In a perfect world, I would do 3 weeks on 3 weeks off; so that I could always take a breather and come back to music with a fresh mind.
If you hit somebody hard enough, they will give up. You can feel their body go limp and they'll just surrender. So every time I hit somebody, the goal is to knock myself out. I know that if I hit somebody hard enough that I can feel it, it's hurting them 10 times worse.