Why it’s essential to take a week off from the gym every now and then – the science behind ‘deload weeks’

If you were to think about the key to getting fit, you would probably imagine that you need to spend a lot of time at the gym. But many influencers say so take up time from the gym every six to eight weeks – known as “deload week” – is actually the key to improving fitness gains.

Deload weeks mainly involve reducing training intensity. They are usually performed during periods of ponderous training. The explicit purpose of deload week is body donation time to regenerate against fatigue and damage that may be caused by periods of intense training.

Intense training or high training volume causes this to happen accumulate damage in our muscle tissues. While this damage is an imperative part of the recovery process, this improvement can only occur when the body has time to recover.

During exercise, petite tears may form in the muscles and their fibers become disorganized after intense training. This causes an inflammatory response in the muscle tissue that requires time in an “unloaded state” (resting or doing low-intensity exercise) to solve. This inflammation is really essential promoting positive change in our muscles – which leads to improved fitness.

However, if we train without adequate rest, we can cause the muscle to be in a semi-permanent state of gentle damage. Inflammation does not go away – which leads to negative changes – for example, our muscles’ less ability to operate oxygen efficiently and needy performance.

By giving our muscles a chance to recover, we ensure their success.

Risk of overtraining

Many avid gym-goers may be afraid to take time off from the gym for fear of missing out on the benefits. However, research actually shows that the genes in our muscles contain a memory trace – effectively storing the genes responsible for muscle growth in: semi-prepared state. This means that our muscles are ready to respond faster and better to future workouts and to support growth after a period of rest.

Even after long periods without training (up to seven weeks), muscle performance can be restored to excellent condition – and in some cases even longer. This happens even if you have lost some muscle strength during this period. Moreover, your condition can be restored to its original form twice as rapid as it would take to reach this level.

Another reason why it’s so essential to take a break from intense training is that without rest, you can experience muscle soreness – and potentially even overtraining syndrome. Overtraining syndrome is a prolonged period of needy health and needy fitness caused by training too intensely or too intensely without adequate rest. This may take several weeks or months (and in some cases years) to overcome.

Symptoms of overtraining syndrome include fatigue, needy performance and mood disturbances. These symptoms come on gradually – meaning that overtraining syndrome only shows up when you’re in the throes of it. Therefore, ensuring adequate rest is an essential part of training.

It’s demanding to say how common overtraining syndrome is because the symptoms are very vague. Some studies indicate that the incidence of overtraining syndrome may affect as little as 10% of elite athletes, but the incidence may also be as high as as much as 60% in the most competitive athletes.

Rest days or deload weeks?

It’s clear that recovery time is essential to both fitness and overall health. Whenever you do a lot of work at the gym, be sure to include plenty of recovery time in your training plan.

Deload weeks differ from rest days in that rest days typically include no exercise (or only very lithe exercise) once or twice a week. Deload weeks tend to involve some trainingbut at a much lower intensity than usual – you usually do about 50% less training than usual or reduce the intensity of your training by about 20%.

Both rest days and deload weeks support the body recover from training, which is essential for improving fitness. It’s not a matter of either/or. For example, if you are undertaking an intense training program before a marathon, ironman or crossfit competition, you should schedule weekly rest days. In addition to this, you should also implement deload weeks. If you’re a recreational gym goer who trains less strenuously one to three times a week, the rest of the training you’ll get from this type of exercise schedule will likely be adequate.

Read more: Rest days are essential for fitness – and here’s why, according to science

Fitness influencers suggest that deload weeks should be included in training schedules every four to eight weeks. This is broadly consistent with expert opinion lasting four to six weeks. However, you should plan your deload weeks as needed. If you start to notice that your performance is no longer improving – or maybe even getting worse – it may be time for a deload week.

No training plan should be so demanding that you can’t take a step back when you need to. Deload Weeks will not only benefit your performance, but also your health.