Thoughts on the Deload Week?

IMO, it’s like every other facet of training, you have to work out what gets you to your goals yourself. I don’t think blindly taking a deload every month because “you need to deload” is necessarily the ideal situation… but then again maybe it is. You have to find a way to be objective about it. Personally, deloads set me back in strength initially, but set me up for PRs down the road.

For instance, my first PL meet, I deloaded the week prior, as recommended by a ton of people. I sucked at the meet, and went on to bust gym PRs in the following month. My last meet I didn’t deload and performed a lot better, didn’t set any PRs the next month in training. One step back, two steps forward kinda thing. Also I’ve noticed a few things that destroy my recovery more than others, and I can choose to avoid them or deload more.

As far as whats acceptable for a deload week: yes, I personally think it’s 100% fine to not even go to the gym. I think it’s fine to sit on the couch and do nothing for a deload. Just keep in mind that if that’s your method, you probly don’t need 7 days of it. Most people on this site aren’t gonna tend to rationalize laziness but keep an eye on it.

How I’ve personally deloaded for the most part is letting life give me time off. On vacation for a week? I’ll find a local gym and go do a few lighter days. Holidays? Train harder prior and after, and enjoy festivities. It’s not ideal, but my schedule doesn’t really allow an alternative. I’d say overall I’ve “deloaded” slightly more than necessary, as there has only been a few times where I felt I needed one.

Can somebody of the camp that swears by “needing” deload weeks tell me how they EXACTLY determine when/if their body needs a deload? One “bad” session, two bad consecutive session, n>2 bad consecutive sessions, feeling shitty outside the gym, increased joint and muscle pain,…?

Here is my point: the body is a complex and fickle system. A couple of bad session doesn’t mean SHIT ime. I train heavy with high volume 5-7 days/week for many years now and have NOT see any specific pattern emerge. Good, great, bad, soso, and terrible training days come and go with NO detectable pattern (and I’m very anal about recording and reviewing my training sessions).

So how somebody training 3x-4x/weeks (with much LOWER volume & intensity) find it “obvious” that deloads are needed/essential is not convincing to me.

And btw I refuse that I’m a special snowflake - rather you are all lazy fucks. ha

ps: Let me be clear that, while they are similar, the concepts of deloads and peaking should not be confused. The usefulness of the latter is imo not really up to discussion.

[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Can somebody of the camp that swears by “needing” deload weeks tell me how they EXACTLY determine when/if their body needs a deload? One “bad” session, two bad consecutive session, n>2 bad consecutive sessions, feeling shitty outside the gym, increased joint and muscle pain,…?

Here is my point: the body is a complex and fickle system. A couple of bad session doesn’t mean SHIT ime. I train heavy with high volume 5-7 days/week for many years now and have NOT see any specific pattern emerge. Good, great, bad, soso, and terrible training days come and go with NO detectable pattern (and I’m very anal about recording and reviewing my training sessions).

So how somebody training 3x-4x/weeks (with much LOWER volume & intensity) find it “obvious” that deloads are needed/essential is not convincing to me.

And btw I refuse that I’m a special snowflake - rather you are all lazy fucks. ha

ps: Let me be clear that, while they are similar, the concepts of deloads and peaking should not be confused. The usefulness of the latter is imo not really up to discussion.[/quote]

I’m not sure I am in that camp, but I definitely “feel” (not “know”) that the time off has been beneficial for me in the long run.

I train MWF Fullbody 5x5. Obviously that means a two day rest each weekend. I’ve only felt like I “needed” a deload once.

At the time I just felt really, really beat up. I had been going on that schedule for at least 4, maybe as long as 5 months with no break (didn’t log back then, so unsure). I was also deadlifting heavy (for me) every week and pulling lots of heavy singles. I think that wore me down a bit.

Taking a few days off really helped and I definitely came back stronger.

That said, I don’t plan any deloads, and summer in Maine will inevitably make me shift my schedule around (as it has this week), resulting in some extra rest here and there. So, in that respect, I think I agree with you. Planned deloads are not necessary by default for someone training 3/4 days per week.

[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Can somebody of the camp that swears by “needing” deload weeks tell me how they EXACTLY determine when/if their body needs a deload? One “bad” session, two bad consecutive session, n>2 bad consecutive sessions, feeling shitty outside the gym, increased joint and muscle pain,…?

Here is my point: the body is a complex and fickle system. A couple of bad session doesn’t mean SHIT ime. I train heavy with high volume 5-7 days/week for many years now and have NOT see any specific pattern emerge. Good, great, bad, soso, and terrible training days come and go with NO detectable pattern (and I’m very anal about recording and reviewing my training sessions).

So how somebody training 3x-4x/weeks (with much LOWER volume & intensity) find it “obvious” that deloads are needed/essential is not convincing to me.

And btw I refuse that I’m a special snowflake - rather you are all lazy fucks. ha

ps: Let me be clear that, while they are similar, the concepts of deloads and peaking should not be confused. The usefulness of the latter is imo not really up to discussion.[/quote]

I’m not in the need camp; however, if over the course of a full weeks worth of training weights that don’t typically “feel” heavy consistently over the week “feel” heavy then I usually take a deload week. This typically happens, to me, every 8 weeks or so. It’s a regular occurrence if I’m consistent about pushing my top 5/3/1 sets, accessory work, and conditioning.

I don’t believe in having a deload week were nothing is done and I don’t even think a full week is necessary (For me).

I also think it’s dependent on trainees level GPP.

[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Can somebody of the camp that swears by “needing” deload weeks tell me how they EXACTLY determine when/if their body needs a deload? One “bad” session, two bad consecutive session, n>2 bad consecutive sessions, feeling shitty outside the gym, increased joint and muscle pain,…?

Here is my point: the body is a complex and fickle system. A couple of bad session doesn’t mean SHIT ime. I train heavy with high volume 5-7 days/week for many years now and have NOT see any specific pattern emerge. Good, great, bad, soso, and terrible training days come and go with NO detectable pattern (and I’m very anal about recording and reviewing my training sessions).

So how somebody training 3x-4x/weeks (with much LOWER volume & intensity) find it “obvious” that deloads are needed/essential is not convincing to me.

And btw I refuse that I’m a special snowflake - rather you are all lazy fucks. ha

ps: Let me be clear that, while they are similar, the concepts of deloads and peaking should not be confused. The usefulness of the latter is imo not really up to discussion.[/quote]

Question - By chance, do you have unscheduled off days? Do you have days where you do very little in the gym or have recovery workouts? Just curious.

I rarely take a day completely off from the gym. For me, even a few days of deload I get to the gym and at the very least, do my regular warm-up. (unless something comes up; not usually the case though)

I have baseline numbers on certain lifts (particularly the power snatch), and if I fail to hit baseline numbers or I feel a lack of explosiveness for ~2-3 workouts, I decide right then and there it’s time for at least a day of recovery. And it’s usually for CNS recovery.

The MAIN REASON I take deloads, is because I ALWAYS come back and hit PR’s. It never fails. And I mostly take deloads for CNS recovery purposes.

I might add the FOR ME, a deload can be anywhere from 2-5 days. At least what I consider for my own training to be a deload.

I’m in the need camp.

2 car accidents. 1 bad ski wipe. 5 knee operations. 5 shoulder operations.

I hurt if I don’t deload. I have tried 4, 6 and 8 weeks. 6 weeks seems the be the sweet spot before I start to hurt. By hurting, I mean, I will be out of commission for 2-3 weeks. I take omega’s and will ice on a regular basis. I do every four weeks, so I can actually keep going with no concerns.

Not taking a deload will also mean that you believe in constant linear progression. I am not confusing peak, btw. Ebbs and flows. Look at professional sports training. The training is separated for a reason. The best way to describe it: Take your linear progression. Now draw a wavy line along your straight line. Loads and deloads.

The body is complex and fickle, but it doesn’t know what a straight line is.

Although I understand your reasoning (does joe average actually need a deload), I prefer to not hurt myself again and take the simple road. i want to lift until I die.

I have never needed it
Though I have noticed after a week off because life (finals vacation etc) I come back stronger and more forceful sometimes

And if I’m literally that fatigued where I can’t work out I just don’t go.

Man, if you guys can continuously pound your body week in week out and and see performance increases in the gym over time, consider yourself genetic lottery jackpot winners. One of the biggest roadblocks to progress for normal folks is thinking they are superman.

Frankly, I’m tired if this “well if works for me , so it must be true” crap. If you don’t deload and you keep improving, kudos to you. Bodybuilding is highly individual.

[quote]infinite_shore wrote:
Can somebody of the camp that swears by “needing” deload weeks tell me how they EXACTLY determine when/if their body needs a deload? One “bad” session, two bad consecutive session, n>2 bad consecutive sessions, feeling shitty outside the gym, increased joint and muscle pain,…?

Here is my point: the body is a complex and fickle system. A couple of bad session doesn’t mean SHIT ime. I train heavy with high volume 5-7 days/week for many years now and have NOT see any specific pattern emerge. Good, great, bad, soso, and terrible training days come and go with NO detectable pattern (and I’m very anal about recording and reviewing my training sessions).

So how somebody training 3x-4x/weeks (with much LOWER volume & intensity) find it “obvious” that deloads are needed/essential is not convincing to me.

And btw I refuse that I’m a special snowflake - rather you are all lazy fucks. ha

ps: Let me be clear that, while they are similar, the concepts of deloads and peaking should not be confused. The usefulness of the latter is imo not really up to discussion.[/quote]

Curious what high volume and intensity are 5-7 days a week are for you. Everybody has so many definitions. Jsut honestly curious

Good thread. It makes we re-think what I’m doing, and maybe I’ll experiment and analyze my training notes more closely. I’ve found that physically a three day rest period with nothing (inc. conditioning/cardio) is sufficient, and I’m ready to go again. But mentally, a week off every now and then re-freshes me and helps my intensity and motivation, which in turn aids in results.

So I have found the de-load week similar to a vacation from work. Physically I feel about the same, but mentally I’m a whole new person. And I don’t need that week of vacation/de-load too often, just once in a while.

[quote]Brett620 wrote:
Good thread. It makes we re-think what I’m doing, and maybe I’ll experiment and analyze my training notes more closely. I’ve found that physically a three day rest period with nothing (inc. conditioning/cardio) is sufficient, and I’m ready to go again. But mentally, a week off every now and then re-freshes me and helps my intensity and motivation, which in turn aids in results.

So I have found the de-load week similar to a vacation from work. Physically I feel about the same, but mentally I’m a whole new person. And I don’t need that week of vacation/de-load too often, just once in a while. [/quote]

Agree with this for the most part.

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Curious what high volume and intensity are 5-7 days a week are for you. Everybody has so many definitions. Jsut honestly curious
[/quote]

For the last couple months I have been doing the Smolov base cycle (set rep loading scheme) for 3 compound exercises (variations of the Big 3) at the same time consecutively without a deload. This week I have started my 5th cycle of this. I would think most people would not recommend this approach. Shitload of tough work and perma-soreness but results are pretty nice. Actually makes want to start using the good stuff to see what god-like (strength) gains I could achieve.

Anyway, good to see some reasonable responses in here. I have nothing against deloads per se if applied in a reasonable way, but I feel it is one of those things that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

[quote]infinite_shore wrote:

[quote]ryanbCXG wrote:
Curious what high volume and intensity are 5-7 days a week are for you. Everybody has so many definitions. Jsut honestly curious
[/quote]

For the last couple months I have been doing the Smolov base cycle (set rep loading scheme) for 3 compound exercises (variations of the Big 3) at the same time consecutively without a deload. This week I have started my 5th cycle of this. I would think most people would not recommend this approach. Shitload of tough work and perma-soreness but results are pretty nice. Actually makes want to start using the good stuff to see what god-like (strength) gains I could achieve.

Anyway, good to see some reasonable responses in here. I have nothing against deloads per se if applied in a reasonable way, but I feel it is one of those things that can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.[/quote]

Sounds like a plan I’ve contstructed in my head a few times. This interests me a lot. I am all about crazy stupid volume and frequency and soreness never really stops me. Good or bad lol