Thoughts on breaks from fitness

denvey

just wondering do many people take breaks from working out?like i hear alot of people take a 3 week break after every 6 months,but that seems like a long haul for me.I know its healthy to take a break from weights to allow muscle growth but what would be the best time to take them and for how long?

Aedh Baclamh

Interested in hearing a bit on this myself.

Cravez

I take breaks every 2-3 months depending for about 1-2 weeks. I was reluctent when i first took a break because i was afraid that id lose progress in my training,lose muscle mass etc. In reality its just in your head, in fact when i came home from my holidays i smashed my previous squat PR by 22.5kg's. Personally i think you should take a break after you did a cycle of training, for example if you had a 12 week weights&cardio program and completed it then you should take a break for 2 weeks. Then start a new or different program or continue with the program you had before but adjust it.

Aedh Baclamh

Yeah I'm 7 weeks into my 'program' and was wondering if I should take the break this week. Feeling a little bit tired these last few days too, so I'm guessing this is probably a good time to do it?

Cravez

Aedh Baclamh wrote:

Yeah I'm 7 weeks into my 'program' and was wondering if I should take the break this week. Feeling a little bit tired these last few days too, so I'm guessing this is probably a good time to do it?

You could take a week off and feel fresh the week after and get back to training. Do you think your tired from training or maybe somthing else?

Aedh Baclamh

Lack of sleep me thinks (says the guy posting at nearly half 12 in the morning). Going to try and use this week to get everything back on track. Get my sleep sorted, get new recipes going, plan a new routine for the beginning of the following week. It's making sense to me at the moment anyway.

Hanley

Take a break when you need one.

You might go on a roll and hit 16 weeks of perfect training and be flying along without one. You might have a horrible 4 weeks and need a week off. It's highly individual and unpredictable.

Don't beat yourself up if you feel you need a break. But don't take one just because it's what everyone says to do.

Aedh Baclamh

Yeah good point Hanley. Feel at this stage that I could do with a week off, but unfortunately I'll still probably be doing cardio with the team. At least the season is nearly over..

cavanmaniac

This thread caught my attention straight away. I've heard that a bit of a break every once in a while is a good thing for people training, but I've always feared a loss of progress say around Xmas when I'm off visiting relations or take my holidays during the summer. Those periods aside, I'm in the gym 3/4 times out of every 7/8 days. I'll be less worried about it from now on I think, I guess it does your body no harm to chill out every once in a while and the last time I took a wee while off I was surprised that I didn't seem to have lost too much strength or fitness on my return even if the weights seemed a bit heavier!!

A few questions:
1. when you guys take a break, do you continue to eat your workout diet - 6 times a day, consuming same amount of protein and so on?

2. if in the habit of not consuming carbs except on gym days, do you maintain a carb-restricted diet for the duration of your break?

3. do you continue taking supplements when you're not going to be working out for a while or is it a waste of time?

thirtyfoot

If you are aiming to peak for a competition or a sport you need structure to your training and not just take rest when you feel like you need it. Many team sports have 1 months pre-season and 8-9 months of an actual season so structure can be difficult, while many individual sports have the opposite, maybe a 2-3 month season and the rest of the year is essentially pre-season. If you are training all year so as to compete for only 2-3 months you need to have a simple periodisation to your training so you peak when you need to. A crucial part of periodisation is rest and recovery.

I take August off, and then hit into my 5 main training cycles, each 1-3 months long. Each cycle is broken into smaller 4 week cycles. Weeks 1 to 3 of each month cycle get progressively harder with more training load with week 4 always recovery week. Recovery week involves maybe 1-2 less sessions with focus on recharging the batteries to hit back into the next cycle and the first base week. During the year (outside of August) I don't take a full week off, yet due to the timing of my recovery I never feel totally whacked (except maybe towards the end of wk 3 of a cycle). Within a training week, my rest day is always before my hardest training day.

Although this isn't relevant to all, I find it keeps me fresh throughout the year, allows me to train at the required intensity and gets me to competition time in top shape.

ozchick

Are you talking about weights/body building, or just genrally fitness?

Recovery days are recommended when doing weights, but I don't see any point for stopping any exercise for 3 or more weeks. I've just had to have a 3 week break cos of moving here and then getting sick and find getting back into exercise really hard, my body doesn't appreciate it! Better for me to maintain fitness when I can

There is probably a slightly increased chance of injury if you have to go back to square one again and don't take it easy/gradually

thirtyfoot

I'm talking about track running. I like to take a month off from a mental perspective. While training all year round would be possible, a break after a hard 2-3 months racing is necessary. Keeps the hunger there too.

Experimented with a two week break before after having a stellar racing season and was too keen to get back training. By xmas I was jaded and not enjoying running. I find 4 weeks good, let the hair down, enjoy yourself, by week 4 you can't wait to get back training.

Leon11

Our season ended the first week in April. We came back the last week of May. Pure weight training till next week. Team training starts for the beginning of the league in mid October. We'll play 4 games then have a 2/3 week break. Repeat till April.

In general in-season looks like:

Training Week 1
Training Week 2
Match 1
Match 2
Match 3
Match 4
Rest/Recovery Week

The rest/recovery week is definitely needed and if needs be this is often extended to Training weeks 1+2

Go through this cycle 4 times

amazingemmet

If you peridoize your training right you don't need to take breaks for physical reasons but breaks are good for mental reasons and helping you keep your enthusiasm.

A sample training plan for periodisg would be

4weeks High volume medium intensity, Focusing on making sturcural changes, Ie getting muscles bigger increasing tendon strength etc,
3 weeks accumulation, Volume is about 80% of the previous, intensity goes up.
2 weeks neural accumualtion, this is where you use higher intensity lower volume aiming on getting your muscles used to "firing" better. Ie using plyos etc.
1week, test/competion, re test your maxes/ play your game then, volume is low intensity is 100% start back at the beginning.

The above is just a sample way to plan. In each block your focus is on one goal but it doesn't mean the other qualities are ignored most will be improved.