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Has anyone ever seen benefits from taking a month off from working out? I've been going hard for years and have had good.results with my muscle building venture. The only thing i never do is take a break…. Its hard to actually NOT go to the gym and train tho. Just wondering if it would be pointless or not… Seems like the body can adapt to just about anythingThought i would also add it would be impossible to just "go light" for a week. I remember a guy recommended that a few years back but who the hell wants.to be seen benching 135 when he can rep 315 lol
I take a week off every 8 weeks and most of the time I find I could probably use it at the 7 week mark… It probably wouldn't hurt to take a month after several years…
I ended up over trained pretty badly at one point because of a stint doing crossfit daily.The only thing that helped was taking almost 2 weeks off and it made a huge difference.I recommend doing what Cropsy does.I'll do that and spend that week doing a lot of foam rolling,walking, biking, hiking, and yoga because I'm not good at "Going light" either.
I wouldn't take a month off. A week or even two weeks would be very beneficial, but you start to lose muscle after three weeks. I personally never understood the concept of the “light” week. It just seems like a waste of time and I don't see what it would accomplish. If I ever feel burnt out, I just take a week off. I think being out of the gym is also good for your mind.I highly suggest you take a rest week, unless you feel incredible and are having excellent workouts, then keep going. But if you take a week off, you can't wait to get back in and you have some intense sessions once you get back.
I wouldn't take a month off. A week or even two weeks would be very beneficial, but you start to lose muscle after three weeks. I personally never understood the concept of the "light" week. It just seems like a waste of time and I don't see what it would accomplish. If I ever feel burnt out, I just take a week off. I think being out of the gym is also good for your mind.I highly suggest you take a rest week, unless you feel incredible and are having excellent workouts, then keep going. But if you take a week off, you can't wait to get back in and you have some intense sessions once you get back.
"going light" was tougher than anything else... Id see a big guy curling 60 lb dumbells and i would battle against my ego the whole time to not go over there and show him how its done, that was my prob haha, but ive always made pretty steady gains; i found CNS and CBL to be the best supplement to my diet and i would hate for years of training with different workouts/diets to hamper the results. The intensity is still there, just looking to fully optimize my training. Ive always wanted 20 inch guns, but i cannot ever get past 18.5 (not complaining, thats just my goal). We will see if i get there with CBL and hella training. i think the topic of recovery is "under-discussed" and i love hearing from other members. Thanks for the replies everyone
Are you familiar with Tim Ferriss? In his book the 4 Hour Body he recommends extending recovery time as you build muscle because as he claims in the part of his book titled 'From Geek to Freak” “5. Exercise less frequently as you increase strength and size, as your recovery abilities can only increase 20-30%, while you can often increase fat-free muscle tissue up to 100% before reaching a genetic set-point.” Thoughts? Is Ferriss full of shit?
Are you familiar with Tim Ferriss? In his book the 4 Hour Body he recommends extending recovery time as you build muscle because as he claims in the part of his book titled 'From Geek to Freak" "5. Exercise less frequently as you increase strength and size, as your recovery abilities can only increase 20-30%, while you can often increase fat-free muscle tissue up to 100% before reaching a genetic set-point." Thoughts? Is Ferriss full of shit?
This might be true... I have read that protein nitrogen balance is affected when resistance training and less of which could result in higher nitrogen retention or something... basically if your diet is in check then more frequent, brief training could be beneficial... I will look him up though
Can a break be beneficial? Absolutely.I've personally broken through points where I could not progress any further by backing off for a week.Will it be beneficial to you? depends on a bunch of things...What are your goals?How do you train? How often?How are your joints? Do you have any inflammation issues? Has your progress stalled out? For how long?Any chronic injuries that are holding you back?
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