DELOAD’S: WHAT? WHY? WHEN? HOW?
A year ago, almost to the day, I wrote an article on the “Fitness-Fatigue Model”. If you were not on the email list at that point and missed it click the link and read up. Fitness-Fatigue Model Click Here
The “one sentence summary” is as follows: Increases in our fitness and thus performance levels occur as we train, but they are also accompanied by an increase in cumulative fatigue that needs to be sufficiently managed if we hope to continue achieving positive adaptations. The way that we do so, is by utilizing “deloads”.
WHAT? WHY? & WHEN?
What: a period of decreased training output / stress.
Why: to reduce accumulated fatigue that reduces training performance outcomes.
In a perfect world fitness and performance would increase perpetually; you would simply workout and get bigger, stronger, and faster forever. But that’s just not the case. A byproduct of your training is fatigue that adds up slowly over time and, at some point, it will be prevalent enough to start hindering your ability to perform. You physically won’t be able to overload and thus won’t be able to achieve a sufficient stimulus to drive future adaptation. The good thing is that performance decreases don’t necessarily mean fitness decreases. I.E just because you must lift less weight one session or one week doesn’t mean that you’ve lost muscle or strength. At least, not initially. If this were to continually occur, you would certainly be regressing. But if we temporarily shift our goal from overload to fatigue reduction, we allow performance to come back up to and then exceed “baseline” and the trend in fitness level starts to track upwards again.
When: every 4-10 weeks OR when performance declines for ~2+ consecutive weeks.
As we advance in our training age the need for planned fatigue reduction becomes more necessary. In the beginner stages the stimulus required for adaption is low and our recovery capacities are high. Meaning progress can occur week over week over week for a pretty long time before fatigue ever becomes an issue. However, the more trained we become the more work we need to do to see progress. The more intense our training must be. The more damaging and fatiguing it becomes. So deloads become more and more frequent. Somewhere in the 4-10 (maybe even 4-12) week rep range is a solid approach for scheduled deloads. OR you can take an autoregulated approach where you simply wait until your performance stalls for at least 2 weeks in a row.
NOW HOW DO WE GO ABOUT A DELOAD?
How: reduce volume, reduce intensity, or a combination of both.
Below are examples of how you can lower your fatigue levels via volume reduction, decreases in intensity, or with a combination of both.
Volume Reduction:
3x10 @ 100 lbs becomes 2x10 @ 100 lbs.
Intensity (via load and reps) doesn’t change but less overall work is performed.
Intensity Reduction:
3x10 @ 100 lbs becomes 3x10 @ 90 lbs OR 3x8 @ 100 lbs OR 3x8 @ 90 lbs.
Volume remains consistent but your sets are less intensity, further away from failure, “easier” … however you want to describe it.
Combination:
3x10 @ 100 lbs becomes 2x10 @ 90 lbs OR 2x8 @ 100 lbs OR 2x8 @ 90 lbs. Both volume and intensity are reduced.
Some things to think about when choosing which strategy to utilize:
What adaptations do you most want to “maintain” (load lifted, reps performed, volume performed) ?
What stimulus are you training in your next mesocycle?
How high is fatigue and how much reduction needs to occur?
How long are you de-loading?
There really isn’t one “right” way to go about it. They typically last a week but could be as short as 2-4 days. They typically are done uniformly over all exercises on all training days, but you can also de-load only specific exercises that are struggling while still overloading others.
As long as you are accomplishing the main goal - maintaining fitness while reducing fatigue so performance can subsequently increase leading to future improvements in fitness – then it’s “mission accomplished”.
WITH GOOD VIBES - COACH JOHN