Imagine you could perform better, reduce your injury risk and feel better day to day, all by doing less training. That’s the magic of the deload week. Well, to be more accurate, that’s the magic of the PROPERLY executed deload week. I’ve been coaching for about a decade and I’ve seen people mess deload weeks up in a bunch of ways. So, to help you out, I’ve written this full evidence-based, experience based guide to help you approach your deload weeks the right way.
If you’re new here, I’ve spent the last 10+ years as a professional strength and conditioning coach, I make my living by providing an online coaching service where I guarantee athletes and lifters measurable improvements in their performance (or they don’t pay) so I literally put my money where my mouth is when it comes to topics like this.
Let’s jump right in.
What is a Deload Week?
A deload week is a training week in which you deliberately reduce the amount of training that you perform. You do this to reduce fatigue and allow your body to recovery
The Biggest Deload Week Mistakes I See:
So I’ve been coaching athletes for about a decade now, and without a doubt, the two most common deload week fumbles that I see are:
- Not deloading often enough
- Training too hard during a deload week (and therefore not recovering)
“Trust me, you don’t always have to be training insanely hard to make progress.”
Me, Alex, Right Now
Your body is not a machine. Progress is not linear. You need to know when it’s time to push versus when it’s time to back off. Your results will be equal or even better (Grgic et al. 2022) and your injury risk will be much lower.
Deload Week Video Guide
How Often Should You Deload?
Generally speaking I have my athletes do 1 deload week for every 3 to 7 weeks of their normal hard training. So this might look like:
- 3 Weeks normal training + 1 deload week, All the way up to
- 7 weeks normal training + 1 deload week
Deload Frequency Varies Based On…
- Your experience level
- Weights lifted / Paces set
- Training schedule
- Recovery ability (influenced by age, sleep, nutrition, life stress)
So if you’re an experienced strength athlete training 6 to 9 times per week and often lifting 2+ times bodyweight, you’re likely to need far more frequent deloads.
Whereas if you’re a beginner athlete, doing something like 1 strength session and 1 cardio session each week, you can very likely train for 7 or more weeks before needing to take a deload week.
Signs you need a deload week
There are 2 big signs to look out for that suggest you need a deload week:
- Performance has plateaued, not just on one lift or one workout, but across most if not all lifts, and most if not all workouts.
- You feel beaten up, fatigued and lack motivation to train
How to do a deload week
My best advice from 10+ years of coaching athletes, is to reduce your training volume by about half, and your training intensity by anything from 20-50%.
“A properly planned deload week should feel VERY EASY, that’s the entire point.”
Me, Alex, Right now
Remember, you’re doing just enough training to maintain strength, fitness and technical qualities. You’re not training to make any progress during a deload week.
Deload workouts
A deload strength workout might have you moving from 5×5 @ 2 RIR down to 3×5 @ 4 RIR. Here’s an example deload workout for a strength athlete:
| Normal Training | Deload Week |
|---|---|
| 5×5 Back Squat @ 2 RIR | 3×5 Back Squat @ 4 RIR |
| 4×8 Bench Press @ 65-75% | 2×8 Bench Press @ 45-65% |
A deload conditioning or endurance workout might have you reducing your total rounds, total training time or total mileage. Here’s a couple of examples:
| Normal Training | Deload Week |
|---|---|
| 40 Minutes @ RPE 7 | 20 Minutes @ RPE 5-6 |
| Normal Training | Deload Week |
|---|---|
| 4 Rounds of 1 min on – 1 min off @ RPE 8-9 | 2 Rounds of 1 min on – 1 min off @ RPE 7 |
Deload Week Example
Putting the deload workout examples above together, we can create a full deload week example for an athlete performing a mixture of strength and conditioning type sessions during the week. As you can see, a good general rule of thumb is to make things about 1/2 as challenging as you would normally train.
| Monday | Wednesday | Friday |
|---|---|---|
| 40 Minutes Running @ RPE 7 | 9 Sets Total Strength Training @ Average 2 RIR (Reps in Reserve) | 4 Rounds of 1 min on – 1 min off @ RPE 8-9 |
| 20 Minutes @ RPE 5-6 | 5 Sets Total Strength Training @ Average 4 RIR | 2 Rounds of 1 min on – 1 min off @ RPE 7 |
Deload Frequently Asked Questions
Are deload weeks necessary?
Yes, deloads are necessary in almost all cases. Multiple weeks of hard training create fatigue, which you will eventually need to reduce. Failure to do this will usually lead to plateaued performance, soreness, exhaustion, sleep issues and a whole bunch of other bad things. The only real exception to this rule is complete beginners, or people not training hard (e.g. only once per week)
Is it better to deload or take a week off?
Most of the time a deload week is better than a week completely off. This is because it allows you to maintain your strength and fitness, and prevents you from being too sore when you return to training. it also allows you to maintain your technique with more complex movements. With that said, if you are exceptionally fatigued, and/or have just completed a long training cycle, then an active rest week or two might be a better choice.
Next Steps
- Try putting these deload tips into action and you should notice much better long term progress.
- If you need some more hands on guidance, consider looking at 1:1 online coaching with me, or having me write you a custom programme
’til next time
Alex
References (Papers & Research)
- Jozo Grgic, Brad J. Schoenfeld, John Orazem, Filip Sabol, Effects of resistance training performed to repetition failure or non-failure on muscular strength and hypertrophy: A systematic review and meta-analysis, Journal of Sport and Health Science, Volume 11, Issue 2, 2022, Pages 202-211, ISSN 2095-2546, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jshs.2021.01.007
