Personal Observation on Rest Periods

Tess_ATL

Tess_ATL

Cathlete
I thought this was interesting so I had to share. I just came off a 2 week "rest period." My parents were visiting and I was very busy with painting and getting ready for their visit, so I did not have a lot of time for formal workouts. Before my break, I had just finished a 3 week S&H rotation so I was doing some pretty serious weight work and about 3 sessions of cardio per week. During the "rest period" the only exercise I did was walking with my neighbor, and walking around with my mom and dad at the various sights in town. I certainly wasn't walking a LOT, just moderately. My eating was not that great either, lots of fried food and ice cream (OK I'll admit it...almost every night) :9 . I did not get on the scale at all this whole time and I started my workouts again on Thursday. Not only do I feel stronger and more energized to work out, but I actually weigh LESS than I did before my little break. My eating has been clean for about 5 days and it's great to see the scale moving again. Maybe it's too soon to tell but my hypothesis is that taking a rest period might be a good way to break a plateau. Anyone else think this??
 
I think many people are overtraining without realizing it, not giving their bodies enough time to 'catch up' to their workouts. I've come to believe that recovery/rest is as important as the work of working out.
 
Yep! Something similar happened to me. After I completed Phase 2 of the X, I took a week off and painted my girls' room. I didn't do anything else. However, I had to wash the walls, 2 doors, 3 windows with pane glass, and baseboard trims with TSP and water, prime and paint. I also had to move furniture every time I needed to get to a wall. So, even though I wasn't sweating with a 1-2 hour high intensity workout or lifting heavy, I was constantly moving. My diet didn't change. It wasn't very clean, but it rarely is. At the end of the week, my weight had dropped down a couple of pounds and my thighs finally went down 1/2". I'm on my third week of Phase 3 and my weight has only fluctuated with the highest weight being my lowest prior to my week off workouts. If I ever decide to lift heavy again using the X or S&H, I plan on working in a week of low intensity activities (painting, walking, swimming, etc...) and stretching.

Wendy
 
Hi,

I've found on multiple occasions that when I take a planned or forced recovery period I loose weight. I think that when my muscles are worked hard, they maintain quite a bit of fluid. For me, the break lets me see what my muscles really look like, which usually isn't nearly as big as I thought.

Tracy
 
I am learning to take recovery weeks since becoming familiar with them while doing the X. I've noticed a couple pound drop in weight during recoveries as well. I'm actually in a recovery week as we speak. I am doing mostly yoga and cardio this week. No weight work outs at all... :)
 
Congrats to Tess & others who have taken a rest and see good results!

I took a sort of forced rest period when I went on vacation a few weeks ago and found the exercise/weight room to be less than stellar. I ate like crap too, and was pleasantly surprised when I returned home.

How often should one take an extended rest?
 
I am another that found respect for recovery weeks/days.... I learned it doing P90X and still do them to this day. I also found that if I am lifting heavy - IE: 1-part per week (30 minutes each part) I lean out by only working out 5 days per week. I think recovery weeks are greatly under estimated for ioverall fitness & strength. Too much of a good thing is not necessarily good for the body. Personally I have found that less is definitely more for my body. Now I actually have time to enjoy other interests as well as working out PLUS my body looks better! What more can a 44 yr old ask for?:7
 
I have also found that during my rest week I lose about 2 lbs. I take a week about every 8 wks or so, and I've found that my body really needs it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Our Newsletter

Get awesome content delivered straight to your inbox.

Top