You can't go 120% all year round

Two things made me write this article. Firstly, autumn is in full swing, which for me means that I need to take a break and let my body rest from the hard training. The second thing is the questions I get from time to time in the mail or on Facebook. So take this article as a kind of my personal balance sheet, where I'm basing it on the roughly 14 years since I first "tripped over a barbell" :-)

None of us are robots to perform and train at 120% all year round. Rest is a very important rather even integral part. This sport of ours is a very long distance run. If you want to improve and also avoid injuries, which are more frequent and long term as you get older, it is necessary to just take a break every now and then. I don't mean stop exercising completely, because I personally can't do that, but let's say ease up and put on a more moderate regime. Specifically, this means adjusting training units, lowering training weights, varying exercises, etc. There are several options. Such a modification is of course preceded by how one trains. If someone is doing it 2-3 times a week all year round, there is no place to go:-). The case I'm trying to describe is someone who trains 5-6x a week, uses heavy weights regularly in sets, and just can't do it nonstop indefinitely. With exercise you just need to use your head too.

For a practical example, here I will give my regular volume training that I have mentioned in previous articles and my current lightweight training.

Variation 1

Monday: Chest - Shoulders -Triceps - Abdominals
1. Bench press - 1x10, 1x8, 3x5
2. Peck-Deck - 3x12
3. Chin-ups - 1x10, 4x6
4. Standing alternating lunges - 1x10, 5x5
5. Military press - 4x 5
6. Overhead press on machine - 1x10, 1x8,1x6
7. French press - 3x10
8. Abdominal press - 6-8series

Tuesday: thighs - calves
1. Lunges - 4x10
2. Leg press - 4x15
3. Squat on MP - 3x10
4. Standing lunges - 4x15
5. Sit-ups - 4x12

Thursday: Back - Biceps - Abdominals
1. Lower pulley pull-ups - 1x15, 3x10
2. Standing upper pulley pulls to waist - 4x10
3. Overhead pulldowns - 5x10
4. Delt deck - 4x 12-5
5. Biceps EZ dumbbell on Scott. bench - 5x 8
6. Abdominals - 6-8 sets

Friday: Thighs, Chest-Ramena-Triceps
1. Pre-kick - 5x10
2. Abduction - 3x15
3. Bench press on incline bench-machine - 3x8
4. Peck deck - 3x12
5. Chin-ups - 5x10
6. Single arm deadlift on pulley - 5x 8
7. Overhead presses on machine - 4x10
8. French Lying Press - 5x10

Sunday: Back-Biceps-Hamstrings-Belly
1. Deadlifts - 2x10, 2x6, 2x4
2. Shyb - 5x 5
3. Lower pulley - 3x10
4. Delt deck - 4x 8
5. Overhead pulley - 3x10
6. Pullover - 3x12
7. Biceps with a large barbell - 5x 5
8. Stumbling - 3x10

Variation 2

Monday: Chest - Triceps - Abdominals
Bench press - 5x10 - 8
Incline bench press - 4x10 - 8
Deadlifts (JR, pulleys, etc.) - 3x12
French Press - 4x10
Pulley pull-ups - 3x12
Abdominal crunches - 5x20

Tuesday: Back - Biceps
Shrugs - 5x8-10
Pulley variations (alternate) - 4x10-12
Delt Deck - 4x10
Deadlifts - 3x8
Scotch - 3x10
Cardio - 40 min.

Thursday: Quadriceps - Calves - Abdominals
Lunges - 4x10-15
Squat/Legpress - 4x10-15
Hacken/Dips - 4x10-15
Lunges - 5x10-15
Abs - 5x20

Friday: Shoulders - Hamstrings
Military press with HR - 5x8-10
Overhead Multipress - 4x10
Deadlifts - 4x10
Deadlift with legs extended - 4x10
Stumbling - 4x12
Cadio - 40 min

The differences are definitely noticeable at first glance. One training day and the number of exercises has been reduced. In the first variant I practice each batch twice a week, in the second variant the batch is once a week and fewer sets. The heavier variant comes out to 90-100minutes at a brisk pace without the cardio part and the lighter variant can be done in under 60 minutes.

Neither workout is suitable for complete beginners. The workouts are built into days as it suits my routine and needs. There is no rule. However, there is a logic to the exercises and the distribution of the parts, so that it fits together and teaches, for example, that with tired triceps from the previous day I will try to push maximum weight on shoulder presses, etc. Neither workout is structured in such a way that I'm wringing any one part to failure. I'm not saying that it's not good to include an occasional more intense crash set, etc., but it's not a rule for me on every training day.

The lightening break doesn't just apply to training, but as you may have correctly guessed, also to diet. If we are not trying to perform at our peak and gain weight, it is also very advisable to give the body a bit of a break from the inside and adjust the diet so that we don't bother it unnecessarily with inadequate amounts of protein and carbohydrate intake. The body will also welcome this positively, it will rest and will subsequently react better when we give it what it was used to before. As an example, if we are used to taking about 2g of protein per 1kg of weight, it is not a problem to go down to 1.5g. I personally do not count anything in this period. I eat so as not to be hungry, of course I try not to push my diet to extremes and I kind of watch what I eat. I stick to a maintenance amount, which again is individual for each of us

In conclusion, I would like to stress once again that each of us has only one health and we need to be careful about it. It really is wiser to ease up a little once in a while, even if it is sometimes mentally hard to accept that I will be lifting a little less and that it won't look as spectacular as when I have more reels loaded on the barbell. Of course, if you get injured, the break will be forced, longer, and it may even happen that you won't go to the gym for a few weeks or even months. And I think that's really worth at least thinking about, isn't it!