Deconditioning break over - or is it

After six months of increasingly intensive PE I decided to take a break at the start of May. It has been four weeks now and it is my intention to get back to PE during this week.
Some questions and thoughts that came up during this time:

Is there a threshold to a break, I.e. What is ‘too’ much? I certainly don’t mind getting back to work, but this is my first major break since I started PEing last October so I can wait a couple more weeks if need be.
I read some threads with good comments about gains during or right after a longer break and generally it seems like not enough deconditioning is included in a balanced routine. Then again some people have long routines followed by very long (even a year) breaks.
Thoughts?

I don’t think that I lost any of my gains. Maybe I lost a little girth, but not very much (within the margin of error I suppose). Is this just an indication of a successful routine or a break too short or did I cement these gains already by hitting a plateau early on and cementing for the last couple of months of my routine?

At what level of intensity do I resume my PE? Five days a week but less intense?
I had a “5 day on - 2 days off”-routine with some intense exercises, like ULIs and squeezes, along with having a go at firegoat’s length routine (LINK). I’m thinking of continuing with the length oriented routine and putting other stuff on hold.

Now I know a lot of this is about feeling good physically and having the motivation for PE and there are no clear-cut answers, but I want to be prepared before I get back at it. I certainly will use a few days to gobble as many threads as possible. Hopefully some good discussion finds this thread as well.

That’s all I can think of right now. Go ahead and ask if there is something I left out or you want to know.

Thanks! Let it hang! (:

I took a break in March/April time frame and just starting to get back into it a couple weeks ago. I erred on the side of caution and started at the beginning and ramped back up into it. Rather than staying on each plateau for a week or two I increased intensity faster if I didn’t feel that the workout stressed my system too much. That way I know I won’t be overdoing it and I also won’t be having too slow of a transition into it.

I took a 6 month break. Just started back a few days ago. I started back with the newbie routine. Good luck.

I have been doing PE for about 3 years off and on. I have tended to go in 6 month (roughly) cycles. During my time off, I am still doing moderate stretching and jelqs but just a few here and there. I also continue doing fowfers all the time too since I think that needs to be done regularly to maintain a good flaccid hang (it helps me anyway).

When I ramp up the exercises, I always start light and spend a week or two increasing duration and intensity. I have primarily only done manual exercises and mostly the newbie routine until recently. I find that the gains take a lot longer to start than the first time I ever did PE when I experienced newbie gains.

So I think you’re doing well with a month off and getting back into it now would be good/beneficial. Start with a few days a week and ramp up as you feel you can take the workouts safely.

Thanks for the feedback guys!

I think I have to start again now at least with light workouts as July might be a vacation month for me, or at least a couple of weeks at the start of July, so I might have to take a break again.
So I would have roughly four weeks of PE, followed with two weeks or so of very little or no PE during that time. I think that I shouldn’t increase to very intensive work outs during this four weeks, right?

Not unless your in a hurry to overdo it and get hurt. Remember, this is a long term commitment, so four weeks here and there are no big deal.