Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How to Use Deloads to Gain Muscle and Strength Faster

Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey, Mike here. And if you like what I'm doing on the podcast and elsewhere, and if you want to help me help more people get into the best shape of their lives, please do consider picking up one of my bestselling health and fitness books, including Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Men, Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women, my flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef, and my 100% practical and hands-on blueprint for personal transformation inside and outside of the gym, The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Now, these books have sold well over 1 million copies and have helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever. And you can find them on all major online retailers like Audible, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play, as well as in select Barnes & Noble stores. Again, that's Bigger Leaner Stronger for Men, Thinner Leaner Stronger for Women, The Shredded Chef, and The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Oh, and I should also mention that you can get any of the audiobooks 100% free when you sign up for an Audible account, which is the perfect way to make those pockets of downtime,

Starting point is 00:01:18 like commuting, meal prepping, and cleaning, more interesting, entertaining, and productive. meal prepping, and cleaning more interesting, entertaining, and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on that offer, and if you want to get one of my audio books for free, go to www.legionathletics.com slash Audible. That's L-E-G-I-O-N athletics slash A-U-D-I-B-L-E, and sign up for your account. Hey, Mike here and welcome to the Muscle For Life podcast. In many ways, building the body of your dreams is just like building anything else worth having. The more you put into it, the more you get out of it. To a point, what I mean is you gotta train hard

Starting point is 00:02:02 to get the body you want, but you can't only rely on your afterburners. If you punish your body with very intense grueling workouts, week in, week out, without taking breaks or deloads, your journey is going to be rough. You are going to experience regular plateaus. You're going to experience overuse injuries, lack of motivation, lackluster workouts, and more. And this is why top level athletes of all stripes, from hockey players to cyclists to powerlifters, include planned periods of rest and recovery in their training. In fact, the highest level athletes place tremendous importance on this because the consequences of overlooking it are so severe that they can't

Starting point is 00:02:54 afford to experience them. I'm talking about chronic underperformance and under recovery, impaired immunity, career-ending injuries, and so on. Now, in the case of building muscle and gaining strength, one of the best recovery tools at your disposal is the deload. Sleep is another major one, of course, a crucial one, but deloading is also very important. Now, if you are listening to this, you have probably heard of deloads before, but you might not know why they're done, how to do them correctly, or how often to do them.

Starting point is 00:03:33 And if you poke around online for answers, you of course just find a lot of conflicting opinions. Some people say that deloads are a waste of time and they say that there's no such thing as overtraining, only under-recovering. And if you do other things to maximize recovery, you don't need to deload. You can just hit it hard and heavy every week in the gym forever. And other people say that some rest and recovery is necessary, but you don't need to deload. You should just take a week off. It's also often claimed that you should deload by reducing your weekly sets and how much you lift.

Starting point is 00:04:14 That's one way to do it. And then people in another camp say that you should only reduce your number of weekly sets. You should still be handling heavy weights. You should still be pushing yourself too close to technical failure in your weekly sets. You should still be handling heavy weights. You should still be pushing yourself too close to technical failure in your working sets, but you just do fewer sets. And as far as frequency goes, some people say that you should deload whenever you feel like it. You know, if your sleep is not as good as it was and your joints are hurting and your weights are feeling heavy, that's time to deload. Whereas other people say

Starting point is 00:04:45 that you should plan them in advance and stick to the schedule regardless of how you feel. So who's right? How should you go about it? Well, the short answer is if you are a natural weightlifter and you're following a well-designed workout routine, deloads should be included in it because they are an effective way to prevent injuries, plateaus, and burnout. That said, you do need to plan and execute your deloads correctly because if you don't, they will either fail to adequately boost recovery or just waste time that could have been spent doing just about anything else really. So that's what we'll be talking about in this podcast. And by the end, you are going to know what a deload is, why some people actually don't

Starting point is 00:05:30 benefit from deloads, how often you should deload, when you should deload versus just taking some time off, how to do a proper deload, and more. Alrighty, let's start at the top as usual. What is a deload? Well, a deload is a temporary reduction in your training stress to give your body and mind a break from all the hard training that you've been doing. And by stress, I mean the general mental and physical strain and fatigue that is caused by heavy and intense training, as well as the microscopic damage to your muscles and joints. So it's both of those things. And by alleviating those stressors, you can reduce joint and ligament strain and the risk of injury and burnout. And deloading also reduces the demands placed on your muscles, but this isn't as important as the other benefits from deloading.

Starting point is 00:06:26 And there are a couple levers you can pull to reduce training stress. You can reduce the intensity, the load, the weight that you're lifting, or you can reduce the volume, which can be looked at in terms of number of hard sets or working sets, heavy sets, or the number of reps that you're performing in those sets or on the whole, or you could have a combination of both. You could be reducing the number of hard sets that you are performing as well as the number of reps that you are performing in those hard sets. So for example, let's say your training routine consists of five workouts per week of about 70 to 80 reps of heavy weightlifting. So let's say somewhere between

Starting point is 00:07:06 70 and 80, maybe 85% of your one rep max, and you take most of those sets close to technical failure, a deload might reduce the intensity to let's say 50 or 60% of your one rep max for the same amount of reps. And you might also make those sets a little bit easier in terms of how many reps you are leaving in the tank. You might be ending your sets with three or four reps in the tank as opposed to maybe one or two. So that's a common way that people deload, but not my preferred method, which I will get to a little bit later in this podcast. Now, typically deloads are scheduled after a period of progressively more intense training. So for example, it's common for strength training programs to increase the training intensity, so the load, and or the volume, the amount of hard sets that you're doing week after

Starting point is 00:07:56 week to promote muscle and strength gain. And then after three or four, maybe five or six weeks of this, then call for a week-long deload to give your body a little bit of a break so it can get ready for another round of punishment. Now, typically deloads last a week. And although some people do use longer or shorter deloads, depending on their training plans and goals, a week is what works best for most people. Now, if you've been training particularly hard or maybe have gone a long time without deloading, then a full week may be warranted. But if you haven't been training that hard or if you have deloaded recently, then maybe it's just a few days. Maybe that'll get the job done. Another way to give your body a break is to just take some time off resistance training all together. And this works, of course, but if you

Starting point is 00:08:51 take too many days off, your technique can rust a little bit, as well as your desire to get back into the hard and heavy training. It's not likely that you're going to lose muscle unless you take multiple weeks off. But even five to seven days off can be enough, at least in some people, to feel a little bit weaker when they get back to it. Not because they've really lost strength. This is mostly just technique and the weights can just feel heavy and awkward and it usually takes that first week back to kind of get back to where they left off. This is one of the reasons why I generally recommend a deload instead of just taking

Starting point is 00:09:30 time off completely. But sometimes it does make sense to just take a break from lifting. For example, if you're traveling and you are going to have limited access to weights, then it's often better to just take a break and enjoy yourself than fret about finding time and places to train properly. All right, so that's what deloading is. Now let's get into the specifics as to why people do it. Why is this a thing? Well, the basic theory of deloading is based on research on how the body deals with physical stress. Now, scientists are still debating the best way to describe this process, but the gist is you provide a stressor like exercise, you remove the stressor, rest and

Starting point is 00:10:21 recovery, and then your body adapts to deal with the next stressor better. So in other words, you stress your body in some way, you let it recover, and then it becomes even better at dealing with that type of stress in the future. And that third step, the adaptation, is technically referred to as supercompensation. And it is what allows you to build muscle and to get stronger and get faster and improve your agility and coordination and so forth. And like maintaining good sleep hygiene and managing your energy balance properly, deloading is a tool that falls under number two, the removing of the stressor, and its purpose is to help with number three, the supercompensation.

Starting point is 00:11:09 And this cycle, this 1-2-3 cycle, repeats over the short and long term between workouts as well as over weeks and months of training. So for example, after a workout, your muscles are fatigued and slightly damaged. For example, after a workout, your muscles are fatigued and slightly damaged. And if you provide your body with enough calories, protein, sleep, and rest, your muscles will recover and they will be ready for another beating a few days later. And hopefully they will be a little bit bigger and a little bit stronger. Now, if that's the case, if that's how the body works, why do we need to deload? bit stronger. Now, if that's the case, if that's how the body works, why do we need to deload?

Starting point is 00:11:52 Why couldn't we just keep going? And why couldn't our body just keep pace with the stress and the damage that's caused by our workouts? Why couldn't it just continue to repair itself like that? And the reason is different parts of the body heal faster than others. So for example, your central nervous system recovers from a heavy workout within a matter of hours, and your muscles are generally repaired within a few days. Some tissues in the body, however, take much longer to heal though, like tendons, ligaments, and bones. And if you are lifting heavy weights regularly, And if you are lifting heavy weights regularly, those types of tissues, the ones that take quite a bit more time to heal, suffer small microfractures and tears. And if you don't make sure that they are healing, this damage can eventually lead to strains or injuries. Now, by deloading regularly, you're giving your body a chance to clean up the various types of residual stress that accumulate over weeks of hard training. So it's kind of like an insurance policy of sorts against injury and overtraining.

Starting point is 00:13:04 allows you to have more productive workouts. You see, if you've been training hard and really pushing for progress for progressive overload would be the key form of progress you're going for. If you've been doing that for weeks or months on end without a break, you are not performing at your peak capacity. And eventually you are going to reach a point where you're only recovering enough to repeat the same workouts over and over. A plateau, right? And this is why deloading is one of the best ways to prevent even breakthrough muscle and strength gain plateaus. The extra rest and recovery that you are giving your body allows you to start your training blocks fresh and powerful and capable of lifting more weight and doing more volume. Simply put, you will do much better with a month or two of hard training followed by a deload and another month or two of hard training

Starting point is 00:13:57 than two to four months of continuous max effort work. And I would say that tends to be true even for people who are new to weightlifting, whose bodies are hyper responsive to it. Deloading is probably more relevant to intermediate and advanced weightlifters, but it's not only for intermediate and advanced weightlifters. What I've found working with many people is that people who are new to weightlifting can often go a bit longer before they feel the need to deload or before they start experiencing the negative side effects that I've been talking about. Hey, quickly, before we carry on, if you are liking my podcast, would you please help spread the word about it? Because no amount of marketing or advertising gimmicks can match the power of word of mouth. So if you are enjoying this episode and

Starting point is 00:14:52 you think of someone else who might enjoy it as well, please do tell them about it. It really helps me. And if you are going to post about it on social media, definitely tag me so I can say thank you. You can find me on Instagram at MuscleForLifeFitness, Twitter at MuscleForLife, and Facebook at MuscleForLifeFitness. Okay, so now let's talk about why many people will not benefit from deloading. Well, the amount of rest and recovery the body requires depends on the severity of the stress you subject it to. So something significant like several weeks or maybe even a month or two or three, that'd be a bit long, of heavy weightlifting, intense weightlifting with progressive overload should be followed by extra rest and recovery, like a deload. Something much lighter, however, and easier on the body,

Starting point is 00:15:48 like much of the kind of lackadaisical, barely break-a-sweat workouts we see many people doing in the gym, that does not require special periods of additional recuperation. There's not enough stress to need it or to warrant it. There's not enough stress to need it or to warrant it. And this is why some notable fitness folk rail against deloading. Quite factually, many people do not train hard enough to need it. They just show up and they go through the motions. They don't track their lifts. They don't strive to beat previous workouts or set new PRs. And they don't manage their diets properly to support their fitness goals. So for those people, I agree, deloading has nothing to offer them. The key to improving body composition and performance over time is regularly pushing your body slightly beyond its limits and then backing off and allowing it to recover. And if you are not following a well-designed training routine that revolves around progressive overload, or if you just don't push yourself hard enough in the gym to make progress, then you have no reason to deload. That said, if you are

Starting point is 00:16:56 following a good program and you are working hard in the gym and you are improving your numbers, you can definitely benefit from and should certainly incorporate deloads into your routine. In fact, I'd say that a training program that doesn't include or at least necessitate periodic deloads is probably suboptimal at best or ineffective at worst. And you know, I've been there myself many years ago. I used to do bodybuilder workouts. I'd pull out of magazines and many of them were longer workouts, higher rep workouts, relatively lower weights, where you're mostly focusing on just doing a lot of reps and fancier, quote unquote, advanced techniques like drop sets and supersets, giant sets and so forth.

Starting point is 00:17:42 And so I would do those types of workouts four to six days per week for months on end without experiencing any injuries or any symptoms associated with overtraining whatsoever. And when I did take a week off or miss workouts, it usually was for reasons not related to training at all, like traveling, getting sick, related to training at all, like traveling, getting sick or working or whatever. Later, however, in my fitness journey, I finally experienced the transformative power of heavy compound weightlifting. But I also quickly realized how much stress this type of training places on the body. After eight to 10 weeks of training like that, and sometimes sooner when I was in a calorie deficit, when I was cutting, I would start to notice little aches and pains, usually

Starting point is 00:18:30 in my joints. My energy levels were generally just lower. My workouts would feel abnormally hard and heavy, especially weights that I was using the previous week. And I'm trying to still progress, obviously, even when I'm cutting. So put the weight back on the bar that I used in my last workout and it just feels heavy. And then the next week it feels even heavier. And my motivation to train would also sag. And fortunately, the solution was simple. It was just a deload. Every eight, 10 weeks, I would either deload or rest for a week because I wanted to see the

Starting point is 00:19:05 difference in my body. And by the end of the deload or the rest week, I would feel much better. I'd feel reinvigorated and I'd get back in the gym. My workouts would feel good and everything would just move along. And eventually I settled on deloading as opposed to just taking a week off because I like working out. And I also found that that made it easiest to just continue progressing. If I took a week off again, I would come back and I rarely would add weight to the bar or even gain reps on that week back. Whereas if I deloaded, there was a chance that I would be able to make a little bit of progress in that first week of my new training block. Now, some people will say that deloaded, there was a chance that I would be able to make a little bit of progress in that first week of my new training block. Now, some people will say that deloading isn't necessary if you

Starting point is 00:19:51 learn to just listen to your body and program your workouts accordingly. For example, if you planned on hitting some heavy squats, but you felt like you just need a lighter day, then you would train lightly. And on the other hand, if you planned on a deload style of workout or a deload week, but you felt good, you felt energized and ready to put up some big numbers, then you would train hard. Now, the scientific term for that approach to training is auto-regulation. And while it is a perfectly legitimate training methodology and is actually baked into my Bigger Leaner Stronger and Thinner Leaner Stronger programs, it is easier said than done, especially when you are well into your beginning phase as a weightlifter or into

Starting point is 00:20:44 your intermediate phase as a weightlifter or into your intermediate phase. As you move along in your journey, it gets harder and harder to successfully auto-regulate and make progress. In the beginning, for the first year or so, maybe a year and a half, max two years, you can do it pretty successfully. But if you have been training for two plus years, training correctly for two plus years, it is hard to continue making progress through auto-regulation alone. You can do it, but it's difficult. You really do have to be in tune with your body and willing to push yourself hard in the gym. Of course, the alternative to that is linear progression where you are adding weight to the bar on a prescribed schedule,

Starting point is 00:21:25 regardless of how you feel. And most high quality weightlifting programs for intermediate and advanced weightlifters combine that linear loading with auto-regulation. So you might have a linear, very prescriptive progression model for your big lifts, for example. And then you might use auto-regulation on your isolation work, your kind of complimentary supplementary bodybuilding work. Anyway, the reason why auto-regulation can be tricky is you need a considerable amount of training experience and familiarity with your body and your mind to let your feelings dictate your training. So people who successfully auto-regulate their training, they don't do it just willy-nilly either. One for one, these people use evidence-based

Starting point is 00:22:12 principles, benchmarks, and rules to dictate what they do on any given day. Now, as you can imagine, this can become fairly complex and nuanced. And if you have not spent a lot of time studying the topic, or if you don't have a knowledgeable coach to help you, or if you just don't have much experience, it really can become unworkable. So my point here is if you have been training properly for, let's say, two or three years or less. So if you are a beginner or maybe you are an early intermediate weightlifter, don't worry about auto-regulating your deloads. Just follow a well-designed routine that includes regular deloads and just do them regardless of how you feel. And that's a good segue to frequency. How often should you deload? Well, there is actually no one size fits all answer to that because some people's bodies

Starting point is 00:23:07 can take more abuse than others. Additionally, the ideal frequency of deloads is going to depend on how strong you are because stronger people tend to need more frequent deloads to recover from their heavier and more difficult training. It also depends on how long you've been training for. more difficult training. It also depends on how long you've been training for. Newbies tend to need fewer deloads because they're not strong enough to beat up their bodies yet to the degree that more experienced weightlifters can. And also you have to consider how durable your joints, tendons, and ligaments are because these pains, joint tendon and ligament pains, are a reliable indicator of the need for a deload.

Starting point is 00:23:46 That's always been one of the go-to signals for me. When my joints, tendons, and ligaments are starting to ache, I know it's time to deload. Now, despite the variability, there are some good rules of thumb for frequency and deloading. So one is if you are new to lifting weights, plan a deload week after every eight to 10 weeks of heavy, intense weightlifting. And if you are in a calorie deficit, if you are cutting, reduce this to every six to eight weeks. And yes, you should continue training heavy when you're in a deficit and you should continue pushing yourself and trying to progress. If you've been lifting weights for one to three years, I recommend planning a deload week after every six to eight weeks of heavy and intense weightlifting. And I recommend reducing

Starting point is 00:24:34 that to four to six weeks if you are cutting. And if you have been lifting weights for three to six years or more, plan a deload week every four to six weeks of heavy, intense weightlifting and use the same deload frequency if you're cutting. I also don't recommend that you do more than 12 weeks of hard training without deloading at least once, regardless of how experienced you are in the gym. Because in my experience, there's just little benefit to be had by training longer than this without a break. And the risk of significant downsides just increases sharply. And another point that I made earlier, but I will just restate it here because it's important is if you never physically

Starting point is 00:25:17 or mentally feel the need to deload, you probably need to work harder in the gym. Your workout routine is probably too easy. And if you're wondering why I recommend deload, you probably need to work harder in the gym. Your workout routine is probably too easy. And if you're wondering why I recommend deloading more frequently as you become more experienced in the gym, if that seems a bit counterintuitive to you because you'd think that your body becomes more and more resilient over time and is able to take more and more punishment, so wouldn't you be able to train longer before you deload? It's a good question. And yes, your body does become more resilient, does become tougher, becomes stronger, capable of dealing with more and more stress, but you should be subjecting it to more and more stress as an intermediate and advanced weightlifter. In fact, you have to,

Starting point is 00:25:59 if you are going to continue to progress. I'm currently working on the new second edition to beyond bigger, leaner, stronger, which is the sequel to bigger, leaner, stronger. And the chapter that I am currently working on is called the more for less method. Because I think that just encapsulates the experience as intermediate and advanced weight lifter. You have to keep doing more in the gym for less reward. And by more, what I really mean is you just have to make your workouts harder

Starting point is 00:26:32 and harder over time. And you are going to gain less and less muscle and strength from those workouts. But if you don't continue to push your body and continue to do more and more, then you'll get stuck. And no amount of dietary or supplementary interventions are going to change that. If you're going to continue to progress as an intermediate or advanced weightlifter, your workouts are going to have to

Starting point is 00:26:57 get more and more difficult over time. And of course, the primary way you increase the difficulty is progressive overload. That is the number one goal. But to accomplish that, you're going to have to work a lot harder in the gym than when you first started out. Okay, so let's get back on track here with deloading. A few more points that I want to share. So one is if you are new to deloading, I recommend that you plan a deload week in advance and you just stick to it regardless of how you feel, because this will ensure that you don't accidentally increase your risk of injury or overtraining by stubbornly refusing to let off the gas. And trust me, I know I've been there and done that many times. I've learned the lesson more times than I probably should have needed to learn

Starting point is 00:27:42 it for it to stick. Now, as you learn more about how your body responds to training, you can get a bit looser with your deload timing. You'll start to notice the need for a deload coming. You'll start to notice that your progress is slowing down or stalling. Your body is getting achy. You're just not as into your workouts. You have less motivation to train. Your workouts are feeling harder and harder and harder than they should feel. And then you can respond accordingly. So for example, my current training program involves quite a bit of heavy weightlifting

Starting point is 00:28:17 and my sleep is hit and miss, although it's getting better. Kids are not conducive to good sleep hygiene, apparently. And so I'm deloading every four to five weeks of hard training just because I just start to feel the need for it. So I might as well just get it done then. And so usually what I do is I go to that point four or five weeks, I start to feel it coming on. I'll do one more all out week and then I will deload. Now, how, how do you deload properly? Well, to do that, you have to understand the primary goal, and then you have to understand what to change in your training to accomplish the goal. So the primary goal of a deload is to reduce systemic and local joints, tendons, and ligaments fatigue

Starting point is 00:29:01 and stress while maintaining your ability to skillfully handle heavy weights. And while there isn't much direct research on this topic, most evidence and in the trenches learning shows that volume is the primary driver of fatigue, not intensity. So what I mean by that is the number of hard sets that you're performing every week beats you up more than the amount of weight you lift in those sets. I know that's a bit counterintuitive, again, based on what we have heard for so long now, which is that it's the heavy weightlifting that really fries your nervous system and really places extraordinary demands on your entire body. And there's some truth in that.

Starting point is 00:29:47 Of course, heavyweight lifting does place large demands on your body and does hit the nervous system and does leave residual fatigue and does hit your joints, tendons, and ligaments. But again, research indicates that it's the amount of hard sets that you're doing, the volume that matters more in this regard. And the first part then of an effective deload, of course, is reducing volume, doing thousands of people over the years. And based on my conversations with high-level coaches, researchers, and bodybuilders, a 30 to 50% reduction of weekly volume seems to be ideal for most people. So in other words, when you're deloading, you want to do about one third to one half of the number of hard sets that you would normally do in your regular training. And as far as intensity goes, as far as weight on the bar goes, many people recommend that you reduce your

Starting point is 00:30:51 weight to about 40 to 50% of your one rep max when you are deloading. And this is what I used to do myself, but I have since switched to what I believe is a better approach. Now I don't reduce the amount of weight on the bar at all. And I just use the loads that I would normally lift in my hard training. So I'm only deloading volume and not intensity. Now, why, why did I change? Well, a major downside to deloading intensity is when you get back to your normal training the heavy weights just feel awkward and your performance suffers that first week back then is a bit of a wash and that's not optimal from a programming perspective because it's the first part of a training block where you can really push yourself the hardest, where your body has just come off the deload and it is rested and recovered and it's ready to go. But if you deload by

Starting point is 00:31:51 reducing the weight on the bar significantly, again, chances are you're not really going to be able to just go full steam in that first week. And fortunately, research shows it does not take very much. It only takes a few heavy sets per week to maintain the technical proficiency that you need with those heavy weights to really push yourself hard. And that's true, even if those sets aren't as difficult as they would normally be. And that brings me to a major caveat when you are deloading with heavy weights, and that is you must avoid training to failure. That's a key. That's generally a good idea, of course. I generally recommend that you take most of your hardworking sets to about

Starting point is 00:32:36 one to two reps shy of technical failure, which is the point where your form starts to fall apart. But when you're deloading, this is extra important. And the reason for it is very simple. Studies show that when you take a set to the point of muscular failure, so that's really where you can't even move the weight anymore, this causes disproportionately more fatigue than submaximal training. And therefore, it should not be done when deloading, whether it's on a compound exercise or an isolation exercise. So to put that in practical terms, an easy way to do that, an easy way to ensure you are not pushing your body too hard when you're deloading is to shave a few reps, two to four reps per set off of however many reps you did in your previous hard training. I just split the difference and I take three reps

Starting point is 00:33:26 off of the set. So for example, if I deadlifted 405 pounds for three sets of six reps in my last session of hard training, when I'm deloading, I would do two sets of three reps, which is a 33% reduction in volume because I'm removing one hard set. I'm going from three to two, and I would do three fewer reps per set. So I would do sets of just three reps, but I would have the heavy weight on the bar. I would have 405 pounds in the bar. So let's summarize here. A well-programmed deload will involve doing 30 to 50% fewer sets than your normal workouts, doing the same weight as your normal workouts, and doing two to four fewer reps per set than your normal workouts, and will keep you using your normal heavy weights. So by doing this, by reducing the number of sets, you're going to

Starting point is 00:34:20 reduce your overall fatigue. And by using the same heavy weights, you're going to maintain your technical proficiency as well as your familiarity with those heavier loads. And by doing fewer reps per set, you're going to ensure you do not come close to failure, which again, places extra stress on the body. And if you're curious exactly how I deload, I'm going to share it with you. And by the way, this is exactly what I recommend in my programs for men and women, bigger leaner, stronger and thinner leaner, stronger. So when I'm deloading, I do three workouts. I do a push pull legs, Monday, Wednesday, Friday. My push workout is a barbell bench press. I do my normal warmup and then I do two sets of three reps with my last hard set weight. I then move on to the incline barbell bench press. Again, two sets of three reps with the last hard set weight. And finally, I do dumbbell bench press

Starting point is 00:35:09 flat, two sets of three reps with my last hard set. And then in my pull workout, I deadlift, I warm up and do two sets of three reps with my last hard set weight. Move on to the barbell row. Yes, you guessed it. Two sets, three reps, last hard set weight, lat pull down, wide grip, two sets, three reps, last hard set weight. And on my legs day, I barbell squat, warm up, and then two sets of three reps with my last hard set weight, followed by a leg press and a lying leg curl, both two sets of three reps from my last hard set weight. And I do recommend putting at least one day in between each of these workouts. You can put more than one day if you'd like to, but I personally just go Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and then take the weekend off and then get back to my normal hard training

Starting point is 00:35:53 on Mondays. Now, if you're curious why I just do three reps in my deload set and not necessarily two reps or even one rep, depending on the exact number of reps I did with a given weight on a given exercise in my last hard training session. It's simply because this is easy and it works. I have in the past paid attention to those things closely. Like for example, if I squatted a given weight for five reps, when it came time to deload, I'd put that weight in the bar and do two reps to take three off. In doing it that way versus the way I just shared, the way I just shared works equally well and is just very easy to implement.

Starting point is 00:36:37 So why make it more complicated than it needs to be, right? All right. So now let's address a question that I'm often asked when it comes to deloading and a question that might've occurred to you. And that is, won't you lose muscle or won't you lose strength during a deload? And if that sounds silly to you, I understand, but there was a time when I thought that was the case. And there are many people out there who have convinced themselves that any break from their typical weightlifting routine is going to result in immediate and significant muscle and strength loss. Fortunately, however, that is not the case. Research shows that you can stop

Starting point is 00:37:18 lifting weights for up to six weeks before strength really starts to decline and a month or so before you really start to lose muscle and quite a bit longer actually before your entire physique really starts to take a nose dive. And that's assuming of course that you're not in a calorie deficit and assuming that you are still eating a fair amount of protein because if you are in a calorie deficit and you're not training and you are not eating enough protein and not training, then you are going to lose muscle and strength faster. And also remember that during a proper deload, you are still lifting heavy weights. You're just not lifting as much or as intensely as you normally do. So my point is, if you do follow the advice in this podcast,

Starting point is 00:38:05 there is basically a 0% chance you will lose muscle or strength. It's just not going to happen. And what's more, you are probably going to make better strength and muscle gains over time for all the reasons that we have covered so far. And you may even be one of the lucky people who come back significantly stronger when they deload. That doesn't happen for me. I find that I can just keep going, prevents the step backward, but some people, they come back off of a deload and notice a considerable increase in performance in the gym. Now, what about taking a week off? Should you just take a week off instead? And the answer here is maybe. To find out, just try it out. Try a deload week and then write down how you feel coming back

Starting point is 00:38:52 to your hard training and how that first week in particular coming back goes. And then the next time it's time to let off the gas a little bit, take a week off and do the same thing and see how it goes. And then going forward, pick whichever one seems to best suit your body. It's also smart to plan your deloads or your rest weeks to coincide with trips, holidays, vacations, or any other upcoming disruptions to your routine to take the time to look in your calendar and overlay that on your programming. Because if you do that, you will make sure that you're not accidentally resting more than necessary to keep making progress. You won't take a deload or rest week and then go out of town the next week for a week or two weeks or whatever

Starting point is 00:39:36 and not be able to train how you normally would. All right, what about cardio? Can you do cardio on your deload weeks? Yeah, you can. That said, remember that the goal here is to significantly decrease the amount of stress on your joints, ligaments, nervous system, and muscles. And as you can imagine, doing too much high intensity cardio is not going to help with that. So yes, you can do cardio when you're deloading, but keep it light, you know, walking and other low intensity physical activities. Limit, however, the higher intensity stuff, limit the hit and the similar activities to, let's say, if you're going to do them, if you really need to, or you really want to, I'd say no more than an hour or so for the week

Starting point is 00:40:22 and you should be fine. Now let's talk about diet. How should you eat during a deload? And that depends on what you're trying to do with your body. So if you are currently cutting, if you are dieting, you'll lose fat. I would say that you can maintain your calorie deficit when you're deloading, unless you feel the need for a diet break, in which case you can certainly increase your calorie intake to your approximate total daily energy expenditure, your TDEE. And if you are lean bulking, you can also maintain your calorie surplus, or you can reduce it to your approximate TDEE if you would like a break from all the food. And if you are also cycling your calories, that might be a good time to go into a deficit, plan your deficits for when you are deloading and not if you are also cycling your calories, that might be a good time to go into a deficit,

Starting point is 00:41:05 plan your deficits for when you are deloading and not when you are really pushing yourself hard in the gym. And if you are not cycling your calories and you do not have to cycle your calories, if you want to learn about calorie cycling and the pros and cons and when it makes sense and when it doesn't, check out the podcast that I recorded on calorie cycling. If you just go to the podcast feed and search for calorie cycling, you should find it. All right. So let's summarize everything we have discussed. Let's do the bottom line. So a deload, what is it? It is a temporary reduction in training stress to give your body and your mind a break from all the hard training. The two primary reasons people deload are to reduce the risk of injuries and to reinvigorate themselves physically and mentally to get their bodies ready and recovered for some hard training, as well as their minds to feel more

Starting point is 00:41:58 motivated and more willing to train hard. Many people out there, however, will not benefit from deloads because they just don't train hard enough to warrant the additional rest. And I should know because I was once one of these people. Until I started doing a lot of heavy compound weightlifting and really pushing for progressive overload, I had no need for deloading. I didn't deload and didn't have any reason to. Assuming, however, that you are training sufficiently hard enough, I do recommend that you deload every four to 10 weeks, depending on how long you have been lifting weights and how much abuse you are subjecting your body to in the gym. As a general rule, people with more weightlifting experience who

Starting point is 00:42:42 are training properly do need to deload more frequently than people with less, mostly because these more experienced people are lifting heavier weights and doing more volume to try to continue making gains. Now to deload properly, use the same weights as your hard training, but do 30 to 50% fewer sets per week and two to four fewer reps per set. And despite what many people think, you are not going to lose any muscle or strength during a deload. And ironically, if you incorporate deloading correctly into your routine, chances are it's going to help increase muscle and strength gain over time. And if you want to take a week off from weightlifting entirely, instead of deloading, that's totally fine. Just see how

Starting point is 00:43:29 your body responds and then compare the results to a deload. And then going forward, just do whatever works best for you. And as far as cardio goes, yes, you can do cardio, but do stick mostly to low intensity stuff. And as for your diet, you can maintain your deficit if you're cutting, or you can increase your intake to your approximate TDEE. That is a good time to incorporate a diet break because then you have additional reduction of stress because a calorie deficit does place some stress in the body. So it makes sense if you are really trying to maximize recovery and really trying to help with that adaptation process that if you're going to reduce the training stress, you could also reduce the dietary stress. But if you're feeling good

Starting point is 00:44:15 and you don't feel a need for a diet break, then don't feel like you are making a mistake if you just maintain your deficit. And similarly, if you are lean bulking, you can maintain a calorie surplus. There's no reason why you have to reduce your calorie intake. But if you'd like to simply to get a break from eating a bunch of food, and I understand I've been there before, then you can reduce your intake to your approximate TDEE, or you can go into a deficit if you are cycling your calories. up one of my best-selling health and fitness books, including Bigger Leaner Stronger for Men, Thinner Leaner Stronger for Women, my flexible dieting cookbook, The Shredded Chef, and my 100% practical and hands-on blueprint for personal transformation inside and outside of the gym,

Starting point is 00:45:21 The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Now, these books have sold well over 1 million copies and have helped thousands of people build their best bodies ever. And you can find them on all major online retailers like Audible, Amazon, iTunes, Kobo, and Google Play, as well as in select Barnes & Noble stores. Kobo and Google Play, as well as in select Barnes & Noble stores. Again, that's Bigger, Leaner, Stronger for Men, Thinner, Leaner, Stronger for Women, The Shredded Chef, and The Little Black Book of Workout Motivation. Oh, and I should also mention that you can get any of the audiobooks 100% free when you sign up for an Audible account, which is the perfect way to make those pockets of downtime, like commuting, meal prepping, and cleaning, more interesting, entertaining, and productive. So if you want to take Audible up on that offer, and if you want to get one of my audiobooks for free, go to www.legionathletics.com slash audible. That's L-E-G-I-O-N athletics slash A-U-D-I-B-L-E and sign up for your account.

Muscle for Life with Mike Matthews - How to Use Deloads to Gain Muscle and Strength Faster

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