Active recovery and backing off for a workout or two

[Biggerp73]

The past few weeks I hit a new PR everytime I worked out, for 3 workouts in a row. Then last week I tried to hit another, and I actually got less reps than the previous workout. I should have backed off, been satisfied with the new PR, and taken a week or two off from the extreme intensity, and just did some heavy weight, lower volume, 3-4 reps shy of failure work, to allow the muscles to recouperate and recover while staying used to handling the heavy load. Moving forward, I'll do more of this. I have also noticed that active recovery, even every single day, helps alot with preventing overtraining as well. When I do a few light weight sets everyday between workouts, I notice I recover faster and deal with less injuries and soreness as I progress up in weight and reps overtime.


Just some thoughts.

 

[Elvia1023]

The past few weeks I hit a new PR everytime I worked out, for 3 workouts in a row. Then last week I tried to hit another, and I actually got less reps than the previous workout. I should have backed off, been satisfied with the new PR, and taken a week or two off from the extreme intensity, and just did some heavy weight, lower volume, 3-4 reps shy of failure work, to allow the muscles to recouperate and recover while staying used to handling the heavy load. Moving forward, I'll do more of this. I have also noticed that active recovery, even every single day, helps alot with preventing overtraining as well. When I do a few light weight sets everyday between workouts, I notice I recover faster and deal with less injuries and soreness as I progress up in weight and reps overtime.


Just some thoughts.

Very true. But sometimes you may not know you are going to be a few reps short. So it's not the end of the world when you come short and it's just your body telling you to have a short break. You may have hit a PR for the 4th workout. Although we can't hit PR's every week nor should we.

I believe more in listening to your body compared to structured days off. Obviously have some structure as well and going for max weight every week for many months is not smart so there needs to be deloads from time to time. But I also just train according to my body as well. If I want to train 10 days in a row I will and if I don't feel right I may have 3 days off. I tend to train abotu 5 days per week and have the 2 days off when I feel I need them most (after legs being one day). On top of that are maybe 2/3 x 1 week rest periods per year.

The guys obsessed with just lifting more weight constantly always get injured eventually. So it's wise to incorporate different systems, rep ranges, etc throughout the year.

 

[qbkilla]

if actually overturned a few days off won't help, id take a 10 day deload,,thats if actually overtrained and not just a bad workout

 

[Freedom15Muscle]

if actually overturned a few days off won't help, id take a 10 day deload,,thats if actually overtrained and not just a bad workout

Over train + rest = super compensation phase. Nothing wrong with that. I'm probably 50/50 here. Listening to your body is always important, but some days I just need to force myself to do nothing. I get a false sense of well being some days, then I train and regret the whole thing.

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[T-800]

Thats a great way of thinking. I aplly it too myself. However i have the tendency to set a date to take a few days off; going apeshit the last couple of wo’s and then.... get injured. Being tired, rushed, overexcited, distracted. Whatever the reason, now im of for at least six weeks. Maybe i should reconsider my approach.

 

[Dens228]

Over train + rest = super compensation phase. Nothing wrong with that. I'm probably 50/50 here. Listening to your body is always important, but some days I just need to force myself to do nothing. I get a false sense of well being some days, then I train and regret the whole thing.

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This right here. As I got older, and hopefully smarter, I found that exact thing. Forcing myself to train either creates a bad workout, an injury, or a repeat of a bad workout the next day.
There are days when I start and I"m not feeling it but once I start it turns out great, but if I get to the end of my warmups for the first exercise and it's just not there...........then I end it for the day.

 

[LK3]

i swear some guy wrote a long article about a concept similar to this years ago and how it goes hand in hand with gear n diet and training....

 

[TheOtherOne55]

I'm in my 9th week of my offseason right now.
I run a lowish volume, high frequency program. Very similar to Jordan Peters stuff. PPL. I have 3 rotations of each day...meaning I hit the same workout every 10-14 days or so.

With that being said, I have beaten reps and increased weight every week for the past 3 months or so. On just about every exercise.

Do I feel like shit some days or does a random work trip mess it up? Yep, and when that happens I listen to my body, skip stuff and make it work. I also make sure EVERYTHING else in my life is lined up. Am I sleeping enough? Am I eating enough? Am I getting my meals in at the right times and not partying hard?

Also, having rotations on your workouts IMO is imperative to making continual progress. If I hack squatted every week I know I would eventually stall out after 3-4 weeks maybe. But when I'm rotating between hacks, inverted leg press, power squat machines, THEN BACK to hacks....I make progress.
That is some DC principle shit right there.

 

[Fa Seeshus]

If my resting heart rate is elevated right when I wake up, I usually back off slightly on the workout that day or swap it for an active recovery workout.

This back off concept is based around HRV, (heart rate variability). Some fitness trackers and apps measure this, but really you can tell without them.

 

[Freedom15Muscle]

If my resting heart rate is elevated right when I wake up, I usually back off slightly on the workout that day or swap it for an active recovery workout.



This back off concept is based around HRV, (heart rate variability). Some fitness trackers and apps measure this, but really you can tell without them.

I have never heard of this before. What do you use to track it?

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[Fit2Serve]

throwing my 2 cents in here...
i been training minimal as it gets and still make gains. or at worst hold on to muscle.
i wanna start a log soon so u guys can see how little i am doing and getting good results
-FF2S

 

[T-800]

I'm in my 9th week of my offseason right now.
I run a lowish volume, high frequency program. Very similar to Jordan Peters stuff. PPL. I have 3 rotations of each day...meaning I hit the same workout every 10-14 days or so.

With that being said, I have beaten reps and increased weight every week for the past 3 months or so. On just about every exercise.

Do I feel like shit some days or does a random work trip mess it up? Yep, and when that happens I listen to my body, skip stuff and make it work. I also make sure EVERYTHING else in my life is lined up. Am I sleeping enough? Am I eating enough? Am I getting my meals in at the right times and not partying hard?

Also, having rotations on your workouts IMO is imperative to making continual progress. If I hack squatted every week I know I would eventually stall out after 3-4 weeks maybe. But when I'm rotating between hacks, inverted leg press, power squat machines, THEN BACK to hacks....I make progress.
That is some DC principle shit right there.

Amen to all of this

 

[Fa Seeshus]

I have never heard of this before. What do you use to track it?

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I grossly oversimplified the whole thing. Here is a better explanation. There are some devices like the oura ring that measure it

https://imotions.com/blog/heart-rate-variability/

 

[slowmans789]

I'm in my 9th week of my offseason right now.
I run a lowish volume, high frequency program. Very similar to Jordan Peters stuff. PPL. I have 3 rotations of each day...meaning I hit the same workout every 10-14 days or so.

With that being said, I have beaten reps and increased weight every week for the past 3 months or so. On just about every exercise.

Do I feel like shit some days or does a random work trip mess it up? Yep, and when that happens I listen to my body, skip stuff and make it work. I also make sure EVERYTHING else in my life is lined up. Am I sleeping enough? Am I eating enough? Am I getting my meals in at the right times and not partying hard?

Also, having rotations on your workouts IMO is imperative to making continual progress. If I hack squatted every week I know I would eventually stall out after 3-4 weeks maybe. But when I'm rotating between hacks, inverted leg press, power squat machines, THEN BACK to hacks....I make progress.
That is some DC principle shit right there.

Fuck yes, but even sometimes when I do everything right, diet, sleep, etc... I still need to deload and back off. Weird how the body works :\