Layoff ... Not Lay Around - By Burt Gam

Greetings and Happy Holidays to all. And best of health in the coming year.

I have been away for awhile and felt a bit inspired with the upcoming new year upon us. My current personal  situation in my life has required me to take a break from training. Family/medical issues, but really I usually take a 10-15 day layoff from weight training at the end of each calender year regardless. So I thought it might be an appropriate time to get back into the game with the topic of periodic layoffs, why they are important, and lastly some appropriate physical activities to engage in while getting some much needed rest from weight training for the body to heal and rejuvinate itself.

To start, I believe it is important to note that this is not to imply that taking periodic breaks from heavy training means turning into a "couch potato". What it means is sometimes it is beneficial to redirect one's energy with other physical activities while you plan either your next cycle of training, or lay out your training plan and goals you wish to achieve during the next calender year.

First off, it likely is beneficial to take short rest breaks several times a year. Whether it be in 8,10, or 12 week cycles. Obviously doing the math, the shorter the cycles the more frequent the rest breaks become. As I get older, I am finding that 8-10 week cycles allow my body to recuperate better than pushing it to 12 weeks. The joints and tendon issues seem to resolve themselves better, and the mind is refreshed because your CNS needs a break as well. 

When I was younger, I generally trained pretty much all year but in retrospect, probably not the best choice being older and wiser now. The chances of injury likely increase when you continuously push the heavy weights without rest breaks. Progress is halted, symptoms of insomnia, elevated blood pressure and heartbeat are some of the signs that it is time to take some much needed time off.

On the topic of substitute physical activities, the options are as varied as your interests. I usually like to spend my time working generally on some limiting factors which are somewhat neglected like aerobic activities and stretching. I love to do laps in the pool and use styrafoam dumbells for resistance to build cardiovascular and muscular endurance. Mobility work is extremely effective in water. Range of motion and heart health, aside from being important for overall health, can actually benefit your weight training when you restart your program. The heart pumps the blood and nutrients to your muscles and body, clears out the chemical by-products in the blood produced by training. Swimming in particular is excellent for giving the lats, delts, triceps, and the often neglected rotator cuff muscles a thorough workout. Very therapeutic. And benefits of mobility work in the pool will carry over as well. But anything you enjoy, jogging, biking, hiking with a back pack, rowing/kayaking/ canoeing, running sprints, stretching/yoga/pilates, martial arts/sparring....Almost endless choices!

At the end of your rest period you will be physically and mentally prepared to jump back into action with your training with renewed vigor!
On a related topic, catching up on much needed sleep and dietary adjustments can be done to support your training which are vitally important for continued gains. Weight training is our joy and our passion. Good overall health is our goal. God Bless and happy training 2025!

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Heavy Training Is A Must - By Jim Duggan

Some of my favorite vintage magazines are the Ironman magazines from the Peary Rader years.  When I say “vintage,” I really mean to say “old.”  It’s hard to believe, but Peary Rader stopped putting out Ironman nearly forty years ago.  Thankfully, there are decades worth of back-issues to study, cherish, and learn from.  Yes, you can learn a lot from reading old books and magazines.

     One of my favorite writers from that era is Bradley Steiner.  I’ve written about Mr. Steiner numerous times.  His writing style, his no-nonsense, basic approach to getting stronger transcends the decades.  His strong stance against the use of steroids is something else that has appealed to me over the years.  I was fortunate enough to have trained in an atmosphere at Bruno’s where drug-free lifting was the norm, steroid users were not tolerated, and that hard, heavy work on the basic exercises was the way everyone trained.  Decades later, I am still unalterably against the use of steroids or other PEDs, and I still like to train heavy on the basics.  I can thank Larry “Bruno” Licandro for providing me with a philosophy that has endured over the years.  Of course, there have been others who have provided inspiration through their writings, their actions, and their longevity of strength.  Anyone who still fights the fight, hoists the steel, and does it naturally, and without gimmicks,  has earned a well-deserved right to be proud of their workouts.

     Fifty years ago, the November 1974 issue of Ironman magazine had an article by Mr. Steiner titled “Why Heavy Training Is A Must.”  In many ways, this article was not much different from others that he has written over the years.  But back then, there was a lot of misinformation being disseminated.  Unfortunately, fifty years later, not much has changed.  There is still a lot of bad advice being disguised as training advice, spread by pumper, toners, or steroid-bloated druggies ( sometimes they refer to themselves as “influencers”).   And with the power of social media, they can spread their bad ideas quicker than ever, and to a larger audience.  

     I’m not going to summarize the entire article, but rather just emphasize some of the important points that are made.  As I’ve already mentioned, many of these points have been written about before.  But quality information can not be repeated enough.  

Avoid too much training at any one workout, and avoid too many workouts in any one week.  Of all training advice offered to new trainees, this particular warning is the sine qua  non for drug-free lifters.  How many times have you seen people in the gym training six days per week, in marathon workout sessions,  “training bodyparts,” in an effort to emulate the “champs” featured in the muscle magazines?  And how many times do you see these people fail, due to overtraining, injury, or both? One of the most difficult tasks that a qualified trainer has is convincing people that you can get brutally strong by training twice per week, with each training session lasting not more than 90 minutes.  Some people will eventually learn to “see the light.”  Others will slave away for years, with little or no gains, and nothing to show for their efforts.  

     “Pumping routines do not build muscle or strength.”  It isn’t difficult to see where Mr. Steiner stood when it came to pumping and toning.  I always like to think back to one of Bob Whelan’s old t-shirts, which read:  “No Toning. No Chrome. No Bull. Just the workout of your life!”  Proper weight-training builds by increasing the thickness of the muscle fibers.  Fifty years ago, Mr. Steiner was warning against the foolishness of simply pumping and toning your muscles.  Only hard work will properly build up your muscles and develop lasting strength.  

     Extremely heavy resistance must be used  ultimately by the trainee- if really outstanding development is the goal.  Naturally, heavy training must be built up gradually.  And, of course, your exercises must be done in proper form.  But the main thing is that it does not take too many sets to produce results.  

     He also mentions the importance of constantly adding weight to the bar.  Poundage progression.  This is as basic as it gets.  The whole idea of progressive resistance training is the idea of progression.  Yet, how many times do you see people using the same weights week after week, month after month?  

     It is by no means easy to train heavy.  But the greater effort required by heavy workouts is always rewarded handsomely.  Gains in strength and size are the goal of most trainees, especially when first starting out.  But like anything else in life, nothing good comes easy.  Most successful drug-free lifters have more than paid their dues in the form of heavy workouts on the basics.  Sure, an all-out set of twenty reps in the Squat or Deadlift is not something to look forward to.  If done correctly, you will actually dread the idea of lifting to the point of momentary failure or fatigue.  But the resultant gains in size and strength will more than make up for the temporary discomfort.  

     If you’ve never read any of Bradley Steiner’s books, I encourage you to try to locate some of them.  Or try to obtain some vintage Ironman issues from the 1970s and 1980s.  You will instantly have access to ideas and advice that will serve you for years.  These are the same ideas that have built strong men and women over the years.  Even if you are an experienced lifter, you can still benefit from reading from one of the great Iron Game writers.  And if you are new to weight-training, then you can not get off to a better start than by reading about the value of heavy lifting on the basics.  Countless lifters have reaped the benefits from such training.

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