We all know how it feels, you just competed, you feel good, you’re peaked, you’re coming off the adrenaline of the weekend, and you want to get back in the gym and keep building on this momentum you’ve been gaining. My advice. Don’t. Please. Not even to a reduced degree. Just stay out of the gym for a week, if you have to go, my suggestion is cardio, sled work (drags and marches with a single plate), mobility, and bands only. Maybe a shoulder and arm pump, but for the love of God stay away from heavy compounds.
I’ve seen it, I’ve heard horror stories of it, hell, I’ve done it, lifters getting right back to it, or trying to take a weight they know for sure they could have had at the meet, and end up getting hurt. I listened to a podcast this morning about just that. Someone failed a squat at their meet they knew they should have, got back in the gym early that week, felt great, and attempted to take that weight again. BOOM. Tore their adductor. Now instead of waiting just one week, they’re into surgery and rehab for the next 6-8 weeks. The last time I hopped in too fast, I had quad tendon pain, destroyed elbows, and sore hips/low back. Training sucked, and I had to ease wayyyyy back and probably set my training back a few weeks anyway. Arguably, the increase in intensity from the NE State meet immediately into a 16 week prep for Regionals probably caused my fairly significant pec strain too, one that I’m still dealing with.
The point of a peak, or a taper as some call it, is to prep your body into that supercompensation state, the tip of the stimulus recovery adaptation curve (SRA curve), where it can handle more load than usual due to the body’s stress response and recovery protocols, and you compete hopefully at this tip. But, no matter what, you have to come back down, that’s how it works, you can’t ride that roller coaster up forever, and those that try end up stopping halfway up and falling backwards. If enhanced lifters take a week, sometimes more, off completely, how do you think us natural lifters recover? You’re not Superman, and I don’t care how much you love training or have to be in the gym for your mental health, you need to find another outlet during that week. I’ve played videogames, ate whatever I wanted for that week (maybe don’t do that one, I’ve gained back like 7lbs in a week), read some books I enjoyed, and really tried to just enjoy my time away.
Immediately after a meet should be a block with minimal intensity, lots of bodybuilding style accessories, single joint, unilateral movements, and building your baseline back. For example, the week following a meet, I’ll take a week off of everything but cardio. I’ll take walks, maybe drag the sled and do some mobility work. The next week I’ll build back slowly, if I even do barbell work at all, I start with sets of 5-8 reps, and intensities of RPE 5s or less. That way it’s light enough you can’t force yourself into something super intense on anything but your endurance and cardiovascular system. If you come out of a meet fucked up, and you try to prep again, or even try to train with the same intensity again, you’re just gonna keep building onto the issues until you’re really hurt, and nobody wants that. Your time after a meet is to make sure those aches and pains are gone and you can start your next actual block fresh, feeling good. I know it’s scary to take a block without doing heavy compounds thinking you’re going to fall behind, but I can assure you, muscle atrophy and strength decreases do not occur that quickly. There have been numerous studies done on detraining and the length of time it takes to lose muscle mass and strength, and a majority of those were done with complete cessation of strength training, and a specific one I read showed almost no change after 3 weeks of complete stoppage. If you take 4-6 weeks, train in ranges of motion that don't hurt but still challenge you as you progress through those ranges of motion more and more without pain, you do your rehab, the work that needs done to get rid of those aches and pains, you make those areas stronger, less pain, you move easier, and you’ll feel better. Sure, the first few weeks back into “real” training are going to feel heavy, you’re detrained to those specific movements, and it takes time, but your ability to retrain and gain that muscle memory back occurs very fast. There are multiple studies, anecdotal articles, youtube videos, podcasts, etc. done on this phenomenon and within another few weeks, you’ll be back to your baseline, often higher, you can push intensity again, but this time, without pain… And isn’t that the goal? To be able to push limits without pain or worry? Sounds like a banger of a time to me anyway.
hi