Week Off

Is it me or is summer racing by? August is days away and I have been to the beach exactly three times, but only one time in the ocean. One trip was just to stroll the boardwalk with the family and eat at Surf Taco...one trip was for the Spring Lake 5 Miler (and it rained). And I was able to take a day off and enjoy a beautiful day on the beach and in the ocean last month. So it is really like one beach day. But that is not what I am writing about today.

Last week I took the whole week off from exercise. No strength training. No running. Besides swimming with the kids at the pool and walking our dog I didn't do much of anything. It drove me crazy. I kept thinking I was hurting my training....and getting weaker....or slower....or out-of-sync. Much of that is my own craziness at work and years of training until you were hurting (thinking that made you stronger). Basically poor training and planning.

The decision for the week off came at the last minute too. We had just finished up a difficult, strenuous three-week cycle of strength training at Renegade Gym. Heavy lifts and a little more repetition volume than usual. I was very fatigued and not recovering completely session-to-session, let alone week-to-week. Following this three-week cycle we had a scheduled "Deload" week - basically a decreased intensity/weights/load to keep you active but to avoid over training. We have been following a three week heavy/one week deload for a little while now.

As Monday of the deload week rolled around I was still pretty banged up. Tired, sore and generally dragging around. I started trying to recall the last full week I took off and I could not. Clearly I was at the brink (or beyond) that point of over training. So I took the week off.

It paid huge dividends. The Monday after taking a week off (this past Monday) I felt better in the gym than I had in a long time. Fresher, maybe even a little faster, but definitely much better overall. We had a difficult (but fun) workout and I really felt good. That same feeling extended in to Wednesday's routine, although heavy squats and a blistering heat/humidity in the gym took a toll on me last night.

If you have not taken a full week off recently I highly recommend you do.

Coincidentally Jay from Renegade wrote a nice article on "How to Deload Propely...":

http://jasonferruggia.com/how-to-deload-properly-and-why-its-so-important/