You can't wait to get to the gym again. You'll do anything it takes to transform your physique. You take pride in the fact that you out-train everyone you know. If some is good, more is better.

Your physical endurance is only outmatched by your mental toughness: One more set, one more rep, one extra day in the gym. If you keep giving more, there's no doubt that you'll achieve the body of your dreams!

While I applaud your efforts and dedication, I have to question your plan of attack. You see, when it comes to moving iron, more is not always better. Taking some time to reduce the volume or intensity of your training should be a big part of your strategy.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying a few weeks of hard training will lead to overtraining. Most people don't even come close to working hard enough in the gym to truly overtrain. In fact, even if you bust your ass each time you hit the gym, the chances of you "overtraining" are slim.

However, if you don't vary volume and intensity throughout your training block, the chances of your performance being less than optimal in the long run are very high. Enter the deload week.

What's Deloading and Why It's Important?

Deloading is a planned reduction in training. This "reduction" could mean lowering volume, reducing intensity by using less weight, or a combination of the two.

Including deload weeks is an excellent way to allow for metabolic supercompensation and muscular adaptive reconstruction to occur. Basically, when you go back to your usual volume and intensity after the deload week, you'll come back stronger and your body will be better equipped to handle intense training.

There are many ways to incorporate deload weeks into your program; let's go over a few of the most effective ones.

Planning Your Deload Week

A typical strategy entails training with full intensity for three weeks and then backing off, or deloading, in week four.

If you decide to go with the reduction in volume option, I suggest dropping the total number of sets by 40-50% in each training session over your deload week. So if you performed 20 total sets in each session over the first three weeks of the program, during your deload week, you'd perform 10-12 total sets.

If you're very strong, then a reduction in intensity may be your best option: Reducing the amount of weight by 10-20% should do the trick. To eliminate any confusion, I'd define a "very strong" female as someone who's able to deadlift 1.5 times her own body weight, squat 1.5 times her own body weight, and bench press her own body weight.

Results Fitness Four-Week Strategy

This is an example of the deload technique Alwyn and Rachel Cosgrove utilize with their trainees.

Week 1: Intro Week

This is a lower volume week, consisting of 1-2 sets of each exercise. This week is used to emphasize proper lifting technique and introduce new movements. Essentially, this is their deload week.

Week 2: Base Week

Here, the volume will be increased a tiny bit, possibly along with the load.

Week 3: Overload Week

This is a week of personal records. Here, the load is increased and the trainees go for maximal effort repetition goals — but without missing any lifts.

Week 4: Shock Week

This is another week where the load is increased and trainees try to set personal records. This works out nicely because the following week will be the deload week and the start of the next training block. Missed reps may occur here, but are not the goal.

Cressey Performance Four-Week Strategy

The deload technique outlined here is one used by Eric Cressey with his clients.

Week 1: High Volume Week

Here, the volume's taken way down as you prepare your body for the high volume week to come.

Week 2: Medium Volume Week

The volume will be high here since you just finished your deload week.

Week 3: Very High Volume Week

Volume is reduced from the high volume week, which sets you up nicely going into the very high volume week to follow.

Week 4: Low Volume Week

This week will be the highest of the four-week training block. Stay mentally tough here, as you'll be "rewarded" with your deload next week.

Note: To learn more great tips about incorporating Cressey Performance deload weeks into your training, check out Coach Cressey's The Art of the Deload ebook.

Coach McLarty's Four-Week Strategy for Women

While any of the above four-week options would work well, I'd like to provide you with another strategy that I believe works exceptionally well for females.

As you ladies already know, a woman's menstrual cycle is filled with psychological and physiological peaks and valleys. There are certain times during the cycle when injury risk is higher and training tolerance is lower. I believe it's crucial for a female to plan her deloads around that time frame — the period typically lasting from day 22 to 28 of your cycle.

The chart to the right is one that was originally published in an article written by Christian Thibaudeau; it describes the changes that occur during each phase of the cycle and how each of these changes relates to training.

With this chart in mind, here's what I would suggest for a female trainee:

Week 1 — Days 1-5 of menstrual cycle: Medium Volume Week

Because you should still be on the "cautious" side here, I suggest leaving a little in the tank on each set by staying a rep or two from failure. Volume-wise, aiming for 16 sets per training session would be a good guideline.

Week 2 — Days 6-13 of menstrual cycle: High Volume Week

Time to get after it and really push it! Aiming for 20 sets per training session would be a good idea over this time period.

Week 3 — Days 15-21 of menstrual cycle: Very High Volume Week

Time to crush it again, just like in week two, but now we'll increase the volume even more because we know that we'll be backing off next week, as that's when the deload time begins. Shoot for 24 sets per training session here.

Week 4 — Days 22-28 of menstrual cycle: Deload Week

Once again, you have the option of reducing either volume, intensity, or both. You can either reduce your volume by 50% from the very high week, or reduce the intensity by 10-20%. Since this is the time of the month where injury risk is at its highest, I suggest taking a break from plyometrics and any other high impact or high injury-risk movements during this week.

I've never had a period, and don't plan on having one anytime soon, so me telling you exactly how it affects you would make as much sense as you telling me how it feels to take a swift kick to the groin. What I do know, however, is that each person is affected differently during her cycle, so make adjustments accordingly. Let the above set-up serve as a blueprint to help get you started.

Note: If you're new to training (in the first year of your training "career") or are training a newbie, don't worry about deload weeks. Someone who's just learning the movements and her own central nervous system is not yet capable of recruiting enough muscle fiber to warrant a deload week.

Summary

You attack your training sessions with passion, but if each week is harder than the next, you can count on eventually losing motivation, seeing dips in performance, and getting injured.

Hard work isn't enough; long-term fitness success takes some smart planning. Reaching your hot-body goals while maintaining your health requires just the right balance of hard work, dedication, and brains — that's what being a Figure Athlete is all about.

References

(1) Armstrong, LE, VanHeest, JL. The unknown mechanism of the overtraining syndrome: clues from depression and pyschoneuroimmunology. Sports Med. 2002;23(3):185-209