50 people started a 9 week program where they were randomly assigned between 1 of these 2 groups:
Group 1: 9 weeks with week 5 being for “deload”
Group 2: 9 weeks consistent, with no week off
The results of the 39 people who completed the program showed no differences for hypertrophy, local endurance and power.
It showed however, a difference between both isometric, and dynamic strength, favouring the group with no deload.
Does this mean we should never do deloads?
Well… I don’t think so.
But I wouldn’t recommend doing deloads like the one in this study either.
Their deload was a FULL week off, meaning the first group at week 5 did not train at all!
This resulted in this group reporting a decrease in motivation to train.
Not only that, but unless you’re recovering from an injury, 1 week off to recover is most likely more than necessary.
But that doesn’t mean you can’t take a week off, and in fact, after reading, and some time thinking about the results, i belive it’s actually the complete oposite!
First, because when we look at the workout they were given, we can clearly see that it was made mainly for hypertrophy:
2 times a week, encouraged to achive concentric muscular failure, low rest times, no specificity for the 1 RM test and the order by which they made the exercises wasn’t important.
And if the post-results showed no difference for hypertrophy, that’s (at least in my opinion) the main finding of the study.
Second, because the only post-results with significant differences were for strength.
And although this suggests that a 1 week off in the middle of a 9 week program can negatively impact strength, since the workouts weren’t specifically designed for strength increases, and the 1RM tests weren’t done with any of the exercises of the program, it’s very hard to be certain of this idea.
But if you feel like you should take a week off because your body hasn’t been recovering as it should, and that you should take a week to rest, instead of breaking your routine and making it harder on yourself to get back to training due to motivation, do an actual deload week instead!
Although a specific way to determine how a deload should be done hasn’t been yet properly discussed, and many coaches use different ways to do so (PMID: 36619355), I had extremely positive results going with 75% of my usual efforts in my deload days/weeks.
So if you’re worried about going on that Vacation because 1 week off track will negatively impact your progress, and that your performance will suffer, don’t be.
Your body and performance will both be perfecly fine.
So go ahead and enjoy that Vacation!
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