How often do you ladies take a break from the gym? I seem to be on a plateau the past 4 weeks.... and decided before i would try increasing or decreasing the calories to try a week off ffrom the gym as I have been working out 6 days a week for 5.5 months (apart from a week of cross country skiing in Lapland in Feb)... haven't decided how much to eat an d i am sure i will still play some squash and tennis. be interested to know those of you who have broken plateaus by taking a break?? and did you more or less go to maintenance calories during the week.

:cool:

:eek: Yowza! Six months straight? I'd definetly take a break.

For every 12 weeks I lift weights I take a week off. I still do cardio but that's 'cause my cardio right now is very low-intensity. When I was running to compete I'd take a week off of that too. My body always feels a great deal better and fresher after the downtime and if I've lost any strength (which is rare) it returns very rapidly. I'm also far less injury prone when going by this rythm.

I think a week off may be just the thing to break your plateau. If you're cutting then just stick to your cutting diet (with maybe an extra cheat or two thrown in for enjoyment's sake) to preserve your fat loss. :tu:

I take a week off every 12-15 weeks, or when I do something stupid and I can't move my body (like say, this week :mad: )

Your body needs a break, it's a good thing. And yes, some people are able to break plateaus with a break because their bodies actually catch up on repairing all the damage that has been inflicted, so when they get back to working out they're in better condition when they stopped. :)

Thanks I am definieley going to add a rest week into my prgramme regularly then. Am new to this and leanrning all the time... Will probably not run either this week as had a couple of running injuries the past 3 months so think my body needs a break from that too.

Yes I am cutting so will stick to around my normal cutting calories but maybe not be quite so strict ;)