Scheduled time off from training

[StoneColdNTO]

Just wondering if you schedule any time off from training, and if so when, how much and the reasoning behind it.

Before I got into AAS, I would take a week off every 6 months or so, mainly just for a mental break.

Now every few months, I will miss one workout a week, something like this; this week skip chest, next week skip back, the following week skip legs. My reasoning is two fold, one the old mental break thing and the second is to avoid overtraining. I find it amazing how much more I can put into a bodypart after missing a session.

 

[hhajdo]

Check this out:

Med Sci Sports Exerc 1993 Aug;25(8):929-35 Related Articles, Links


The effects of detraining on power athletes.

Hortobagyi T, Houmard JA, Stevenson JR, Fraser DD, Johns RA, Israel RG.

Human Performance Laboratory, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC 27858.

We investigated the effects of 14 d of resistive exercise detraining on 12 power athletes. In comparing performances pre- to post-detraining, there were no significant (P > 0.05) changes in free weight bench press (-1.7%), parallel squat (-0.9%), isometric (-7%) and isokinetic concentric knee extension force (-2.3%), and vertical jumping (1.2%). In contrast, isokinetic eccentric knee extension force decreased in every subject (-12%, P < 0.05). Post-detraining, the changes in surface EMG activity of the vastus lateralis during isometric, and isokinetic eccentric and concentric knee extension were -8.4%, -10.1%, and -12.7%, respectively (all P > 0.05). No significant changes occurred in knee flexion forces or EMGs (P > 0.05). Percentages of muscle fiber types and the Type I fiber area remained unchanged, but Type II fiber area decreased significantly by -6.4% (P < 0.05). Levels of plasma growth hormone (58.3%), testosterone (19.2%), and the testosterone to cortisol ratio (67.6%) increased, whereas plasma cortisol (-21.5%) and creatine kinase enzyme levels (-82.3%) decreased (all P < 0.05). Short-term resistive exercise detraining may thus specifically affect eccentric strength or the size of the Type II muscle fibers, leaving other aspects of neuromuscular performance uninfluenced. Changes in the hormonal milieu during detraining may be conducive to an enhanced anabolic process, but such changes may not materialize at the tissue level in the absence of the overload training stimulus.

 

[house1]

i take november off completely . i spend all my time in the woods bowhunting whitetail deer. gives the body time for rest and healing and gives me peace of mind. nothing like the deer woods bro.

off this week so i can get better . been sick. push my cycle start date to this coming monday was supose to be last mon.

 

[needsize]

I listen to my body and take week off when I feel I need it, probably every 4-6 months

 

[saturn]

I don't schedule time off. I take it when I think it's needed. I took 5 days off a couple weeks ago because I was feeling burnt out. My wrists and shoulders were bothering me a little so it was time to relax for a few days. 5 moths erlier I took 6 days to go on a fishing trip. Before that I went the whole year with just my regular days off during the week.

 

[iced]

Sometimes i take three days off or so in a row, but i hate doing it, maybe thats why sometimes i border on overtraining, its like a drug addiction, i got to have it

 

[StoneColdNTO]

^

 

[Jyzza]

I hate to take time off. I know it is necessary in order for your body to heal and make more progress. I have meet people who say it is needed and people who say to just lift light for 2 weeks and then work your way up again. I have tried the 2 weeks thing when I had to work through a injury. It worked very well for me. I did half the weight. I didn't push my body for those 2 weeks. But after 2 weeks when I pushed my body to do more and more. It fealt like I was on a cycle. Everything just started growing again.

 

[BiggieSwolls]

I am of the opinion that regular peroids of time away from the gym are very benficial. Kevin Levrone should be a great example of this. Also, for the people that believe the Pro's are training every week for 12 months of the year, they are wrong. Generally a lot of Pro's will take up to a month or two off of training after a big show. Its all about listening to your body but also analyzing your body and how it reacts to different things.

 

[iced]

then there are guys like Dorian, who would go to the gym the day after the olympia, gorge on food, and said he would make the best gains of that year after a contest, the body being so depleted, and with all these new calories, he experienced tremendous growth. I honestly work out to stave off boredom sometimes

 

[Big Mac Attack]

I take off one month per year and an occasional week every so often. I probably train 42-45 weeks per year. I have trained a year with no breaks and didnt see much difference. Time off isnt bad if you dont eat improperly. I also train harder when comming off a break.