Training

Deload weeks aren't optional

I resisted deloads for a full year because they felt like giving up ground I’d fought for. Every sixth week, same exercises, same intensity, half the sets. It felt like slacking every single time I programmed one, right up until the week after, when I’d hit a PR I hadn’t been close to before the deload.

That’s not a coincidence and it stopped surprising me after the third time it happened. Fatigue accumulates faster than most people’s egos will admit, and a scheduled deload is how you cash it in on purpose instead of your body forcing the issue with a tweaked joint or a two-week plateau you can’t explain.