Hi Chris, I need to deload, I am push to the limit. I need to reduce intensity since I am 45, I am on fat loss plan and my volume is already very low (1-2 high intensity set/muscle group once per week). I don’t want to loose muscle on my deload week and neither during my ramp up weeks post deloading until I am back up where I was before deloading. How should I set the intensity drop and the intensity ramp up post deloading ? And what should I do with my calories deficit during those weeks (for the deloading week and the ramp-up weeks after that) ? Thanks
I think I answered you in a private message on facebook about the training question.
As far as calories are concerned I would increase carbs during a deload week.
The goal of a deload week is to promote recovery. When it comes to weight training we are mostly talking about neurological recovery.
Why would carbs be important then?
To reduce cortisol which will reduce adrenaline.
Symptom of what is often called “neurological fatigue” are mostly due to a desensitization of the beta-adrenergic receptors (receptors that interact with adrenaline to increase focus, drive, energy, strength, speed, etc.).
If you overstimulate them they downregulate (start to respond less and less to adrenaline). When that happens your motivation, focus, energy and performance goes down.
The more adrenaline you produce, the more likely you are to downregulate the receptors.
Adrenaline and cortisol are connected. Cortisol leads to the release of adrenaline.
The more cortisol you produce, the more adrenaline you release, the more likely you are to desensitize your receptors.
The goal of a deload is to reduce adrenaline to re-establish the sensitivity of the receptors.
To do that you need to decrease cortisol. This is done by decreasing one or more of the training variables that can lead to more cortisol release (volume, intensiveness/how hard you push each set, psychological stress, neurological demands, density).
So what is the connection with carbs?
One of the main functions of cortisol is the increase blood sugar levels when they are too low.
As such, when you are in a caloric deficit (thus likely have low to moderate carbs) it is more likely to have lower blood sugar levels, which means that you will release more cortisol.
In fact, anytime you are in a significant caloric deficit, you will release more cortisol because its job is to mobilize stored energy.
Ingesting more carbs and calories will help reduce cortisol because there is now less need to mobilize stored energy and to increase blood sugar levels.
This will lead to lower adrenaline levels, helping you resensitize your receptors.
Thanks for the reply. The new deload post will be a reference.
I was able to cut week after week for over 3 month just on an increase of calories expenditure which doesn t work since the past 3 weeks.
I will decrease my food intake to match my new body weight which is almost 25 pounds less but I wont go crazy and will make sure to not change my macro distribution until the deload is done. I will try to be patient….again