The De-Load Week! (or how to avoid overtraining, injury and stalled progress)

I'm in the midst of training for a summer bikini show.

My workouts consist of high volume supersets, giant sets, plyos and always, always always, I have my strength work in there somewhere. My workouts at the very least are always designed to help me at least maintain my physical strength, if not increase it. Maintaining strength is non-negotiable for me.

But these types of workouts, while producing rapid results and a whittled down, lean, athletic physique, are very taxing on the body. Especially coupled with a high volume of cardio. You can't bang out these workouts week in, week out for months on end without hitting a wall.

And trust me, you don't want to hit the wall.

This is where the De-load week comes in.

A de-load week is an active rest. Ideally, your de-load week should have you doing lower volume, lighter weights and minimal cardio.

You should be using your time to stretch, foam roll and rest. You shouldn't feel like you're doing all that much during a de-load week, it is after all A DE-LOAD WEEK. It's not supposed to be strenuous. You're giving your body a chance to rest and recover and repair. That is the point. You don't get hardcore brownie points for hammering yourself into an overtrained, beat-up, miserable mess. That is not hardcore, that is just stupid.

A well programmed de-load week should have you feeling pumped up, refreshed and ready for your next cycle of high intensity training.

It's the SMART way to train.

You should put one into your plan approximately every 4 - 6 weeks.

Signs you may a de-load week:

- you feel beat up and constantly tired, drained.

- you're constantly aching, possibly nursing some strains that may lead to injury. Or you may already be injured.

- you may look slight bloated or inflamed. Inflammation is the body's response to stress and when your body is stressed, it produces cortisol.*

- your performance goes down - you're weaker, slower, not seeing any improvements.

I took 2 weeks off my high-volume, high intensity bikini workouts and just focused on low-volume basic strength work, stretching, hanging out in the steam room (yes! love the steam room) and a measly 20 - 30 minutes of elliptical per day. I feel great!

I'm ready to hit it hard again next week, I can't wait!

*Cortisol is a catabolic hormone (i.e: it breaks down hard-earned muscle) that causes you to retain fat and fluid around your midsection - you don't want your body producing unnecessary cortisol!