#193 – Anatomy of a Deload: How & When to Take a Break

For those that have walked the path and become strong, there are times when the weights go from challenging, to soul-searching, to world-endingly heavy, yet, stress must continue to increase in the quest for more strength. That’s where the deload comes in — a strategic, drastic reduction in load and volume to allow fatigue to dissipate and provide a much-needed psychologic break from heavy training. Whether it’s following a meet, an advanced training block, or simply a phase of heavy training mixed with a large amount of life stress, deloads are an important part of an intermediate and advanced lifter’s programming.

Today Matt and Scott walk through some examples of deloads from their clients as well as their own training, and discuss how their approach to programming a deload week has evolved over the years. They also share their subjective experience of training during a deload week, which may come as some comfort to lifters experiencing their first deload; often a deload feels shockingly heavy despite the reduced loads.

Got a question for Matt and Scott? Email us at questions@barbell-logic.com and we’ll answer your question on an upcoming Saturday Q&A!