Taking a break from lifting - Good? Bad?

lrbassmom

I'm just not into it. I don't have any energy, some, but not any extra for heavy lifting. I noticed last week that even though I 'felt' energetic, and strong. I just couldn't lift as much as I was in previous weeks. I've been eating good. Getting enough calories to support muscle growth, etc. I'm getting real good definition on my legs (at least up to top/mid thigh! sigh!), the cellulite has disappeared off the back of my thighs, my arms are freakin' awesome, and my chest is great. I've lost inches, although not uniformly all over. (My dumb left thigh is always about a 1/2" bigger than my right! grrr!) And my body fat % (according to Tanita) is down 3% from when I started.

In NROLFW, I read where the author sometimes takes a week off and just chills. I've been lifting regularly 2-3 times a week with a little cardio thrown in here and there for about 3 months, maybe more. (My workouts are pretty dang aerobic by themselves.)

Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this?

Also, I haven't lost any weight in WEEKS! I've plateaued and I'm stuck at about 170. I'm going to go redo my numbers today....

I'm just wondering what's going on with the body, and what have ya'll done?

LoraF83

You probably need a deload week. That's normal. Almost everyone who lifts takes a week off here and there. I have taken an entire week without lifting before. Most of the time, I just cut my weights way back and still do the workout. The program I am doing now has a deload week built in every 4 weeks.

_DaniD_

I say, good! I recently took a week off and it was a huge help. I came back feeling stronger than ever and beat 2 PRs my first day back.

tacguy

Just me, but I like to take a "recovery" week every three or four weeks. That does not mean do nothing. Go for a run, walk, stretch, yoga something different but still active. I would put the weights down for a few days.

Good luck!!

lrbassmom

Did it help push you over the plateau? I'd like to start the scale moving down again but that's not my reason... I just want the 'eye of the tiger' back. :laugh: I want to come back ready to push myself and be enthusiastic about it... Now I'm just kind of "meh"... "I'll go ahead and lift, but I don't feel like it." It's an effort to make myself go.

Yeah, I'd say it's time to take a break and do something different for a little while. I guess anytime something that has been working for you stops working, it's time to do something different. After all, we aren't machines, right?

Yeah, I was going to go walk, garden, bicycle (New bike for Mother's day!), anything ... other than the gym.

tacguy

Did it help push you over the plateau? I'd like to start the scale moving down again but that's not my reason... I just want the 'eye of the tiger' back. :laugh: I want to come back ready to push myself and be enthusiastic about it... Now I'm just kind of "meh"... "I'll go ahead and lift, but I don't feel like it." It's an effort to make myself go.

Yeah, I'd say it's time to take a break and do something different for a little while. I guess anytime something that has been working for you stops working, it's time to do something different. After all, we aren't machines, right?

Yeah, I was going to go walk, garden, bicycle (New bike for Mother's day!), anything ... other than the gym.

Right!!

ahmadfahmy

I'm just not into it. I don't have any energy, some, but not any extra for heavy lifting. I noticed last week that even though I 'felt' energetic, and strong. I just couldn't lift as much as I was in previous weeks. I've been eating good. Getting enough calories to support muscle growth, etc. I'm getting real good definition on my legs (at least up to top/mid thigh! sigh!), the cellulite has disappeared off the back of my thighs, my arms are freakin' awesome, and my chest is great. I've lost inches, although not uniformly all over. (My dumb left thigh is always about a 1/2" bigger than my right! grrr!) And my body fat % (according to Tanita) is down 3% from when I started.

In NROLFW, I read where the author sometimes takes a week off and just chills. I've been lifting regularly 2-3 times a week with a little cardio thrown in here and there for about 3 months, maybe more. (My workouts are pretty dang aerobic by themselves.)

Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this?

Also, I haven't lost any weight in WEEKS! I've plateaued and I'm stuck at about 170. I'm going to go redo my numbers today....

I'm just wondering what's going on with the body, and what have ya'll done?

Always think of the long term goal...if you take a break for a week to rest and recover, will that take away from your long term goal? or if you keep training and then injure your joints/stabalizers will that take away from your long term goal?

lrbassmom

Good questions.

Long term goals- decrease blood pressure, improve overall health, get my metabolism back up back where it used to be or at least close, to not feel quite so middle-age, to be proud of how I look nekkid in front of my husband.

Short term - get my bench press up to 125 (115 now - entirely doable) one of many lifting goals, drop 5 more lbs by end of school year (may or may not happen), and look hotawesome in a swimsuit.. again, may or may not happen. :laugh:

Taking a week off won't take away or de-rail me from my long term goals. Short term I doubt it will set me back any since I haven't been gaining or losing anyway. Especially if I'm still moving and active, substituting other cardio activities and staying within my calorie goals.

In looking back over my diary I noticed that I've been slightly under my calorie goals. Either I just didn't get around to eating, probably because I was not eating enough earlier in the day and it came to bedtime and oops, didn't quite make BMR. Or I didn't eat back all of my exercise calories. Think that might have contributed?

astronomicals

When I took a week off lifting, while cutting weight, I just adjusted my calories a little lower for that week to account for reduced activity. You're hitting the point where your gains from neural adaption will slow and you may just maintain the same weights or even lose a bit of strength as you continue to lose weight.


Spoiler: Even with weight lifting you'll still lose some lean mass while dropping fat. Its probably impossible not to without using steroids. This ratio will be greater if youre shedding fat too fast.

cwolfman13

I take a recovery week every 5th week or so for some extra recovery. Any progressive plan is going to be very taxing on your muscles as well as your CNS and you need some extra recovery from time to time. Sometimes I just take off a week and do nothing but a few sessions of very light cardio just to keep moving...other times (like last week) I just do some body weight stuff a few times per week with some light cardio...sometimes I do nothing at all except rest, eat, and recover.

I have to say I had a really tough go of it when I was nearing the end of my "diet"...which also happened to coincide with really starting to put some heavy weights on my barbell...I definitely hit a plateau and struggled with recovery until I went into maintenance and then started getting my linear gains back.

lrbassmom

"Shedding fat too fast"? Ha! 10 lbs over several months?.... Probably not all that fast.