“Deloading!” What is it? Why do you need it? & How do you apply it?

What Is A Deload?

A deload is a week where you Reduce the volume of your training, you can reduce the volume to absolutely nothing and not train at all or you can reduce it significantly by 50% or more. You should also lower your intensity and leave at least 4/5 reps in reserve on every set.

Why Do You Need To Deload?

As we frequently workout we build up accumulative fatigue, if this fatigue is not reduced via a deload it will lead to a significant drop in performance and hinder your progression in the gym. Key symptoms of needing to deload are usually, digestion worsening, sleep quality becoming poor, motivation decreasing & general mood worsening. If your ticking more than one of these boxes and you’ve been training extremely hard for a long period of time with little rest you may need to seriously consider deolading to take a step forward.

How Do We Deload?

The key in this phase is to reduce the accumulation of fatigue as much as possible which will require you reducing your volume by as much as 50% and significantly dropping your intensity by the same amount. At least 4 reps should be left in reserve on every set to avoid building any fatigue. Its important to remember this is a 1 step back 2 steps forward phase, the key will be to train with enough volume and intensity to maintain muscle tissue but not accumulate fatigue. If you train significantly hard day in day out, week in week out then a deload can be needed every 4 to 6 weeks, this will vary from person to person as everyone has different recovery capabilities.