Rest or Train? Feeling Tired, Photoshoot Soon

Hi guys, I have a question here.

First of all, let me say that I am dieting for about 16-17 weeks, while I had several periods of higher caloric intake and even few “binge” days (over 10k calories), my cutting is going very well. I dropped from around 20% to around 7% right now, and i have striations all over my body,six pack,veinz and stuff.

Training was very hard all the time and now after all these weeks of dieting and hard training without some major rests (I had several two consecutive days off, but not many).

Now I am 3 weeks and some days out of a photoshoot, but I feel really tired and I am thinking of having 3-4-5 days of full rest (only walking cardio), while I still manage to keep my diet in spot.

My question is - what effect will this full rest have on my body and physique (knowing that i am very tired and I find intense training hard already)? Will this rest have positive effect on me, or will it set me back?

I have photoshoot at the very begining of September and I want to be around 4-5% bodyfat, “dry” and tanned. I am currently at around 80kg, 7% BF, natural.

So,should I take the rest and will it help me shred those last pounds in the next 3 weeks, giving me energy and motivation or should I continue to train hard, even thought i feel exhausted and tired ?

I am thinking of some “active” rest, you know, low intensity cardio and some bodyweight training for several days, to throw away those heavy weights. Opinions,advices?

10x.

What exactly do you think will happen if you rest 3 or 4 days? Use some common sense here buddy.

Maybe you should read this: Compound Exercises Only for Max Mass? - Bigger Stronger Leaner - Forums - T Nation

Specifically what CT has to say about a run down nervous system, starting with:

[quote]Christian Thibaudeau wrote:
However the nervous system is more fragile than most people think and so is the hormonal system. I’ve seen A LOT of athletes and bodybuilders burn out despite eating a lot of good food. Their muscles recovered, but the nervous system started to crash which also led to hormonal issues. This is NOT limited to bodybuilding. It happened to a Crossfit girl I was coaching on the olympic lifts (I was not doing her whole training plan). But is a fact that you CAN do too much work for maximal growth. [/quote]

And the stuff after that.

[quote]flipcollar wrote:
What exactly do you think will happen if you rest 3 or 4 days? Use some common sense here buddy.[/quote]
Yeah bro,but there is no much time left to make big changes and etc. Thats why I am a bit worried,because times count and I want to look the best I can. :slight_smile:

In my experience, you can’t out-run or out-train a run-down CNS. It will catch up with you and you’ll have to pay a hefty price. Listen to your body and take time off now. Go for some relaxing walks to balance out your stressed sympathetic nervous system. That’s the ONLY solution IMHO.

Should I increase/decrease calories a bit or should I maintain them while not training as hard?

Screw a couple days… Take a whole week off and eat as you normally do. Maybe go for a walk or two. If you’re worried about your physique do a quick full body circuit where you don’t tax your body and leave with more energy than when you started. Look up neural charge from CT

Let’s see all these striations. If you’re 7% maybe you can teach us something…

I will,indeed,have some rest days,but i wont rest at all. I will be doing some nice walks,some dips,pull ups (without going crazy)at home,just to move,but no gym,no hiit cardio,even no running. I feel ill be back few days later even leaner and stronger (because of the rest and CNS recovered). The Ill pursuit 5 percent bodyfat.

Sorry,dont have current pics,but when I get there Ill have many (except the photoshoot).