Rest Days after Strong Lifts --Need Advice

JBuck1914

Good Morning Lifters,

I have been doing Strong Lifts 5x5 for about a 6 weeks this week and I'm noticed that I need more recovery time after my workout days then I did prior to doing Strong Lifts. Even, the first three weeks or month of Strong lifts, I was able to do Monday, Wednesday, Friday and still complete my cardio on the same days of at least 30 mins. Now, my body doesn't feel 100% as I'm adding heavier weights. For example, I'm in need of 2 days sometimes 3 days in between my workout days to rest.


Should I A) keep it at one rest day in between my workout days and keep pushing or Just listen to my body and take the extra day or two in between workouts to rest up my body. I can certainly tell the difference in my cardio session now that I'm lifting heavier. My legs are gone by time I decide to do my HIIT after lifting. So, it's been a lot of walk/run intervals and more walking lately mainly because of the fatigue after lifting. I know I could also switch my cardio days which I may do just can't get to the gym five and six days a week with my work load. Any suggestions. Am I approaching this the right way.

Form is good on all my lifts just not sure why the dramatic shift in my endurance lately or energy level is probably a better description. Thanks..

chrisdavey

When you say you think you need an additional days rest, why is this? Mental? DOMS? Joints?

If you are in calorie deficit, strength training 3x a week as well as HIIT 3x a week after that then it's quite likely that you will be overreaching (not quite overtraining). In this case, the options are to eat a bit more or drop some cardio IMO.

Also, sleep is a big factor in recovery obviously.

So I would probably start with decreasing the cardio or maybe switching it to lower intensity. Something that will burn some cals but not eat into you're recovery like HIIT does.

Goal_Line

I divided the workout into upper and lower, alternate with a day between, so each half of the body has 3 days rest.

I mix cardio up, sometimes after a lift, sometimes on the off day.

JBuck1914

Thanks fellas for the advice.

@ Chris - It's DOMS but, I can tell also by the quality of my cardio and how I feel during the lifts. When, I get more rest in between workouts, I can tell that I have a little more bounce and I can that squat a little deeper or my overhead press feels better.

I'm thinking I'm going to pull back my cardio a little bit or switch it to another day. I also think I need to make sure I'm getting 8 hours of sleep...

chrisdavey

If it's DOMS related then it should get better over time. You're body gets used to it and even if you are pushing yourself to the max if you are doing the same sorts of exercises then it will get better. And it doesn't actually limit you're strength but it can be a big mental thing for some people.

Don't neglect the mobility work & warmup. De Franco's Agile 8 is what I do & I will hit the foam roller and do some other stuff for my specific problem areas on rest days

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wellbert

Don't do intense cardio on the same day.

kazzari

Cardio isn't part of the plan. If you must do cardio, definitely do it on a day off of lifting. And if you are doing cardio and that is important to you, definitely consider lifting twice a week.

JBuck1914

Thanks for all the advice ladies and gents, I did decide I'm doing my lifting two days a week which gives me a nice amount of rest in between and I have scaled back my cardio so, it's not so intense especially as I'm getting to the heavier weights my body needed the extra rest days. Thanks again everyone...

slimlifter

Listen to your body & ensure you allow your CNS enough time to recover.