One of our strategies to manage fatigue and keep our athletes progressing and healthy through periods of overload training is to peak each training block with a deload week.
A deload week serves to:
- Reduce cumulative fatigue while providing enough of a stimulus to conserve most training adaptations.
- Promote a restocking of energy stores, tissue healing and recovery of many of the body’s systems.
- Reduce lethargy due to inactivity, and reduce soreness that can occur with a new training cycle.
- Increase sensitivity to the training stimulus and prepare the athlete for another productive training cycle.
What can you do?
- Provide enough of a consistent overload to garner cumulative adaptation and fatigue to need a deload in the first place.
- At the end of each overload period (typically between 3-5 weeks) train one week with reduced loading. Working with 50-70% of your usual training volume and intensity works well. Half sets, half reps, half load.
Specific needs will vary depending on the individual athlete and training type.
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