How much rest is too much?

[SwoleyGuacamole]

Hello,

I recently bought the grey book and started my intermediate programming. I chose the HLM method just because it responds to my schedule more conveniently than the rest. H- 3x3, L 5x5 with pause reps, M 3x5. I work 24 on and 48 off and generally go to the gym once every 72 hours, days before work.

In the grey book it says, and in my understanding, an intermediate program is best ran with optimal rest periods. If I remember correctly it was 48-72 hours of rest at the minimum. So to that, how much rest is too much?

If my schedule permits, would it be too much to rest 96-120 hours after my heavy days and only 72 hours between my light and medium? I am not held to the standard “week” schedule as the grey book goes off of for the ease of scheduling for normal lives.

I’m 27 5’9 250lbs. I eat about 3k calories a day making sure to get about a gram of protein per pound of BW. I have been able to add weight with this intake for some time but find I’m starting to find myself a slightly fatigued by next light training day after heavy. To a lesser degree from L to M for the fact that I do my heavy DL on light days and light rows and PC on H days.

Recently started TRT for symptomatic hypogonadism, and since my lifts have gone up at a decent rate. I undoubtedly have more in the tank but am trying to program just right so I can get as much out of the program as I can. On heavy days my general rest between sets is about 5 minutes. Every couple weeks I may fail the last rep or two of the last set but will finish after a couple minutes rest to get the volume in for the day. Going off my heavy days 3x3:
Bench- 295
Press- 170
DL (3x2) 430
Squat 405
PC 195

I’m not sure what information will be relevant so I am trying to be as detailed as I can about my situation.

[Mark Rippetoe]

What were your numbers at the end of your NLP?

[SwoleyGuacamole]

NLP was some time ago, 2+ years ago I did a very dirty bulk throughout that process and ended up being just shy of 300 lbs, while strong I wasn’t a fan of having that much body fat, roughly 35-40%. I decided to lose about 50 lbs and start again, correctly, currently at 20-25% I still prioritized barbell lifts to make sure that if I did lose strength, it wouldn’t be that much. If I were to give you a guess, it would have been:

Bench 250
DL 430
Squat 405
Press 150
PC 150

Starting this time around on my HLM in early May, my starting numbers were:

Squat 335
Bench 250
Press 160
DL 405
PC 135

Ive been using micro plate for press increases.

[Mark Rippetoe]

A Clarification | Mark Rippetoe

[SwoleyGuacamole]

While I understand for recovery and for me to further progress I will have to intake more calories, that still doesn’t tell me how much rest would be too much and which would be optimal levels in this stage given that article talks about eating and rest. You sending that only gives me the assumption that you believe everything is fine as is with just the need of raising my caloric intake. I’m not deviating from the basic movements that aren’t already in the books nor am I not resting any less than 72 hours.

[Maybach]

I say this with all respect, but it sounds like you're doing the thing that people coming to these boards, and Rip in general in other venues, do very often: you are asking for permission, not advice. You know the potential downsides and upsides of training less frequently, but you want to know if it is "optimal," if it's something you "should" do. This is a hangover from the low testosterone.

It's your training. Try it and see.