Are Deload Weeks Hurting Your Gains? (Science Explained)

[@rolandfisher]

Could we deload the flashing screen that diagonally cuts the image? That'd be great.

[@strongerbyscience]

We've already instructed our editors to fully deload those for the next videos 😄! -Pak

[@n00dle_king]

The first time I saw it: it’s not the greatest but it’s not that bad The fifth: 😵‍💫

[@KenanTurkiye]

Someone's played too much Fruit Ninja.

[@Paraselene_Tao]

lol, I watched this video at 2x speed, and the transitions were manically wild.

[@kban77]

The curs were fine. It’s just a you tube complainer whining. Save your energy for other tasks

[@anatolya.9526]

I don't really care whether it boosts hypertrophy or not, I often need deloads purely because my ligaments and joints get more and more beat up each week and sometimes I can feel that an injury is impending if I try to train even harder the next week. Also, my perfomance plateaus either because of this or a combination of factors, so one more week of training would be a waste if I can't beat my last perfomance (or I can even get weaker). That's when I do my deload.

[@Marko-ij4vy]

Yeah I do them more for letting the connective tissue heal rather than for "boosting" hypertrophy. And that one easy week wont have significant impact on hypertrophy long term anyway but injury can set you back for weeks if not months.

[@konini12]

Why not just take a week off? Do hot/cold exposure, go for walks outside get in the sea and have a mental rest

[@HenDiesel]

@@konini12 “Honey, I’m going out! I’ve got a flight to catch. I need to get in the sea for my deload.”

[@konini12]

@@HenDiesel you're on the whip that much you need to report to go outside?

[@Vintage_geek]

Exactly. This is the first time i see somebody bringing up deload as a "enhancer" for hypertrophy. My f***ing right shoulder and knees can't go on forever training wtf. Edit: i think enhancing "preparedness" for training, as per the definion offered, cant be conflated with enhancing the actual hypertrophy result

[@InanimateObject123]

Did anybody actually think barely/not training for a week would directly improve performance? They're for joint and connective tissue injury prevention

[@flabio7074]

And they had the same growth. That means one group got to take a week off without sacrificing any gains. Seems like a win if your goal is hypertrophy.

[@ExcellenceInThings]

Same thing I was thinking, @InanimateObject123 I train primarily powerlifting and I’m not the youngest guy around. Give those connective tissues a minute to catch up. Take a lighter week as needed to help avoid injuries.

[@durzoblint415]

I only deload for join and tissue injury prevention. I feel fully recovered taking a week off. I actually expect to return to my workouts slightly weaker than when I peaked. But then the next cycle of gains is hopefully better than the previous. Rinse and repeat!

[@kobemop]

That's what I've always thought that it was for...

[@seanmurphy2365]

Yeah I saw it on channels like Jeff nippard and renaissance periodization

[@ianlewis5910]

Hypertrophy adaptations per week are really small. The results could be non-significant purely because hypertrophy gains of 8 weeks vs 9 weeks are not going to be significant without an astronomical study size.

[@kidbrown2010]

Well observd. Same issue as a lot of these studies. They extrapolate long term assumptions out of short term studies.

[@bbszabi]

Deloading is a big part of my program, actually it's 1/3 of my total training time, because I deload every 3rd week. At 51 yo, big frame (6'4", 270 lbs), bad sleep and good exertion capacity, I can pretty much wreck myself in 2 weeks :) I've been doin this 2+1 week periodization for more than a year now and it's working perfectly for me. After 4 years of strength training I am making very good progress, I added 15-25 kilos to each my squat and deadlift maxes in under a year. My typical deload for the big lifts looks like this: 3 sets of 3-4 reps @ 70-75%. This is heavy enough to prevent detraining, but still light enough to allow complete muscle, CNS and chemical recovery and plenty of connective tissue repair, too. On the assistance (usually) high rep exercises I just drop some volume, just like this video suggests, about 30-50%. I could be ok with every 4th week deload for a while, but I tend to go beserk in the gym, even on a Juggernaut hypertrophy template, so the 3 week cycle is better suited for me. I am even doing a modified Sheiko template for deadlift now and in spite of the high volume heavy pulling and one hard squat a week, I can still recover pretty well and I don't feel burnt out. I even had a 10 kg deeadlift PR recently and I am going for another 10 kg in a month or so.

[@strangerinthealps8013]

I have trained very intensely in the past hitting at a consistent RPE 7-9 but I’ve never found any advice on people who have poor sleep quality, I will use this advice as it appears this is what caused my eventual injury and burnout. Everywhere I read mentioned deloads that honestly FELT like years ahead of an entire training plan. I should have known to take deloads every 3-5 weeks due to my poor sleep quality.

[@bbszabi]

@@strangerinthealps8013 I was doing deloads before the 3 week cycle, the Juggernaut program has them every 4 weeks and I still I was burning out. Then I watched a podcast Dave Tate (Elitefts) wih some british powerlifter/coach about how he was getting injured very frequently and after reviewing his training log his coach at that time, they noticed that the injuries were happeneng at about 3 week intervals, so he just started deloading every 3 weeks. So I tried it and eventually stuck with it for 2 years now, with great results. I can go beserk for two weeks, then just take it easy on the 3rd. There are even have some extra benefits from the supercompensation effect you are getting, when you exceed your maximum recoverable volume right before deload.

[@chuck6652]

Super useful experience man, thanks for sharing. Personally I find that the habit of getting in the gym, maintaining the connections and routines that get you there, is more important than a deload. Too often, I see people leave for their deload and never come back. Anecdotally, I find lowering daily volume and making the gym a daily habit that has 0 fluctuation week to week is more successful in keeping people consistent. Improving recovery is a big piece of this picture as well.

[@bbszabi]

@@chuck6652 Deloading is not taking a pause from the gym, not even close! You pretty much do the same workout, with mainly less volume and probably with a bit less intensity. That's all there is to it! My general guide for deloads (especially when I do undulating periodization) is to use 70-75% of my 1RM and do 3 sets of 3-4 reps. That's heavy enough to preserve adaptations, but below the 80% threshold to give the connective tissue a break and it's really low volume for that intensity.

[@Paraselene_Tao]

Great video. It was very informative on the current understanding of deloads. It will be interesting to see or hear from upcoming research into it. Thanks.

[@Matt-ej1mb]

The fact that they gained the same muscle is proof that deloads are worth it. Joint and mental recovery for the same gains? I take it

[@kevinboueri1051]

Perfect video to watch on my deload week

[@TheMercilessJude]

👍 I just a video on this topic a week or two ago. 7-10 days off is just for joints, connective tissue, etc to heal up. Muscles will be fine. For some reason, people are making this too complicated these days. Also, some coaches might be more interested in short-term gains(even if it's a few years) with athletes whereas trainees themselves have to think about long-term results. Can't get any gains while injured.

[@deboraharnaut989]

Great content, thanks doc! I dig the SbS t-shirt… any chance to get that (in UK)? Cheers

[@EricBohm]

I've never felt like a full deload week was a good use of time. If I'm feeling beat up, I take an extra rest day (so 3 rest days in a week instead of two). Usually comes up every month or two. So, that matches the advice of doing deloads reactively, but mismatches on the duration.

[@ophirmayer1]

Next Dr. Pak video: study suggests weight training is useless for muscle growth

[@killerkhatiby009]

SBS team, during an RDL/SLDL, if your only goal is maximal hamstring and glute hypertrophy, would you recommend keeping the barbell close to your shins or letting it drift forward with your arms on the way down? Everywhere I can find says the ideal technique is to keep the barbell close to the legs/shins, but that seems like it would be optimized for strength and maximizing the amount of weight lifted but suboptimal for maximizing tension in the hamstrings/glutes with any given weight since letting the arms drift forward would increase the moment arm and allow you to use lighter weight while maintaining the same tension on the target muscles as heavier weight close to the body. Basically, it seems to me that reducing the weight and letting the bar drift forward creates a similar lever arm and forces to a Goodmorning and a better stimulus-to-fatigue ratio, but nobody talks about doing it this way. Am I missing something here if I am not concerned with lat engagement or grip strength or stimulus to any other muscles during the RDL? Would love some clarity and explanation for your reasoning on the subject!

[@Portmant186]

This is an interesting concept. My only thing is that I feel that debating the differences between a deload and taper is only nomenclature. Both require a decrease in volume in order to realize a supercompensation. With that in mind, I'm struggling to believe that planned deloads don't have any merit. Although, the paper you participated in does raise some interesting questions. I would just like to see more studies looking at the same concept in the future. Thanks for the video!!

[@harryv6752]

After a few years off, I got back into training and have been training hard for the past 8 weeks, about 6 days a week. I'm in my mid 40s. Today, beginning week 9, is my planned deload week. I can just feel my body - connective tissue and joints and all - needing the break. So, listening closely to my body, I'm taking the break.

[@kidbrown2010]

If you don't think you need to deload at some point you are not training hard enough. Which is par for the course with the science crowd. Joint and brain fatigue will accumulate at some point of consistent hard training.

[@Yupppi]

The way I heard pre-planned deload described was to adjust the training intensity and progress in such a fashion that you would feel like needing the deload when the planned time came. I feel like that would be a bit closer to the reactive deload plan. I guess I would compare it to weightlifting or powerlifting plan where you increase the intensity towards the end of the cycle and if you look at the plan on the paper, you'd be likely to say "yeah I'm sure I need a deload after that". To me it seems like those plans rarely end with "sure I would like to do another week of 95 % intensity, this deload ruins my groove". Good talk by Pak, nice to hear the apparently very limited scientific knowledge on deloads. Makes sense to give a lot of practical advice, deload seems like a great way to structure your training around your life rather than a master technique. I've intuitively used deloads similarly, having for example a week off when having a vacation trip or some other physical activity, or knowing that there's gonna be a lot of stress and lack of sleep ahead.

[@382u3uuej]

Deloads are an individual thing in the same way volume is, it doesn't make much sense to say that you should deload every 6 weeks similarly how it doesn't make sense that you should do X number of sets, if you don't feel like you need a deload then don't, if you do need it then do, if you don't need a full deload you can do a half deload for a particular muscle or deload certain parts of your body at different times (for example, it makes sense to me that someone who runs on top of lifting would need to deload their legs more often, but not anything else). I have felt in the past that in the week 6 I was done and my elbows and wrist were hurting so I needed a deload, and at other times I was fine but I deloaded anyway because it was on my schedule.

[@Arthur-wd8hc]

Love the content, have now for years. Not sure if you'll see this, but I'm a scientist as well and have some questions about this. I think the methods and stats are good, but some of these tests I don't personally think are adequate markers -- CM Jump being the one I am most dubious of, considering even with random group selection the variance in trad group went up by over an inch. I have seen some studies that measure growth in strength with random groups as a percent increase from 1RM or something similar, curious as to why that was avoided here, unless I just missed it in the paper? Additionally, its mentioned this was a lower body focused program but participants did have upper body work they volunteered during the training period. Is it possible variance in upper body training could have negatively impacted group findings (i.e. someone training chest and back potentially recruiting lower body muscles more often than others)? And if so, did you notice if there was a difference in deload v trad groups in terms of how many more or less were training upper body alongside lower body? Or was it pretty even? I think it would be really interesting if you had the tools (and got IRB approval lol) to perform more advanced testing. There are a few biomarkers of muscle stress and fatigue (usually in the serum), and it would be insightful to see a 12 week program with Deload vs No Deload test if there are potential increases or decreases in some of these markers following these programs. There is a case to be made that while traditional RT with no deload could ~potentially~ increase hypertrophy or muscle strength, the overall stress and fatigue load on the muscles is a long-term detrimental factor. And on top of that I think using the same pre- and post-workout supplements for each group while maintaining their own nutrition would helpful. I know you eliminated creatine, but I think it's a variable worth addressing in the future.

[@NoGattsuNoGlory]

Note the research said the group that did have a deload had the same gains as the other group. The host countered his argument saying that you could be missing gains by deloading... In reality they need more studies but in competition it's highly recommended... I only agree with the reactive deload but let's take this further. If my back needs a deload and I'm doing squats...my squats would be affected indirectly

[@Dr_Coe]

might be interesting to conduct a longitudinal descriptive study in which you track a large pool of athletes and simply note when their training meets the criteria of a deload, perhaps over a 12 month period. Include multiple types of strength athletes who are generally in intermediate to elite level. This might provide a sense of natural rhythm or time period of progressive training -- deload -- progressive training -- deload. I hypothesize that the data would show a natural cycle of train - deload which may or may not be consciously noticed or purposeful. It's just the body's natural adaptations and adjustments to ongoing training. You could probably do this as a mixed methods research design, utilizing interviews, ongoing collection of per session training data via personal training journals.

[@wenapse1639]

This study is VERY INCOMPLETE!! First, we know nothing about the physical health of the participants. For instance, high levels of creatine kinase and creatinine in the blood are indicators of overtraining. If the study is not taking into account confounding variables like these so as to stratify the study, then I would say your paper shouldn’t have been even published!

[@BenG-rd5wg]

Do you think a reactive minimum effective dose training week/a few weeks with this method could be superior to deloads by being less fatiguing than a regular training week but also dealing a great growth stimulus to the muscles?

[@ryanwilloughby472]

I was waiting on this exact video

[@123peterjackson]

My strength has never peaked during a deload or peaking phase only when I am at peak volume during a block

[@joshtalksaboutchriatianity]

All the videos and research that I’ve seen said that deloads aren’t as important for the muscles but for the joints. Is that true or did I miss something?

[@itscliffvtr]

I use reactive deloads. Every 8 weeks or so I find I just won't be able to lift as much. I can feel it in the warmup sets. I will go lighter and with less reps.

[@ddwfw]

Can Greg's free bench press programs be applied to the overhead press? Thank you

[@Oi-mj6dv]

I do not consider deloading as a sufficuent enough method to bring about any measurable improvements in fatigue that would justify taking it. If you deload, id rather completely detrain for about 10 days to reap the actual benefits that a deload should confer but that in reality are only seen in detraining.

[@R-SXX]

I only use stop days for like 5 or 6 days when I start my joints to hurt. After that, all is swell and I can go on for another 5 to 6 weeks.

[@SaulFemm]

New intro is nice.

[@younggotti8195]

The issue I’m seeing is people are recommending deloads way too often…from my personal experience and I’ve witnessed from others, you really only need them like 2 or 3 times a year…an easy sign is when your sleep is pretty bad for 7-10 days and even then, just take the week off completely…I have ppl train continuously until for example: their vacation or maybe around the holidays, once you get on that type of schedule, it’s not really scheduled as much as that’s just about how it works out

[@julianarguindegui3569]

for me, i figured out what best fits me is doing a half week deload....instead of doing ppl x2....i'd train just 3 days, rest 4 and then restart the ppl x2

[@wenapse1639]

Let me put it like this: if you don’t know anything about the participants’ level of overtraining, you cannot conclude anything because you dont even know if the control group was well selected to be compared with the treatment group!! 🙈

[@homayoonf]

In short, when you’re tired, take some rest.

[@ethangilworth7891]

I don’t care I like taking regular weeks off. Could be bad for my gains but taking a deload helps keep me excited to go to the gym.

[@peetos-chan2835]

I wonder if auto-regulation might have a benefit to the normal average lifter still.

[@combatcritique]

I guess if you deload you can remain injury free which definitely helps hypertrophy in the long run

[@neilgroat5058]

Content and editing on point, brilliant work team

[@strongerbyscience]

Much appreciated!

[@yiannis.demetriou9696]

Instead of losing my time with deloading I wait to take a vacation for a week or so. Competitive athletes in real sports (not bodybuilding) when they feel overtrained it makes sense for example focusing on technique

[@jordanduran1726]

Isnt the point of a deload to recover?? I never knew people thought it would help gain anyhing other than more rest when you felt you needed it.

[@rupert909]

Yeah that's the point... The logic is that training when your body has accumulated fatigue will result in less gains and more risk of injury... So you deload.

[@jordanduran1726]

@@rupert909 ok, I'm guessing I was just confused then.

[@rupert909]

@@jordanduran1726 if you want to avoid deloading, you HAVE to not accumulate fatigue week to week and fully recover from all your training sessions. Meaning you have to train lighter/less frequently/lower volumes.

[@johnreed1663]

Dr Pak subtly not so subtly tells Dr Mike the RP app preplanned deloads aren’t the way to go. lol. Personally I find them helpful, I often don’t have the insight or willpower to deload when I should.

[@MisterHui]

Deloading for the algorithm.

[@SirJamestheIII]

I thought deloading was for recovery not hypertrophy. And really only olympic weightlifting does it because its impossible to be at peak indefinitely. They deload because they don't have a choice

[@TheHybrid350]

great

[@Bodybypt]

Most people dont train hard enough to need a "deload"

[@KenanTurkiye]

I don't know any other sport where 'trends' come and go as frequent as in lifting, I question if science is properly used, or 'scientists' rely too much on publishing new 'research' aka meta analysis based on stale older 'research'. Meh :/

[@MrWalrus3451]

The ninja keeps trying to cut through Dr. Pac but his power-level is just too high.

[@ozztenn]

You love your tattoos. I mean... it appears to be some type of obsession. You probably struggle to sleep some days because you're so happy/excited about your arm tattoos. Cheers.

[@omegaman_]

Totally agree 👍🏼

[@burnhamsghost8044]

Siff and Yessis advocate for auto-regulation.

[@peetos-chan2835]

💪💪💪

[@Viking_Raven]

Yep, the community adopted deloads, because we were like "yeah, that makes sense". Unless youre a profesional athlete training multiple times a day, the body will recover just fine between sessions.

[@dryrunhd]

While I appreciate the optimism, the statement that deloads are "common knowledge" is so hilariously over the top false that it's hard to take the rest of the video seriously. Deloads are great, and I am absolutely an advocate for them, either scheduled or as needed. But from my experience maybe 20-30% of lifters know what the word deload means, if they've even heard it before at all. And of the people that know what it is, I've encountered numerous people arguing against deloads, trying to claim you don't need them. Unsurprisingly, those are often the same people who are complaining about plateaus or constantly being injured. I'm glad some amount of research is going into deloads, but 9 weeks is not even close to enough. I think anything less than a year is going to be a waste of time/just not enough to be meaningful. Plenty of people can easily go 12 weeks before they need a deload, and the benefits of deloads take several cycles to become apparent. Like someone that should've been deloading but isn't might not notice how much of a problem that is until they've missed 3 or 4, so that's up to 48 weeks already. 9 weeks is just not a long enough timespan to be meaningful.

[@tescoownbrandlit]

IMO - really not liking the new format. Zoomer cuts, clickbait buzzwords, all the shit I see from every other sci-fi (science-fitness) influencer. Appreciate the effort but make the content you would like to see, not what you think will get clicks. I liked SBS because the podcast went further in-depth or illuminated nuance. Now it starts with a topic saying "there's already tons of videos about this" and proceeds to sum up the same stuff.

[@strongerbyscience]

The video starts with an introduction to deloads and their popularity highlighting that despite no direct literature on deloads existing up until recently, there have been plenty of videos on them and people have considered deloads to be a scientifically established concept. The video then continues by addressing all the new literature that was not covered in many of the highly viewed videos, definitely NOT summing up the same stuff 😁. Additionally, we've still been putting out plenty of podcast episodes, including a 7 hour 2-part series on training volume and a 5 hour 2-part series on sleep, full of details and nuance 😅. I understand that these videos are not something you may be fully used to from the SBS channel but it's not like they've been replacing the podcast episodes or the articles. Lastly, just because the title and thumbnail are more "click" friendly don't let that detract from the fact that you're still getting a 16 minute video going over the latest literature on deloads 😛 -Pak