December 17, 2025
Taking a break is natural. After all, every work week has a weekend, we sleep at the end of each day and students get the summer off. Switching gears provides a time for rest and recovery. It helps you be at your best for the next work week, day or school year.
Taking a break, or "off-season," from training or working out follows the same logic. Just like your body and brain repair and rest when you are sleeping, things are still happening in your body during an off-season. But it may look different from your peak training.
"After a prolonged period of focused training, taking time off enables your body to rest, recover and reap the benefits of your training," says Allyson Sanders, MD, a family and sports medicine doctor at MU Health Care. "When you allow time for full recovery, you come back stronger and ready for your next training cycle."
Still not convinced? Dr. Sanders answers frequently asked questions about taking an off-season:
1. What Does It Mean to Take an Off-Season?
An off-season is a strategic pause or change in your physical activity. It's a time to rest the muscles you use daily, but it's not exactly downtime. You might choose to do a completely different activity or modify your existing activity.
Think of an off-season as one part of a training cycle that includes:
- Preseason, when you are ramping up and gradually increasing your intensity and load
- Main season, when you maintain peak performance
- Off-season, which is a time to repair, reflect and actively recover
For people who run marathons or train for a specific event, an off-season is typically a period of rest after a competition concludes. But you don't need a main event to take some time off. Anyone who avidly participates in a specific activity or sport can benefit, including:
- Cyclists
- Runners
- Swimmers
- Weightlifters
2. What Are the Benefits of an Off-Season?
An off-season may feel like a step backward, but it has many benefits, including:
- Enhances general recovery
- Develops well-rounded muscle groups and new motor patterns
- Helps with injury prevention
- Reduces the risk of mental burnout
"There's a lot of evidence showing the benefits of sport sampling and transitioning between activities for adolescent athletes," Dr. Sanders says. "The same concepts can be applied to adults."
3. How Do I Know if I Need to Take Time Off From Training?
There won't always be obvious signs that you need a break from training. In fact, it's often better to take an off-season before signs appear.
You may need a break if you:
- Are not sleeping well or feel tired throughout the day
- Experience soreness more often
- Find that training seems harder than it used to
- Notice that recovery from a strenuous session takes longer
- See a decrease in your physical performance
"These are all symptoms of overtraining and general burnout," Dr. Sanders says. "It's an indication that it might be time to back off the intensity, try a new activity or give your body time to recover."
If you’re getting hurt often during training or working out, you may want to consider permanent modification or a new activity.
4. What Does an Off-Season Involve?
Off-seasons are individualized in duration and activity. There is no hard and fast rule about how long an off-season should be.
"See how your body responds," Dr. Sanders says. "Change things up for a short period — two or three weeks — and then gradually return to your previous intensity."
During that time, stay active but in other ways or at less intensity. Weightlifters might lift 50% of their max weight or perform fewer reps. Runners may include more cross training like walking, swimming and biking to maintain their fitness while taking a short break from more rigorous training.
Dr. Sanders has two tips for taking an off-season:
- Focus on healthy nutrition and sleep. It will optimize your body's recovery and keep you ready for the next training session.
- Stay away from extremes. Don't try to maintain in-season training intensity. But don't think of your off-season as a free-for-all with no regard for nutrition or activity.
5. Will I Lose My Progress if I Take a Break From Training?
You've pushed yourself and come far in your training. Naturally, you are concerned about taking a step back. But it's important to remember that pushing yourself nonstop is not sustainable.
"Even the pros take scheduled time away from their sports," Dr. Sanders says. "You aren't going to lose all your progress. You are more likely to come back better, stronger and less prone to injury."
If you can shake the fear, it's okay to keep some higher intensity training, but do it less often. Recent research shows that higher intensity workouts twice a week — instead of daily — can reduce aerobic performance decline. Just try to make sure your workouts are different from your typical training.
"Even if your off-season is unplanned and due to an overuse injury, you can still find other ways to maintain your cardiovascular fitness or strength," Dr. Sanders says. "You’re still staying active — just in different ways."
6. What’s the Best Way to Return to Activity After an Off-Season?
Progression is the name of the game as you return from an off-season. How that progression looks depends on why you took time off from training:
- Injury: It may take a little longer to get back to peak performance. You'll likely need to spend some time relearning motor patterns and skills. Focus on good form to prevent reinjury.
- Planned break: Work your way back to peak performance over time to avoid injury and excessive soreness. Getting back to your previous level shouldn't take too long.
"You don't want to jump back into the same level of intensity and load that you were at before your injury or strategic break," Dr. Sanders says. "Ease back in by slowly increasing how much you do or how often you do it. This part of the process is individualized, so listen to your body."
7. Who Can Help Me Navigate an Off-Season?
An off-season is unique to your training regimen, performance level and physical health. But if your off-season is due to an injury or you need some guidance, a sports medicine doctor can help. They can tailor a plan to your sport and current level of activity.
Additional health care professionals who can offer guidance include:
- Primary care providers
- Coaches
- Athletic trainers
- Physical therapists
"The more active you are, the more you know your body and what works for you," Dr. Sanders says. "But there are a lot of health care professionals who are very passionate about keeping people active, healthy and excited about exercise."
Next Steps and Useful Resources
- Want to discuss more with a sports medicine expert? Find one today.
