Deload Week: Why Tapering Off Can Propel You Forward

In a world surrounded by "the grind don't stop" or "dreams come true when you're not sleeping" mentality, it can get taxing when everything starts to catch up to us. Understanding that if you floor it all at once, eventually, you will run out of gas and lose all that momentum made sooner than later and more than likely hit a plateau –– the worst phase in training in my opinion.

With this week's newsletter, I'd like to discuss with you what the importance of a deload week, when to know when it's best to implement, and how to program it into your current training regimen.

What is a Deload Week?

To simply put it, a deload week is a short, planned period – roughly 5 to 7 days – where you intentionally reduce training intensity, volume, or both to allow your body to recover and adapt properly. We want to think of it as active recovery, not sitting on the couch or resting completely.

The beauty of a deload week is that if you feel that your body isn't recovering as properly after going thru a new training program, intensity has increased, and you've been following a consistent gym routine across several weeks, this is when it's the perfect time to consider applying it to the following week.

As what I've seen in my experience as a coach, this can happen with clients that have been training consistently for 4-8 weeks or around a 2-month span of a training phase and don't see any progress in their lifts or if they feel sore and fatigued for longer than usual.

"What can a deload week look like?"

One approach that I would consider is that the week can look exactly the same as how you've been following it but instead of the intensity that you've been going at from the most recent week, let's say RPE 8 out of 10 (Rating of Perceived Exertion), you would drop that intensity down to a RPE of 6. However, consider this only in the strength, muscular hypertrophy, and power portion of a training program.

Below are some other areas that people typically tend to overlook in a deload week:

The effects can be highly beneficial!

In fact, what this can promote is 1) a concrete mental reset since your central nervous system is over-stimulated and 2) improved myogenesis (muscle regeneration) which leads to strength gains and improvement in overall performance.

A Coach Knows You Best

Most of the time, us humans (yes, I am just as human as you are) can get so engulfed in the work that we do that we typically don't see when we're all gas, no brakes and we see it in only thru our own personal lens. However, when you work with a professional that understand things like this happen normally and provides a different perspective, it helps us

• Stay grounded
• Provides healthy approaches to ultimately help us keep going to see continuous progress
• Checks up on us to hold us accountable on taking those steps

See for yourself of what my client, Brandon, has what to say in seeing progress.

Curious if you’re due for a deload week?

Click 'Let's chat' below to set you up for success.

Let's chat!

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