Taking a break for a week

SprostonGreen

I last worked out on Saturday and intend to go again this Saturday.

I've read before(here I think, G'em I think, as ever:) ) that you should take a week off, every 12 weeks. This would be week 10 for me by my reckoning.

Its not that I'm bored or anything and I'm happy with my progress, its just that plans have cropped up this week and it seems ideal to take a break now.

Does anybody else ever do this, any advice or feedback??

Dragan

I will take a week off every 8 to 12 weeks depending on how i am feeling. I don't know many people who don't to be honest.

All in all, it's nice to get the extra rest in and let some of the little aches and pains go away for a while. It does the body good to get this extra rest and when you return to the gym you should feel really good, and maybe even a little stronger also.

Just remember to keep the diet good, and get your protein in!!

SprostonGreen

Dragan wrote:

Just remember to keep the diet good, and get your protein in!!

Thanks.

I had chips yesterday for the first time since around December 21st, I'm not a fan by any means.

I didnt take whey protein, for the last two days, but I'll get back on it today.

Dragan

To be honest, if your not going to be working on, you can really stick to about 5 wholefood meals a day and get your protein from meat as it was give you a steadier supply.

Just take the whey in the mornings when you wake up to sort out those amino acids.

Flex

Personally I dont incorporate any specific time into my routine where I take a week off. But when Exams roll around at Christmas and Summer I usually take a week-2 weeks off training and when I go back I find Im actually a bit stronger. I also wouldnt bother using whey protein in my time off unless I had plenty of it, I just make sure I keep my diet clean

g'em

SprostonGreen wrote:

I've read before(here I think, G'em I think, as ever:) )

yeah, probably was me, I do tend to talk quite a lot...

many people are in favour of taking a rest week anything from every 8-12 . not only does it give your body a well deserved rest, and allow it time to recuperate it also serves as a time for you to re-focus on your goals and assess how you're program is going. I usually spend my week off looking at my program from the previous block and decided what I want to change/ modify/ keep to keep my program fresh. Its a concept called periodisation that's been shown in studies to improve performance faster and more effectively than maintaining the same constant routine. have the reference here somehwere if anyone wants it...

thirtyfoot

Although my goals aren't bodybuilding, I work off a 4 week micro-cycle. Week 4 is alway easy week and usually involves 1 (or 2) trips to the gym, maybe speed endurance and some "active rest" sessions, eg, bike ride, mountain hike and will also include a treat, like maybe 15 pints of Guinness and a kebab on a friday night! I always look forward to easy week mentally and it really helps me in week 3 knowing this is my last week of heavy work. In weeks 1-3, I work on all aspects, but put a little extra focus on one element each week, eg, Wk 1 - speed, Wk 2 - sp endurance, wk 3 - strength, or I may focus on a specific skill set. I've found the larger 12-16 week cycles difficult to work with from a monotonous perspective, so break it down into 3-4 micro cycles over that period.

Jak

Aye it's essential, but can be difficult to do.

I am on a week off now from Friday last to this Friday - forced more by an unfortunate event - but take the break when you have to. Actually thinking of it though I did go for a run on Saturday, just because I felt I had to do something.

Personally I would generally try to wait until I am taking a weeks holiday before doing it - however all my holidays revolve around sports so they aren't exactly training breaks - this system works quite well for me. I can't really think of the last time I took a full week off in the last few years to be honest. If I feel something is going backwards or sessions start to struggle, I'm likely to skip a session for that part (so it gets almost 2 weeks rest) and swap in a weekend surfing or diving etc. in fact in Summer now, I generally shift sessions around to free up the odd weekend and drop a weekday cardio to have a morning off midweek.

Be flexible is all. Train in a consistent and focused way, but give your life and sporting interests their place - this should give you enough variety to rest up as needed.

JAK.

t-ha

Some people say an unloading week is fine but I think taking time fully off is important. It's useful for preventing chronic type injuries. That said, I usually feel fine again after 4/5 days, so I'm not too strict about taking 7 particularly.

I find that certain over-trained areas like forearms get visibly bigger during this time off.

incisor71

My recent birthday reminded me that I'm an old(er) man now and have needed to take that quintissential week off for some time now, given that fatigue has been setting in and I couldn't understand why.

But I've been holding out until next Monday, as the start of the break will coincide neatly with the expiration my current gym membership (and force me away from the place until I sign up in a week at the new, and superior, JJB Fitness).

SprostonGreen

incisor71 wrote:

My recent birthday reminded me that I'm an old(er) man now and have needed to take that quintissential week off for some time now, given that fatigue has been setting in and I couldn't understand why.

Me too, but I take comfort in the fact that Teddy Sheringham will be 40 by the end of this season. You can keep training the older you get, but you do need your breaks.;)

PJG

Yeah I take a week off and I generally find I would come back stronger; the body needs to recover, repair and grow.

During this week I would still go to the gym, 20 minutes light cardio (just to warm up), stretching, easy swim, and sauna.