Resisting Time Away From The Gym
It feels great to routinely workout in the gym with great progress, however it can be difficult to take a break when the time comes. Not many people like stepping away from anything when they can see immediate positive results as an outcome.
Part of what keeps trainees motivated in the first place is the incremental increases in personal growth in various areas. This can come from strength, power, muscular size, or just beating personal records from prior sessions (see Why You Might Lose Motivation To Workout).
A part of our ego falls in love with the ‘more is better’ attitude with the things we become attached to, so we rather work harder instead of taking a much needed rest. This can be our downfall since training progress almost never continuously goes up forever (see How The Law of Diminishing Returns Applies To Bodybuilding).
Bodybuilders also have a fear of losing muscle mass since there have always been information circulating around the community that lean body mass loss can start within a few weeks without training.
Taking time from constant training can positively benefit the muscular and nervous system, which is why breaks should never be regarded as unnecessary. Better known as a deload, these rest periods can be a benefit to building muscle and burning fat as well.
When Should You Deload From Your Training
Constant training can be very taxing for the body and it’s effects usually appear when we’ve been long overdue for a break. This is where it would be wise to have a recovery protocol to get back to speed.
A deload is a scheduled break from your training program, which can be in the form of time away from training or a reduction in volume/intensity by at least 50%. The need for a training deload depends on various factors for each person.
Age and weightlifting experience are the biggest factors that will determine the timing for a deload. Generally, older trainees will need a deload break more frequently as recovery is slower for these individuals.
This also applies for more experienced trainees, as muscle adaption has taken place for these individuals who are acclimated to their routines. Newer weightlifters (<2 years) have yet to undergo this development and can forego deload training for the most part.
Outside of these two main groups, there are obvious reasons to time a deload into your training program.
The first is for lack of motivation or lethargy getting prepared to go the gym, as this is a common sign for trainees that have burnout (see How to Avoid Burnout From The Gym).
Neurotransmitters that signal positive reinforced behavior, such as serotonin and dopamine, may not be released in the blood in amounts that seen before experiencing a burnout. This a strong indicator that you should take some time off until you’re feeling better.
The second reason is from feeling aches and pain in your joints or tissues. Lifters need to use intuition for listening to their body for easing off intense training, which can be developed with experience.
To time a deload into your program, you should have a deload period scheduled every 6-12 weeks. Whether you’re bulking or cutting, the caloric intake should be kept at maintenance levels for the during of the deload to keep the recovery process optimal.
Deload periods are usually a week of no training with the exception of occasional light cardio, however if you’re training for strength you can continue training at 50% of your intensity to maintain your progress.
Adding these schedule breaks are one method for breaking plateaus as strength has been shown to be improved significantly after incorporating a deload.
Intermediate and advanced weightlifters can use techniques such as ‘supercompensation’ or ‘overreaching’, which are planned high volume training sessions to overtrain the muscles. This period of overtraining would be followed by a deload period to help you recover and build muscle adaption faster.
The Wrap Up
Taking time to step away from the gym isn’t a period of loss or stalled progress, but rather can be used as an asset to improve your results. Whether you need a break to correct your motivation to workout or to recover from training exhaustion, deloading is a smart addition to add to a workout program. The final adjustments to a period of deloading should be to fix caloric intake to maintenance levels to accommodate for the lower levels of activity.
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