Dealing With Off Time

Some of us would panic if we missed training, my past self included.

That's actually mostly good. It just shows that you love to train and take it seriously.

But I'm talking to an older crowd now.

If you're a college student, or have no job, or no kids, or no pets, or no house, then you're in a better boat than others. Use that time wisely and go crush it in the gym.

But for the rest of us, our training has to fit around our lives.

Having unplanned off periods will affect you the most if you have a strict training plan with percentages that you need to follow on a schedule.

But if not, then you have a slight advantage.

It is possible to stay consistent with things come up, and also not lose your mind because you can't find a gym nearby.

Just take a break.

Training That Fits Your Life

I'm a big fan of a linear progression for most people starting out, like Starting Strength or Stronglifts 5×5.

If you don't know what that means, it means you start with a weight on a movement, perform a certain amount of sets and reps, and if you hit them, you go home and rest and get ready to come back a couple days later and add a little more weight. From there you branch out to other forms of training, but you start with the basic movements: squat, deadlift, press, bench press.

No, this doesn't last forever. You just apply a linear progression if you haven't gone through the process before. If you're new or coming back after a long time, then you can't generate enough force in the first training sessions to hurt yourself. (You shouldn't be trying to find a one rep max). Plus the stimulus you get from the training sessions is enough to recover and get stronger within 48 to 72 hours.

From there progression starts to slow, from 3x per week to 2x to 1x. Then you move on to an intermediate plan.

Now it's time to discuss a certain population.

I just recently read The Barbell Prescription, weight training for people 40+, and they make a humbling point: if you're older now, you probably don't have the time to pull off a perfect novice linear progression all the way through to being an intermediate (and especially not advanced). You may have unexpected things come up in this thing called "life."

I've mentioned this before when talking about training through a busy period of life or through the holidays, but just take the time off.

Recover.

Connect with people.

Take care of yourself.

Don't stress out over trying to find a gym if you're out traveling.

Go wild (to a certain point), but then just come back and get on the saddle.

As of this writing, I just came back from a trip. I'll pick up my training where I can, but when I was on the trip I didn't care about macros, eating healthy or sleep times. I still did the best I could, but it's vacation time for a reason. This is a big difference from my former mindset.

The Off Time Blueprint

I'll try to cover 3 categories of people: people with more free time, people that have the time to train but have responsibilities/vacation that come up, and people that have something bad come up.

• If you have the free time, then your training is probably more structured. Just find a logical stopping point (at the end of a 12 week block, for example). Then just relax. This is the same thing that's done in competitive weightlifting. Usually a complete week off is taken.

• If you have more responsibilities, but still have the time to train and a vacation is coming up, again, just take the time off again and rest. You probably won't have as strict as a training schedule as someone with more free time, so if that's the case, then you can just take a week or two to get back into the swing of things when you come back. That means you can just reduce the weight by 10-20% (depending on how you feel) and start the climb again. Think long term. 3 weeks to get back to where you were is nothing compared to training for the rest of your life. (You are planning on doing that, aren't you?)

• The last category is the unexpected. You might get sick. You might have to travel for work. You might have a newborn. You might just get a few bad nights of sleep. Again, do the best you can. If you need a few days off, then just take them. Besides, if you've been training as hard as you should, then your body will appreciate the extra recovery time. You could even bounce back and be a little bit stronger if you've been working hard for the last 2-3 months.

Train to Live, Don't Live to Train

If you're getting frustrated that your training can't go off without a hitch, that's good. That means you care. You need to hit it hard when it's time to train, but also recover when you can't. A busy time means something more important than training is happening. If a loved one is sick or your baby is crying, that's more important. Use the "you time" wisely when you have the time and take care of things when you need to.

There is a balance to life. You can't train if can't recover. You need to hit heavy weights in the gym but you also need to come home and sit on the couch. Otherwise your entire week and life would be constant workout stress.

But remember why we're in the gym for the first place. I believe a lot of people write themselves off when it comes to the gym. Thoughts of "well, I'm not trying to be a bodybuilder or play a sport" creep into their heads. To reference The Barbell Prescription, you're training for the most intense "sport" of them all: life.

I know it's a cliche that we "train for life," but just think about it. Aging is coming for all of us. Aging usually means getting weak and frail, but only if we don't do anything about it. What if you maintained a fraction of what you could do "back in the day," or even push it to try to get stronger than where you are now?

Wouldn't your ability to move around, climb the stairs, pick things up, play with your kids, and get off the floor if something bad happens (which could save your life) improve?

Think long term.

Athletes only train long enough to do well in their seasons. If they're smart, they'd train for much longer than that. If they're not, they'll stop after their last game. Your ability to use strength in life determines the quality of your life.

So since that's the case, you'll understand that you're in this for the long haul. If that isn't motivation to go to the gym, I don't know what is. So tiny hiccups in your training won't bother you.

Thanks for reading!

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