Ok, so you have been training for some time, and you are getting a little lost in all the training options or even unsure of your goals!
The storm is getting worse!
As you see results slow you either try to get tighter on your food or train more, increasing volume or intensity… The problem is this may be making things worse.
This happens! So don’t fret, we all get a little lost at times but as a good man once said
“We’ll pass through it soon enough.” – CAPT. MALCOLM REYNOLDS
Ok to the point, training too much and not resetting is a mistake I see this all the time, people eat lower calories as it helps with initial weight loss but then they don’t take breaks or re-feed, or they train beast mode but forget to de-load or put in recovery phases.
This results in too much fatigue… Fatigue kills results!
How do we fix it?
The de-load
First things first we de-load… Basically resting from our normal training level and allowing our nervous system to recover as well as our muscle mass and even hormone systems.
The simple way to do this is to do the same as we have been doing but with 50-60% of the weight and/or volume… Yes, this may mean you’re moving a 5kg dumbbell and sometimes it may feel like you are doing nothing, but you are still stimulating muscle fibres and prompting blood flow as well as stretching tissue so it’s very useful.
If you are on one of my dedicated strength programs you will know about de-loads and can just follow the protocol.
Alternate do-load options
This is my personal choice most of the time, The body only de-load…
It’s as simple as it sounds, perform simple body weight movements to stimulate the muscle and stretch but take it easy, focus on the movements and avoid breaking too much of a sweat, The reason I like this approach is it also gives me down time from the gym, and after years I have figured out that if I give my self 5-7days out of the gym I build up a real want to be back again, this keeps me in a good frame of mind, when others around me seem to be simply chewing through there program’s and not overly enjoying being there.
