Why Taking A Week Off From Training Is Important

Although taking a week off from the gym/ working out might sound nuts to you, it’s actually an important element of long-term progress.

You see, lifting weights, running, or any other impactful workout puts a lot of stress on your nervous system, muscles, joints, ligaments, and tendons and not to mention your mental state. Over time, that stress builds up and your performance starts to fall off. You start feeling achy, weak, de-motivated to train, and so on. But we don’t want that! We want to hammer all of our sessions without all these negative symptoms of overtraining.

Which brings me to “dreaded” recovery week. Some people have a really hard time with this and I’ll admit- I used to as well. Until I realized how much my body and energy was screaming for it. I have clients who really benefit from their recovery weeks and always come back fresh mentally and physically. But what is the purpose you may ask?

The purpose of a recovery week is to give you some time off from training to recover both physically and mentally. Once the week is about over, you would be itching to get back and crush your workouts. You’d most likely be feeling rested, motivated and even stronger than before. I know the skeptical part of your brain is like: “Yeah, like NOT training is going to make me stronger.” But think about it: If you haven’t taken time off lately, you’re likely starting to feel overtrained. And piling on more stress on top won’t make you jump over the fence and feel better. Still, there are those individuals that won’t see a benefit to taking a recovery week. Then again, they aren’t benefiting from the training they are doing either which only amounts to wasted time when you are training. Those are the people who don’t feel tired and accomplished after a workout. And they look exactly the same as last year OR they “look” stronger but are nursing those nagging injuries that keep coming back.

If you push yourself every workout, are following a weekly program and not leaving your workouts up in the air, then you need a recovery week. If you have a job that is taxing either mentally or physically- this is also true. We shouldn’t think that external factors don’t play a role in our recovery as well.

Much like other aspects of training, recovery is also individual. Recovery needs depend on different factors such as:

· How old you are
· What type of work you do (Yes, this matters)
· How you train, how often and how intense those sessions are
· How you eat
· What your genetics are (can’t forget the genetics); eyeroll!
· And last but not least whatever current circumstances you are under right now

Based on all these factors, there are a few ways to schedule recovery weeks. The idea is, decide how long you will train and schedule a recovery week every so often. (Examples: every 3-4 weeks, 4-8 weeks or 4-6 weeks)- again dependent on individual and factors listed above. Full recovery days are different. You should be taking days off from training every week, period. That also depends on the factors above and varies based on that.

As a trainer and coach, this is how I determine active recovery days or weeks for my clients and myself.

Depending on what we are training for, i.e. running a 10k or building mileage- which takes more prep and more frequent running (or just consistently running in general), mixed style training such as different forms of cardio/HIIT and frequent strength sessions etc all determine when I schedule in recovery days or recovery weeks and both are usually dependent on how much (days, load, intensity) we have trained in recent weeks. Some blocks we can go longer without a full rest week. Sometimes I deem it necessary to schedule a full week off completely with a focus on rest, mental reset, massage therapy, extra attention to foam rolling/trigger point and mobility. Other weeks I may schedule active recovery where the focus is on lighter movement without spiking your heart rate into high intensity zones with other gentler movements. If you are not working with a coach, it’s a good idea to keep track of how many weeks you go without a purposeful break in your training. If you are starting to feel irritable, tired, extra sore and achy, resting heart rate is constantly elevated- it may be signs you need a break. But you actually don’t want to get to that point either because you will then need more than 1 week to recover. Burn out happens quickly and takes longer to recover from. So even if you feel great, take those rest days or weeks serious.

To reiterate: Symptoms of overtraining could include body aches, loss of sleep, lack of motivation, and weakness when training, not to mention can cause injury. There are others, but you get the idea and I also sent an article about overtraining back a few weeks ago. Think of such a week as a preventive mechanism in your training. To help you stay energized and motivated year-round.

On your Off week: If you are scheduled for an off week. Treat it as such. Resist the temptation to workout. You can recharge by going for walks, swimming, light hiking, light bike riding, (using the term light here because in some situations, these can become actual workouts, replacing the recovery aspects of the movement) scheduling a massage, facial, pedicure. Focus on stretching, foam rolling or buy a new workout outfit and gear up for your next block of workouts. Notice that these are all meant to recharge you, not set you back. It doesn’t have to feel painful or an excuse to lay around all week, it’s just finding other ways to recharge without workouts being the component.

Active recovery day /week: If you are scheduled for active recovery days or weeks. Do only what is assigned (if you are working with a trainer) and remember that although active recovery may involve movement or lower intensity workouts, resist the urge to go harder, further, longer or do something opposite of what recovery is supposed to be, otherwise you are not performing active recovery and are tacking on more time without the rest your body needs to repair. The same applies to complete rest days- It’s not rest if you aren’t resting.

Last but not least- Listen your body. Sometimes you may need to just take the day off from exercise even though you intended (or were scheduled) to train. That is ok! lack of motivation or other factors will happen, but sometimes it goes beyond motivation and your body may just be asking for rest or some lighter movement. Whatever the case, do not ignore it and just know that you will feel much better if you listen to your body.