Posted in Uncategorized

When should you schedule a Deload or “light” week?

Good question. And one that deserves a moment of deeper reflection…

Going heavy for three weeks and drastically cutting volume and intensity on the fourth to drive supercompensation is a staple in popular powerlifting programs.

Thus, that would be a great rule to follow. Except for one tiny problem… it sucks for non-powerlifters.

First of all, most people in commercial gyms don’t train hard enough to warrant a lighter week in the first place.

I see all these dudes coasting through their workouts day after day… Then they wanna “take it easy” because they fear they might get overtrained from another week of 3×12 leg presses and a few sets on the peck dec machine?

But what if you’re actually one of the few guys more interested in improving your strength and athleticism than posing in the mirror for Instagram pics or exchanging weekend drinking stories with other gym-goers?

Surely you gotta deload properly then?

While I do believe the three powerlifts – especially certain joint-friendlier variations – have merit for building up athletes in the weight room, the truth remains…

You don’t use a training system designed for one sport to prepare athletes competing in another sport.

The typical plan of hitting the weights hard for three weeks, followed by a deload that is common among elite powerlifters is about the dumbest thing you can do for a hockey player or other team sport athlete.

Why?

That means you’re deliberately NOT trying to improve 25% of your Training time.

Over the course of an entire year, you would settle for spinning your wheels for three full months.

That’s just unacceptable.

Structured Deload Weeks like that are right up there with in-season “maintenance training” as the most disgusting training myth that makes me want to throw up my post-workout meal whenever I hear people peddling that nonsense.

That’s why I never write structured deload weeks for my hockey players. I can’t even recall the last time I did that in my own training.

Then how does one prevent plateaus and drive continual improvements in the weight room?

I’m glad you asked…

A Better Way to Deload (Without Actually Deloading)

As you must have noticed if you’ve read my articles from last summer when I posted sample off-season programs for the U17 team I’m coaching, I believe in fluctuating volume and intensity in addition to varying an exercise from phase to phase for consistent strength gains.

That’s also one of the reasons why you’ll experience plateaus far less often than if you tried to improve linearly over time with something like a 5×5 training program beyond your first 6-12 months of lifting weights.

Here’s an example of what this could look like on paper with one of my favorite exercises, the chin-up…

Phase 1 (Volume) – Chin-Up

Week 1 – 3×6

Week 2 – 3×8

Week 3 – 4×8

Week 4 – 4×10

Phase 2 (Intensity) – Weighted Ring Chin-Up

Week 1 – 4×3

Week 2 – 4×3

Week 3 – 5×2

Week 4 – 5×2

In our system, the first week of any training phase will typically feature a different set/rep scheme and exercise variation in comparison to the previous phase. In the example above, we went from performing higher volume chin-ups on a fixed bar to heavy doubles and triples on ring chin-ups.

We also have the guys start below their true rep maxes on the first week of a new phase, which serves two purposes:

1. We get to groove their technique before things get heavy.

2. They have the confidence they’ll be able to increase poundages over the next few weeks.

So you’ve got your built-in deload week right there.

We’ve had excellent success with this training method – even if I say so myself – which you can see for yourself in the videos below…

The first one features 18-year-olds on the U20 team hitting lifetime rep PR’s three months into the hockey season (another nail in the coffin for in-season “maintenance training”).

And here we have our 16-year-olds wrapping up the off-season strong with some singles.

Let Life Schedule Your Deloads

Another thing people fail to realize is that life will automatically force you to deload.

Maybe you’re in Cancun for a holiday with the boys and the hotel “gym” consists of a treadmill, lat pulldown machine and a pair of 20-pound dumbbells…

Get a game of pickup football going on at the beach and chat up those tanned babes in bikinis all around you. There’s your deload.

Or perhaps you caught a nasty flu and you know better than to train with fever…

There you go, deload by nature.

What if you’ve got 4 regular season games scheduled next week and the head coach expects wins across the board?

Hit it short and heavy in the gym twice on the off days while scaling back on volume. Another deload.

You gotta spend less time thinking about light weeks and focus on driving your numbers up.

Your body will let you know if and when it needs a break. And life will grant you a deload eventually one way or the other.

Until then, keep training hard.

The post Why Deload Weeks Are Overrated appeared first on Next Level Athletics.