When I finished the last training cycle, it was pretty apparent that I was beat up and worn down. With the encouragement of my coach, I took a full week off.
The idea moving forward is to take a little more time off before getting back into lifting full swing. Again with the recommendation my coach (as well as another coach at the gym that I trust), I am going to be following a 4 week hypertrophy cycle. I am somewhat looking forward to this and a little bit dreading it.
First, I know I need a break and that this type of cycle will be good for my overall strength. I have realized that as much as I love weightlifting, doing it day in and day out without any break is not the best way to stay in this long term. On the flip side of the coin, I remember the last time I followed a strength bias cycle and how immobile I ended up feeling toward the end. I think I have to keep that in mind and stay on top of mobility, recovery, nutrition, etc. this time around in order for this to truly be successful. Yea, that stuff is always important, but looking back I probably didn’t place enough emphasis on it as I should have.
This next 4 week cycle is only 4 days a week. I am thinking about moving that back out to 5 days a week and keeping in that “shake out” day that I had where I am in the gym moving. What I found last week when I took the time off was that I was irritable from not being in the gym, so going in and getting those positive endorphins flowing can only help.