Minimum duration of an effective SD

9

9to5lifter

New Member
I am SDing right now, and I was wondering how long experienced HSTers SD for in general. I know this greatly depends on what one has been doing (extended period of post-5's or not etc.), but for this post let us just assume the regular 8 week cycle (2 weeks of post-5's) and a relatively experienced lifter (5 years or more, not necessarily HST style). So, how long do you think an SD period should last in order to achieve its goal? Granted, the general recommendation is 9-14 days, but I would like to hear your personal experiences, i.e. evidence based on practice. Personally I feel than an SD period should last at least 2 weeks in order to ensure sufficient reversal (as indicated by DOMS after the first workout).
 
In the past, I went for two weeks. However, the cycle before this one, I SD'd for almost three weeks before it and that cycle I happened to make my best gains ever. My diet was keyed in better than I have done before, which is likely mainly responsible for it, but I think the extra week of SD may have helped as well. I'm cutting right now though, so I didn't take an SD before this one... but I'm going to try another 3 week SD after this cycle and see what happens.
 
Anything less than 9 days is COMPLETE WASTE IMO...

First off you will not decondition the muscle NEARLY as much as you should.

Some people may think but it's a waste not to train for 2 weeks, well, if it's productive it's not. Think about it, if your SD is inadeqaute you may end up WASTING a FULL HST cycle i.e 8-10 weeks down the drain ;)

9 days minimum IMO, 16 days or so is prolly best.
 
From my experience (pre-HST), I believe that just one week of rest (7 days) does absolutely nothing. When I resumed training, I felt no different than in my previous workouts (strength-wise and DOMS-wise). What is more, if an extended period of post-5's is taken into account (3-4 weeks), it seems to me that one needs 14-20 days of complete rest in order to experience some DOMS after resuming training with relatively light weights (15's or 10's). Things could be even worse when the SD period does include some swimming and/or jogging. This is just my opinion, though...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top