Time for a Week Off?

Training
1

Hi again :slight_smile:

I’ve been training pretty heavily for the last couple of months and been making some great progress, sticking to a strict diet has been working wonders for me.

Anyway, the combination of pull ups, military presses, bench press, skull crushers and weighted dips have left me with a few irritating sore points.

My left deltoid feels a little weird when i train it, need to warm it up A LOT, and a few heavy sets in it starts to hurt (not in the good way)

also my elbows are showing early signs of tendonitis.

My proposed solution:
-take the week off from upper body training (still hitting lower body because its fine and also dont want to miss out on the HGH and test surges from squatting etc)
-double my daily dosage of fish oils for the week
-stretch upper body every morning and evening

2 weeks from now return with a bang.

Thoughts? Comments appreciated!
-IrishOak

2

Sounds decent.

Take the “week off.” Don’t lift intensely, but do lift. Lift lightly, and more just to get a pump (without even getting close to muscular failure.) Stay active otherwise - walks, runs, whatever.

Eat at maintenance.

One week should be PLENTY enough for your body, and you should be licking your lips at the thought of getting back in the gym.

3

[quote]IrishOak wrote:
Hi again :slight_smile:

I’ve been training pretty heavily for the last couple of months and been making some great progress, sticking to a strict diet has been working wonders for me.

Anyway, the combination of pull ups, military presses, bench press, skull crushers and weighted dips have left me with a few irritating sore points.

My left deltoid feels a little weird when i train it, need to warm it up A LOT, and a few heavy sets in it starts to hurt (not in the good way)

also my elbows are showing early signs of tendonitis.

My proposed solution:
-take the week off from upper body training (still hitting lower body because its fine and also dont want to miss out on the HGH and test surges from squatting etc)
-double my daily dosage of fish oils for the week
-stretch upper body every morning and evening

2 weeks from now return with a bang.

Thoughts? Comments appreciated!
-IrishOak[/quote]

An easy week would probly be a good idea. What are you doing for your upper back and biceps though? If you are not working those areas much, they may be contributing to your aches and pains.

4

Its called “deload”.

5

[quote]Chris87 wrote:

[quote]IrishOak wrote:
Hi again :slight_smile:

I’ve been training pretty heavily for the last couple of months and been making some great progress, sticking to a strict diet has been working wonders for me.

Anyway, the combination of pull ups, military presses, bench press, skull crushers and weighted dips have left me with a few irritating sore points.

My left deltoid feels a little weird when i train it, need to warm it up A LOT, and a few heavy sets in it starts to hurt (not in the good way)

also my elbows are showing early signs of tendonitis.

My proposed solution:
-take the week off from upper body training (still hitting lower body because its fine and also dont want to miss out on the HGH and test surges from squatting etc)
-double my daily dosage of fish oils for the week
-stretch upper body every morning and evening

2 weeks from now return with a bang.

Thoughts? Comments appreciated!
-IrishOak[/quote]

An easy week would probly be a good idea. What are you doing for your upper back and biceps though? If you are not working those areas much, they may be contributing to your aches and pains.[/quote]

oddly enough upper back is the area ive seen the most progress of all. my back workout is usually like this:

4 sets pullups
2 sets t bar rows
2 sets heavy cable rows
3 sets deadlifts (excluding warmups)

Bicep workout is normally

3 sets dumbell curls
2 sets barbell curls
1 set preacher curls
1 set hammer curls

[quote]JFG wrote:
Its called “deload”.

[/quote]
im not sure whether i should use very light upper body weights or none at all. in any event i need to aviod pullups, dips, skull crushers and military press as these are the main culprits.

lower body still in top shape so i can continue to go heavy with it.

6

I do pretty much what you’re suggesting. I have temperamental shoulders and elbows, the achiness builds up til I have to take a week off pressing and extensions.

I still train lower body but add in loads of shoulder health stuff like face pulls, rows and snatches. Also do abouit a zillion reps of band pull aparts.

After a week of that my shoulder feels good as new.

Also, google the “dieselcrew 5 minute shoulder warm up”. It’s a beast.

7

[quote]IrishOak wrote:

[quote]Chris87 wrote:

[quote]IrishOak wrote:
Hi again :slight_smile:

I’ve been training pretty heavily for the last couple of months and been making some great progress, sticking to a strict diet has been working wonders for me.

Anyway, the combination of pull ups, military presses, bench press, skull crushers and weighted dips have left me with a few irritating sore points.

My left deltoid feels a little weird when i train it, need to warm it up A LOT, and a few heavy sets in it starts to hurt (not in the good way)

also my elbows are showing early signs of tendonitis.

My proposed solution:
-take the week off from upper body training (still hitting lower body because its fine and also dont want to miss out on the HGH and test surges from squatting etc)
-double my daily dosage of fish oils for the week
-stretch upper body every morning and evening

2 weeks from now return with a bang.

Thoughts? Comments appreciated!
-IrishOak[/quote]

An easy week would probly be a good idea. What are you doing for your upper back and biceps though? If you are not working those areas much, they may be contributing to your aches and pains.[/quote]

oddly enough upper back is the area ive seen the most progress of all. my back workout is usually like this:

4 sets pullups
2 sets t bar rows
2 sets heavy cable rows
3 sets deadlifts (excluding warmups)

Bicep workout is normally

3 sets dumbell curls
2 sets barbell curls
1 set preacher curls
1 set hammer curls

[quote]JFG wrote:
Its called “deload”.

[/quote]
im not sure whether i should use very light upper body weights or none at all. in any event i need to aviod pullups, dips, skull crushers and military press as these are the main culprits.

lower body still in top shape so i can continue to go heavy with it.[/quote]

Ok, I asked because for some reason a lot of people avoid stuff like that. I have no idea why.

To me it just sounds like your body needs an easy week. When I take a deload I just warmup, hit a couple of VERY easy sets on a main exercise, stretch and go home. I also like to get a couple extra stretching and foam rolling sessions during that week, and some extra sleep. Give it a week and you should be good to go.

8

Everything stresses the organism. So you won’t really be letting your body “fully” recover if you still train legs heavily. And don’t forget that back squat bar position can sometimes mangle with elbow and tendonitis in the arms (so can deadlift grip).

9

i haven’t deloaded since i started my bulk in june, unless you count the times i worked around an injury or the deloading inherent in 531. usually i just ate more, modified technique slightly or rotated to a different exercise.

i used to have the elbow tendinitis issues real bad in both elbows, left worse than the right. i solved it by slowing down my upper body pressing. i’ll probably also start wearing elbow sleeves soon.

10

Im old, I HAVE to deload. :slight_smile:

You just use less weights. Up to you. Wipe out the spreadsheet, follow 5/3/1 or SL 5X5, what ever. Just use less.

11

[quote]JFG wrote:
Im old, I HAVE to deload. :slight_smile:

You just use less weights. Up to you. Wipe out the spreadsheet, follow 5/3/1 or SL 5X5, what ever. Just use less.[/quote]

I feel downright agile compared to you

12

Most people think that deloads and short time off is bad.

There is a reason why 5/3/1 is set the way it is.

Also, no competitive lifter would dream of breaking a record while training.

and the psych boost you get is very nice.

13

[quote]JFG wrote:
Most people think that deloads and short time off is bad.

There is a reason why 5/3/1 is set the way it is.

Also, no competitive lifter would dream of breaking a record while training.

and the psych boost you get is very nice.[/quote]

I do agree, although I was begrudging to accept deloads in the past. You get hungry to smash some weights in the week off, and it definitely makes the body feel about 10,000% better. I usually prefer to not lot really lift at all, and if I do I literally just piss around for a little while, maybe once or twice.

14

If it weren’t for deload weeks I wouldn’t have made a lot of the progress I have made.

And your avi looks like a tranny.