Gimme a break! (but no KitKat)

[BigViffer 3,544]

The gym I belong to recently remodeled the weight room so I thought it an appropriate time to focus on cardio. The remodel was scheduled to take 2 weeks, so I figured I would dedicate myself to hitting the elliptical with a vengeance. The weight room was done early, but I kept my promise to myself and stuck to the cardio for the entire time. This gave my entire body time to "rest" from the weights, but I have to admit that it was damned hard to stick to it since I really don't like cardio.

As a result of my experiment, I can squeeze into a medium shirt comfortably now. But as a headscratcher, I have gained 4 lbs since I last weigh-in (3 weeks ago). My pants are also down to 34's, so I don't think that it is weight gain from lack of exercise or a BM waiting to happen. Today was my first day back to the weights and it was leg day. I am not a fan of leg day, but I know it is necessity. I am happy to say that I have finally made some gains on my squat, 155 lbs! Just two months ago, I could only do 115 and now through perseverance I am making some gains. I am only 45 lbs away from my goal of body weight. Well, almost... it will depend on how much muscle I gain in the coming months.

Everything else appears to have stayed the same, deadlift is still a working set of 185 with a max lift of 200. I am curious how my chest and arm days will turn out later this week. I'll have to report back then.

[OKCPirate 5,323]

@BigViffer- I think you have stumbled onto something. When I was working on getting my black belt (a real one not one you purchase), I would get in these off periods where I could not progress. My sensei said, "quit, go home for two weeks, no Karate." It was amazing coming back after the break. I was smoother, fresher, ready to damn take on the world.

So I suspect the change of pace kicked in for you too. Congrats. It's needed sometimes. I do it without a gym remodel. Sometimes you just need to completely change things wither we want it or not.

[BigViffer 3,544]

I've discovered another wonderful side effect of taking two weeks off weight lifting. Soreness. Extreme and seemingly widespread soreness!