“Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links.”
Ready to get into the best shape of your life? Get free weekly workouts and no-nonsense training insights delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up here and let the gains begin.
IN AN IDEAL world, every workout would be filled with PRs. You’d always reach for heavier dumbbells, throw more plates on the bar, perform more intervals in less time, and navigate the cable machines like they were custom-built for one man (you) and one purpose only (setting records). The line of progression, essential for muscle growth and strength gains, would only move up.
In the real world, though, the constant push to move more weight for more reps, or run a little faster every single workout can wear you down, sometimes physically, other times mentally. And that’s where a deload week can come in.
Understand this: you can push your body hard—often harder than you even realize, whether you’re chasing muscle gains or your first marathon PR. But, when smartly implemented between hard training periods, deload weeks let you recuperate physically and mentally, recharging before another hard period of training.
“Over the longevity of years of training, you want to alternate between periods where you push your physiology to the limit, followed by brief periods where you let yourself pull back and relax (without completely being inert),” says MH fitness director Ebenezer Samuel, C.S.C.S. “And those short weeks of deloading can keep you healthy and prime you for your next push.”
“The goal is to reduce accumulated fatigue so the body can repair muscle tissue, restore energy, and actually adapt to the training,” adds Jes Woods, a Nike Run Coach in New York City.
The deload week just might be a key to years and years of gains, since you can’t always simply go “even harder.” But when and how should you do it? Here’s your primer.
What Is a Deload Week?
As its name implies, a deload week is a brief period in which you dial back your training by reducing volume (sets and reps), load (amount of weight lifted), or both by 30 to 50 percent. In so doing, you’ll be able to maintain your workout consistency while allowing your nervous system and muscles to recover fully. Think of it as a physical reset that will help you return to peak performance and trigger fresh gains.
A deload week isn’t a full rest week though. You’re still training; you’re just not training with your typical intensity. This allows you to hone your technique and still push your body through its key movement patterns. “A good number to keep in mind is 60 percent,” says Samuel, putting the ideal number right in the middle of the range above. “Think of moving 60 percent of your normal training loads for 60 percent of your normal reps.”
There are generally two ways to go about it. The first is called a “proactive deload,” which is usually scheduled every four to eight weeks during a pre-planned, long-term training program. It acts as a break between intense training blocks. The second is a “reactive deload,” which is incorporated into a workout program on an as-needed basis (i.e., when your gains start to slow and you begin to feel burned out).
“In general, it’s always best to play from ahead,” says Samuel. “A proactive deload can often keep you on track with your training, but try not to take one until you’ve crushed at least eight weeks of hard, consistent training.”
That’s for the weight room. Runners should take a slightly different tack. “For runners, a deload usually means cutting overall volume by about 20 to 40 percent, dialing back intensity, and keeping things simple while still moving,” Woods says. “Every body responds to training and stresses differently, but the general rule of thumb is to incorporate a recovery week after three to four weeks of increased mileage/intensity.”
To Samuel, there’s another benefit of a proactive deload week. “When I schedule a deload week and force myself to pull back on training, something happens,” he says. “I get antsy, and I badly want to go harder. And by holding back on the urge to do that, I get myself even more excited to hit the gym again for hard workouts when the deload is done.”
Is Deloading Beneficial for Everyone?
If you’re just beginning your exercise journey or aren’t consistent in your training yet, don’t worry about deloading because you likely won’t generate enough “accumulated fatigue” to warrant it. Sure, you might experience an occasional slowdown in your gains or endure a couple of lackluster workouts, but such setbacks can typically be rectified by switching up your routine with new exercises (or exercise variations), changing your training split, or simply altering your grip, stance, lifting pace, or workout structure.
To that end, deload weeks generally work best for die-hard bodybuilders and serious runners—people who are obsessively consistent in their training, constantly push their limits, and follow a periodized training plan broken up into multiple skill-focused blocks (e.g., strength, power, endurance, etc.). In short, if working out is as important to you as eating, breathing, and sex, you’re someone who will likely benefit from a regular deload week.
“Just remember to be judicious with deload weeks,” says Samuel. “Your body is meant to be pushed, and more often than not that has benefit.”
The Difference Between a Taper and a Deload
If you’re a runner training for a race, you’ve probably followed a program that includes a progressive build of mileage over several weeks, before a steep drop-off in training volume for a week or so just before the event. Powerlifters also use this type of training structure ahead of competition. This isn’t a deload week; instead, it’s a taper.
“Deloads can happen multiple times in a training cycle (typically every four weeks) to reduce injury risk and keep runners healthy as training loads build through the training block,” says Woods. “A taper is different; these are race-specific and about sharpening for peak performance one to two weeks out from your big race.” During a taper, volume is more significantly reduced, with shorter bursts of near-maximal or maximal effort to simulate competition.
Another way to think of the difference here is that a deload is in response to accumulated stress on the body (even when it’s proactive), while a taper is an engineered opportunity to gear up for peak performance. A training program might have multiple deload periods—especially over the long 16 to 20 week plans commonly used to prep for a marathon—but just one taper.
Another Reason to Deload
Sometimes, performance dips and training plateaus have less to do with physical fatigue and more to do with mental stress. If life is throwing your curveballs, and those pitches are impacting your motivation and lifting performance, cut yourself some slack—and maybe give yourself a deload week. Working up a sweat without worrying about PRs or obsessing about constant improvement can be transformative, giving you the feel-good boost you need to turn things around.
In other words, sometimes you just need a break, so don’t be afraid to give yourself one. After all, research shows that it takes two or three weeks of “detraining” or no training to have a noticeable impact on your strength, power, and overall fitness—and even then, you’ll get it back fast. So if you’re feeling bogged down or overwhelmed, a deload week might be exactly what you need to kickstart your gains and get your progress back on track.
You Might Also Like
-
The Best Hair Growth Shampoos for Men to Buy Now
-
25 Vegetables That Are Surprising Sources of Protein