The Importance of Deloading

What’s the point of a deload week? Since I’m currently doing one right now, I’ll tell you:

What Does Deloading Mean?

A deload week allows your body to recover while exercising at a lower intensity.

What Does This Look Like?

According to Military Fitness, a deload week could include:

• Reduce time
• Lower the weight
• Less sets or reps
• Lower volume
• Reduce intensity of workouts

This might look different for a lot of people. For instance, most of my workouts from this week ranged around 45 minutes. Some days I maintained a lower weight with the same amount of sets I usually do, or I did a max of 3 sets for some exercises. This is what works for me, but maybe something else works for others.

When Is It Time For a Deload?

It depends, but if you are working out consistently, various articles suggest to deload when you are feeling physically exhausted, experiencing plateaus, or you’re nearing the end of a fitness cycle.

This article gives a good timeline depending on how long you have been lifting. For someone like myself who has been lifting for a little over 2 years, I should be doing a deload week every 6-8 weeks. For new lifters, every 8-10 weeks is sufficient.

Why Do You Need to Deload?

In addition to the 1-3 rest days you may take during a normal week of lifting, your body needs to recover physically before you can go heavy again. A deload week is a great way to recover by doing lower-intensity workouts for a week.

Ultimately, you should do whatever works for you! Contact me if you wanna chat more about it!