Taking time off or having a break?

[Neddysmith]

I was wondering when you guys take some time off or have a break from lifting? And how long do you have off when you do have a break?

When i was on my old routine of 1 body part per day i rarely felt the need to take a break and only usually took a break if i went away on holidays, however, since i have started on the new routine about 2 months ago i am thinking it might be time to have a week off.

Reason being is the last week hasnt been the best lifting wise and i have been little sore. Now this could be due to a couple of other factors like not enough quality sleep at night due to a newborn in the house, not consuming enough cals, alhtough i am on 2500 a day and not losing weight but not really gaining either, it could be just bad week as i know we all have these from time to time, OR it could be due to needing a week off.

Thoughts?

 

[Goosey]

Hey Ned
It looks to me as though sleep might be an issue here.

In most cases taking time off completely is the answer, but in your case, i believe you'd be better of not doing that, you need time for yourself and the gym is "your time".

Save that (the rest from gym) for holidays.

A couple of things you could consider;


1. add maintanance workouts whereby you are just, well maintaining your poundages that you move, and every third or fourth workout will be your one where you push harder.
2. TUL...time under load, or training by the clock... is another option, for the next few weeks, just have a little fun and rather than using rep's, useing time alolows you to concentrate on doing the exercise properly.

you should be able to recieve enough stimulus in 60-90 seconds, just something to think about.

another thing i like doing in the interum is not worrying about time or reps, just moving at a controlled speed (slower on the negative) just shy of fatigue, just go by feel.

Days when i feel relaxed and refreshed, I go all out.

It's going to be a bit rough with the new born, but I still think it wise to keep going to gym, for your sake (piece of mind)

 

[WarbyD]

Get used to having 'off' days/weeks when you have kids Ned

When they're newborns, when they're teething, when they're sick, when they're going through a seperation anxiety phase, when they go into a big bed etc etc... Lots of things cause babies/kids to go through periods of shit sleep and when they don't sleep, you dont sleep.

Dont take time off - follow Silverback's advice above and do what you can to maintain, stay active and stay under the bar. Trust me, it will help to keep you sane.

 

[Brick]

5/3/1 lazy man protocol when life gets too much for me. Main lifts, in'n'out in 15mins.

 

[Shrek]

I break for me these days is just having a day off or too if I'm tired or not feeling well.

 

[Jungnaut]

Does deloading count? I never quite understood this concept. Why should I have to back the weight off every 8 weeks if I am in the middle of making good progress with the lifts?

 

[Neddysmith]

Does deloading count? I never quite understood this concept. Why should I have to back the weight off every 8 weeks if I am in the middle of making good progress with the lifts?

Thanks guys, i think i will just keep pushing on with the workouts and hope this is just an off week, i do know i will be effected to some extent by crappy sleep but it is what it is and just have to work through it.

I would be interested on thoughts of having a deload week and this was one option i was toying with of having a week lof lesser weight and higher reps say between 12 and 15 or higher and then going back to what i am currently lifting.

 

[Goosey]

Does deloading count? I never quite understood this concept. Why should I have to back the weight off every 8 weeks if I am in the middle of making good progress with the lifts?

Deload is a concept i don't know anything about.

having said that, Reducing the poundage, slowing down the reps go hand in hand.

It amazes me to see so many just throwing the weight.

Ive only seen a handful of people move weight correctly.

When I explain the difference, the penny doesnt drop, but when they do it, look in their eyes is priceless.

 

[Russell Coight]

It amazes me to see so many just throwing the weight.

Ive only seen a handful of people move weight correctly.

When I explain the difference, the penny doesnt drop, but when they do it, look in their eyes is priceless.

I'm intrigued, could you please elaborate?

 

[Goosey]

I'm intrigued, could you please elaborate?

Pick an exercise

 

[kaz]

I have a weeks break but keep the exercise to body weight and mobility, otherwise it's such a bitch to restart the next week.

 

[Semillon]

Throw in an "active recovery" day instead. So if you train mon/wed/fri, just back the weight off 20% on wed, lift normal mon/fri.

Resume normal activity after a week or two.

 

[Darkoz]

'Deload'
'Active recovery'

Blah!

 

[Russell Coight]

Pick an exercise

Squat and deadlift.

 

[Rugby88]

I'll have a week off around every 10 weeks - will do do cardio in the week off but no weights - pretty much followed this since I was 15-16...blocks of 10 week training - 1 week off - back into a new block of training.

 

[Goosey]

Squat and deadlift.

One reason why these two (most talked about on here) exercises are so good is you cannot, or it's pretty hard not to cheat, other than the obvious, these aren't up for conversation.

Any other exercise and in particular pin loaded equipment and more so Hameer type equipment you'll find most using it wrong.

You'll often see some dude on say, a row type machine, in this case a hammer strength row literally throwing a lot of weight over about 200mm of the possible 450mm.

The bearings in the machines create little friction compared to pin loaded equipment the pin loaded stuff creates a lot of friction via the pulley system, the guide rods of the plates and the mechanics of the leverage.

The leverage type machines are designed in a way to ensure that resistance is rotational and variable and automatically adjusts (gets harder a contraction), less resistance at full extension and such.

With these hammer type machines and the limited amount of friction and the near perfect balance of the moment are, you can actually pull the weight fast enough to allow momentum to do some of the work, it's why you see people pulling quickly, it's easier and looks more impressive, end up thinking the machines are useless.

So, if you reduce the weight by half and pull slow, slow (enough that you are not causing momentum) in the case of the row, squeeze for two seconds and lower the weight at a speed twice as slow as it took to lift and repeat, you'll receive a better stimulate for muscle growth, more efficiently and safely with one set than you would with 3 sets of the other and more safely.

Other pin loaded stuff, using cable or chain, there is more friction, nothing wrong with friction, but the machines will feel different , the old machines with bronze bushes and chain are full of friction, and you can pull very quick and it's still hard, it's why I personally like these over cable type.

What makes hammer special is the the machines where actually designed by a CAD system around a computer generated model, in this case an American footballer, can't remember his name.

 

[Russell Coight]

One reason why these two (most talked about on here) exercises are so good is you cannot, or it's pretty hard not to cheat, other than the obvious, these aren't up for conversation.

Any other exercise and in particular pin loaded equipment and more so Hameer type equipment you'll find most using it wrong.

You'll often see some dude on say, a row type machine, in this case a hammer strength row literally throwing a lot of weight over about 200mm of the possible 450mm.

The bearings in the machines create little friction compared to pin loaded equipment the pin loaded stuff creates a lot of friction via the pulley system, the guide rods of the plates and the mechanics of the leverage.

The leverage type machines are designed in a way to ensure that resistance is rotational and variable and automatically adjusts (gets harder a contraction), less resistance at full extension and such.

With these hammer type machines and the limited amount of friction and the near perfect balance of the moment are, you can actually pull the weight fast enough to allow momentum to do some of the work, it's why you see people pulling quickly, it's easier and looks more impressive, end up thinking the machines are useless.

So, if you reduce the weight by half and pull slow, slow (enough that you are not causing momentum) in the case of the row, squeeze for two seconds and lower the weight at a speed twice as slow as it took to lift and repeat, you'll receive a better stimulate for muscle growth, more efficiently and safely with one set than you would with 3 sets of the other and more safely.

Other pin loaded stuff, using cable or chain, there is more friction, nothing wrong with friction, but the machines will feel different , the old machines with bronze bushes and chain are full of friction, and you can pull very quick and it's still hard, it's why I personally like these over cable type.

What makes hammer special is the the machines where actually designed by a CAD system around a computer generated model, in this case an American footballer, can't remember his name.

Hope this isn't a thread hijack, but if it is I apologise.

Thanks [MENTION=3627]Silverback[/MENTION]; you certainly don't learn this sort of info from the PT spuds.

Hammer strength wise: my gym has an incline press/puilldown combo machine, and a seated row thingo machine.

If you know the machines I'm on about, are they worth using? At the moment all I've been doing for back/chest is deadlifts, pendlay rows, bench and DB incline press.

Assistance maybe?

 

[Goosey]

Hope this isn't a thread hijack, but if it is I apologise.

Thanks @Silverback; you certainly don't learn this sort of info from the PT spuds.

Hammer strength wise: my gym has an incline press/puilldown combo machine, and a seated row thingo machine.

If you know the machines I'm on about, are they worth using? At the moment all I've been doing for back/chest is deadlifts, pendlay rows, bench and DB incline press.

Assistance maybe?

Russell

If you are getting the desired results from the exercises you are doing just stick with them.

Those machines are worth using.

Pendlay rows are just brutal and effective exercise for the back, from time to time I'll do these, I'll do mutliple sets, but my lower back inhibits me from making inroads into the muscleture that the exercise is intended for.

This is where the supported row comes in, I'll quickly run over to it to further fatigue those muscles, just one set seems to do the trick.

When using this, position your hands on the handle so that there is minimal movement at the wrist, youll need to play around with the seat position first.

 

[aQuilla]

I only workout 4 times a week so I do it every other day. In this way I am not really exhausting myself. I'm in my 4th month of training now and focusing on mm core muscles. I still haven't had that feeling of needing a week off. If ever I would think of that, I think a break would be a week or two. That's the healthiest rest that you could have because more than that, I think you body will readjust when you hit back the gym after a month or so. That would give more stress to your muscles.