Taking extended periods of time off?

[cal]

Just curious how many people that are fairly advanced bodybuilders...take very long periods of time off.

It seems, at least according to the magazines that many pros and top amateurs take off a month or several months...at a time. How does this rest or time off play into a normal person's routine? Would it help a regular person who is very into lifting but not "peaking" for anything in particular?

For the last 10 years, I have only taken off (other than off days scheduled in routine) about 4-5 day layoff once or twice a year. I am thinking of maybe taking an extended break..., even i lose a little size or condition for overall gains. I have some moderate tenoditis in elbows but no other health or joint issues.

 

[Chipper Jones78]

Bump this for you.

I'm curious as well, would like to know if members ever take a "down time" through out there training routines

Chip

 

[gtj220]

Levrone did that, but your talking exceptional genetics. I think if you took some time(say 2-3 workouts per week) for some moderate lifting on some basic lifts you could stay conditioned and let the joints heal somewhat and not go crazy from inactivity.

 

[fbxdan]

I have a hard time taking time off because it seems to mentally get to me. Not only do I think i'm shrinking, but I get irritable if I don't have a way to release that energy I have built up throughout the day. There seems to be a few times throughout the year where I take time off however because of vacation, illness, etc, and I do come back stronger. I know some guys that are seasonal lifters and they seem to take months off at a time, get small, but then come back and gain back their muscle mass within a matter of two months and then continue to gain. Some people seem to respond really well to taking time off. I guess you never know until you try.

 

[Ashop]

Just curious how many people that are fairly advanced bodybuilders...take very long periods of time off.

It seems, at least according to the magazines that many pros and top amateurs take off a month or several months...at a time. How does this rest or time off play into a normal person's routine? Would it help a regular person who is very into lifting but not "peaking" for anything in particular?

For the last 10 years, I have only taken off (other than off days scheduled in routine) about 4-5 day layoff once or twice a year. I am thinking of maybe taking an extended break..., even i lose a little size or condition for overall gains. I have some moderate tenoditis in elbows but no other health or joint issues.

I've had periods where I've stayed on too long,,,but also periods where I have been off for a year + at times.

 

[flexmaster]

Just curious how many people that are fairly advanced bodybuilders...take very long periods of time off.

It seems, at least according to the magazines that many pros and top amateurs take off a month or several months...at a time. How does this rest or time off play into a normal person's routine? Would it help a regular person who is very into lifting but not "peaking" for anything in particular?

For the last 10 years, I have only taken off (other than off days scheduled in routine) about 4-5 day layoff once or twice a year. I am thinking of maybe taking an extended break..., even i lose a little size or condition for overall gains. I have some moderate tenoditis in elbows but no other health or joint issues.

if you are really interested in this do some reading on periodization. im sure you've heard about this, but think about this. one of my old olympic weightlifting coaches told me about this guy he used to compete against. they only competed against eachother 3 times with several years in between. my coach said he saw him every once in a while between competitions and he was small and looked like he had never lifted a weight (my coaches word's, im sure he's exaggerating a bit). apparently he had only been swimming, biking, skiing, basically just stayed active for 6 or so months doing other stuff. if he did lift weights it was very light, keeping his form, and more of a moderate circuit. when it came time to compete again and my coach saw the guy and was blown away...he was WAY bigger(not weight-wise but muscularity-wise), leaner, and stronger than last time they competed. he won the contest. when my coach asked him what steroids he was taking he said none, he was doing something called periodization. in periodization this break is called an off loading period.