Deloading – Why, When, and How

The dreaded “deload” – every serious trainees’ least favorite week. The psychological struggle of purposely using less weight and performing less work. Fuck that, right?

This violates almost every instinct of a competitive person, but it serves a valuable purpose…

If you do not properly balance your stress / recovery, you’ll consistently underperform and expose yourself to potential injury.

Programming 101

The whole concept of programming is to develop an annual training plan that factors in readiness, preparedness, residual effects of training, and an eventual competition event/season. I recommend that you outline this loosely as it will never go perfectly as planned.

Typically you’ll see Periodization and Programming go hand and hand, as periodization is simply, “the purposeful sequencing of different training units so that the athlete can attain the desired state and planned for results.” (Issurin)

Training is often set up in blocks or macrocycles. There are numerous ways to classify these blocks, from GPP to SPP to “Speed Dominant”, etc.

Outside of beginners and youth athletes, I tend to find linear periodization underwhelming when compared to a more fluid, vertical integrated approach. That’s for a different article.

If you examine enough programs, or ask enough athletes/trainees, you’ll see that deloading is either completely missing or royally fucked up in most programs.

Deloading

I tend to favor a fluctuating vs. planned deload. When I outline a program in my head, I need to account for (and potentially predict) when and how fatigue accumulates. This will allow me to know when recovery must happen.

As a coach, this is our most difficult job. Walking the delicate tight-rope of the training-stress-recovery road.

You must be ready to adjust your training based on multiple factors including = sleep, work, school, nutrition, illness, practice/game schedule, etc. All of these, plus the stress from your training plan will affect readiness.

Under-training is easy to fix – train more.

Over-training, though, can royally fuck you up!

If you stress the body too much, without allowing adequate time to recover, you will often experience “over-reaching.”

Do we know exactly how long it takes to “recover”? If you have access to quality technology like the Omegawave you’ll have a better idea. High intensity trainings / games can require 48-72 hours to recover from. Muscle protein synthesis will stay elevated for roughly 24 hrs. Glycogen will depleted post-workout, but can replete over the next day or so depending on carbohydrate intake and further training.

Point being, recovery is not linear and it’s impossible to precisely predict. This is where the art of coaching comes into play.

When to Deload

If you don’t have access to fancy technology and know that your clients/athletes may not be holding up their end of the bargain (sleep, nutrition, stress management), you will have to rely on your eyes and their feedback. However, don’t be shocked if and when people lie to you. If they are a half decent athlete/client they’ll want to get better, so they’ll always tell you they’re fine.

This is important – different people will experience different rates of recovery or fatigue accumulation. For example, a fast, explosive athlete will have a fiber concentration that enables them to produce more power (they often have higher neuromuscular efficiency too). While this is great for performance, it is more taxing on the body from a neuromuscular stand point.

An NFL athlete will be gassed after running an all-out 40 yard dash, whereas a 16 year old, whose power output is lightyears lower, will be able to withstand more volume as their performance is less taxing on the body.

Bodyweight can also be a factor here too. If you’re training an offensive lineman, you have to remember they walk around with an inherent load of 250-300lbs at all times. When they run, jump, etc. They are also typically a bit stronger, so again, account for this.

The Warm-Up

Watch how they warm-up. Examine how they look (circles under their eyes, disheveled, etc.). Are they talkative? Low energy? Ask how they slept. It is your job to do all of these things and then factor them into your decision making process!

If you’re really interested, have them perform a few power tests for you to measure (vertical jump, for example) their output compared to baseline. After a few weeks of intense training, you will see a decrease in some of these tests, as fatigue has finally caught up to you. This is ok, this is when you deload.

Most generic deloads are tossed in every 3-4 weeks. I like to throw in deload or recovery sessions when needed vs. pre-planned. However, I still tend not to extend maximal strength or speed blocks past 3 weeks and experienced athletes, with higher outputs and intensities, will deload more frequently than less developed athletes.

Deload Workouts

The deloads I program will either be a reduced intensity version of a similar training session or we will change it up completely and do a heart rate monitored circuit. Here are two examples.

Standard Workout

• A/D Warm-up
• Ground Based
• Prehab
• No jumps or reduced volume box jump – 3×3
• Squat – 65% – 4×3
• Leg press – 3×8 (RPE 6-7)
• 2 up, 1 back hamstring curl – 2×4/e (Watch Here)
• Back ext – 2×8 (3 count eccentric)
• abs

OR

Circuit

• 10 min warm-up (should have light sweat)

3 Rounds

• Medball (Arms straight out – 4-6lb) step up
• Push up
• Banded Straight Leg Hip Extension (use a lighter band for this circuit) OR Modified Reverse Hyper
• TRX Row
• Squat to Medball Press overhead

If you can monitor HR, perform the exercise until you’re near 135. You will then walk until your heart rate dips back down around 120. Then perform the next exercise. After your first round, walk / bike / or medball circuit for 3 minutes of active “rest” and then start over. The goal of this entire time is to stay within the aerobic/recovery zone of 120-140bpm. If done correctly, this will have a restorative effect on the body and you will leave feeling refreshed.

Go through this 3-5x.