Should you miss a lifting session

During training this week one of the PTC crew was doing it tough. His work sets weren't looking pretty and the effort required was way more than usual for the weight of the bar. After a nice technical yawn (vomit!) he pulled the pin and wisely called it a day.

This episode got me to thinking of how do you know when to take a day off from scheduled session. My hypothesis is that more often than not the indicators for a potential bad session are there prior to lifting we just miss them or try and work through it.

So how do you know when to take a session off. I remember back in the day reading an article by Mr Olympia Frank Zane and if memory serves Frank was a keen archer. He wrote that in the mornings upon waking he would go down stairs load up his bow and take a shot at his target. If he got it first or second try he know his Central nervous system (CNS) was cool and it would be a good day. However if it took 5 or more attempts he knew he might be a little low and would rest up, eat more and come back tomorrow.

Now I don't know about you but I am a bit worried if any of the PTC Perth guys have a bow and arrow beside their bed in the mornings let alone Frank Zane. However there are other methods that are a little less dangerous or whacky!  Most of these methods are based on observing the state of your CNS through neurological and physical coordination. If you are off and heading to overtraining neurological coordination can be off.

Dan John suggested the old circle on a piece of paper test. When you wake get a pencil and tap out as many dots on the page as you can in 10 seconds. On days when you are feeling crap and more than a little off you should find the number of dots should fall by about 25% indicating a problem. Other methods include measuring grip strength.

Elite coaches suggest the standard practical measures are a lifters appetite, presence of altered sleep patterns and most obviously a lifters mood. Now the last is a little tricky for recreational athletes as often the normal work and family commitments can put us in a funk that is not related to physiological training outcomes. Hey I have had many days where I didn't feel like training yet had a great session, most recently my deadlift PB session.

The key point is as always, get a baseline. Use one of the standard methods and really get to know your body. As I mentioned at the start of this post the signs of over training are always there and if you have a shit session often its because you didn't listen to your body!

Stay Strong 

Thomo