Many people see a deload week as something for wimps or for people who have no motivation. But honestly: most (serious) athletes who never deload, eventually completely lock up. Too heavy, too often, pushing through for too long doesn’t work endlessly. Your body is not a machine, although it sometimes it feels like that when you are fully in a training flow. Your body is a large living organ that you cannot keep pushing endlessly without it pushing back.
In this blog, I explain in a normal, explains in an understandable way what a deload week exactly is, why it works, how you do it and when you need one. I also discuss deloads for bodybuilders, strength trainers, fitness enthusiasts, crossfitters, and powerlifters – there is also a certain difference there.
What is a deload week?
A deload week is a planned week (or shorter/longer) in which you reduce the load of your training. So you are still training, but everything is put on hold for a while. Less volume, less intensity, less stress on your joints, less strain on your nervous system to better recover and come back stronger.
You basically remove all built-up fatigue that your body cannot get rid of in a few normal rest days resolve. A deload week is not a vacation or a week of doing nothing. It is a conscious planned recovery week so you can make progress again afterwards. (Pub Med, 2024)
What does that roughly look like
- You do fewer sets
- You train further from failure
- You use lighter weights
- You keep the movements neat and controlled
- You don’t leave the gym out of breath or exhausted
A deload week feels almost too easy. But that is exactly the point.
Why does deloading work?
If you train hard for weeks on end, you build up fatigue. Not only in your muscles, but also in your tendons, joints and especially your nervous system. Many athletes think it’s mainly the muscles are the ones that get tired, but that’s only a small part of the story.
What really happens after weeks of heavy training:
- Your nervous system becomes overloaded
- Your technique becomes sloppier
- Your recovery becomes increasingly less
- Your muscles feel tired and tight
- Your motivation slowly fades
- Joints and tendons start to protest
This doesn’t happen overnight day. It’s a buildup. And you don’t get rid of that buildup with just one rest day or an evening of going to bed early.
A deload week works because your body finally gets time to catch up on overdue recovery.
That hidden recovery feels often the biggest gain: you become sharper, stronger, and fresher
When do you need a deload week?
You don’t have a standard one every month deload week needed. But there are clear signs that your body needs a break needs.
Watch out for these kinds of things:
- Weights that are normally easy feel suddenly heavy
- Warm-ups already feel tiring
- Your technique is no longer stable
- Your motivation decreases
- You get irritated more quickly
- Your recovery takes longer than usual
- Small pains get bigger
- You are mentally "done" before you start your training
- You feel stiff and slow, even with light exercises
If these kinds of signals accumulate, it is a deload week is almost always a good idea. It is much better to be a little early to deload than too late, when you are already experiencing complaints or overreaching (overfatigue).
How often should you do a deload week?
This varies greatly per athlete, but there are just guidelines.
Average frequencies:
- Beginners: often hardly necessary, unless they do insanely high volume
- Average athletes: every 6 to 8 weeks
- Advanced: every 4 to 6 weeks
- People who like to train to failure: more often than they want to admit
- People who are cutting: usually need it sooner
- People with a lot of stress outside training: also need it sooner
The ideal timing therefore depends on your recovery capacity, lifestyle, training volume, and how hard you really train. So it is not necessary if advanced athlete definitely not every 4 to 6 weeks if you only train 2-3 times per week train when you are in a busy period and do not train to failure, for example. (BELL, et al., 2025)
How do you do a deload week?
There are two ways to do a deload week can be approached. Both work, but it depends on your sport, training style and how hard you train.
1. Reduce volume (recommended for almost everyone)
Volume is the biggest source of fatigue. Less volume means faster recovery, without your body completely going into sleep mode.
A deload through less volume means:
- 40 to 60 percent fewer sets
- Keep the same exercises
- No training to failure
- Lower RPE, around 5 or 6
- Slower tempo
- No intensive variations like drop sets, rest-pause, or forced reps
This is by far the best method for fitness enthusiasts, bodybuilders, strength trainers, and most recreational athletes
2. Lowering intensity (for powerlifters or people with CNS fatigue)
Sometimes it’s the load that wears you down, especially if you do a lot of heavy singles, doubles, and triples.
An intensity deload means:
- Working at 50 to 60 percent of your 1RM
- Low to moderate volume
- Technical reps
- No heavy pushing, pulling, or squatting
- Gradually reducing nervous system load
This works especially well for powerlifters who train a lot at high intensity.
Which method is better for deloading?
For 90 percent of athletes, it works
lowering volume is best.
For powerlifters, lowering intensity often works better.
Sometimes you do a mix: volume slightly down, intensity slightly down, but never both extremely at the same time. Then it becomes too light and feels like you did a week of warm-up.
Deload week for bodybuilding, strength training, and fitness/gym
Because these three groups are quite similar train in terms of goal and training style, you can easily combine them into one strategy summarize.
What is the goal:
- Relieving muscles
- Allowing joints and tendons to recover
- Reducing accumulated fatigue
- Cleaning up technique
- Setting up a new training phase
How do you approach a deload week for this group?
- Keep the same exercises
- Use about 50 to 60 percent of your normal volume
- Stop your sets 3 to 4 reps before failure—no intensive techniques
- No high RPE—no ego lifts—focus on smooth, tight repetitions
- Slightly shorter workouts
- Do not introduce new exercises
The idea is simple: you keep the movements warm, but removes all stress from your system.
Deload week for powerlifters
Powerlifters are a special category. Not because they train differently, but because the load on the nervous system is much higher. A few weeks of really heavy squatting, bench pressing, and deadlifting adds up enormous because of it.
That’s why a deload for powerlifters looks something different.
How powerlifters often deload:
- 50 to 60 percent of 1RM
- Few sets, often 2 to 3 working sets per lift
- No heavy triples, doubles, or singles
- Slower tempo
- No grind reps
With powerlifters, a deload is more about to the nervous system rather than the muscles. Muscles are often fine, but the system behind it is tired.
Deload week for crossfit
Crossfit is a different world because you dealing with intensity, impact, and volume all at once.
What does NOT belong in a crossfit deload week:
- No heavy WODs
- No high-impact like burpees, box jumps, or double unders
- No maximal lifts
- No huge cardio peaks
What SHOULD be included:
- Low intensity
- Longer rest
- Technical training (rings, handstand drills, etc.)
- Light strength sessions
- Easy metcons without peak heart rate
Crossfit demands a lot from your recovery, so
Deloads occur here more often than in bodybuilding or regular strength training.
How should you eat during a deload week?
Many people make a mistake here. They think: less training = less eating. But that's not how it works.
During a deload week, a lot of recovery takes place. That costs energy. If you eat too little, recovery will be slower and you get less out of your deload.
How you should eat during a deload week:
- Keep proteins the same
- Keep calories almost the same
- Possibly 5 to 10 percent lower if you prefer that
- Focus on good nutrition, less processed junk
- Drink enough water
- Extra vegetables and fruit is never wrong
How not to eat during a deload week:
- No crash diet
- No 400 to 600 calories down
- No "I move less, so I have to eat less eating"-mentality
A deload is not a cut week. It is a recovery week.
Common mistakes when deloading
- Scaling back too much, making it more of a vacation week
- Not scaling back enough, so you are actually not doing a deload
- Thinking you get weaker from a deload
- Eating too little - drastically lowering volume and intensity at the same time
- Doing the deload too short (2-3 days)
- Random deloading without a plan
- Letting ego get in the way
Deloading sometimes feels like you are going backwards goes. In reality, you are actually building a buffer for progress.
Conclusion: what is a deload week?
A deload week is a planned training week in which you consciously reduce the load. Not because you don't feel like have, but because your body needs a reset. By deloading you get built-up fatigue gone, you improve your recovery and come back stronger. And maybe well the most important thing: a deload week is not a sign that you are working less hard. It is a sign that you are working smart.
