on the planet isn’t the same as you.[/quote]

Prof, I’m with you on this one. I’ve been at it for over 30 years following your philosophy. “Life” manages to program enough breaks in my training without me adding to it. Sure, intensity cycles up and down, but as long as you lift smart and keep your diet sufficient to meet your training needs there is no need to program a break.

Ironheart

36

Spoken like a true Tman…almost made me cry a bit.

37

NO ATHLETES TRAIN YEAR ROUND ! i hear you about life giving you breaks but it is still a break maybe subconcise you could always get to the gym if you really want right

38

When my training is on course, my mental aspect is lined in, and my diet is good enough I train 4 to 6 days a week with as much intensity using either heavy weight over 90% of my 1rm, lots of effort with lighter weights, and odd object training.

I do this for 3 to 4 weeks on and 1 week off.

I mainly listen to my body and I never take more than 7 days off if I can help it and even when I’m off I try to do some kind of easy training like long walks or yoga.

If I’m on my 3rd week and feel like shit and my lifts are dead then I take a week off if not then I go 4 weeks then make myself take off.

I’ve made some serious gains in the past year doing this and it works for me.

It helps me keep my intensity up when I start to get close to the end of the training cycle and it is good times.

39

I usually take a week off every 8-12 months.Sometimes less.
I actually come back stronger when I take a week off.