Gym Layoffs

[gorillahung]

Does anyone else take frequent week long layoffs just to rest? As I get older (I'm 43) I find that I need more frequent time off. My shoulders and knees just need rest. I took last week off as I had a cortisone injection last Tuesday in my right shoulder. I thought some time off would allow the cortisone time to do it's work. Even if you aren't middle age like me you probably still need to take some time off a couple times a year because no matter how good your form is, if you lift long enough you will eventually start racking up injuries. I've never known any lifter that didn't.

 

[muskate]

I agree completely. A lot of people will look at you like you are suggesting that they marry their cousin when you tell them they should take some time off from the gym but it's often exactly what they need.

I had a client who just wasn't responding but was doing everything right. Training hard, sticking to the diet etc etc but not seeing the results he was looking for. I suspected he was really over trained and burnt out. I told him to take an entire week off from the gym. He fought me tooth and nail but finally gave in and did what I recommended.

After the week off, he looked like a completely different person. His body started responding again. Everything was popping. His physique was harder and leaner then I had ever seen it.

Remember that in the gym you are actually breaking down the muscles. It is when you rest that you actually grow.

 

[burkjackson]

Personally, I was having a difficult time dropping real weight when I was working out as much as I was - 5x/week - so I decided to take a month or so off to put myself on a ketosis diet and drop the 25lbs I wanted to.
It was a 1200KCal/day diet and I simply didn't have enough energy to work out and do my day to day activities.
I dropped 25lbs in 4 weeks and went from 19%BF to 12%BF at 250lbs.
I'm 45 and have struggled with my weight all my life and a super strict diet is the only way I've ever lost real weight, a 500kcal deficit never works for me because of my long standing weight challenges.
I'm now ready to get back into the gym and feeling pretty good although my motivation is lacking after such a break.
There's also been some AAS changes that I had to make that have helped.
I was using Tren A & Test C pretty consistently for a year so I'm now on a long PCT to allow my receptors to heal.
I know there will be plenty of opinions about all this but it worked for me to cut the weight without too much muscle loss.
So yeah, breaks can be good for a variety of reasons to allow our body to do what it needs.


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