from 5 days to 3 day weeks
I Made the decision here recently to change my weeks from 5 days to 3 days, I've been hitting 5 day weeks for a few years now I guess just out of pure habit. I went on a mini vacation 4 day didn't go near the gym, it was an exercise unto itself keeping my self out of the gym.
I've noticed my elbows and wrist giving me pain trouble so I know I have to make a change in routine, this vacation gave me the incentive to do so, When I came back after the 4 day and hit the gym it was the most refreshing work out I've had in a year, My lifts were excellent , smooth, I was able to move my warm up weight up 20lbs. I added 30 minutes to my normal gym time. My body just felt way better , my elbows and other joints were in no pain at all. Though once I started my normal on 5 off 2 back up the pain started back, but I maintained the increase in weight lifted.
So while I'm off cycle , I'm going with the 3 day weeks. mon-wed-fri . weekends light cardio.
I'm keeping my diet the same, just the decreased gym time worries me that my physique will suffer, What advice do you guys have as far as taking time off and increased recovery because that is what i'm looking for mainly, my increase in performance from that small time off really shocked me.
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Might be able to maintain but I wouldn't expect to gain anything.
RustyhookerGive it a go! If the intensity and food are on, it should be solid ideal.
My foods are on, I'm including more red meat in my diet lately seems to help me maintain weight gained while off cycle. One of the quality's God blessed me with is the ability to maintain weight gained pretty easily.
3 days a week should be enough to maintain what I have gained .
Its volume that affects me the most - I always train at 90% plus and if the sessions are 2 hours I can easily do 2 days on 1 off but when they become longer I have to train EOD. Diet is a massive factor too I find, if this slips and carbs become less it has a massive impact on energy and recovery levels.
Think of it like an extended deload. Obviously you won’t put in as much muscle or lose as much fat as you might like, but maintain a good calorie balance and you won’t have anything to worry about. Keep track of your calories and daily energy expenditure. Even if you aren’t working out, go for a walk or something to keep the ‘calories-out’ up. Do some mobility stuff. It will pay huge dividends when you start to increase volume again.
This is a great time to take advantage of the lower volume. Your body will adapt to a lower volume, and then as you begging to increase your volume again, that newly added volume/stimuli will be ‘more’ than your body is used to. It will have a greater effect on you.
Volume and intensity should be inversely related. If you reduce your volume, increase the intensity. Instead of 8-10 sets of 6-8 reps per body part. Try 2-3 sets to failure for some lifts.
Think about it like this: imagine listening to music in your car super loud for a 12 hour car ride, and you continuously keep making it louder because it seems to always be ‘not as loud’. Eventually you will get to the point where the volume is maxed out and it just doesn’t seem as loud. Now turn off the music for a few hours. Turn the music back on but at a reasonable volume. It will seem pretty loud. Make it louder slowly and it will sound louder than it did before you turned now it off when it was maxed out. Your body/muscles work in a similar way.
well said
Nice analogy +1
Less can be better! Just keep the workouts intense!
Gotta shock the muscles right babe lol but yeah it's always good to change it up
You can see some great progress with the extra rest. It becomes more important as we get older and more banged up.
Off cycle I like a 3 day split as well.