Recovery Weeks - Do You Take Them?

[lorajc]

Hi ladies,
I asked Cathe if she believed in Recovery Weeks, but she's been busy, so I'll post this here. Since many of you have answered my thread on the Ask Cathe Forum, I see that many people believe in them. If you do take them, please give me an example of a typical recovery week for you and how often you take them. Do you still do Cathe DVD's or do you use other DVD's/tapes in your library for that? I need ideas. Also, how do you know if you're working out hard enough to take a recovery week? I am newer to Cathe, so I am not doing her workouts at my full capacity as yet and I'm not sure I need recovery weeks yet. I am generally doing about 1 hour for my weight lifting days and 50 minutes on my aerobic days. I hope to work up to 75 minutes of weight lifting and at least 60 minutes on aerobic days. I tend to have an obssessive/compulsive personality so I know I have to be careful not to overdo it, but I also want to make sure I'm doing enough to see results (which have been coming rather slowly lately, as I think I'm plateauing).

One other question...how many people lift weights (total body) twice a week versus three times a week?

 

[CathydsRNA]

Hi, I personally can't take recovery weeks. I lose strength and cardiovascular endurance. I workout typically about 8-9 hours/week and include strength training (heavy mostly) and workout each body part about 2x/week. I do cardio about 5-6 days/week and include interval training about 1-2x/week. Some of the interval training is through using Cathe's workouts but I mostly do this on my own with sprinting.
I don't add up my stretch time into total minutes of working out but log it into a stretch log and typically have about 1.5 hrs stretching/week. I take 1-2 days off on average every 9 days or so. Sometimes this is dictated by my work schedule,.ie. if I have to work from the morning until late in the evening like I had to Thursday of this week. I feel refreshed after a day off but I lose a lot with a week off even if during that week, I do light activities, walking light aerobics pilate etc. I read somewhere that you can start to lose cardiovascular endurance within less than a week and you can lose strength in about a week or so. It doesn't work for me. I am sure if you are a marathoner or training for a major competition, a week off can do a world of good but an 8-9 hour a weeker barely qualifies me for that. I used to study ballet professionally as a teenager and young adult and a week off was deadly. I could take a week off but I lost alot during that week and paid the price.

 

[dss62467]

I haven't taken a full week on purpose, just when I had a bad cold. I did, however, notice that when I started back up, I felt stronger and ready to go!

I only work each body part once a week, but I'm trying to figure out a way to do it twice a week, plus keep a good amount of cardio and not spend my whole night exercising. I do have a family I'd like to spend a little time with.

 

[lesliew]

I try to take a break from Cathe about every 5 weeks. My body will usually let me know when I need the rest because I'll notice an increase in muscle stiffness when I wake up in the morning, or my knees will start aching. When this happens I usually switch to some easier workouts like my Firms or Kathy Smith. I welcome the change, plus it's nice to dust off my older workouts, it makes me feel less guilty because I've amassed quite a collection!

However, in the past three years since I've become serious about fitness I've never taken a complete break and not exercised at all. Not even when I was sidelined with a back injury. Even then I was forcing myself to do yoga and gentle aerobics. I think I recovered faster because I stayed active.

 

[kathryn]

Every since I did a P90X rotation, which has recovery weeks built in every 4 weeks, I feel that planned recovery weeks are VERY important. During my recovery weeks, I focus on core strength, funtional workouts that use light or moderate weights, and stretching/yoga. Those weeks seem very restorative, and help me condition the support muscles that help the larger muscles do their work.

I find that I don't lose cardio capacity or strength during that time (since I'm doing an "active recovery" and not just lounging around eating bonbons!). In fact, I usually come back stronger and avoid burnout or overtraining. I think a lot of people may not be getting the results they want because they are overtraining, especially with weight work.

Many athletes use "periodization" programs, where they vary the intensity and focus of their trainig throughout the year. Recovery periods are built into these periodization programs.