De-Load, the Overlooked Technique

[guitargoalie]

thanks for the thread, i'm taking a deload week starting monday, what should my diet look like? continue bulking on just maintain weight for that week? when i return how much lower should i drop my lifts?

[Bersa45]

Deloading is something ive been using in my training and has seemed to benifit my physical health as well as mentality

[mrpatrson]

Man I havnt deloaded in 4 months, the week I did deload I was doing a demo job at work that was so taxing on the body I just couldnt workout that week, so I dont know if that counts as a deload.

Geting ready to buy a house and start moving this coming week, I could be out from working out for 2-3 weeks, pretty long deload im hoping to feel very replinished as I can tell from my lifts im in despirate need of one, anyone else ever deload this long?

[Ag123]

Im not entirely convinced on the De-load. Obviously nutrition plays a major role in any workout, and i think as long as you eat enough, over-training is a myth. Also you will encounter natural de-load periods. We all know motivation sometimes slips, causing workout intensity to fall anyway, meaning even if you feel you are going at 100%, your body is still getting a break.
Also it can depend on your job. Mine is quite physical, so sometimes i am already tired when i hit the gym. And i think variety in training is important. There are too many muscles in the body, and not enough time in the week to over-train any of them in particular. So if you encounter injuries and fatigue to certain muscle groups, it may be because you are neglecting others.
Just my opinion

[sbiston]

Good Post!!!!!!!!!
It helps me a lot.
thanks for sharing this.

[jsgrl925ws]

Bring up a good point, I hadn't really been paying attention to de-load that much I guess. Thank you for the post

[wowbob396]

quick question for de-loading, should you keep your nutrition the same?

[ubele]

I'm doing those excercises youtube.com/watch?v=UZT590R6x58 and got six pack easy,gonna post foto soon.

[chshunter]

How long should you de-load for? Should it be 1 week or 2, or just 1 workout per muscle group?
I normally just take a weeks break from the gym but i am interested in using a de-load to see how it goes. Thanks for the tips.

[raymondyjx]

Ussually when I feel stuck at a certain point I just stay away from the gym for a good 2 weeks and come back and hit the iron HAAAARD. It ussually works.

i think i am overtraining myself recently. i have to reduce the reps but maintain the same weight.

[StrongLift8]

While my style of training errs more on the working-hard side, I totaly agree with the De-load.

In fact I have always used to minimze my training during the med-summer.

Because I have been traininng the hardest in the winter and the summer is very hot and humid where I live. So i keep my workouts smart, short and effective.

I go back to the old-school hardcore style in the winter.

lift heavy, rest well

[rikrodgers]

i think i am overtraining myself recently. i have to reduce the reps but maintain the same weight.

Dude, it's time for a deload

Take a weeks mini-break and do your regular workout but drop the weights by about 40%-50%. This should keep you going, but allow your body to rest-up a bit. Either that, or do what I do and do 3x full body workouts, using only machines, on Mon, Wed and Fri. This totally switches things up and still allows your body to recuperate - I did it 2 weeks ago and came back to my regular routine with the same, if not more, strength!

Enjoy!

[2020Wellness]

Five Signs You're Overtrained.......DELOAD TIME!

[LeonRokky]

good thread, i de-load sometimes, but not often enough, this reinforced the fact that i should be

[LeonRokky]

thanks brahs

[xssicario]

Im just start lifthing a month ago,good to know .thats why we have to read and educated your self thanks.

[RONeill226]

Epic, I like it!

[d3s]

I'll try this out, thanks!

[jarekd1234]

been stalling on my progress a bit so i decided to take a week off with a few cardio sessions because i don't do it too often lol


mentally i want to hit the gym hard every day.. it was pretty hard not to work out lol

[budman7811]

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.

.

very nice info... wanted to quote it to get it back to the top so people can read this. I needed this, for being a new guy to weightlifting things like this i didnt know

[JMcGrath90]

Was told to check this out, Great help and advice. Thanks!

[swerv512]

thanks for the good thread. personally, my motivation and drive are so intense that i often forget to give my mind and body a break from the normal punishment i put them through. when i get to a plateau, i've always tried to train through it- without productive results (injury). i understand that de-loading can be a useful and necessary technique for further progress.

[barnzey8]

so true would really prevent downtime

[Sulo-Eno]

I don't think it's considered "de-loading", but I absolutely must take a week off every 2 months or so. I notice decreased motivation and sometimes even decreases in strength if I don't take a break now and again.

[laverp01]

75% of the time I'll deload in the gym. The other 25% I'll just take a week off, usually on vacation or something.

BRILLIANT. Made my day.

[rbowman91]

Nice explanation!

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[ab1992]

great post!

[batmannu]

oh shi, i have all these symptoms!

You feel tired, persistently fatigued, have a decreased desire to train;
Your weight progression is stalling and you can't seem to increase most lifts
You train regularly

I do oly lifting and past few weeks I've had more bad days than successful days, im tossed while lifting, i dont have energy to do anything. all lifts have gone bad technique wise (except, squat and deadlifts and such, they are still the same).
I get sore throat all the time and feel bad.

I thought its cuz of my diet, i dont think i really hit my macros either. Maybe combo of these 2 affect my workout so badly :/

The problem is that i dont feel like i need to deload. My mind is like "im not tired, keep on pushing!" :P but i'll take a week off in a week i believe. i hope this will help!