Find Out What Top Athletes Are Implementing Into Their Training

00:00Real quick, the only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident. And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review. It will take you 10 seconds, and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. In my nine years of working out, you guys, I have implemented recently more deload weeks because my body just needs it.

00:32The cumulative stress over those years is catching up, and I need to take these weeks more seriously. And if I could say one thing, it would be to implement those deload weeks when you're just starting out and really getting in the habit, the habit of implementing them into your routine. Yo, yo, yo, what is going on, you guys? Welcome back to The WarriorBabe Show with Nikki Stott, co-founder of Warrior Babe. And on this podcast, we talk about mindset and methodologies and tactics that will help you lose body fat, build muscle, be strong, and feel insanely confident.

01:07I'm your host, Nikki Stott, and welcome to today's episode, episode 131, where we're going to deep dive into talking about a crucial, yet often very much so overlooked aspect of working out and training. And guys, if you can understand, which I hope by you guys listening to this podcast today, you get off this podcast, and you're like, oh man, like new profound knowledge in this fitness journey that I'm on. If you guys can understand this concept I'm going to talk about today, it can be an absolute game changer for your performance and for your overall health.

01:47So what I want to talk about today is, drumroll please, is deload weeks. Deload weeks. So we're going to talk about what they are, understanding them a bit deeper from the psychological and the physiological standpoint. I'm going to dive into some like science of why they're so important. I'm going to talk about misconceptions around them. I'm going to, most importantly, towards the end of the podcast, so stay tuned all the way through. I'm going to talk about how you can implement them.

02:17I'm going to talk about how listening to your body signals is really important, how to time them in your training cycle. And I'm going to talk about like nutrition because nutrition has a little bit of a different approach on these weeks. And like all of the things. So I'm just going to totally devote this entire episode to talking about deload weeks. And I actually like look back at all the episodes, you guys, before hopping on to record this. And of all the episodes of The WarriorBabe Show, right? And nowhere have I talked about deload weeks yet. And I was like, wow, Nikki, that is, you're overlooking it too as well by not sharing this information.

02:54With the audience. So I'm really excited to just devote this entire episode to this specific concept. And like I said, like if you guys can understand this concept, if you can rope your head around it. Because I'll tell you one thing, it's hard to, it's hard to implement these. It's hard, especially for those of you guys that are like, oh, I can't take a day off. Or, you know, let alone reduce half of my volume when I'm going into the gym to have a killer workout. The mental game of accepting these and implementing them is honestly the hardest part.

03:28Yeah, it could be a huge game changer. Like I said, not just for your performance, but for your results and for your overall health. Okay. So first and foremost, what are they? To anybody that has no idea what deload weeks are. Deload weeks are a period, typically a week, hence the deload week name, where you intentionally reduce the intensity, the volume, or the frequency of your workouts. Think of it like this. It is a strategic step back that's designed to allow your body and your mind to recover from the overall cumulative stress that you put on your body with training.

04:06And so during this week, you're still active, but your routine is, it's like less. It's less intense or it has less volume compared to your regular training sessions. And the idea, you guys, here is to, it's to have less of the cumulative, it's to have less stress on the body in that week, right? And so then you may be lifting lighter weights.

04:38You may be reducing the amount of sets or reps that you're doing. Or if you're a runner, you're reducing the distance or the speed of your runs. Sometimes you're swapping out things for, from high intensity or from overload on volume to be more like, almost like restorative. And that can be really hard to grasp out of the gate. So I want to just stick with me because a lot of people are like, first of all, people don't understand this concept. One, it's often overlooked, like I said. And two, it's really hard to implement because people just want to go ham, right, on a routine for, and this, when you're following a good routine, the deload weeks are implemented into it.

05:16Like inside of Warrior Babe, inside of our Blueprint app, we implement deload weeks for the purpose of this. It's like, here you go, community, slow down. Because of this, and I'm going to get into this in a second why it's so important, it's going to help with the overall results that you want to have and see. So the goal here with a deload week is to not push to your physical limits, but yet to maintain activity that still promotes recovery. And so when I talk about deload weeks, either in our community or even like just out with friends or with clients, there's always a question that gets brought up.

05:56What is the difference between a deload week and what is the difference between like a total rest period? So I think it's really important to distinguish between both of these two because they sound pretty similar, but they serve different purposes in a training program. A total rest is exactly what it sounds like. Like it's a complete break from training. This means like no structured exercise and you're allowing for like full physical and mental rest. The deload is what I've already talked about, which is you implementing less of the frequency of intensity, volume, sets, reps.

06:32You're cutting your weight in half, which I'm going to talk about how to implement this in a little bit. But that's what you're still active in that week. Like a total rest is like you're taking off completely. And then the deload is that you're still showing up to the gym and you're still being somewhat active. Taking a total rest is really good. Both of them are really good. They help to reduce the risk of injury. They help to reduce the risk of burnout. They help to reduce the risk of overtraining. So taking a total rest though with the difference of implementing a deload week, taking a total rest is usually after like say you run a marathon.

07:05Or say you do a bodybuilding competition. Or say you do some major type of event. Or say you are experiencing burnout, right? Or you have an injury. That's where you would take a total rest. If you don't have any of those, then you would be implementing a deload week into the sequence of the weeks of your training block. And hang with me because I'm going to get to that in a second. What I want to dive in really quick deeper is understanding these from a psychological standpoint and a physiological standpoint. So let's talk about the physiological standpoint first. Deload weeks are all about recovery and growth.

07:36So when you train hard, when you are working out, when you are inside the gym, I always say this. You are not building muscle inside of the gym. You are breaking down the muscle inside of the gym. You are creating microscopic tears in your muscle fibers. And this is not, that is a good thing. But, and that's how muscles grow and get stronger. But if you are continuously training without adequate recovery, this can lead to tears accumulating. And it can lead to the increased risk of injury and hindering your muscle growth.

08:09So you can be an avid trainer. You can be working out all the time. You could be inside the gym. You could be crushing your workouts. You can still stall on your progress. And this is why. Because you're not implementing, like pulling back on the cumulative stress that your body is experiencing and taking a time to do half of that so your body can catch up on to the recovery side of things. So during the deload week, you're reducing the stress on your muscles. You're giving them time to repair. You're giving them time to grow stronger.

08:40Think about it like this. It's like hitting the reset button on your body's recovery process. Okay. Now, diving into more of the psychological aspect, consistent, constant training can be mentally exhausting. And so this is where if you implement a deload week, it acts as almost like a mental break. And it reduces the amount, the risk of burnout that you may or could experience. In my nine years of working out, you guys, I have implemented recently more deload weeks because my body just needs it.

09:13The cumulative stress over those years is catching up. And I need to take these weeks more seriously. And if I could say one thing, it would be to implement those deload weeks when you're just starting out. And really getting in the habit, because that's exactly what it is, the habit of implementing them into your routine. When you implement this, not only is it helping with the physical side of things, but the mental side of things, it gives you a chance to step back, to refresh your mind, and to come back with like renewed motivation, renewed focus, renewed strength.

09:46Taking the mental reset is just as important as taking the physical one. And combining them together, you're just building on your ability to perform better, to show up better. And when you have those, you're going to get the results that you want. You're giving the body exactly what it needs along the period of your whole fitness journey. And implementing these early on, I would highly recommend. Trust me, I know, because I waited too long to implement them.

10:20And when I did implement them, I saw the immediate reward and gratification of them. So what I want to kind of segue into next is talking about some misconceptions about deload weeks. Because like I, when I opened up the podcast, you know, I said this is kind of mentally hard to accept. It's mentally hard to implement. Especially for those go-getters that love getting into the gym every single day. Or they have a hard time taking an active recovery day. Or they have a hard time, you know, going into the gym and then only doing half of the amount of intensity.

10:55This misconception is for you guys. Because I think what people could think about deload weeks or what people do think about deload weeks is that they are for people that are weak. Or they are for people that are being lazy. And those two things couldn't be any further from the truth. Even, you guys, listen loud and clear. So that you can, you know, accept this. That other people do this too. The most top world athletes incorporate deload weeks into their training.

11:29It's a sign of training smart. It's not a lack of strength or dedication. And the laziness side. Laziness is about avoiding effort. Deloading, on the other hand, is a strategic, purposeful reduction in effort. So I want you guys to like fully, like, especially for those that may struggle with what I had just said before. With taking a step back. It is a strategic effort. Laziness is about avoiding effort. Deloading is about having a purposeful, intentional reduction of your effort.

12:04It's a calculated part of your training. It's designed to make you stronger and to be more resilient in the long run. Hey, hey, just want to drop a huge appreciation to you guys listening to the show. It means a lot. I hope you guys are enjoying it and there's so much more to come with it. If you are enjoying it, hit the subscribe button. I'd appreciate that tons. And also, it would help this podcast reach others who need to hear these messages too. Okay, you guys, you guys know I always talk about long term. I always talk about the big picture. I always talk about years and years out.

12:36Like, you know, getting to where you want to be takes years. It's not an overnight thing. It's not a three-month thing. It's literally years. And the more that you can understand this calculated part of your fitness journey, among all the other things that you're learning and implementing, this will be, this is designed to make you stronger. It's a strategic action of implementing more resilience for the long run, like I just said. Okay? Because part of the long run, if you were doing this consistently,

13:08like I'm going to use myself for like, I don't know, maybe like five or six years before I actually implemented a deload week. Now, granted, like I took weeks of full rest off, but I never implemented a deload week. And so with implementing, think about it like that. Like six years of not implementing it in those years. And even if you guys aren't doing that now, what could happen here? Why they're so important is that they prevent overtraining. They prevent you from having what I just mentioned earlier,

13:39like tons of accumulation of microscopic tears in your muscles. And then there's no, like your muscles have a really hard time recovering. And they also help with increased performance. So like I had said a little bit ago, it's like, when you take a deload week and you take time off, and you're strategically implementing that into your routine, you will come back stronger. You will come back with a, like a renewed motivation and focus to go crush your, the week ahead with your workouts and to crush and to remember why you're on this journey, right?

14:09You need that mental break. You need that physical break. So those are just some misconceptions I wanted to squash. I think it's really important to understand you are not lazy. Lazy is like people that sit on the couch and watch Netflix and avoid going in and, and, and even thinking about a workout. The other side on the flip, when you implement these, it's a strategic, a deload week is a strategic, purposeful, intentional, intentional reduction of your effort. You're still showing up. You're still getting into the gym. It's just that you are strategically putting half of the workload on your body to allow the recovery process to happen.

14:46And the growth process to happen. Most importantly, I think I need to, you know, highlight that a little bit more. I'm talking about recovery, recovery, recovery. But a big aspect you guys hear of deload weeks is so that your muscles can grow. And when your muscles grow, that helps you to be more toned. Toned, that word, toned. Everybody wants to be more toned. What toned is, is just the, having more muscle mass to your body and a lower body fat percentage.

15:16And the only way that you get more muscle mass to your body is by strength training, weight lifting, putting your body under physical resistance, and then implementing these little things I'm teaching you inside this podcast, and all the other podcast episodes, and implementing them. That's how you get growth. That's how you get toned. That's how you build more muscle. Ladies, are you feeling frustrated with body changes you're experiencing during menopause?

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16:18Take charge of your health and join our community of strong, empowered women. Visit warriorbabe.com forward slash apply today to start your transformation. That's warriorbabe.com forward slash apply. All right, let's get back to the show. All right, so let's talk about how, um, let's talk about how to implement these bad boys into your routine. Uh, so there's, you know, if you talk to, there's a lot of different ways you could do this.

16:51I'm going to talk to the way that I do it. I'm going to talk to the way that I coach clients on doing it, coach our community on doing it. Um, and then you guys can take it as you want to. So one of the key, like, effective ways to implement a deload week is to know first and foremost when to take a deload week. So it's not just about, like, picking, like, a random week off. Although I have worked with clients where they're traveling and they have, they're going to have a hard time getting in the structured amount of, uh, structured amount of workouts.

17:24Or, you know, the, the equipment is, is lacking. So we need to, like, kind of focus on still showing up or reducing the, the type of workload that they're doing. And in that case, I would kind of strategically place it around their travel weeks. But for the broad spectrum of speaking to you guys, it's not just about picking a random week to, to ease off. It's about strategically aligning your deload with your training cycle and listening to your body's cues. When you are listening to your body's cues and you may have to implement things sooner, uh, than expected than you already had aligned with your training cycle.

18:01And I'm going to talk about that in a second. But most importantly, what I want to say here is it's not just about picking a random week to ease off. It's about, okay, if I'm following a, you know, four week or eight week or 12 week workout program, you're strategically placing these weeks within that frame of time. Um, so most people call workout programs, and this is why it's really important too. I just want to like pin this in there. This is why it's so freaking important to follow a structured workout program for all of the reasons of which I'm saying to get the results that you want.

18:39Um, but if you're just someone that's going in and changing up your routine every single week, you're not allowing your body to recognize or get used to the type of exercises that you're doing. And so almost every week you may feel like you're told you're, you're sore all over again. Whereas it's really like people, uh, wish I've seen in like, you know, I've seen with working with clients. They're like, oh, I wish I had a new workout routine every two weeks. I get bored with my workout routines.

19:09There is, what's the saying? There's a method to the madness of following the same exercises for a period of time. It's the type of stress being put on the body, on the muscles, and adapting them and getting them to grow. It's called progressive overload. I've talked about this many times inside the podcast. But if you were to change up your routine every day, every week, every two weeks, there's no, uh, consistent routine. There's no consistent resistance. There's no consistent, like, I've been doing this exercise.

19:41I'm getting better at it. I'm getting stronger at it. I can increase my weight. I can increase my reps. I can decrease the set if I want to. There's none of that. So it's just a little side rant. It's really important to follow a block, right? Or people, what they call either a cycle or a pattern or a training block or, like, you know, when you have a new workout program, VIPs, Warrior B, I'm talking to you, or even the blueprint. We can follow something for six to eight weeks, right? There's a reason why you're doing that, okay? So get obsessed with the boring work.

20:11Do the boring work. Do the boring work and follow through on it, all right? And rant. Getting back to it. Identifying the right time for your, for, in your training cycle, in your training block to do these. And it could be a buildup of intensity. It could be a buildup of volume over several weeks, followed by, like, a recovery phase. So meaning what I'm saying by that is, like, you're following something for two to three weeks. You're building up on sets. You're building up on reps. You're building up on intensity. You're building up on volume. You're increasing the weight. And then followed by a recovery week or a deload week, right?

20:43So the common approach, broadly speaking, is to schedule a deload week every, like, four to eight weeks, depending on your type of training that you are doing. So I'm going to use the Warrior Babe community as an example, right? There may be a week or weeks on end where we're focusing on maybe three sets of squats and four sets of squats and five sets of squats and six sets of squats. And then all of a sudden we're banging out on a deload week, right? Or it may be that it's all the same sets across the week, the weeks, but we're increasing a rep or two each week.

21:18Or another one would be, okay, same sets, same reps, but try to get a little bit heavier weight, right? And so you're following this type of pattern for four weeks. And then the common approach is, bam, at, like, because you're increasing. It's a buildup. And then you're giving the body the break, okay? You're giving your body a deload week, which you're decreasing your workload by either, like, 40% or 50% when you're in a deload week.

21:49Or you're cutting your reps by 40% or 50%. Or you're just getting in and you're doing half the amount of sets. I don't usually do that when I either do reps or I do the intensity of weight. That's how, that's what, that would be the timing of which you would implement these. If you're following a structured routine, which you should be, especially if you're looking to build more muscle, to be more toned, to have decreased body fat, to build the aesthetic body that you want. Then you're following some type of structured routine, workout routine with said exercises, said focus for weeks on time.

22:23And then you, with the implementation of this at week four or week six or week eight, would be implementing a deload week, okay? And again, that's, like, the reduction of whatever I talked about, intensity, frequency, volume. Here's something that I would alter if needed. And this is where, like, a one-on-one approach is so freaking awesome, you guys. If you're working with a one-on-one coach, and which you can do inside the Worry Babe VIP, and you are communicating with your coach that,

22:54hey, I am overly sore, I can't recover, I'm sore for, like, 72 hours, I have mental, like, brain fog right now, I'm not sleeping that well. This is where I would say, apart from the structured approach, it is so vital to listen to your body. Your body gives you signals, and it's important to listen to them. Signs that you need a deload week are all of what I just said. If you're feeling consistently fatigued, having persistent soreness that doesn't go away, with regular rest,

23:25you're experiencing a decline or a plateau in your performance, or you're just feeling insanely drained. If you are experiencing that, say, at week three of your block, then this is where you would, aside from the structured approach, you would throw in a deload week, and you would, and this is where the benefits of working one-on-one with the coach, you would do that, and then you would follow back up with your block in weeks to come, right? Or, like, you would get right back to it normally, and then maybe you do, like, a four or five-week stretch before you implement a deload.

23:59So it's really, this is where I love, like, when, obviously, you're following a structured program, you can work with a one-on-one coach, but, like, it's like, okay, outside of the structure, if I, if you need a deload week, this, it's really easy to just implement a deload week. It's just you pull back on all of the things intensity-wise of what your workout said for the last two, three weeks, and you implement it. But most importantly, what I'm trying to say there is that you listen to your body's signals. If you are experiencing any or all of those things,

24:30it's not that you try and hammer out another week of your, you know, normal frequency, volume, and intensity workout, and do that for the four or five days that you're scheduled to do it, you know to pull back, and you know that this is where I need to implement the deload week. And you implement it, and you do it, and you follow through. I'm telling you, performance, results, strength, mental fortitude, resilience, all of these things are going to 10x in that week. Like, it's just the hardest part is implementing it, okay?

25:04So that's how you implement them, and how to listen to your body when you're, when you need, when you need to implement one. Last thing I want to talk about here is nutrition. Because during a deload week, you're expending less energy in your workouts, and so depending on what your goals are, and I need to just like highlight those words, depending on what your goals are, you may need to decrease your caloric intake slightly. I am talking to thousands of you guys right now.

25:35And this is, and you guys know, like, I'm big on personalized individual touch points. This podcast is speaking to all of you guys right now. And so majority of you guys are probably trying to cut or lose body fat or decrease weight, X, Y, and Z. And if that's the case, you would just want to slightly adjust your nutritional focus during this week. This does not mean that you would drastically cut down your food intake. Listen to me loud and clear. Your body still needs adequate nutrition to aid in the recovery process

26:09and maintain building muscle mass and maintain the muscle mass that you already have to your body. Why I just got like elevated in my tonality is because nutrition is one of, first of all, the hardest thing for people to implement it. But when I say that you need to reduce your caloric intake, I feel like people spiral and they reduce like by 500 calories because you're not as active as you were. 500 calories is what will put you into a deeper deficit. No. Listen, loud and clear. Okay. You still need to eat.

26:40You still need to participate in your macros. You still need to, you know, make sure that you're feeling your body adequately and so that you can, the recovery process can still happen. So that muscle mass can still be held on to. It's key, key, key, key to understand that. Okay. All you need to do if you are in a cut and focusing on a cut is to make a slight adjustment. Slight. Like I'm talking. Actually, I'm not going to say that because it's totally individual for everybody.

27:11But it is not as drastic as you think. Okay. Just because you're inactive doesn't mean you need to slash calories. You're still active. I need to say that. You're just expending, expending less energy in those workouts. Okay. And then for some people, you don't even need to do anything worth eating nutrition. You just eat normally and maintain. Maintaining is where the magic freaking happens, you guys. And some of you aren't there yet. But trust me, in years to come, you'll remember when Nikki said,

27:44maintaining is where the magic happens. I promise you that. But for some of you guys listening to this, you don't need to adjust anything. Still eat normally. Like for me, I don't adjust much because I have a lot of muscle mass in my body. And my muscles can't take eating less food. They need the food. Okay. So, and the most importantly, you need to say this here, this week, during the weeks that you implement daily week, get in your protein. Get in your protein. There is, if there's any macronutrient that you should not be stinging with,

28:18it's your protein. Protein is a macronutrient. Protein, God, it's the king of all the macronutrients. It's what's going to help build the muscle, repair, all of the things. So please do not forget about eating your protein and hitting your protein number. If you fall short on carbs and fats, I'll be the first one to tell you, I don't give a shit if you fall on your carbs and your fats. But if you're missing out on your protein, I will be yelling at you in your face. Just saying. Not really, because I love you guys. But really, protein is important, you guys, especially during this week.

28:53Okay. Anyway, that's the whole spiel that I got on deload weeks. Okay. They, let's just recap it. They involve reducing the intensity, the volume, and frequency of the workouts for a period, typically a week. They are different, my friends, from total rest periods as you're still active, but you're at a lower intensity. They help psychologically. They help physiologically. They provide a mental break. They aid in muscle recovery and growth.

29:24They get you the results that they want or that you want. Um, once implement them, schedule them like every four, six, eight weeks, depending on your training intensity, depending on the type of plan that you're following. First and foremost, make sure you're following a plan. You're actually doing it consistently and you're doing the boring work and you're doing the same exercises on a weekly basis. Um, listen to your body's signals. It's signs like, you know, if you're persistent with fatigue, you're persistent with your soreness, then maybe you need a, uh, deal a week sooner.

29:55Um, nutrition last, but not least, uh, nutrition focus on slightly if needed adjusting slightly due to, to the match, the reduced energy expenditure. Um, but still focus on protein, fats, and carbs, and most importantly, protein. Um, one last thing that actually didn't touch on in this entire podcast, but we'll close out saying is within these weeks too, as well, prioritize hydration, prioritize sleep.

30:25Those two things are, are, are optimal ingredients for recovery during the deload week. All right. Oh, and last thing, you're not lazy. It's a part of strategic planning. Laziness is avoiding effort. Doing a deload week is strategically and intentionally reducing your intensity. It's all about training smart, not harder. It's a proactive approach to ensure that long-term progress is being made. You're preventing injuries.

30:56You're preventing burnout. You're maintaining healthy balance. All of the things. Okay. So I hope you guys enjoyed this episode today. I hope it shed light on the importance of deload weeks and how you can effectively integrate them into your workout routine. Peace out guys. See you next time. Real quick. The only ask I could ever have of you guys is to help spread the word so we can help more women lose body fat, build muscle, reach their goals, and feel insanely confident.

31:26And the only way we can do that is if you rate, review, and share this podcast. So the single thing I ask for you to do is if you could leave a review, it will take you 10 seconds and it will mean the absolute world to me and may change the world of someone else. And the only way we can do that is if you're going to be able to do that.

This transcript was generated automatically and may contain errors.