How many of you take rest weeks?

[Eternal_water]

I have never actually tried it but given my current work hours it may be a good idea.
Some days I do 11-15 hour days and by the end of a working week (which includes no exercise) I am already knackered.
Then I get 4 days off in which to squeeze legs, back, chest, arms, shoulders, core and cardio already tired from work on day 1.
Last night I didn't finish work until midnight, it was 1:45 am by the time I got into bed! sleep depravation certainly does not help.

Anyway today I tried to do chest and I couldn't lift the weights I normally do and I didn't have the mental energy to reach physical failure in any of my sets, gave up and tried forearms, didn't even have the energy for that. I left the gym soon after.

So I have decided to take a rest week this week. Do any of you take rest weeks and if so do you think it benefits you?

 

[mrRuckus]

Personally I get weaker every time I take full week off and it takes like 3-4 weeks to get back to where I was. I only do volume reductions for a week or two instead unless I can't help it like going on vacation or something.
Plenty of people do fine just skipping a week, though so you'll just have to figure it out for yourself.

 

[marmel75]

I do it a few times a year. The older you get the more you appreciate it. I don't lose any strength, if anything I seem to come back stronger.

 

[jessicapoul]

i should rest two days a week after five working days.

 

[user43770]

i should rest two days a week after five working days.

Lol

 

[user43770]

It's pretty common to take a week off to recharge. I've always read about people doing it when they plateau for a few weeks straight. Most lifters do it like marmel, 2-3 times a year. Recharge weeks are usually only needed for intermediate to advanced lifters, though.

I'm not sure that an entire week off is what you needed here. It may have only been a bad day at the gym. We all have those days when something is off. These can be due to lack of sleep, stress, physical exertion, poor diet etc. There have been weeks where I would have a day like that and then 3 days later set a personal best.

With time and steady lifting, you'll learn more about your body and get a better idea of what's what.

 

[Who Dares Win]

A week to rest once in a while not only doesnt harm but in most cases it also helps at least in my opinion but no more than that.

If I have to stop for 2 weeks I keep 90% of the strenght in all the exercises but not in the bench press, in that case I usually lose about 20% of my strenght and it takes me 2 weeks to back to the previous point.