one week off / very little change

[evo4a]

I do gym work most days. Combo of running, concept 2, weights and body weight exercise. Good diet, 95% of the time.
Got sick and tired of it so took a week off, friday - friday. Went mental on chicolate, big macs, chips pizza.... hmmmmm, zero exercise for a week.

Started again on Sat. I'm amazed, very little loss of power, speed if any, I know I've lost a little muscle and certainly put on a bit of body fat but only 2 lb weight gain.

Feel really motivated again, especially now back into it .... of course the danger for me was just never starting again.

Anyone else just take a break every now and then?

[Ordinary_Chap]

Yeah short breaks are good to allow full recovery and your body to heal any light injuries/damage.

If you're weight lifting I actually think its a good idea to give your body a break once every 2-3 months to allow it to take a break.

Lee

[Lynch91]

Taking a week off I find I come back with a lot more energy and drive, and tend to push myself really hard for the first month back. So as said above I try to take a week off every 3 months or so. However just after Christmas I was very ill, 2 weeks mainly just lying in bed and barely eating, when I started training again I felt very week and was really struggling to lift weight that I could previously, thankfully after a week or so I was back on form!

[goldblum]

evo4a said:

I do gym work most days. Combo of running, concept 2, weights and body weight exercise. Good diet, 95% of the time.
Got sick and tired of it so took a week off, friday - friday. Went mental on chicolate, big macs, chips pizza.... hmmmmm, zero exercise for a week.

Started again on Sat. I'm amazed, very little loss of power, speed if any,

You won't have lost any power, in fact if you needed the break you will be stronger.

evo4a said:

I know I've lost a little muscle'

No, you won't have. Honestly.

evo4a said:

and certainly put on a bit of body fat but only 2 lb weight gain.

Feel really motivated again, especially now back into it .... of course the danger for me was just never starting again.

Anyone else just take a break every now and then?

Anyone who is serious and approaches their training in an intelligent manner should program in breaks.