Concerning the need to SD

A

abarlament

New Member
I was just reading the FAQs and the article on SD again and I have a question. Last cycle I went 8 weeks then SD'd. When I'm done with this SD I'll have around 20 days of it. Now, in the article, it said after 6-8 weeks you SD, is this under any assumptions of conditioning, strength levels, etc? I ask because, if I'm still increasing the weight after 8 weeks, should I still SD, or keep going? Is the reason to SD after 8 weeks to limit strength gains, so you can keep gaining strength cycle to cycle? Am I totally off base here?
 
You don't need to SD until gains stall or your joints are becoming painful. As long as you are still gaining strength or mass, why stop? Keep it going and see how much you can gain.
 
That's my thoughts as well, but in the SD article it says something like "SD is mandatory after 6-8 weeks" and I didn't know whether this was just a "mandatory" thing for people who otherwise would just skip it, or if it was "mandatory" for everyone for optimal cycles to come.
 
I think that was just for the people who need a cookie cutter routine. The point behind SD is to avoid RBE. So if RBE hasn't set in yet, there is no real need for SD yet, in my opinion. I think you should extend the cycle as long as possible, every time you do one.
 
Also SD is arguable in its effectiveness. It's been discussed a few times at Dan's HR boards and over on Lyle's Recomp boards. It still find taking a week or two break on a regular basis makes a difference, but like Totentanz says it's relative to your response to the training. If you find your response to the training plateauing an SD could very well be in order. If not, don't bother. Like everything else in HST it's there to serve a specific purpose, and if you've no need for it at the time then there's no need to use it.
 
One of the aspects of SD that I seldom see discussed is the psychological component. I find myself getting a little weary of hitting the gym after a few weeks and starting to feel a little overtrained, but after a week or so of not touching weights I start to get very anxious (typical OCD bodybuilder!) By the time that following start day rolls around I can't wait to get at the weights again and feel totally re-charged. I sure can't prove that it makes a difference physiologically, but that mental refreshment is worth a lot to me.
 
In that case, I feel dumb now. I thought taking a really long SD (2 and a half weeks) would let me grow massively starting with the first few workouts. Now I feel like a dolt.
 
Most, if not all, well structured routines will incorporate some sort of periodization into its workout.  Part of that is a period of rest.  No workouts.  Period.  This allows a deeper level of muscular healing.  Just as important, this helps stave off mental burnout.  We're not machines...at least I'm not.  We need some sort of period when we're not pushing ourselves and focusing on our workout and diets.  With SD, we give our muscles time to heal and, as the name implies, decondition to working out.  The SD should not be so long that we lose mass.  Just long enough that the higher weights we used in the last cycle will, again, promote muscle growth when we use them in the next cycle (since there is bound to be some overlap of weight across cycles).

Enjoy the time off.  Relax.  Strategize for your next cycle.  Get physically and mentally rested, and you'll be physically and mentally prepared to grow in the next cycle.
 
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