Do you want to excel at the gym? Keep Calm
If your attitude towards life is “working at your limit,” it might be time to relax and unload a little. Many bodybuilders follow the principle “I don’t need your smelly break” and leave no time for deload at all in their workout schedule. Well, in vain, because if you roll the body back after maximum load, you can get a lot of useful things from this.
Unloading background
Many heavyweight athletes base their training on the principle of overload, when they need to achieve more and more new indicators. This can be expressed in the form of an increase in the taken weight or its volume, as well as a decrease in the time for rest. The technique, of course, is quite effective, but your body suffers from it until you slow down.
Unloading is a period of time, usually about a week, when you need to lower your training intensity after a long period of overloading. People most often do this when they reach a certain level, but cannot overcome this limit due to the constant feeling of overwork.
Why slow down? Everything is going great!
Many people think that if they take the time to deload, they will begin to lose muscle mass. They think: “And why put in so much effort every day to get the intensity of the load up? You can just lose your strength, right? Actually, unloading is exactly what you need because you worked very hard.
Unloading does not mean stopping completely. This usually means switching to half the weight you would normally take and cutting the weight in half. This kind of workout will seem incredibly easy, but that's the point. This is the only way to reduce the level of stress that the human body experiences. Without a break with a decrease in intensity, you can burn your strength, drive the body into a state of fatigue, from which it will not be possible to get out or get injured, or maybe all of the above.
Think of the unloading period as damage prevention. If you include it regularly in your training schedule, you can make progress in the results and then you will no longer need to take such long breaks, at the moments when the body begins to give up.
The unloading period allows the joints and tendons to heal and the muscles to fully recover. Over time, your body and mind will get even stronger. After all, constantly giving all the best in training is very difficult for the psyche. You might think you're cool and can handle it, but that's where burnout occurs.
How to get the most out of your unloading period?
Do cardio exercises
During the deload period, add low to medium intensity cardio to your workout routine. Do not exercise too intensely, otherwise it will turn out that you have changed one type of physical overstrain to another. Medium-intensity cardio exercises help your recovery because it improves blood circulation. Thus, more oxygen and nutrients are delivered to the damaged muscle tissue. It will also be great for relieving muscle pain. Plan 20-30 minutes of light cardio 3-4 times during the week of the off-load period.
Improving body shape
Since you will have to take on lighter weights when the unloading period is in progress, take the opportunity and focus more on form. Try to get rid of any bad skills you may notice to improve your performance and avoid injury when you return to normal training after the off-load period.
Use this time to strengthen the connection between the brain and muscles. If you are doing triceps extension, focus on the triceps and make sure that they work in this exercise, and not the abdominal muscles. If you're working your back, concentrate on your shoulder blades and don't use your arm muscles.
Master a few new exercises
It is good if you incorporate a few new exercises into your workout while unloading. Once this period is over, you will return to your normal workouts, and the best way to make steady progress is to change exercises.
Adding new exercises can cause muscle soreness, so it's best to start with light weights. After all, no one wants to deal with delayed muscle pain syndrome, no matter during unloading or later. The unloading period will make it possible to restore muscles and not damage them. Do everything at a calm pace, let your body get used to the new patterns of movement.
Sleep more
A week of unloading will seem pretty easy, so you can combine several workouts in one until you can work out the whole body in an hour and a half. This will help cut your weekly gym attendance from five days to maybe two. Then a large chunk of time will be freed up in order to recover and sleep.
Use those free minutes to take a nap, not run to the gym or just go to bed earlier. During sleep, the body heals itself. The more you sleep during the fasting week, the more effective it will be, and the more strength you will gain before returning to your regular program.
Many of us try to sleep as little as possible. It won't do any good workout. Strive to sleep at least 8 hours a day.
Don't cut carbs
There is no need to cut back on carbohydrates during the unloading period. Many people think that because they reduce exercise intensity, they should also lower their calorie and carbohydrate intake. But don't be so sure.
Unloading is needed to help the body recover from intense stress on the verge of possibilities. When you slacken your workout, make sure your body is getting all the carbohydrates it needs to level muscle glycogen levels and repair damaged muscle tissue.
It makes sense to cut back on your carbohydrate intake a bit if you did a high volume workout just before unloading. If so, don't cut carbs too much either, or it may affect your results.
The unloading period may seem like a radical departure from your usual schedule, but this is only a week. There is just enough time to give the body a chance to build up strength before you start giving your best again.