InstagramWhen it comes to strength training knowing when to back off and knowing when to turn it up becomes an essential skill for longevity. Most of us have the perpetual “go hard or go home” mentality when it comes to hitting the gym. But what if I told you that having that mindset might eventually lead to you to “go to the hospital”?
I know what you’re thinking. This guy has lost his plot. Hold up though, hear me out for a second.
In the science of making optimal gains there is something known as “volume recommendations”. What this means is that there is only a certain amount of work (sets/reps) you should be doing in the gym when and if you want to keep them gains continually coming.
A lot of you might not know this but doing more than you should or can handle is actually counterproductive and can lead to a reduction in strength and muscle. Yes, that’s right. Over doing your training can often have negative effects.
The general recommendation guidelines are that anywhere between 10 to 20 sets per week per muscle group is enough to stimulate and grow muscle. This number might vary slightly for individuals based on their capacity to handle volume.
So, are you someone who is training extremely hard in the gym trying to continually make strength and muscle gains but you just can’t seem to anymore? Keep reading to find out what you should do to fix this.
Something all of us need to understand is that when we go to the gym and train. Anytime we lift weights, along with attempting to stimulate our muscles and gain strength adaptations we also gain fatigue. They go hand in hand.
And this fatigue that we gain, only adds up every time we hit the gym till we eventually get to a point where our fatigue levels are so high that our strength and muscle gains begin to reduce. This is known as over training.
As someone who has been training for 7 plus years now. I have been been in a state of overtraining without even knowing it for the longest time. I used to believe that overtraining wasn’t a thing and everyone who spoke about it just wanted to make an excuse to not train hard enough. Well, believing that denied me gains that I could have made and only gave me injuries. So, take it from me, it’s a state you don’t want to be in.
How to know if you’re in a state of overtraining?
Note: While there currently aren’t scientific diagnostic markers for over training. Here are some things you can take a check on. (These are based of my experience)
1 – You can’t seem to build quality muscle even though your nutrition is on point.
2 – You aren’t able to hit tiny PR’s in at least 90% of your workouts.
3 – You feel overly exhausted mid or post workout.
4 – Your joints feel battered.
If you feel any of the above you probably need a deload and need to re assess how much work you’re doing in the gym.
What is a deload?
A deload is a dedicated time period (usually a week) where we intentionally reduce our training volume and/or intensity so as to mitigate some of the accumulated stress/fatigue.
Benefits of taking a deload week?
1 – Mitigates some of the accumulated fatigue
2 – Gives your joints and ligaments some time off heavy load
3 – Gives your nervous system to kind of “reset”
4 – Primes you mentally to jump back into training
How often should you take a deload?
While there is no concrete time frame. A good reference would be to take one every 4-8 weeks depending on how intense your training has been for the last couple of weeks.
How to go about it?
There are 2 ways you can go about this.
1 – You can either simply just cut your volume (amount of sets/reps) into half while maintaining intensity (amount of weight you lift).
Example: If you’re doing 20 sets per muscle group per week. For one week cut that down to 10 sets per muscle group but lift the same amount of weight for 40-50% lesser reps as well.
2 – You can cut volume and intensity both in half.
Choice is yours. I am personally, a bigger fan of the first method because it still keeps me adapted to the amount of weight I’m moving. Fair warning though, deload weeks can be extremely boring for a lot of people. But it needs to be done, if you plan on being in this game long term (injury free) and want to constantly be making gains!
