Are Deloads Actually Useless!? (Examining The Science)

0:00 Full Week Off
2:42 Reactive Deload
4:30 Planning deloads

[marzoval]

I deload not because of any science-backed reasoning, but because sometimes my body could really use a bit of a break. I always feel MUCH better after taking a week off (or going light) and no one can convince me otherwise.

[AlexS_]

It just so happens that life throws a particularly hectic week at me every 6-12 weeks, so I basically just deload whenever that happens

[adamewhite]

I actually programme my deloads based around what's going on in my life. If I have a long 3-4 day weekend with the family and can't gym I actually structure my training to go hard before hand then really enjoy the time off with my family. It's a new training programme I have devised. It's called" living your life and not letting your life be your entire gym (just most of it 😆)

[benridesbikes]

Funny that Gregorian calendar bias was mentioned, I train every second day so naturally the actual days I train change every week. It gives me and my program robustness against the rest of life. If I feel like shit, instead of wasting a workout, I'll just postpone one day, and instead of blowing out my program for a whole week it all just scooches along one day. On Friday I had no sleep due to work, was supposed to do max effort deadlifts but I know that on low sleep my compounds suffer. So I did them Saturday instead, and felt amazing, and hit my target weights. I don't do deloads by taking a whole week off, I'll just rest an extra day or two then get back to it.

[epete]

I'm married, have two young kids, work full time, pushing 40 years old, 4x a week of heavy lifting in the gym, 2-3x a week BJJ training, meal prepping every day/weekend. I deload for the mental break as much for the physical break. Does wonders for my recovery both mentally and physically. After the week, I'm hungry for the gym again and mentally good to go. When I do deload, I typically deload the week I'm competing in a BJJ tournament, or the following week after my competition.

[AK-bwxk]

If I am exhausted, sore all over, joints feel like the have broken glass in them, and my grip strength is struggling with a cup of coffee then yes I am taking a week off.😂

[chrisweidner]

Brother, I’m 65, and I need time off. Used to push through it. Now by taking time off, I have far fewer tweaks and am making better progress.

[spencersivco]

I read, "Deloads are actually useless" And my immediate thought before I even clicked the notification was, "Tell that to my hips, man 😂"
I'm deloading now, and I can feel the life slowly coming back to me haha

[SPMacIntyre]

Having an option in the RP hypertrophy app to have deloads occur only after backslides in progress would be AMAZING. I would gladly pay extra for that option.

[RedPanda]

I hear what he is saying, for me, an active
deload is needed for a week after 2 or 3 months. I feel the stress of life kicking my butt

[starb]

I dont care if there's no evidence, if my joints start to bother me after 4 weeks of heavy training im taking a deload week (half the weight/half the series). Worked wonders for the past year

[darthvinus]

I take dealods naturally when i'm on vacation or on a trip i prefer this over planning them..

[jordanlewis]

Tl;dw:
-you can build a work capacity to where you recover in as little as 24 hours (as seen in 6x and 7x weekly frequency in professional Norwegian powerlifting competitors who were studied in lab settings)

-deloads should be specific to muscle groups, and based on measured overreach, rather than calendrical schedules (if you overreach [get weaker while not under training] on bench. Deload your pressing muscles only)

-if you detect overreach on a set, and take the rest of the sets off from the workout, sometimes this alone will provide enough recovery to allow progress on the next scheduled session (he calls this a “reactive deload”)

-Mike mentions a tip where sometimes when overreaching mid-mesocycle to take a half week where you do half the volume and half the load which should reduce fatigue enough to complete the mesocycle

-Monica Bellucci is a dimepiece

[ironmine]

I agree with this for the most part in terms of the muscle recovery etc. However you haven't mentioned for CNS. Sometimes taking for me 4 days off after a 5-7 week period i feel fresh to go again. If i didnt i would feel like utter garbage. But hey it works for me.

[goody]

Before I watch the video, i want to say ive been deloading for 25 years comfortably, so curious to see Menno’s take on this.

[monastillero]

Grip strengrh is one of indicators.

I used to not do deloads, but tennis elbow did me in.

[simonragnarson]

I would like to add that the mind is super large part of a workout at least for me. I deload every 8 to 12 weeks and when I get back to the gym after the deaload I always se progress in performance and all the physical signs (pump, streach, ability to control eccentric etc) I think it’s important to remember that the psychological impact of rest and recovery and the consequence of just getting a break from your mundane routine resuscitates your will and mindset. Even if my muscles would be ready after 72 hours in sted of a week, I know that my preformance as person will be better after that full week which undoubtedly will leed to better gains then the workouts I would preformed if mentally exhausted or just on autopilot. It really keeps the workout a fun activity for me to just take breaks from it sometimes. It makes you appreciate the gym more. Great video!

[illegitimate]

Another factor that I think wasn't addressed is if you are cutting. When I'm cutting, build up of fatigue from training happens more easily and recovery takes longer. After 8 weeks of cutting and training, sometimes I just need a week of maintenance calories and half the training volume. Then I'm back to it. It may sound like I bitched out, but it's way better to be able to train hard while cutting to maintain mass. I don't have a show to hit, there's no reason to blow myself up metabolically for this.

[railasvuo]

I needed a deload where I took 2 days off and the remaining 3 days I took it easy. Before this, I trained hard for 3 months, but then I ran out of energy after 20 minutes of training and I was feeling pretty miserable anyway. I'm a beginner and I don't know much about working out/my body, but I'm learning more all the time

[cindykurneck]

I can only speak for myself - but the one week off was MUCH more for my mental health than physical. I needed it off. Perhaps it's my age but it takes a lot of willpower to keep doing this. I was hating it. But by the end of the off week I was really wanting to get back to lifting and I'm happier now. So maybe we all should just do it as we see fit. Do what we need to do to keep on going.