fallacy friday debunking the deload

Nimble said:As a beginner, I find this interesting. Having done 5/3/1 in the past I always found the 4th week a complete waste of time at my level. 1 Question:

"5 week linear blocks that went from high volume to low intensity for 4-5+ blocks" What does that look like (approximately)? Does this mean each block goes from high volume to low (high?) intensity or that the blocks themselves are progressively lower volume and higher intensity?

DeanW92 said:Deloading is very individual, beginners should't need it but some intermediate and advanced lifters do, there will be many of the top lifters that never 'deload' but also many that regularly have down time in their training.

I believe there are many factors that effect how often you need to deload, if at all, they include:
*Recovery protocol e.g, sleep and food.
*personal recovery ability, not everyone is the same.
*level of strength.
*Effort put into your training session, e.g. 5x5 @ 70% shouldn't be too difficult, some people would only put in the required effort, others would treat each rep as a max effort and try move the weight as fast as possible.
*Use of stimulants.
*Psyching up for lifts.
*Volume and or intensity.
*Programming, there are many programs on the internet but not many that have a yearly plan, if a programs varies from times of high intensity and then drops to using lower weights but with a bit higher volume, you are backing off but not in the same manner as 5/3/1.

Iv personally had periods where iv pushed the intensity for a long period of time and after a couple of weeks where I hit PB's, I then regressed back quite a lot and then it took months to eventually get back to where I previously was. Deloads help me avoid this problem.

IrishMarc said:
I know many very strong lifter who never have planned deloads. They train lighter for peroids but it's not often planned.
Taking a planned week of rest in every 3 isn't really a great "deload" stratagem but merely an arbitrary rule of thumb.
There is a cascade of reasons why you should train lighter for a period (hit a good peak, injury, come off your bicycle etc). Taking it easy because a spreadsheet told me too isn't a good reason IMO.

DeanW92 said:
I completely agree, again using a 5/3/1 as an example, many people would be better off going for about 6 weeks or even longer before a deload. I personally find that for myself though, I can push hard for 3 weeks and then I start to go backwards, so surely for me having a deload on the 4th week is good for my personal needs?

IrishMarc said:
I know many very strong lifter who never have planned deloads. They train lighter for peroids but it's not often planned.
Taking a planned week of rest in every 3 isn't really a great "deload" stratagem but merely an arbitrary rule of thumb.
There is a cascade of reasons why you should train lighter for a period (hit a good peak, injury, come off your bicycle etc). Taking it easy because a spreadsheet told me too isn't a good reason IMO.