A rest every how many weeks?

[riverrock]

After how many weeks should you declare an active rest week? I try to lift heavy in every session and would be a good internediate lifter.

 

[Protobuilder]

Depends. Probably a good idea to take one every 4-8 weeks, but YMMV.

 

[Cynical Simian]

"It depends" is the only correct categorical answer you'll get, but a more practical answer is to do it when most of your lifts stall (squats/deads are usually a good barometer, bench isn't). If you have a decent amount of experience and awareness of how training affects you, you'll know when your CNS is pretty beat up and you're getting into overreaching.

Basically, how often you need to deload depends on your level of training (even within the 'intermediate' phase when you're making weekly progress), how conservative you are with the weight increases, caloric balance (and, since it'll inevitably get mentioned anyway, hormonal status), and pretty much anything else that can affect the ability to complete the next workout.