Well it’s New Year’s eve and I imagine most are going out of 2013 with plenty of food, drink, and little concern for exercise until Jan 2nd is upon us and all of the gyms fill up and new diet plans start. Well I have a unique resolution, I’ve been training very hard for some time without a layoff, and my last 3 week lay-off was in December of 2013. My Bizzaro New Year’s resolution is to begin 2014 with a full month lay-off from training.
I’m very pleased with my progress in 2013 at age 43.
I feel that I brought my physique and functional ability to new levels. I have been training and watching my diet with extreme focus since July 1st of 2013. I have not taken any lay-off of training 2x/week since December of 2012 where I took 3 weeks off straight. Now it is time to rest.
To get refocused on RenEx developments.
Get my nose back in the books.
And finish some projects.
Mike Mentzer was the first to educate me about the importance of scheduled layoffs.
Mike said:
“If you have been training without any layoff prior to the time you intend to start a intense program, take a break from training for AT LEAS TWO TO THREE WEEKS. Having been over-trained, you have made a deep inroad into your recovery ability. It is important that the inroad has been overcome, so that you start with a properly conducted routine, your body is recovered all of the biochemical resources necessary for optimal response.”
Later on I had read a number of things Ken Hutchins said about recovery, the statement that stands out for me is:
“Progressively deeper inroads will ultimately demand progressively deeper demands on nutrition, rest and time off to recuperate”
Old time bodybuilders seemed to show a keener sense for the use of scheduled layoffs, perhaps this understanding has to do with a time before performance enhancing drugs?
I had been aware that the great Steve Reeves frequently laid off of training and took a hiatus of over 1 year prior to coming back to win the 1950 Mr.Universe.
This was part of Steve’s philosophy, but he was also required to scale down his physique for some of his acting gigs.
So the question you may be asking yourself is “do I need a layoff too”
This is a tough question to answer and I never prescribe layoffs for my clients because life handles that for them… they miss when the go on vacation, are sick, or struggling through busy times and work and holidays…they miss enough time.
For me personally the situation is different, I have access to good training anywhere I go and it’s been many years since I didn’t feel well enough to train at least once in a given week.
So, this isn’t an “easy” move…we crave the rush of endorphins and enkephalins from a intense workout and then there are the psychological factors that come into play when going into that third and fourth week as the muscles don’t look quite as full.
From my experience I think it’s well worth the wait as you can expect a great rebound from the layoff that could last you 2 or 3 months.
So who deserves a break this year? Please feel free to share your experiences and for Inner Circle members feel to discuss “rebound effect” and aspects of recovery over on the private site.
Yes, I’m ashamed it’s one of my guilty pleaures and may be part of my layoff.
{ 63 comments… read them below or add one }
Josh you look great.What diet are you following?
Thanks,
Mike Larson
Hey Mike,
thank you!!! i’m following a special phase shift diet that Randy Roach and i designed, it will be detailed in a book we hope to release in 2014
Happy New Years everyone. You will make it 4 weeks Josh.
Josh, this article reminds me of the time when I first talked to Mike Mentzer. I decided to cold call him in February of 1992. I was getting ready to give up my pursuit of competitive bodybuilding. In the spring and summer of 91 and 92 I completed in 2 shows each year and was placing dead last, or near last in all of them. I was neither lean enough nor big enough to be competitive at the local level. At the time I was training 3x per week on those traditional Nautilus protocol- 14 exercise workouts. Mixing and matching them with the specialized routines, you know, the ones from Darden’s books. Trying to get my weak body parts to grow.
After an hour-long conversation, Mike suggested that I was grossly overtrained and suggested that I take a month off and resume on a reduced volume and frequency program. Taking that time off was torture, at times I felt as though I needed a straight-jacket! But, man did I ever rebound and come back stronger and bigger.
John, just the inspiration i needed!
Dave, will do….i have to now as i said i would
Happy New Year to all!
Hi Josh
Congrats on a successful year! After you layoff, are there any changes you would make regarding your training?
By the way, did you mean your last layoff was Dec.2013 or 2012?
Be Well
Terry
Happy New Year and Happy Recovery Time! I don’t think I’m in any danger of over training as I’m one those people that sometimes goes weeks without a workout, lol.
Enjoy hitting those books, working on those projects, and definitely go enjoy some McDonald’s, lol.
Terry, thanks….yes i meant december 2012
Josh,
I am waiting for all the comments to appear – where are the pictures?, where is your evidence? etc., etc.,. Sometimes with all the negative comments I think that you must have taken their toys of them when you were kids.
Thouroughbred race horses usually come back from the spelling paddocks bigger and stronger than ever.
Thanks Steven,
I really don’t gt all of the emotion, hell if they don’t like what we say, so what? In the end it’s just exercise….I have seen quite a few of these weird obsessions over the years, I just don’t get it….dunno….maybe I did take their favorite TONKA TRUCK and smash it.
I have a theory about this Josh,and Steven.
They are could wound collectors. From an article
What is the definition of a wound collector or wound collecting?
The definition is: Wound collecting is the conscious and systematic collection and preservation of transgressions, violations, social wrongs, grievances, injustice, unfair treatment, or slights of self and others, for the purpose of attenuating, nourishing, fortifying, or justifying a malignant ideology, furthering hatred, satisfying a pathology, or for exacting revenge.
I can send you a link to the whole thing.
What is sad is Josh’s compulsion to constantly look for validation on his appearance. He reeks of insecurity and so must constantly be reassured by the RenEx monkeys.
Your traps are overdeveloped, chest flat, and calf muscles need some serious work but other than that you’re a great bodybuilder….at least you have a great ass.
Borrowing the lion analogy from Jones? Is there anything you or Hutchins hasn’t stolen?
obsessed………
lol…Arthur Jones invented NAUTILUS and referencing behaviors of lions….
bahahahahahaha
Dave,
please send me the rest of that….seems to fit perfectly
I am obsessed. I am obsessed with Project X and deep down in my wood shed. I like to stop by here and see what is up.
Joe H. I think you need to get a good lay.
What is wrong with Joshua looking for a patent on the back. Hey listen to this Joe.
Joshua, you look great. Massive improvement in the last year. Good for you buddy. Keep up the hard work. Can’t wait to see how you look in a few more months and how see what your time away does. Your a great guy!!!
Everybody likes a pat on the back when they are busting their ass. And let’s face it, body builder like attention. DUH ?? Am I missing something? I mean come on, are you for real? Why you think the super serious people hit the gear? Not to get attention. Sure that its. BB is all about attention, and positive affirmation. What is wrong with that?
Lighten up dude. Be happy. See if you can pay Joshua one compliment if that is in your heart?
Thanks for the entertainment Joe H. I can’t wait to read your creative and deep responses!
jeff
You guys are too funny. If someone asks for proof, which you cannot provide, they are mentally unstable? Science has reached a new high through RenEx.
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/spycatcher/201304/wound-collectors
here you go
I love the looks of that lathe in the back ground. Is that a shop where REN-EX machines are made or something similar?
Jeffery, don’t hold your breath, i know this type, they will NEVER bring any substance or real world experience….they won’t even show up with a purpose.
Scott, that is my machine shop where RenEx is built.
Dave, you’ve nailed it
” one who, because of a personality disorder or character traits (e.g., insecurities, paranoia, fear, xenophobia, or due to emotional instability), inflexibly seeks to collect wounds and slights for a purpose that usually has negative social consequences or is self serving. This can be anyone from a spouse, to a terrorist, to a mass killer. ” or HIT based internet hater
see Joe H.@woundcollectors.com
The only conclusion one can draw on Joshy’s inability to post the facts regarding RenEx is that it is a failure which he is trying to hide as Hutchins did with SS.
Josh, add resentments to the list for collectors.
Joe H,
1st )Quote me
2nd) me hide? i do everything public, do you want my home address, my phone number, my place of business, where i shop or exactly what my opinions are????? i hide nothing.
but i do find you consistently contradict yourself and its hilarious coming from a guy who posts under an alias and created a fictitious email just to post.
sick, coward…..
Dave,
yes strong resentments are prevailing….
Where are the client case studies if everything you do is public? Didn’t realize RenEx was about Joshua Trentine, I thought it was about a training method? Narcissist.
Instead of trying to pretend the dissenters have mental issues, unhappy with their results, and all the other ways you’ve tried to play down the lack of proof for RenEx, PROVIDE YOUR FACTS.
So far you’ve done everything to avoid proving your training method and anybody who reads these comments understands you will not provide proof and there can only be one reason for such resistance.
Josh how do you now the email isn’t good (which RenEx monkey tried to spam me?)? What bearing does a false email address or alias have on my statements that RenEx cannot provide proof?
Once more a comment meant to deflect from the eternal RenEx/SS problem, NO FACTS JUST UNPROVEN THEORY AND MEDIOCRE RESULTS.
Just provide some facts, case studies, before and after pictures of clients and I’ll leave. But you won’t and I won’t and round and round she goes.
Sorry no case studies for you.
You are sick dude….and a coward….scared to identify yourself or even use a real email.
did i steal your girlfriend once? or maybe smash your Tonka trucks?
get out and better yourself in 2014, none of your hate makes up for your failures and frustrations.
in 2014 i’m planning to take my mediocre results and get my 3rd pro card….i want to get my beachwood facility to crack 100 sessions in a day and continue to work with my team to change the future of exercise…..
sucks being me….
Joe H.,
Please don’t talk about leaving. You are too much fun.
What do is your argument? RenEx doesn’t provide proof that their training system works that satisfies you. Joshua should provide this proof for you. Once he does, and you judge the proof than you will move on.
Because Joshua will never be able to provide enough proof for you, you will stay and post the same message over and over again. Please provide proof.
What kind of study would be enough for you? And how much money do you want Joshua to spend on it for you?
You must enjoy posting the same thing over and over again. It is kind of fun.
For myself, I am in constant chronic back pain from performing static tests on a Medical Lumbar Machine in 2000. I have a hard time moving around in the morning, and don’t mind killing some time on facebook, and this site to distract myself. So that is my excuse for writing on the internet. My wound, that won’t go fing go away that I have collected.
Ken Hutchins, and Joshua don’t believe in the static testing model.
What are your thoughts on static testing as a tool for looking at strength levels? And the safety of it?
like to listen to your thoughts on this Joe H.
jeff
you are looking for substance jeff….don’t hold your breath
Joe H.,
Just read your other post on the Project-X thread.
So the proof you are looking for is before and after pictures? To you that is what validates the value of an exercise program? That is the proof you want?
That is the same kind of thing as saying a weight training program works because now the person is using heavier weights.
I don’t know what before and after photos really buy someone in terms of proof. Lighting, diet, and photoshop is where the action is with that kind of proof….
jeff
Joe H.,
Are you on facebook?
jeff
you are asking a coward to reveal himself?….what do you the odds of this are?….it’s ok we know the profile.
It is obvious you’re a single man as no woman would put up with the “me, me, me” crap you constantly spew. Apparently YOU are the only example that can be put forth as proof of RenEx efficacy even though you were a Pro BB’r long before RenEx. Nice try.
Are you RenEx or is RenEx a training method? I didn’t realize that your Pro cards or the number of training sessions per day you supervise is proof of anything. Both the CrossFit and Planet Fitness near my home are busier than your facility. Does that mean their training methods and equipment is better than yours?
Josh do yourself a favor and learn to control your anger and learn to separate your business, you, and RenEx from each other. You do yourself more harm every time you post this sort of empty, childish argument/rant.
Another brainstorm from the RenEx leadership will be posted soon in response, I’ll stay tuned. STILL NO PROOF.
P.S. I don’t care how many sedentary men and women frequent your facility as their expectation of building muscle is low from the start and even a minimal gain will make them happy.
Please show more of the machine shop. I love to see where quality machines are made.
Please how more of the machine shop, I love to see where machines are made.
Can’t take the heat?
Agreed Josh, you suck, LOL
then i wouldn’t trade sucking for anything….
Joe H,
Yes sir I remain single, you can keep your hopes up to get a date one day.
I switched to SuperSlow Potocol in 1998, by 2001 I had a full arsenal of Superslow machines…..i got my Pro Cards in 2006, i do not believe i would have ever had such an opportunity without the influence of Hutchins and Mentzer . Yes, RenEx wasn’t “official” until 2010, but it was in the making since 2005….my best is yet to come.
Please show me any facility in the country that can do 100 session at an average of $60 per in one day….trust me that is special….it’s clear you don’t work in the field…..so what do you do? tell us about your work? about your family and your blissful marriage?….tell me about your kids who you set examples for? do you have a facebook page? tell me how many sessions you have conducted? what equipment have you built? tell us of all of your physique accomplishments…..i’d love to learn more about our biggest fan.
I’m actually thinking of starting a Joe H. “corner” this way the audience has a library of all of your diverse and insightful comments.
Scott,
Let me see what i have that i haven’t posted on the pay site, i really don’t share much here.
Joe H,
Why hide behind the fake name? Great posts by the way. Really thought provoking and informative. Not sure why you show up just to shit on people that have actual accomplishments, but hey…what do I know. I’m just a guy that trains in a basement dungeon. What could I possibly have to contribute? If you’d like to continue this banter, everyone knows where to find me. Shit, it’s probably Spriggs or Marc from BBS. Ugh. Like Jeff said…round and round it goes.
Blain,
What do you think of a “Joe H Corner” ? don’t you think these brilliant contributions should be highlighted and cataloged for all to see?
If they were willing to stop hiding perhaps. If not, you’re just chasing ghosts. Heartbeats of your life that you’ll never get back. Ugh, I don’t even know why you give them the time of day or even clear their posts after they await moderation. Joe H…lol You can’t make this stuff up.
Josh,
Happy new year!
Congratulations on all of your accomplishments…2014 is going to be even better.
Here is my “two cents”: 1) It take guts to get up and stage and compete. Many sit in the audience and pass judgement…very few have the backbone to get up there and “walk the walk”. 2) Earning a pro card and competing at that level is an outstanding accomplishment. 3) You are the best trainer/instructor I’ve ever met. Period. You gave me 100% each and every session, without fail. 4) I’m proud and honored to be your friend.
As you know, I’ve had a rough time of it in the last year and a half (heart attack, quadruple bypass); however, I am on the way back. In fact, I will be competing again later this year.
Joe H,
Please copy and paste one “claim” that you feel is outrageous, please reference where it came from too, thanks….
btw, again i won’t be holding my breath
Richard,
Thank you for the kind words.
give me a call when you get time, i got your msg in december while i was on vaca.
btw….for those of you that don’t think this training is good for bodybuilding, you might want to ask Richard who is a pretty massive master’s competitor, we trained him for a few years before in moved to Arizona.
Blain,
Tell me about it…i waste way too much time on these nut cases
Josh,was talking online with Jeffrey about the software for tsc. Have an idea. You even may be doing it I dont know but it wont cost anything.
Later this week would it be ok to call you at overload? It would be more easy for me to explain.
My wife just had Her third surgery since the November today and im tired from going back and forth to the hospital. So I dont know when I will have some time. She will need my help for a few days.
Was think about something Dr.Ken wrote about bitching about not getting results. Maybe would help someone who may not be getting what they want. But probably just cause shit.
1. They will not train as hard as possible.
2. They do not believe that a program can be effective if it appears limited in the number of exercises.
3. They will not train as hard as possible.
4. They lack confidence in their ability to gain muscular strength and size.
5. They will not train as hard as possible.
Let me add I think for many they wont train as hard by themselves as they may with some training them. Note I did not say everybody.
Was checking out a few forums about an hour ago. Now im not pointing anyone out. Im tired and not in a good mood, 🙂 I was reminded of something my Grandfather used to say.
“There is no use in being stupid if you cant show it to anyone.”
My Father used to say
“There is the right way,the wrong way,and my way. When all else fails read the instructions”
As far as talking about your articles, post an original idea not a retread written by 3 or 4 people, or a text book lesson, and I’d have something to discuss. However, since you hide yourself behind a paid site and refuse to discuss anything useful about RenEx with the general public (remember your year long flub on Dr.Darden’s site where you couldn’t explain YOUR training method) I’ll just nit pick from time to time.
By the way, pulling a few people as examples who would most likely have respectable muscle gains on any weight training routine, the same way Jones marketed Nautilus i.e. the current Hutchins method, proves nothing but you’ll keep trying the same line over and over and over again.
Let’s face it Joshua, you can’t prove efficacy and have no intention of providing anything but lip service. You’re afraid of putting your money where you mouth is and pay/execute a study because you know it will not provide the results you state. You have a couple hundred true believers that pay your bills and you should be happy you can still pull the wool over their eyes.
Joe H.,
Joshua created a discussion on Project X that could have been interesting. But you choose to side track. LOL.
You don’t want to discuss exercise. You just want to try to destroy Joshua.
jeff
Jeffery,
true story….but the more they try to destroy the more fuel goes onto my fire….big things for 2o14
Joe H,
Two studies at two major universities already and another grant approved.
i’ll be putting my millions elsewhere, Jeffery really enjoys the private jet so i must keep it fueled for his weekend adventures.
Promises, promises. It’s been 2 years since the first study began and I find it hard to believe it is ongoing at this point.
Exactly when will the data be available?
The never ending studies with no data available. How useful!