Is there such a thing as deloading?

[Samsconite]

Is there such a thing as deloading? Heard some guysin the gym talking about some sort of deloading that they areplanning to do, but this is the first time I hear about that. Did notfeel like looking stupid there, so decided to ask here instead –perhaps it is a good thing for me to do as well...

 

[stevesmi]

an example of deloading is dropping your weights and sets down lets say 50% for a few workouts in a row before raising them back up

deloading is done in all pro sports. in the NFL they don't go in there all week and pound away. they have 1 padded practice during the week and they do not go all out. then on game day they go out 100%. we have found in the past 50 years that pounding your body into the dirt wears you down, of course you younger guys have no clue what i'm talking about but as you get older you will figure it out fast. our bodies are not made of steel

 

[MasonicBodybuilder]

Deloading can be great when your body needs a break. Instead of taking extra time, days, weeks off just do a week with much lower weights. This will allow for more recover with muscles, joints and you will just feel refreshed.

 

[muskate]

Deloading is done when you feel like you are on the verge of over training.

When you aren't responding to your workouts anymore and feel really beat up, that's when it's time to de-load. You basically reduce the amount of volume you train with for roughly a week to allow your body to heal and recover.

If you are training very intensely, you should program a de-load week into your training program every 4-8 weeks.

I usually take a de-load week every 8th week. I drop my volume by 50%. For example if I normally do 4 sets of bicep curls, I will only do 2 during my de-load week.

 

[Lev Butlerov]

Although it may sound counter-intuitive, sometimes having a break will do much more for your muscle and strength growth than actual training. Your body will accumulate that stress, and there will be a moment in time when it will just need to have a rest. Some guys will stop working out completely for a week or two. Others, will just decrease the working weights in order to keep the form without stressing the body.

 

[SteveMobsterG]

I compete (the last event was just a couple of months back). What I did back in the day was carry on training as I did before - BIG MISTAKE. So now I come in at 60-70% of the numbers I was doing just before the competition.

That's deloading.

What some do is just have a light week or two - this is also deloading

 

[johnniewalk]

Deloading is a waste of your time said by Arnold Schwarzenegger

 

[SteveMobsterG]

Deloading is a waste of your time said by Arnold Schwarzenegger

There was no such phrase used when Arnie was doing his thing (late 60's to early 1980's)