Importance of Weekly 2 Day Break?

[stl rick]

Greetings,

I am on the basic A/B program. (I had a minor flub when I created by training chart and was doing all 5 exercises each season. Aargh.) During my re-reading of the program, I noticed a recommendation to do a Monday - Wednesday - Friday sequence with a two day off break over the weekend.

Is the weekly 2 day break necessary? I have been doing an on day/off day cycle with the occasional 2 day break when dictated by life. Still adding the 5 lbs to everything except 10 lbs to deadlift.

Thanks,

stl Rick

[Tim Lofton]

Greetings,

Is the weekly 2 day break necessary? I have been doing an on day/off day cycle with the occasional 2 day break when dictated by life. Still adding the 5 lbs to everything except 10 lbs to deadlift.



Given sufficient time on the program and/or at sufficiently high weights and continued linear progression, your body will answer this question for you in due time. Recovery periods/off days are where the strength gains are realized.

[gzt]

1 on 1 off works, it's what I did for a while. It's just that most people work on a weekly schedule, so it's easier to consistently do 3/week.

[IWillLiveFreeOrDie]

Do the program for a month and your question will be answered. :D

[Trolllund]

I ask the same question, But from a 47 yr old man perspective:
I have done well on the SS program. But I am starting to feel it in my knees and shoulders. As much as we all want to think we are now "advanced", I am still making gains on SS, so I am not quite ready to throw it aside. I know one of the options is the "heavy- medium- light" schedule. But what about keeping the program the same and just taking and extra rest day? In other words 1 day on, 2 days off all the time. Mondays I always come in strong after the weekend. Why not make every day a "Monday"? Any "cons" to this plan?
In summary, is there a physiological reason to stay within boundaries of an ancient calendar designed to worship the Gods of Olympus?

[banthafodder]

I believe PPST makes it fairly clear that it's purely a convenience thing to think in terms of week-long blocks. At the very beginning, you can recover in less than two days. The stronger you get, the more you can work, and the longer it takes to recover. Recovery time increases as your lifts increase, probably in the same linear fashion. IIRC PPST says that by the end of linear progression, there's nothing magic about a week; it's just that once you're right around the intermediate stage, two days of recovery has probably not been sufficient for some time, and four or five might be fine, but the typical scheduling of life makes it convenient to start working in one-week blocks.

EDIT: So, practically speaking, if you can easily schedule yourself to take advantage of 3, 4, or 5-day recovery periods and still make progress, go for it.

[hatmanii]

I work a 1 day on/2 day off schedule as a Firefighter and structured my workouts the same way. I was able to progress fine for months. It all depends on what you are able to do given your time constraints. Whatever allows you to progress, is what you should be doing.

There is an 'optimal' for everyone's situation, you just have to find out what that is for you. Optimal meaning, whatever allows one to incur the quickest strength gains over a given period of time.

[BruteForce]

Greetings,

I am on the basic A/B program. (I had a minor flub when I created by training chart and was doing all 5 exercises each season. Aargh.) During my re-reading of the program, I noticed a recommendation to do a Monday - Wednesday - Friday sequence with a two day off break over the weekend.

Is the weekly 2 day break necessary? I have been doing an on day/off day cycle with the occasional 2 day break when dictated by life. Still adding the 5 lbs to everything except 10 lbs to deadlift.

Thanks,

stl Rick

What's the hurry? You grow and get stronger during recovery with sleep and food. You must allow for CNS recuperation.

[radiator41]

When you advance so that you are only deadlifting once a week, you will (or at least you should) schedule the deadlifting on Friday or the day before the 2 day break. This is how I am currently doing the program and having 2 days off after a heavy DL and squat makes Mondays workout easier from a recovery standpoint.

[gzt]

7-day calendars aren't merely a greco-roman invention.

But, as for making every day a Monday (ie, 1 on 2 off), that's not a great idea. 10 workouts per month rather than 12-14. I mean, if you have issues with recovery (like, you're 70 years old or maintaining strength while losing weight), maybe, or if you just can't do it any other way (you're a fireman). It's not ideal, but you can get a lot of work done that way, or even with only 2 workouts per week. But more will get you farther.

The thing is, as you get more advanced and need to move to more complex programming, like intermediate programming, you're trying to hit the balance between detraining, providing an adaptive stimulus, and recovering. The light workout in H-M-L or Texas Method schemes is important. Maybe it isn't. I don't leave it out.

[tennisgod]

Is the weekly 2 day break necessary?

I find it interesting when people question the 30-odd years of experience that Rip has.

[NolanPower]

I train Monday Tuesday Wednesday Friday Saturday with no recovery issues, just need to adapt your body to the workload and it will respond.

[PVC]

I find it interesting when people question the 30-odd years of experience that Rip has.

There's nothing wrong with questioning authority, as long as it's done in an intelligent and useful way. However, there is something wrong with being a blind follower.

Here is a relevant thread:
http://www.startingstrength.com/resources/forum/showthread.php?t=10354

Guy was deployed in Africa and had unlimited access to food, very few duties and lots of downtime. Rip said he could train every other day and cut out the 2-day break because his recovery situation was optimal. But for those of us who aren't in this situation, who have things to do and get stressed out by work and who sometimes fail to eat over 5000 calories a day...we need the extra day. You can decide for yourself which category you fall under.

[LondonTiger]

when you';re a beginner you can jump weights fast, its not because you're getting strong fast, but because you're currently working at a level far below your strength limits and you're just getting used to the excercises. When you start hitting your physical limit, every increase will be a struggle. And you will have to take your rest days off properly.

Sometimes I take a week off just to properly heal.

[Sgsolberg]

IIRC, in either PP or SS, Rip states that training every other day would be fine for the novice, but that people normally keep to a 7 day cycle for the sake of scheduling.

The key is that sufficient time is given between sessions such that recovery and supercompensation occur. Given the lack of either, different stimuli, greater fuel, or greater recovery periods need to be used.