Fitness lasts. Fatigue doesn’t.
Hard training builds both at once. Fitness hangs around for weeks. Fatigue clears in days. A lighter week lets the fatigue drain while the fitness stays, so the next block starts fresher than the last one finished.
A week off does no lasting harm. But you lose the practice, and the first session back feels rusty. A deload keeps the movements familiar with less on the bar.
Plan it. Don’t wait to need it.
Most programs put one every fourth to eighth week. In your first year you recover fast, so six to eight weeks apart is usually fine. After a year or two, every four to six.
If you wait until you feel you need one, you’ve normally lost a week or two of good training first. Moderate weights feel heavy. Warm-ups feel slow. Aches hang on. A planned deload means you rarely meet those weeks.
How to take one
- 01
Keep the days and the lifts
It should feel like a normal week with less in it.
- 02
Halve the sets
4 sets of 5 becomes 2 sets of 5. Keep the reps.
- 03
Take about 10% off
The bar should move quickly.
- 04
Nothing above RPE 6
About four reps left in every set. If it felt hard, it was too heavy for this week.
- 05
Don’t fill the gap
No bonus conditioning, no new sport. The week only works if the total load comes down.
A rule for the weights
Writing your own program? Take the top weight from your last hard week, multiply by 0.9, round down to the nearest 2.5 kg, then halve the sets.
| Lift | Last hard week | Deload week |
|---|---|---|
| Squat | 140 kg, 4 × 5 | 125 kg, 2 × 5 |
| Bench | 90 kg, 4 × 5 | 80 kg, 2 × 5 |
| Deadlift | 170 kg, 2 × 5 | 152.5 kg, 1 × 5 |
| Overhead press | 57.5 kg, 4 × 6 | 50 kg, 2 × 6 |
Precision doesn’t matter this week. Turning up does.
From the Compound founder. Notes on training, not medical advice.