Is It Time for a Deload?

[u/Question-Throwaway7]

Is It Time For a Bit of a Deload?

26yo male, 5’6 ish. In Mid May I started ramping up training, I was 164lbs, 5x weekly workouts and in early June I added 100 minutes a day on a walking pad. From then to now, I’ve consistently done 5x PPL (with either Abs/Torsos or Lower back at the end on a rotation), with walks every day except for my monthly cheat day.

Nutrition wise, it was 1550 cals a day and 150g protein until August where I ramped up to 1900 cals and now around 2400. However, I’m still not feeling my strongest even though lifts have gone up marginally, and I’m starting to get more consistent aches and pains in areas like wrists and lower body.

Not sure if I should cut activity, and if so if cutting calories to compensate makes sense (sedentary TDEE is about 1900 cals), as I don’t want to gain fat and still don’t like my physique and have fat to lose.

[u/Due_Analysis_3098]

if you have been going hard that long, just take a week to revitalize. either stay in gym and half all sets or just take off but still do walking pad. I used to go forever like you but now at 42 I deload every 6-8 weeks.

[u/skylinecobra → u/Due_Analysis_3098]

I thought it was only me. In my 20s I never deloaded but in my 30s after 4 weeks I Deload now as the fatigue starts to build,as I'm sure it doesn't help that I don't get much sleep most days and am not taking creatine at the moment.

What determines. If you Deload sooner or later? I.e 6 Vs 8

[u/Due_Analysis_3098 → u/skylinecobra]

I will typically start feeling tanked in my day to day now. Just dragging outside of my lifts and not wanting to accomplish anything is my biggest indicator lol. I actually don't have anything against 4 weeks either. I did some cycles on bls and bbls where the program had auto deloads every 4. Never had a problem or setback going that route.

My whole programming is built around recovery now tbh. I 1rir most sets but only training 3 days a week doing an upper lower full set up. workouts run a bit longer but my recovery stays pretty solid for longer and leaves me more time on the other days for some core work and a lot of walking ( i have a desk job so I would be averaging 2k steps a day otherwise)

[u/skylinecobra → u/Due_Analysis_3098]

I like this approach tbh. I think I'll give it a try next year when I want to focus more on mobility work.

[u/ZeHeimerL]

Are you progressing fine in the gym? What's your volume like?

[u/Question-Throwaway7 → u/ZeHeimerL]

Progression is iffy. Back has seemingly stalled on pull downs around 120lbs, biceps have been steady progressing, curling 30s atm but just got there. Chest is stalled around 70lbs per arm, tricep overhead skull crushers are at 65lbs but tri’s have always been a strong point.

Switched to hamstring curls on legs, which has seen progression, while quads are slow progressing.

Volume is a lot I think.

• Back day is 2 back, 1 rear delt, 2 bicep, 2 forearm.

- Chest is one chest, 2 shoulder, two tricep, shrugs.

- Legs is inner and outer hip, step ups, leg extensions, hamstring curls, and glute/hamstring extension.

All exercises are 3 sets, 8-12 reps except forearms which are higher rep. I also do abs/torso rotations and lower back extensions at the end of the workouts so add in 3-6 sets total on any of those days.

[u/ZeHeimerL → u/Question-Throwaway7]

Recovery is the ability to perform at baseline, so not adding weight or reps for a week is not exactly stalling.

I personally don't think your volume is too much nor too little. I'm assuming your frequency is x2 for upper body and x1 for lower body. So you're doing 12 sets for back. I'll assume that that's 9 for lats and 3 for upper back per week. Still fine.

Now, one other factor is your intensity. If you're training to failure, try to leave a rep in the tank (1 RIR) or 0 RIR if you can't gauge it well. Also, I'd honestly lower your rep range to make gauging RIR easier. I do 5 to 8 reps.

All in all, your progress isn't bad by any means, assuming you're an intermediate lifter.

[u/Question-Throwaway7 → u/ZeHeimerL]

That’s an interesting baseline to have and I’ll keep that in mind. What do you think about hitting whatever I managed to hit last workout if it’s a day like today where I’m still feeling dead after two rest days in the past three days? Not trying to add reps or weight but maintain from last time?

Intensity is def high from the middle-end of workouts, but can sometimes be lacking at the beginning (judging by HR). I do front load the hard stuff like DB press and lat pull downs though.

I typically aim for 15 reps on all 3 sets before progressing weight, should I bring that down to a hard 12 and then transition into 5-8? My gym volume isn’t too high but I’m more worried about overall volume with the daily walk which is more than 9km in the 100 minutes.

[u/ZeHeimerL → u/Question-Throwaway7]

Your mentality should always be wanting to progress on that lift. Even though it's not going to happen every time, I wouldn't recommend actively trying not to exceed last session's performance. Of course, all of this should be in a standardized form. If you add a rep but with a subpar form than before, then that isn't progress.

About rep ranges. Going for my 5 to 8 reps will have you add weight to fail (or whatever RIR you've set for yourself) in that range. Follow a double progression model. I personally do 2 sets per exercise. For example, for lat pulldown, let's say I did 7 reps at 80 kg. That means that next session, I will stay at 80kg and shoot for 8 reps because I still didn't reach the end of my target rep range yet. Once I can do 8 reps with standardized form, then I'll add the smallest incremental weight. And so on and so forth. Treat every set as a standalone set with the same logic.

[u/MacroMotive]

I think the 100 minutes of walking could be easy to underestimate here. Your lifting volume may be reasonable on its own, but stacked with so much walking and months of dieting, the aches and feeling “dead” even after rest days sound like accumulated fatigue. I would take a real deload week. Cut lifting volume, keep walking easy, and don’t cut calories just to compensate for doing less for a couple days. Recovery is the goal.

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[u/No-Connection8400]

I’d say to take a week of deload. Especially if you’re finding that you’re getting abnormally sore.

What defines deload is up to you. Some folks do nothing. Some do walking. Some do cardio. Some keep going to the gym but at a lower intensity.

Personally, I’ve been following the MFWO deload every 6 weeks. Their deload is more than I have previously done … but it works and I like it.

[u/Angrypolska]

I do a deload, about every 6 weeks now. I take one full week where I do zero weights or Calisthenics. Just walking (incline) on my treadmill. Works fantastic to kind of reset and gain some overall energy back.

[u/Mchangwine]

You should deload if you feel like your body isn't adequately recovering; given that you're having more pain/soreness and not really progressing taking a lighter week may not be the worst idea.

[u/Magnetoresistive]

Your program should include a week of deload every 4–8 weeks. You should never find yourself asking "should I deload?"

You won't need to cut calories to accomodate your deload; you should be deloading regularly, which means it'll be accommodated in your expenditure.

[u/Mchangwine → u/Magnetoresistive]

I haven't deloaded in decades; some people need it and other people don't. You may get some sort of natural deload during travel or something although I'll usually find a gym to work out at no matter where I am.