De-Load, the Overlooked Technique

[joossh]

thanks so much for this, really useful information! is it essential to increase cardio during a deload? i feel like that wouldn't be great for keeping my motivation high? not saying i'm right of course because i've never tried it but just looking for more specifics on the cardio side of a deload

[LikwidFace]

Rock solid advice from this thread. I think I may have inadvertently de-loaded this week and I went farther harder and faster than the last 3 weeks. Being a noob is full of pitfalls.

[C33G]

Good read, going to try this next week and focus on form

Thanks man!

[JPascavage52]

As they say, less is more.

[AwesomeStranger]

Very true, less is more. Depends on your goals though..

[jr03400]

Actually very curious about this technique before reading this. Good read.

[danderson45]

Its about time someone else share my thought on going 100% all the time. Definitely right on over taxing the body and mind as well. Excellent post

[Marie103]

thanks

[McApplejuice]

Interesting, I did a deload once and felt great during my time off. Recovery is such an important component

[cassiusclaymore]

This thread was very useful. Cheers for the info!

[gilesmiles1]

I'm 38 training for more than 20 years lifetime natural and without question not deloading has been my single biggest mistake. Started reading the powerlifting threads last year and woah, my eyes were opened, made more progress in the last 12 months than in the previous 12 years.
A 25% weight deload for a week, and another week at a 10% deload, followed by 4 weeks flat out, seems to work for me

[amtt81]

Very interesting

[copie1966]

thank you for sharing this technique, i'm still learning

Introduction:

There are countless posts on the best way to train biceps, the optimum split for getting huge, how to bench press properly, or any of a million other questions on how to become bigger, leaner, or break through plateaus.

But one technique that helps achieve all of these goals is very seldom discussed: De-Loading. A de-load is a planned reduction in volume or intensity (usually for one week, or one cycle of your training split), whose purpose is to allow the body to dissipate accumulated fatigue, allow you to fully recover, and prepare you for further gains. Also, remember that weight training does not just tax your muscles. It also puts stress on your joints, ligaments, connective tissues, and central nervous system.


Why should you De-Load:

• To allow your joints, tendons, ligaments, and other supporting tissues to repair.

• To allow your central nervous system (CNS) to recover

• To give yourself a mental break from the intensity of heavy lifting

• To reduce the risk of under-recovery (overtraining)

• To prepare you for greater gains

Experienced lifters know that you can't go 100% all out in the gym all the time. Your body can't take it, and you can't keep up that mental intensity forever. If you try to, you often wind up getting injured, start just "going through the motions" in your workouts, stall out in your progression, and perhaps even give up completely.

If you de-load at regular intervals, you will find that over time you will make better progress, reduce your injuries, and keep yourself in the game mentally.


When to De-Load:

This depends on your experience & intensity level, your age & recovery ability, the program you are following, and many other factors. If you are new to lifting, you lack the ability to overtax your CNS, muscles, and connective tissues as much as a very experienced lifter, so you may only need to deload once every couple of months. If you are older and have a reduced ability to recover from weight training, then you may need to deload as often as every couple of weeks. In general, you need to set your frequency of deloading according to how hard you train and how quickly you recover. Somewhere in the range of every 4-8 weeks will work well for most people.

Signs that a de-load may be in order:

• You feel tired, persistently fatigued, have a decreased desire to train, or other symptoms of under-recovery (overtraining).

• Your weight progression is stalling and you can't seem to increase most lifts

• You are experiencing aches, sprains, tendinitis, etc.

• You train regularly

Note that last point again: If you train regularly, then you should de-load regularly as well. In fact, a regularly scheduled de-load should come before you start exhibiting any of these symptoms.


How to De-Load:

A de-load is a planned reduction in either volume or intensity, usually a week long (or one training cycle of your split). How you do it is up to you. The main thing is to back off your total effort to about 50-60% of what you would do during a normal training week. A few examples of how to train during a de-load week:

• Do your normal routine and normal volume (sets & reps) but reduce the weight you use to about 50-60% of what you normally work out with for each exercise.

• Use the same weight as you normally would, but drop your number of total volume (sets x reps) to 50-60% of your normal volume. (Note that you should stick to an 8+ rep scheme here.)

• Train muscle groups that normally don't get a lot of attention

• Use light weight and focus on refining your form and technique

• Decrease your lifting and increase your cardio

... or any combination of the above. The main thing is to make sure that at the end of the workout you still have a decent amount of "gas in the tank". Personally, I prefer to de-load by dropping my weights to 50-60% of what I normally use, stick with the same volume, and focus on refining my form, technique, and mind-muscle connection.

If you want, you can even just take a week off entirely. If you know you are going to be on vacation, for example, just plan your training around it so that you can use that time as a de-load period. You'll be training smart and not feel the need to try to find some way to work out when the rest of your family is relaxing.


Summary:

The goal of a de-load is to allow you to become stronger, faster, and bigger, by incorporating a planned "active recovery" phase into your normal workout program. If you do it correctly, you should be able to make more gains that you would without de-loading, reduce your risk of injury, give yourself a mental break, preemptively address hidden recovery issues.

.

[derekd87]

Im a beginner training 5 days a week, only lifting the last 6 weeks. At the moment im trying to bulk, should i de-load before I cut?

Or should I just keep piling on the pressure until I start to feel the above symptoms?

[sadoek]

I'm gonna try this out. De-load every 5th week.

[romulopimentel]

I'm currently experiencing some symptoms of fatigue. Think I'll give this technique a try.

[TakeEverything]

It's hard for me to feel when to deload actually. Normally during any program I'm on (mine or professional) I aim for week 6 to be my deload but recently i changed my splits and diet around (more fats) and feel like I am not sore, fatigued, even mildely tired other than the fact i work grave.

So question is... Should I just continue until say we 9 or 10 or just stick with week 6? I'm still seeing gains. Very confused.

[saylee559]

I agree. De-loading is very over looked and some really don't take in the fact that gains cant be established just by lifting heavy every day, or even every week; hence why we tend to question ourself at times and why we were so mentally/physically more productive in our workouts the week prior.

[Posiedon777]

very nice post...

[Eric90XJ]

I de-loaded last week. Was on vacation so I took the week off. When I come back this week should I start with the same weight I was working at before the de load or maybe like 10% less than where I was at?

[VoxExMachina]

I de-loaded last week. Was on vacation so I took the week off. When I come back this week should I start with the same weight I was working at before the de load or maybe like 10% less than where I was at?

I would just repeat the same weights you used before de-load, and pick up your progression from there, unless you somehow feel you were stalled.

[Eric90XJ]

I would just repeat the same weights you used before de-load, and pick up your progression from there, unless you somehow feel you were stalled.

Thanks I will give this a shot!

[aaliyahadamson]

I wanted to know detail thank you so much for sharing.

[rcass023]

I would just repeat the same weights you used before de-load, and pick up your progression from there, unless you somehow feel you were stalled.

unfortunately i just read this post. and just learned about de-loading

i have been lifting heavy, very heavy for the past 7 months.
strength has gone up practically every week. and hit new pr's every 3 weeks or so.

unfortunately, due to my heavy lifting, it lead to me straining my rotator cuff or a bicep muscle in the shoulder area.
luckily it isn't too bad, but bad enough to keep me out of shoulder workouts for a while.

although i will be de-loading for a few days until i am totally rested up

on another note my shoulders hurt when i move them a certain way with weights..weird, but bad.. don't know what to think.

thanks for the thread!

[Aivaras]

I have been deloading every two months by taking week off or 4-7days.

I just have one question, when you come back from deloading you just do what you did before? Maybe first week after deload don't go to failure?

[pietro65]

some nice posts in this thread

[MissJennie]

thanks bro for this thread

[greenyoga]

Great work,thanks for sharing.

[accace]

I'm 13, can I Deload less frequently?

[Giffer666]

i think no