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Old 12-08-2011, 06:53 AM
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iron_worker iron_worker is offline
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Deloading

Weight training is hard on your body ... but in a good way. Weight training is a stress (or stimulus) that we intentionally put on our body in order to hopefully get a reaction (build muscle/strength).

Weight training causes micro tears in your muscle which then your body repairs and overbuilds the area so as to be prepared for the time a stress will be placed on it.

A little bit of engineering background:

If you consider a muscle that is in tension (muscles only pull ... never push) there will a tension force pulling on your muscle in each direction. Think of it as a rope.

Stress = Force / Area

When you apply a significant force to your muscles (weight training) it causes a certain amount of stress... which causes the micro tears as stated above ... When the micro tears repair they are attempting to increase the area.

Increased area = decreased stress given the same force. So this is your body's method of dealing with high stress placed on it. (among others but this is a simple way to think about it)

These micro tears take time to heal. Hence why you can't just go in to the gym everyday and beat on one muscle group time after time.

Your body does it's healing OUTSIDE OF THE GYM. You are GROWING while you rest/recover.

As your program progresses and gets heavier you will find that these stress/strains/micro tears will add up within your body and you will no longer be able to fully recover and your lifting will start to suffer ... its time to deload! (You don't have to wait until your lifting suffers to start a deload ... hence my recommendation to deload on given interval.)

When deloading you reduce the force applied to your muscles and thus you don't apply as much stress and your body is able to continue healing other built up stresses while still continuing to perfect your form (grease the grooves so to speak).

Example

Lets say you choose a 6 week deload interval. This is fine. I deload every 4th week but I've been at this for a while and I wouldn't consider myself a beginner any more. The more advanced you get, the more you will likely need a deload as you lift more and more weight.

Lets take squats as an example ... Lets pretend you have a max squat of 185lb (You do squat @ss to grass, right?! Do yourself a favor and don't half squat.... full range of motion on ALL lifts... but I'm getting off track here.)

Max Squat: 185lb

Now you need to find a reasonable number to start with for your 3x5. Just by experience I would say 135lb would be a good place to start.... or even 115lb if you really want to learn the form before getting into heavy weights. (I would recommend starting lighter than you think you'll need. It will only take a couple weeks to make up the difference and your body will thank you for it.)

You will have to do some experimentation to find a good starting point.

So...

Week 1
Monday: Squats - 135lb - 3x5
Friday: Squats - 140lb - 3x5

Week 2
Wednesday: Squats - 145lb - 3x5

Week 3
Monday: Squats - 150lb - 3x5
Friday: Squats - 155lb - 3x5

Week 4
Wednesday: Squats - 160lb - 3x5

Week 5
Monday: Squats - 165lb - 3x5
Friday: Squats - 170lb - 3x5

Like I said ... the weight adds up fast. You might want to consider starting lower. At this point you'll likely be ready for a deload. So this is what I would do:

Week 6 - Deload
Wednesday: Squats - 95lb - 3x3

For this I took your original max of 185lb and used about 50%. To get 50% all you have to do is multiply by 0.5 (point 5).

185lb * .5 = 97.5lb ~= 95lb

It doesn't have to be 50% ... it could be 30% ... it could be 40% ... but I wouldn't go higher than 60% or so. Just keep it light! You're deloading!

So now you've had your week off and you're feeling rest (and also like a pussy for lifting such light weight in front of all the girls at the gym ... lol ... but this is your road to strength so you have to suck it up, buttercup!)

Now... where do you jump back in? You could start right where you left off but you probably wouldn't make it too too far before stalling out. What I would suggest is take about 10% off where you left off...

So... to get 10% off of 170lb you want to know what 90% of 170lb is.

170lb * 0.9 (point 9) = 153lb = ~= 155lb

Week 7
Monday: Squats - 155lb - 3x5
Friday: Squats - 160lb - 3x5

Week 8
Wednesday: Squats - 165lb - 3x5

etc ... and continue to your 6th week where you will deload again. I would apply this system to all of your exercises. On your deload weeks I would either not do your accessory lifts at all or just do them very light. It's a DE LOAD!!! Go it? lol

Well it seems I've written you a bit of a novel. Hopefully you take it all to heart. Read it several times if you have to. I've been seriously working out now for 5 years now and have been trying to collect as much information as I go. If I knew then what I knew now I would probably be much farther ahead... lol but it's a learning process.

Good luck!

I'm assuming you'll have some questions but please try to carefully read over and understand everything I've put forward here. It took me some time to write it all out.

(This sh!t should be stickied....)

IW
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