Rest/OFF Days - schedule or not?

[lachu543]

Hi dudes!

Topic about Rest/Off days from gym. How does it look in your's routines? Are you taking rest day becouse this is in your plan even when you feel very well and can go to the gym or are You basing on your fettle and do it by instinct?

My split routine is:

Legs
Arms
Chest
Back
Shoulders

I'm taking day OFF only when i fell tired, sleepy etc. Sometimes i can train 21 days in a row, sometimes only 2 days. And... i dlon't like rest, i fking love train and i'm feelling better when i have train day than rest day.

What about Your's exeperiences with Rest/OFF days?

 

[snowpatrol123]

I don't plan them. They happen once every 10 or 20 days approximately, rarely two in a row but if I'm very very sick, or extended business trip with no fitness facility that could occur I suppose.

 

[lachu543]

I don't plan them. They happen once every 10 or 20 days approximately, rarely two in a row but if I'm very very sick, or extended business trip with no fitness facility that could occur I suppose.

What is your split routine look like?

 

[J.P.Q.]

I have unplanned rest day approximately in 7-10 days. And sometimes off day for illness, trips and so on. No schedule for rest day. It just happens.

 

[tbonexl]

I don't know how people hit arms before chest/ back, even shoulder days. Hit your big groups first, then do the little shit at the end of the week or whatever.

 

[Southernfish]

Just take a rest day or two when your body needs it, no need to plan it.

 

[snowpatrol123]

What is your split routine look like?

Copy pasta from one of my previous posts:

Fairly typical five day split, but bodyparts don't correspond to a weekday, other than 1,2,3,4,5. I don't schedule rest days but take them if I'm extremely tired (I go to the gym before work) or, god forbid the gym is closed.
1: Legs (front squats [working on clean gripping rather than arms crossed], back squats [high and low bar, volume or heavier depending on my mood/energy level] stiff leg deadlifts, leg press, calf raise variations, quad & ham machines +upper abs [decline weighted situps, usually])
2: Chest (extensive shoulder warmup due to past rotator cuff issues, then-> incline DB press, flat bench, weighted dips, incline bench, DB & cable flyes, sometimes dropset flyes / sometimes pec dec to burn out +lower abs superset early in the workout [hanging leg raises & hammer crunch machine typically])
3: Back (deads - heavy or volume depending on energy level, superset with pullups usually, wide bent-over barbell rows, seated rows, inverted grip barbell rows, lat pulldowns [as wide as I can], then depending on time / energy left: DB pull-overs, Tbar rows, 1-arm DB rows +upper abs [again decline weighted situps])
4: Delts (warmup w/ external/internal rotations on cable machine, then seated DB press, hang clean & press OR overhead press, behind the neck press, DB laterals, front barbell raises, rear delts [either bent raises or reverse Pec dec] finish with 1-arm side laterals on the cable machine to burnout, +lower abs [hanging leg raises typically])
5: Arms and things (I don't focus a lot on arms for whatever reason, mine aren't huge but they seem to come along proportionally as accessories to the bigger lifts, so I concentrate more on what I missed over the past few days, but: close grip bench, chin-ups, rope tricep pushdowns, cable curls, barbell curls or concentration curls, forearm barbell curls, weighted tricep dips if I didn't do chest dips, high-volume bench press, smith machine shrugs, dumbbell shrugs, +obliques or hammer crunch machine)

 

[lachu543]

Nice split routine, i think about change my routine to:

Legs
Chest
Back
Shoulders
Arms
Repeat

How many sets, and reps range do You prefer?

 

[snowpatrol123]

4 or 5x 8-12 for the heavier, compound and bigger isolation lifts near the start of my workout. Usually I have enough energy here that I'm supersetting with something else, typically abs or a completely different muscle group like benchpress + shrugs, deads + pullups or something along those lines.

2-3 sets x 8-12+ for the accessory stuff closer to the end of my workout as I'm running out of steam. I still superset sometimes but if energy is running low I'll only do one exercise at a time, if I have enough time on the clock before I have to leave for work.

 

[lachu543]

A lot of different ways i see...

1.

Chest
Back
Shoulders
Arms
Legs
Repeat

2.

Chest + Bic
Back
Shoulders + Tric
OFF
Legs
Repeat
OFF

In 1st option body part every 5 day but without scheduled OFF day and in 2nd option body part every 5 day but with two scheduled OFF days.

I'm more enjoying from 1st option but effectiveness > all so... hard to choose which one

 

[Mikeybltd]

Imo i think that rest days are critical for growth and to give your body a rest so you dont burn out, if i wake up feelin tired and sluggish and struggle through the day i dont train that day as i know im pushing muself to hard which can be detrimental towards my health and progress. Very surprised you guys are saying you dont have rest days that often.

 

[snowpatrol123]

i wake up feelin tired and sluggish and struggle through the day/QUOTE]

I train first thing in the AM so I often feel that way. But 99% of the time I feel better 10 minutes into a workout, and 100% of the time I feel better the rest of the day having accomplished it rather than skipping.

 

[Manticore1]

Have to agree with snowpatrol^^^^^ I just switched to working out first thing when I wake up and feel great everyday if I miss feel like shit.

 

[traps09]

There's no way on earth I could hit the gym 21 days in a row. I'd be dead. I sometimes do a 3 on 1 off routine but typically its 2:1. You don't grow in the gym. And I think if you're going all out when you're there, you should be wore out after 2-3 days of training. Plus, knowing that a day off is coming makes me hit it a little harder.