how long to take off if sick?

Deadballs

New Member
Best workout so far yesterday. Crushed all my 1 rep max's on deadlift, bent over barbell row, lat pull down etc. Awesome.

Woke up today with a stinking cold. Bizarre. Took the day off work cos I've got a full month ahead of me so figured rest and recuperate today and go in tomorrow. But when to go back training. Just getting into it so really didn't need this!
 
Obviously a cold can linger for a while. So, to wait until it's completely gone or just ignore it totally and go anyway!
 
Sounds to me like you hit it hard yesterday. I doubt it's a cold, sometimes a really intense session in the gym, which it sounds like you had, can make you feel a bit sick the next day.
 
It was a cold. Quite a bad one! One of those ones that almost feel like a flu but no way near as severe. Took 2 days off work cos until today I felt week. Felt a bit week today but not too bad.

Will hit the gym again the day after tomorrow. 4 days away from the gym wont hurt!
 
Nah it won't hurt at all. Just get better. A heavy Lifting weakens your immune system, and you don't want to get sick again, and end up spending more time out of the gym.
 
Yeah I've decided to take Mon- Friday off. Still feeling weak at work today and full of phlegm. My juicer arrived today so I'm gonna get early nights make a couple of juices and get back on it on Saturday!
 
I ended up taking the entire week off. Went back yesterday. Really didn't want to. I get out of the routine so easily. Anyway forced myself through a legs and shoulders routine.

Today= OUCH stairs are hard.

Is 4 sets of squats followed by 3 sets of barbell lunges and 3 sets of lying leg curls too much. I mean the leg curls are OK and the squats obviously good but doing the barbell lunges after squats just rinses my quads and glutes I think a little too much. Should I replace lunges with leg extension. It could be that I've become a bit desensitized to my routine already I guess.
 
Yup. A week off will desensitize you a bit, but you got sick so there's nothing you can do but suck it up. Plus, getting sick weakens you. I hate getting out of my schedule too. 7 working sets of legs is good. You squat, so bravo. Everything after squats is assistance/volume work, so change it up every now and then and see what you like. I've been doing bulgarian split squats and Straight-Legged deadlifts after my main squat routine. I feel like I work my hamstrings better with the SLDL's then leg curls, but that's me. Most bodybuilders do leg curls.

Off topic, but this is why unless someone is seriously overtrained, it's always better to have deload weeks where you work at about 50% of your normal weight instead of taking time off. That way you give your body active rest, but keep the motor patterns of the movements fresh.
 
Interesting. I just looked up those straight legged deadlifts. Looks to me more of a lower back work out than legs. Weird that it hits the hamstrings.

I do standard deadlifts incorporated into my back work out on Fridays. I wonder whether adding straight legged deadlift to my Monday legs workout instead of leg curls would be too much. I've only been doing deadlifts this last couple of months. Never did them when I trained in my 20s but I love them. They are my new favourite exercise. I'm all for the attitude, why isolate if you can compound instead cos I only train 3x per week and my body cuts up very easily anyhow. I don't even need to do train my arms for my arms to get defined from other compound exercises if that makes sense. Never in my life have I trained my arms but they grow the quickest!
 
No it sounds like you are training properly for someone who is not doing contest prep! Good on ya! Most would be amazed (well you obviously seem to know) how much deadlifts and chinups (not pullups) make your bi's grow. As far as I'm concerned any program should be designed around Squats, Deadlifts, Bench and overhead press. Those should all be done heavy. Everything else is assistance. After I do the main lift(s) of the day, I hit a few "bodybuilding" exercises for the muscle group and go for a pump.

SLDLs hit the whole posterior chain...same as squats and deadlifts. The key with them for me is to find the sweet spot where you're mostly using the hamstrings - which for me is not the full range of motion. Also I do them relatively light. I squat 365 for reps, but never go over 135 for my sldl's. I could go heavier, but it would be to much on my back. It's not an isolation exercise like leg curls, so like I said, your whole P-Chain is involved.

Try them out, or try some Romanian Deadlifts. Your Deadlift will go through the roof. RDL's def hit the back more then SLDLs though.

How do you set up your 3x per week training schedule? Just curious because I do 4 days a week during winter, and 3 spring, summer, and fall. I ride a road bike 3 days a week when it's nice outside so my body can't take the extra lifting. I need the cardio of the bike because I'm the opposite of you. I can pack on mass quickly, but I have to be dialed in and on-point to cut.
 
What's working for me atm is Monday legs and shoulders, Wednesday chest and abs and Friday back and abs.

I may be changing legs and shoulders to legs and abs and doing chest and shoulders wednesday instead. Not sure cos after my chest workout I think I may be too fatigued to properly hit the shoulders being such close proximity. I'll give it a go. It's just I want separate my x2 ab workouts as much as possible. I do abs 2 out of 3 days cos I've got a spinal fuse and having a strong stomach really helps me.

Anyhow my workouts are generally 18- 23 sets hitting the largest muscle groups at the beginning at the beginning of my workout generally getting easier and easier towards the end with more exercising starting to isolate maybe 2 or 1 muscles instead of 3 - 8 or however many a deadlift, squat, shoulder press etc hits! I've been doing 5 minutes warm up on elliptical trainer followed by a light set of 15 reps on my first and most demanding exercise. Then I generally put the weights to the point I can only do about 6-8 reps. Most times I work to failure unless it's deadlift because I am being VERY careful on my back with it. With deadlift I do sets of 10 because I'm not pushing it to the max.

Like you said my program is pretty much all core stuff, squats, deads, bench and military press etc with some shoulder work and loads of abs stuff and shit loads of stretching. I'm not doing this to look good per se, though that's obviously nice, my priority is power to weight ratio, increased energy and flexibility and make my back super strong so I get no trouble later in life.

I don't hang about. I'm basically resting 90 -120 secs between sets on the killer exercises like squats. I find squats brutal to be fair, I'm literally gasping for air after each set. Much worse than deadlifts for some reason. But yeah, squats and deads 120 secs rest and everything else 60 secs between sets.

Thinking of creating a 4th workout of interval sprinting to get some hard core cardio in also cos although I cut easily and have a fast metabolism I'm 35 this time round and drinking a lot of whey isolate shakes with full cream milk and having porridge a bit too often and my abs are not showing like they normally do shall we say lol! I don't mind though really.

Peace
 
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Sounds like its working. If you want a sick, and I mean it will test your manhood to the core sick, interval training tool - get a prowler. It's basically a sled you can load with weight and do sprints pushing it. Strips fat off (which you dont need) and is an INSANE leg/whole body workout.
 
Lol I don't think I want to even go there. Perhaps when I look pretty buff I could pull it off but atm I'm more sinewy. People would probably laugh and I would probably die. Don't know what my cardio fitness is cos I had to stop jogging due to a laterally tilted pelvis which was giving me hip and knee problems down one side. Almost straight again now though, hence the sprints in the pipeline.

Got to say though I think I might wait a few more months before starting the sprinting cos my 3 day routine is knackering me out. When I was 22-25 years old I could train 6 days a week and work full time. Can't do it anymore.
 
Unfortunately I know the feeling. I was doing some mob work and foam rolling the other day in the gym and was laughing to a guy I know about remembering a time when we didnt need to work out for a half hour before starting the actual workout lol.
 
Well in contradiction to what I said above I went and did sprints today lol!

Weather was fine for a change so went into the forest with the dog and found my favourite hill.

The bottom line is.... that is without a doubt the most physically demanding training there is. I jogged slowly a mile to a 100 yard area that is 50 yards flat and 50 yards up a steep hill. Did some stretching and went for it. Embarrassingly I could only do 3 because I brought no water. In my mind I was thinking I only need water if jogging more than 5 miles straight, not considering this was entirely different. Could of done maybe 5 or 6 but not without water.

I'm not sure whether I am less fit due to the extra weight I have developed in muscle or what but that was HARD. I was gasping for air like I was dying at the top of the hill each time and the saliva in my mouth tasted metallic and was thick. Almost like blood. After the third sprint I developed heart burn as well which I never get and I am currently coughing my guts out.

I am going to do more of these because I feel I clearly have a weakness in this area. My running also felt sluggish, like I couldn't take off properly. Weird!

If anyone knows anything about interval sprinting, HGH etc please chime in cos this I think is my new challenge!
 
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