Free Week

[zap_rowsdower]

Listened to a roundtable recently with Dr. Israetel and Dr. Helms, in which the case was made for a "free week" a few times a year where training was curtailed or severely downgraded (as distinct from a deloading phase). Curious about what the community and coaches think about such an approach.

Does this correspond to the Time Crunch template in the overall periodization methodology?

[zap_rowsdower]

I suppose I should clarify my own personal situation as well, since, you know, me.

Training has gone very well for 3 months, but on high stress week in the Bridge I had a confluence of the highest stress week at work in the year, as well as deciding to spend a lot of evenings with a new lady friend (#humblebrag), and was not eating or sleeping much. The training went great for week 4, hit better numbers than I predicted and even PR'd on my top set of deadlifts on Friday. Fast forward to Monday, and I feel like boiled shit. Grinding 20% less weight than I am capable of squatting, bench press was even more of a joke. Decided to just call training off for the day, which is a first.

In some ways I feel as beat up today as I ever have, even after two days of 8+ hours of sleep and plenty of food. Going to try Wednesday's session in a few hours, but I also feel like there may be some wisdom in the concept of the vacation week.

Thoughts?

[PWard]

In Mike I. and Chad Wesley Smith's book The Scientific Principles of Strength Training they do talk about taking time off, and the general recommendation was to take it following a competition, as most people are pretty burned out following a competition. He also states that it depends on the personality of the lifter, as people react to taking time off differently; some people find it refreshing, some people find it stressful, and for other people a week off accidentally turns into a year off... He also said an alternative could be to just take a period of time for fun, where you just screw around in the gym for a week to a month doing things you wouldn't normally do. It's really more of a mental relief and longevity tactic than anything else so it's definitely not mandatory, and there are many different ways you can accomplish this. So yes, running the time crunch template could be used in this manner.