It does affect you... It affected me when I took a day off... as though I was not putting in my 100 % so what I did was that I studied to exhaustion and did not have a weekly day off... but but then sometimes took 2 days off in a row and started off light... crazy as it may sound, I think that kept burnout away. My schedule would be something like 9 days of non stop LSAT studying and then 2 days off.
@"Nilesh S" I know. But I've yet to feel a burnout or anywhere near. & I started studying in Jan. 30-40 hours per week. But I still feel as if I should do something. Like read a chapter or re-watch a video lesson.
@emli1000 in matters of prep, I think you're the best judge of what works for you... its like going to the gym for me... you know that there are some basic overarching principles and well established (and well supported) norms... but within those you know what works for your body best. If you feel that you can study more, let that guide you.
Taking time off can actually be beneficial. It helps you rest and be more productive when you return. And even though you aren't directly doing LSAT work, your brain is still processing what you have worked on so far
Allow me to illustrate the importance of rest with a bodybuilding analogy: if you don't rest and go hard all the time, you run the risk of overtraining. Overtraining is not only counterproductive—you don't gain as much strength or skill as you would under more balanced conditions—it's actually dangerous: you set yourself up for injury due to wear/tear and/or improper form; furthermore, the emotional and mental aspects of overtraining can appear unrelated to exercise (irritability, lack of focus or perhaps hyper focus, depression) but nevertheless are caused by simply doing too much in disrespect of your actual needs.
I've heard it said that if you don't rest at least one day a week or if you train the same body parts every time you train, you are putting yourself in a position where you will burn out and need to take two days off due to exhaustion; if you had rested properly and varied your training, you could have trained on one or both of those days missed due to exhaustion.
One last thing to note ... Typically when we talk about "rest" in bodybuilding, we don't mean lying in bed all day (although I don't think that a total rest day like that is bad—it's just not what's generally meant by "rest day"). Usually rest days are described as "active rest days"—where you're still active, moving around, but in different or less specifically structured ways (for example, going for a walk at the lake or cleaning the house). Sedentary days beget sedentary ways, and that's generally the exact condition we're trying to undo by committing to an active lifestyle.
So I think periods of "active rest"—whether that means a block of a few hours or given days of the week—within the context of LSAT study/practice are in order. What do I mean by active rest? For me that might mean taking a Saturday afternoon between PT's to check out 7sage or TLS, play with my rather elaborate Excel sheets I use to track my LSAT progress, read some cases or judicial opinions, or read about constitutional history. Active rest like this helps ward off any guilty feelings since these activities indeed contribute to achieving my ultimate goal of succeeding in law school and becoming a practicing attorney.
With that said, I am also strongly in favor of dedicating 2 hours on Thursday nights and 2 hours on Sunday mornings to activities that have utterly nothing to do with the LSAT (for me that is my ladies' Bible study and church, respectively). That's because I will still exist when the LSATs are over and neglect of relationships is not a habit I would cultivate now or in the future.
1 more to the list... though I've been doing nothing for a month... ever since I threw my back doing deadlifts ... can't wait to hit the weights again.
@"Nilesh S" You might want to get that checked out if it's still hurting after a month. I love deadlifting though. In about 15 months I added 270 pounds to my 1RM. lol
that's awesome @ddakjiking a 270 pound increase is HUGE... I think I'll get that done.... It probably occurred when I decided to do dumbbell deadlifts instead of the regular barbell kind... and obviously misjudged the weight that I could do... didn't feel it then though I immediately know after the 3rd rep in my 2nd set that something was wrong... so I left that and continued with my other lifts... and then lo and behold the next morning. I couldn't get outta bed without screaming in pain... couldn't bend over for days on end and needed to support my self even to get up off couches and chairs... all of that is finally over... just a bit of soreness in my left lower... probs will get that checked though like you said.
I combat my 'day off' guilt by doing the absolute minimum. I'll maybe do one small quiz or watch a few video lessons totaling 10-15 minutes. Those 10-15 min. are pretty negligible but help me with LSAT separation anxiety. They do not; however, prevent me from consuming entire packs of licorice as happened this afternoon... #sorrynotsorry
I feel the same way when school/work gets in the way of me studying for my LSAT. All the assignments I need to complete for school seem so trivial to me. I've written enough essays in my undergrad. If I'm assigned more essays, they feel like the biggest waste of time when I could be studying for the LSAT.
It’s all about balance and creating a schedule that works for you. My study schedule gives me 10-12 hours of content a week; I devote 2-3 hours a day to my 7 Sages prep. On a good week, I’ll have Saturday and Sunday off to rest, work on other material review the week’s material.
I definitely give myself the guilt trip. For multiple reasons, I took almost 3 weeks off from the LSAT. Today is my first day back to doing lessons, feels so good.
Guys, I am ESL student. Its very hard for me to study for lsat. I really liked the program. And I think I can do well. I can see people having same issues and talk about them. So, I was wondering is anybody here same ESL student as I? Do you have any suggestions for me? I would love to hear them. Thank you:)
@nicole.hopkins this is my final semester. Whether I do extremely well or average my GPA rise/fall will be marginal, and will not really affect my application whatsoever. So, the workload feels trivial.
@kbk2785 remember that the lsat doesn't test your vocabulary. So yes, it is possible for any ESL person to do well on the LSAT. You just have to focus and dedicate time to learning the structure/skills of the LSAT.
Comments
I've heard it said that if you don't rest at least one day a week or if you train the same body parts every time you train, you are putting yourself in a position where you will burn out and need to take two days off due to exhaustion; if you had rested properly and varied your training, you could have trained on one or both of those days missed due to exhaustion.
One last thing to note ... Typically when we talk about "rest" in bodybuilding, we don't mean lying in bed all day (although I don't think that a total rest day like that is bad—it's just not what's generally meant by "rest day"). Usually rest days are described as "active rest days"—where you're still active, moving around, but in different or less specifically structured ways (for example, going for a walk at the lake or cleaning the house). Sedentary days beget sedentary ways, and that's generally the exact condition we're trying to undo by committing to an active lifestyle.
So I think periods of "active rest"—whether that means a block of a few hours or given days of the week—within the context of LSAT study/practice are in order. What do I mean by active rest? For me that might mean taking a Saturday afternoon between PT's to check out 7sage or TLS, play with my rather elaborate Excel sheets I use to track my LSAT progress, read some cases or judicial opinions, or read about constitutional history. Active rest like this helps ward off any guilty feelings since these activities indeed contribute to achieving my ultimate goal of succeeding in law school and becoming a practicing attorney.
With that said, I am also strongly in favor of dedicating 2 hours on Thursday nights and 2 hours on Sunday mornings to activities that have utterly nothing to do with the LSAT (for me that is my ladies' Bible study and church, respectively). That's because I will still exist when the LSATs are over and neglect of relationships is not a habit I would cultivate now or in the future.