Making gains is a slow process. As such, consistency is the key. You’ve got to keep training consistently or you will stop growing. Not only that, but if you stop training, you will also lose the gains you made, and it will take even longer to make progress if you’re spending your time just regaining what you lost while you took a break!
PROSECUTION
The longer you train, the more diffIcult it gets to make progress because the adaptations your body makes cause you to become resistant to the training stimulus. It makes sense that perhaps some of those training adaptations could be reversed by taking a break, thereby allowing the muscle to become sensitive to the training stimulus again.
EVIDENCE
Research has shown that the anabolic window following a workout becomes dramatically shorter the longer you’ve been weight training consistently.
Research conducted at the Norwegian School of Sport Sciences showed that a 10-day break from training was able to “reset” some important anabolic signaling proteins that had become unresponsive to training.
Baylor University recently published data showing that both lean mass and strength are retained in trained subjects during a 14-day break from working out.
VERDICT
Not only does a break from training not cause you to lose size and strength, it has the additional benefit of resensitizing muscle to the training stimulus.
SENTENCING
An occasional two-week break from training is good if you want to make continued progress! A “break” from training does not mean training with light weights or shortening your workouts. A break means no weight training. A reasonable schedule would be to plan a two-week break after every 12 weeks of steady training. If you aren’t training consistently, you will derive less benefits from taking a scheduled break.
