Taking off from strength training

[Anonymous]

For those who work out religiously, do you build in weeks off from strength training?

I strength train twice a week, usually a one-hour HIIT or bootcamp workout. Maybe two or three times a year, I take a week off, usually because of vacation or plain fatigue. If you do build weeks off from strength training in your schedule, how often and when do you do them? FWIW, I don't ever take off from cardio (I run) mostly because I've never felt the urge too. But I don't particularly enjoy ST but just do it for fitness/strength purposes and was hoping to take more weeks off without losing the benefits of ST.

[Anonymous]

I just had a bad cold so I didn’t do any ST for a week. I noticed no difference - i think taking off a week here and there shouldn’t have an impact on your gains.

[Anonymous]

Agree, doesn’t matter. It’s probably good for you to take at least a few full weeks off per year.

[Anonymous]

I strength train 4 days a week and take a few weeks off a year, usually around vacation. We tend to have very active vacations.

You do not and will not lose strength from a week or even 2 weeks off. Not sure where the balance is in how much time you can take off before losing the benefits. Lots of people who lift hard take a deload week off every 8 weeks. They usually need this because they lift really heavy. During that week they lift a lot lighter.

[Anonymous]

I strength train 5 days a week, and probably take 4 weeks off a year. I try for once a quarter basically. Sometimes it’s illness that sparks it, but more often it’s a few signs of overtraining that clue me in to take a break (such as trouble sleeping after a hard workout, lingering soreness, etc.)

[Anonymous]

I usually let life dictate it.

For example, this week, kids have a ton of stuff going on, so its going to be difficult to get my workouts in. Instead of stressing about, I'll just let it be my off week.

But when that doesnt happen, I do try to schedule a de-load week every 6-8 weeks or so.

So, I'm not sedentary. But the weight I'm moving does go down quite a bit.

Other programs I've been on have every 4th week be rest, but those programs were very focused on getting significant strength gains over the course of 16 weeks, so the systems did require a lot of rest

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty similar to the 11:00 poster. I do a powerlifting program where I lift heavy barbells followed by HIIT. I also do a deload week or take off from lifting altogether every ~6-8 weeks or so, depending on if I am traveling or what else is going on. I still do HIIT workouts during those weeks, just not too heavy.

OP said they do HIIT and bootcamp-style workouts, and I don't see a need to take time off from those. I generally don't.

[Anonymous]

I always plan to train. But if life gets in the way, then I don’t. I’d say that I regularly train 48 weeks of the year. I plan for three to four days (four would be yoga) but sometimes there’s PTA for a kid pick up and I have to miss a workout. I’d say between holidays and vacations i take four weeks off. But this year was bad because I got covid twice.