1 week off for muscle recuperation?

hypnotic · Jan 30, 2006

I read somewhere that after around 9 week of lifitng you should take 1 week off to let your muscles regrow/recuperate.I have been lifintg a good solid 5-6 months and I have yet to take a week off.Would this be a wise choise and on like mon,wed,fri do some intense cardio?What would be the best thing to do?

abear · Jan 30, 2006

you can either take the week off or or a few days off or drop the intensity and volume and just take it easy for awhile.

~LV~ · Jan 30, 2006

I agree with abear. I would shoot for either a week or 3-5 days. Keep your diet in check and let your muscles heal. Alot of people do this to break a plateau.

hypnotic · Jan 30, 2006

Well i just dont want to loose all my muscle in a week. I have a weird fear of not going to the gym.If I stop for a week will I be able to come back doing the same weight as when i left?

Ed Gasket · Jan 30, 2006

keep up the diet and you wont lose much mass if any, cardio wont hurt you either

SXIPro · Jan 30, 2006

hypnotic said:
Well i just dont want to loose all my muscle in a week. I have a weird fear of not going to the gym.If I stop for a week will I be able to come back doing the same weight as when i left?

You'll be surprised, After a full week of total body recovery you'll probably be sailing past your old 1RMs.

malkore · Jan 31, 2006

hypnotic said:
Well i just dont want to loose all my muscle in a week. I have a weird fear of not going to the gym.If I stop for a week will I be able to come back doing the same weight as when i left?

Dude, I took 2 years off weight training, and after 2 weeks back in the gym, I broke some of my old max weight used.

A week isn't crap...and as was already said, you'll most likely come back able to push more weight because your body has recovered. Its less about letting the muscles recover, and more about the Central nervous system recovering. When all your nerves are functioning at 100% you train better.

This is a reason I don't like lifting first thing in the morning. It takes about 90 minutes for the average person's CNS to be 100% after waking up.
I can lift heavier at 7pm vs. 7am.

tenpercent · Jan 31, 2006

Remember you grow when you are resting. As said before many people come back from a week off to be bigger and stronger. With that said the best thing to do is to listen to your body. When you have a hard time crawling out of bed or are just getting run down, OR you stop making gains and seem to stall out it is time for a break. Personally I choose a routine, rather a 4 week, 8 week or 12 week and take a week off upon completion.