Deload Week: How I *DO NOTHING* And Get More Gains (TRY THIS!)
how's it going everybody for the past
week I've hardly done any resistance
training and despite that I feel bigger
I feel leaner stronger all around just
more confident and all the exercises
that I'm doing now so why is that if I
was doing less and in some cases I do
nothing then why do I feel stronger when
I come out of it that's because this was
a Schedule D load week and that's what
I'm gonna be talking about in this video
specifically how to properly do it who
needs to do it because not everybody
needs to deal owed and why you want to
do it like why is it beneficial for you
okay first before we dive in I just want
to mention that I realized this is
Johnny sins talking about D loading so I
see the jokes coming from a mile away
guys I'm and I realize I'm walking right
into this one I'm just serving this one
up to you so enjoy that also if you're
new to the channel I'm all about how to
get fit and healthy at home without
relying on a gym membership using
calisthenics using primal movements
using all kinds of things so if that
sounds up your alley don't forget to
subscribe right so how do you do a
property load week I think that's the
first question how do you do it
well what's most recommended and what I
just did this past week is a reduction
in volume there's a couple ways to go
about that first you can reduce the
number of sets that you do by about 50
to 70 percent and that's the method that
I use so I typically do four or five
working sets for each exercise so all I
did was I reduce that to two sets per
exercise so I still did my workouts but
you know I warm up and I'd go through
all the scheduled exercises but I'd only
do two sets and also I wouldn't quite go
till failure like I normally do I'd stop
just a little short of failure because
the whole deal load idea is about not
stressing yourself out you're taking a
sort of break right so I also did not go
till failure but another similar method
of reducing volume is to reduce the
number of reps that you do so you're
doing the same number of sets as normal
but you're only doing about 50% or even
a little less than 50% of the reps so
you're not maxing out or going anywhere
near
on your sets if you're doing something
time-based like maybe you're working on
your endurance you're preparing for a
marathon you're working on your
long-distance running perhaps you can
just shorten the time that you're
running so you just take the time and
cut it by 50% or a little more for a
week and then that's another way of
reducing the volume but one way that
I've done a deal owed and this was
actually for my weightlifting days was
just as effective and a lot easier was I
just didn't lift anything I didn't work
out I took an entire week off I did
nothing and regardless I still got the
same benefits so keep that in mind
the recommended ways to reduce volume
but you can just take a week off as well
and you will get the benefits of a deal
okay the next question naturally is well
how often should you do this and
recommended general rule of thumb is
every four to six weeks and this comes
from something called periodization and
if you've seen my video on overtraining
symptoms if you haven't I recommend you
check that out in that video I talked
about periodization which is using macro
cycles which are big like let's say
three month you know 12-week programs
broken up into Meza cycles and those are
broken down into micro cycles and using
those micro cycles as like an
organizational unit for your program you
can schedule in these d load weeks every
four to six weeks so what are the
benefits and is it really worth it is it
worth doing a deal owed every four to
six weeks well in my experience
absolutely you see in order to
understand why you want to do d loads
you have to understand the idea of super
compensation and what this says is that
when you're training regularly are you
really pushing yourself trying to go
beyond your current limits week after
week workout after workout overtime you
accumulate fatigue even though your
muscles break down and they repair as
you rest there's this idea of super
compensation where after your workout
there is a period where you your
performance is below baseline ok and
then there's a recovery period where
then returns to baseline but if you
continue to allow that recovery then it
goes above baseline your body wants to
automatically just recover strong
than it was before so that stimulus is
no longer as stressful when you look at
the idea of super compensation then you
understand why a D load can be necessary
because a lot of us right if our program
isn't quite right if we're not allowing
enough rest time and if our workouts are
really hard which in calisthenics and
gymnastics and weightlifting and all
these things yes that's a lot of stress
put on your skeletal muscle on your
connective tissue and on your central
nervous system so over time that fatigue
accumulates right if you're not allowing
full recovery and then what happens is
your hormones like your stress hormones
cortisol for instance it's going to be
out of balance you're gonna have more
stress hormones than the testosterone
and other muscle building hormones the
anabolic hormones that you want in
balance with your stress hormones this
is why typically when it's time for a D
load I can just feel it like I plateau
I'm not seeing progress anymore in some
cases if I if I'm being stubborn and I
don't take my d load in time and i just
keep going and going for weeks I'll
actually see my performance suffering
like I'm I'm getting worse I'm
regressing at some of the exercises and
that's when I know it's time for a D
load another thing that's great about
taking a week to D load is that you have
more time because your workout is
significantly shorter or it just doesn't
exist if you're taking the week
completely off from your resistance
training so that's more time for
mobility flexibility and soft tissue
work you know things that are more
focused on recovery the more gentle
things and for me I've been focusing a
lot of soft tissue work and you know
from previous videos are million-two
foam rolling massage balls like the
handheld ones lacrosse balls but I also
recently just got this this is from a
company called relics bits alright have
you guys seen you probably seen massage
guns right but this is a mini massage
going that's what I really like about it
you charge it off your laptop or any
kind of USB device so this is a u.s. be
chargeable massage gun and despite it
being so small and easy to travel with
it's really powerful like I'm using this
thing daily now to get my internal
rotators because I've been pretty tight
on the left side here like my upper trap
my upper chest my anterior deltoid and
my left
my right side not so much I've been
getting that side too but really
focusing on my left side here and this
thing has been super handy it also comes
with multiple attachments and when I get
my feet there's this like prong
attachment that I use it's awesome it
really digs in so if you really need to
dig in use the prong attachment I use
that for like the arches of my feet and
other places so now you know how to
properly deal out and why you should do
it and that you can use the extra time
to work on your soft tissue break up
those knots and just relax spend more
time with family and stuff like that so
naturally the next question is well
should you be doing a deal owed how do
you know if it's the right time for you
if you haven't been following a rigid
program and here's what I want to tell
you all right because this is really
just an individual thing you've probably
heard of overtraining which most likely
you are not overtraining the symptoms of
that are pretty extreme but there's
something kind of a little more minor
compared to that called overreaching and
that is really what you want to strive
for when you're really training hard
week to week you're trying to push
yourself beyond your normal limits
beyond your boundaries right when you're
doing that week after week and that
fatigue starts to accumulate that's
called overreaching and that's when you
start plateauing and you actually find
that you might be getting weaker
exercises that you were getting better
at now feel harder when you reach that
point no matter how experienced you are
that is a sign that it's time for a D
load if you're a complete beginner or
maybe just recently you started
following a you know a workout program
consistently maybe it's been a couple
months and you're still seeing progress
that's normal someone who's new to
fitness your body's going to keep
adapting and you're going to keep seeing
progress for upwards of like six months
or more but once you're experienced
you've been doing consistent exercise
for I would say you know anywhere from
like a year or more then you really want
to start programming looking at every
four to six weeks how do you feel and if
you're feeling those overreaching
symptoms like you're just you're not
able to push yourself further then take
a week with less volume or take a week
off even and it will benefit you last
thing guys I just want to have a little
heart-to-heart with you because if
you're anything like me
then you just want to keep pushing you
don't want to take a break you don't
want to take a week off and I'm guilty
of that I've sometimes gone three or
four months without any kind of deal out
or break whatsoever and it's because you
mean well you have good intentions and
you just want to keep making progress
but you know don't deny it if if your
progress is stagnant and you're cheating
maybe you're you're breaking form to get
those extra reps right or you're I don't
know whatever you're doing to to fool
yourself you need to realize that unless
you're taking peds
all right performance-enhancing drugs
then you're just like everybody else
every other natural athlete and your
body's going to need a break and you
deserve it after all the hard work you
deserve it
so don't be afraid to do this don't be
afraid to take a week whether it's a
complete week off or just D loaded
training just do it and I guarantee you
won't regret it because you will bounce
back stronger than before
all right everybody as always thank you
so much for watching I really appreciate
it and if you found the info in this
video helpful please drop a like because
that helps me out in return all right
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channel and with that said I'll see you
in the next one
talk to you later
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