What’s your take on deload weeks? Do you take them, how often and what do they look like? I usually do one every 16 weeks or so ad hoc, when I get beat up or life gets crazy. I typically lift about half as much, both frequently and volume.
At this point for me, life forces my deloads. Between kids, work or random injury I’m usually taking it easy about every 8 weeks. Lol.
In the past, I never really did a deload. I’m hardwired to train hard all the time. When my body needs a rest, or life circumstances dictate, I take a week to 10 days off, then start again at about 90% of where I left off. I might give a deload week a try….maybe. Israeltel had a good strategy for a deload:
half the reps, half the sets, half the weight.
Agreed. I don’t usually schedule them. Ends up being a vacation, long weekend, or busy week or something else that pops up.
Whenever I feel I need them, once my body starts feeling like it’s getting beat to shit usually I start sliding into the deep end not long after that.
It could be a few days to a whole week. Kinda depends on how everything feels for me
Training for strength. One week every 4 - 6 weeks. Max weight down by 25%, number of top working sets down by 50%
Timing based on how I’m feeling stress wise, tiredness outside of the gym, and if it coincides with lifestyle things like kids off school then also great etc, but never more than 6 weeks.