I don't fancy myself "insecure" but I will admit that when I don't train for a week or so, I don't like how I look or feel until I get a solid week of training and dieting under my belt, again. I almost always stay covered up and rarely will train in a t-shirt or tank top during this time. So, this week I have been bundled up.
When I don't train I don't stay on my diet. It's just one of those things that after doing this for 35 years, I just have come to accept and I don't fight it. When I don't stay on my diet, I typically eat only once or twice per day. I don't do this to eat shit food as much as I do this because the one thing that I have always NOT enjoyed about this lifestyle is eating so frequently. Whether I am dieting or in the off season, I usually just hate eating. When I am not training, I love the break from having to eat all of the time.
When I don't eat very often (even if it is shit food) and then I return to my regular diet for the off season, I end up bloated and distended for 3 or 4 days because my body is not as used to the volume of food. This is one more reason I stay covered up because the main thing I hate about being an aging bodybuilder is a big or distended midsection. I don't stay covered up as much because I'm "fat," as much as I stay covered up because I abhor my distended gut until my body adapts to the higher volume of food after 4 or 5 days.
As I am TRT right now, I was pleasantly surprised at how well my strength has held up after not training very much. However, I will say that my hams and glutes were so sore from training legs and then back the following day that it made for a poor night of sleep last night. My glutes and hams are so tight and sore that it is putting mild pressure on my sciatic nerves in both legs. I am not having back issues so I think this is just from being tight and sore as hell. I can't even sit for more than 30 minutes or my hams start aching and throbbing pretty bad. I am hoping that I am not impacted again tonight when I sleep.
I never like taking breaks from the gym but when I do, I always come back not just with my joints feeling so much better, but I come back so much more motivated and "fresh" and I want to rip the shit out of the gym.
I have big plans for continuing my progress for 2020 and I am excited about this year. Plus, Mrs. Skip is back training with me and that is always a plus.