taking off a week......

[oso0960]

so i've been working out religiously for a few months now M W F. never skipped a day. I'm always used to taking back off weeks whenever i can't progress anymore where i keep the intensity high (~10% lower than my 5 rep max) and the volume low (1 work set). Do you all think it's NECESSARY and totally beneficial to take an entire week off or should I just stick with what i've been doing?

 

[st8grad]

so i've been working out religiously for a few months now M W F. never skipped a day. I'm always used to taking back off weeks whenever i can't progress anymore where i keep the intensity high (~10% lower than my 5 rep max) and the volume low (1 work set). Do you all think it's NECESSARY and totally beneficial to take an entire week off or should I just stick with what i've been doing?

It might not hurt to give your CNS a chance to recouperate. Sometimes coming back in then one week later you are just dying to hit the weights. Can be good to regain focus, intensity, etc. You can't possibly lose much in the way of progress in one week, so if you feel totally blown out, go for it.

 

[blut wump]

You can go months without missing a day but you might need to back off slightly from time to time. Taking an entire week off will allow you to return refreshed and ready to hit the weights again but you'll lose conditioning over that time. The following week will be spent getting back into it, another week getting back to where you were and you're looking at a fair amount of time lost.

If you simply back off slightly for a week, maybe switch to a different rep-range and reduce the workload, maybe even only work two days that week, you'll retain your conditioning and not need time to get used to it again.

 

[s8nlilhlpr]

Similar to blut's idea, I was going to suggest taking friday off. That would give you thurs/fri/sat/sun off, about half a week. Ease back into monday and you should be good to go.

 

[beerdrinker]

I just took a week off of squats and deads. I'd been going non stop for a long time. I felt I was on the verge of injury, so I wanted to get rested, work on my flexibility, and come back solid. I'll be dropping the weight a little when I come back to it Monday.

 

[oso0960]

so i decided not to just slack off an entire week (i remember looking around t-nation and the metal militia hit it hard as hell for 3 weeks then take an entire week off?). Anyway i was thinking about going every single day but ONLY doing warmup sets like i remember reading in Practical Programming to keep the neural pathways, so i wouldn't be taxing my CNS much. then i was thinking maybe double my GPP sled training to keep my conditioning and even try to raise it?

 

[Tweakle]

yes

take a week off of your own violition before your body forces you to - after 'months and months' without a break you'll need more than a deload im sure