Hi I was just wondering what people thoughts are on having a week off. I just had a week off where I did sweet FA, and dint really stick to a diet or anything still eat clean, but a lot. Not only I feel personaly did it give me a mental break from everything but also a physical break, I also notice this time round, when I got back and it came to doing push press I really felt the muscles that were working, which felt strange but refreshing at the same time.
So my question is do you take a regular recovery week? Do you stick to the diet while off or do you just have a active recovery week and stick to your diet? Also how do you feel when you get back to the gym, do you just jump straight in or easy into it?
I’ve recently learned the hard way about needing to take some time off every once in a while. I had a similar mind set as ^above but it didn’t really work for me.
[quote]taylor_1989 wrote:
Hi I was just wondering what people thoughts are on having a week off. I just had a week off where I did sweet FA, and dint really stick to a diet or anything still eat clean, but a lot. Not only I feel personaly did it give me a mental break from everything but also a physical break, I also notice this time round, when I got back and it came to doing push press I really felt the muscles that were working, which felt strange but refreshing at the same time.
So my question is do you take a regular recovery week? Do you stick to the diet while off or do you just have a active recovery week and stick to your diet? Also how do you feel when you get back to the gym, do you just jump straight in or easy into it? [/quote]
Generally I take a week off training completly every 10-12 weeks, no cardio. I increase my calories a little by eating more than my fair share of ben and jerry’s. I try and sleep that bit extra too, also a deep tissue massage during your week off can really work wonders to aid recovery. Also the psychological element to a week off can create a burning desire to get back to the gym.
When I do return I spend the first few weeks evaluating certain excersises, seeing what works best for me and what doesn’t, what changes I need to make and bodyparts that need to be improved, from week 3 till 8 I tend to go all out with high intensity, forced reps, extended sets, rest pause etc., then from week 9 till 12 I bring down the intensity, just training a rep or two short of failure, then a full week off.
I always tend to have a better mind muscle connection the week after my recovery week and it wears off after a couple of weeks/months. Then I take another recovery week.
Instead of a recovery week, I’ll give myself a “free day” to do something outside of my normal body part days, for the sake of variety and to give my cardiovascular system a break (I tend to do moderate volume workouts with minimal rest between sets).
Last week, it was a heavy push press and jerk day. This week, it was a bench max day…
I find after a few days of not training I feel agitated.
[quote]Grillmister wrote:
Instead of a recovery week, I’ll give myself a “free day” to do something outside of my normal body part days, for the sake of variety and to give my cardiovascular system a break (I tend to do moderate volume workouts with minimal rest between sets).
Last week, it was a heavy push press and jerk day. This week, it was a bench max day…
I find after a few days of not training I feel agitated. [/quote]
Something like this is sounding good too.
Shit, sometimes if I don’t do a two-a-day I feel agitated as well. WTF?