Trick your body?

You know how its your first time workin out and you make these great gains?...If you were to take a month or so off then start again, would you start pumpin in more muscle?...
 
I wish!

No, by the end of that month your muscles get lazy again. Working out every other day seems to be popular, and with good reason.
 
kasho said:
Muscles doesn't go away for a good 3 months

research has shown that as little as 2 weeks without any resistance training caused people to lose functional strength during lifts.
 
Well from my point of view, you would see greater improvement if you took a month off, but the thing is, during the month you took off you would probably lose muscle definition, tone, and mass. Therefore, you're not really gaining anything, you basically just waste twice the time you would to get the same muscle mass as when you started.
 
if you ate enough protein during that month, you wouldn't lose that much mass.

I spent about 2 years away from any consistent gym routine, ate like crap, and after one month back, I'm lifting MORE weight than I used to ever be able to lift, and everything but my quads are about the same size as when I quit.

My results aren't exactly typical, but keep in mind that we're all unique. Always track progress in a log book, spreadsheet...something...so you can know what changes affected you in what way.

Also, a week or two off is all you should need to rejuvenate the body and come back with new gains.
 
one of my textbooks says that 3 - 4 weeks off a training schedule means that you lost most if not ALL of what you gained...
 
I've heard 3-4 weeks also.

Some of the mass gained will stay no matter what, You're not going to shrink totally, but functional strength does go away, I konw from experience.
 
aevans410 said:
Some of the mass gained will stay no matter what, You're not going to shrink totally, but functional strength does go away, I konw from experience.
Yes that is very correct your not gonna loose masive muscle you will just loose some but you will gain it much faster than what it took you to build it up as far as strength goes dont count on being anywhere close to were you left of.
 
I make sure I have a full 2weeks off every 2months. I have used many diffrent long term routeins and feel this works well for me.

I usually work 1 muscle group every 2days for a month.
then over-train by hitting 2 groups every 2days.
then have two weeks off to totaly heal.

when I get back in the gym I always lift more than when i left. I think that anymore that 2weeks and you'd start loosing mass.

The only reason that nobody tells you is because the gyms and pros in the industry would loose money.
 
that's despairing..but I did find myself in a lot of trouble after 2 months off the gym for vacation...
 
We will figure out how to do this...oh yes we will... What about workin out real heavy for a 4 weeks, then go 6 weeks using light weight and low reps, then start training heavy again...
 
you would be better off just training heavy
 
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