When people perform weight training, it is natural to gradually increase the training intensity to strengthen and hypertrophy the muscles. However, if the muscles have to cope with increasing training intensity every week, the joints, muscle tissue, and even the nervous system will soon be damaged. will reach its limit. Therefore, in order to avoid injuries and allow the body to recover to cope with stronger training, everyone needs to add a Deload Week to the training plan!
What is Deload Week?
Deload means unloading weight in Chinese. During the deload week, you can continue training, but the intensity should be reduced, that is, the weight and number of movements should be reduced, so that the body can easily cope with the training.
Why do Deload Week(weight loss week)?
The purpose of Deload Week is to prepare the body for the next round of more intense training and reduce the risk of overtraining. Therefore, during Deload Week, the body can recover, grow, and strengthen while maintaining appropriate training to maintain Muscle mass and physical fitness.
In addition to physical rest, psychological rest is also very important. If you repeatedly increase the training intensity, you will feel tired and sleepy. This is worse than physical overtraining because you will have a tendency to avoid training!
Be sure to avoid psychological fatigue.
How to use Deload Week?
When designing a training program, a cycle of 4 or 6 weeks is usually used, so Deload Week should be set in the last week of each cycle. In addition, if you feel tired and weak, have joint soreness, and have a tendency to avoid training for several days in a row, this is a sign of overtraining. At this time, you should immediately arrange a Deload Week, or even discontinue training for three days.
It is best for us to avoid the above situations in our body before starting Deload Week. Therefore, early planning for Deload Week is necessary.
Take Jim Wendler's 5/3/1 program as an example. Wendler has a four-week training cycle. In the first three weeks, the training intensity is continuously increased, and in the fourth week, Deload Week is carried out to prepare the body for the next more intense training cycle:< /p>
Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Week 4 (weight loss training)
Set 1 65% x 5 70% x 3 75% x 5 40% x 5
Set 2 75% x 5 80% x 3 85% x 3 50% x 5
Set 3 85% x 5+ 90% x 3+ 95% x 1+ 60% x 5
Deload Week training method
1. Keep the prescribed training movements, sets and reps, but reduce the weight to 50-60% of normal;
2. Or, continue to use the prescribed training movements and weight, but reduce the number of sets and reps to 50-60% of normal;
3. Pay attention to the techniques and postures of each training movement, so that your body can rest while reviewing your training techniques.
Summary
When training, you must learn to listen to your body's signals, and do not forcefully increase the training intensity, otherwise the body will be seriously injured and the gain will outweigh the gain.