Rest/De-load - what does it mean to me?

You guys know I talked yesterday about taking a rest week. I’m considering it more of a de-load week, focusing on form. I’ll be working with my hubby as well, so we will be taking it a little slower together. It will work very well, I think.

I put together the following workout we will be doing today. There may be modifications, depending on what is available to us at the gym.

WARM UP
10 squats
10 Exp shoulder press
10 lunges (each leg)
10 Pushups
X3

10 Db floor press
10 Bridge lift
10 single arm row (each)
10 pause goblet squats
X3

10 kettle bell swings
10 scissors (each leg)
10 skaters (each leg)
10 Db Romanian dead lifts
X3

Core finish:
30 second center plank
30 second left side plank
30 second center plank
30 second right side plank
STRETCH/COOL DOWN


I’m taking my weights down – so, for example, on exploding shoulder press, I would normally do a few at #35, and then the rest at #30 (Working toward #35), but tonight I will do #25. Similar with Romanian DL – normally I would go about #110-#120, so tonight I’ll probably hang around in the #90’s.

Form is the prime focus this week. Things like really hinging at the hips and keeping a neutral neck for dead lifts, digging the heels into the ground and keeping the chest high during squats. Squeezing the glutes during bridge lift, activating the quads on lunges. You can effectivly work your muscles when you activate the BRAIN as well - focusing on the muscle to be worked increases the energy expended.

You’ll notice that plyo/HITT type movements are not present. Well, that’s part of the rest aspect, and also give the hubby a chance to really figure out form and his weight range on these movements (which are new to him). This is also why I did a rep-based format, instead of a timed interval-based format.

I showed it to hubby and waited for the “concern” to come back to me – he worries that he “can’t” do certain things… but, surprisingly, he simply said “Okey dokey”

Yup, that was it.

I’ll check in tomorrow and let you know how it goes.

Resting is hard, but allowing my body to crumble under too much pressure/work/strain – much, much harder.

Do you guys take rest weeks? Do you take a full rest, or do you engage in active recovery?