feel like sh*t in week 4? time to deload

Week 4 deload week: back off intensity to stay consistent

hard rule: 3 sessions per week no matter what

Week 4 is here, you feel like shit, and you do not want to train. What do you do? 

For the most part, people just do not come. We traditionally see a drop in attendance on Week 4 of every block, more so for Accumulation. This is a mistake and here’s why. 

Momentum is important. Routine is important. The biggest disrupter to performance is inconsistency. What we do matters. How we do it matters. But consistency, above all else, is the most important variable when it comes to accomplishing a goal or not. 

With all that being said, it does not change the fact that you feel like absolute dog shit and you do not want to come in to train. What options do you really have other than taking a ‘rest day’ or ‘rest week’? Deload Weeks!

Here are the indicators you need a Deload Week

  1. Low Sleep Quantity/Quality 

    1. Under 6 Hours Multiple Days In a Row

  2. Low Wellness

    1. Under 15 Total Score Multiple Days in a Row

  3. High RPE/Workload

    1. Over 6 Multiple Training Sessions in a Row


There is a clear indication when we see a drop off in frequency, attendance, that we are either Overreaching or under recovering. We can see that we have not adequately recovered when we see low sleep and low wellness multiple days in a row. There has to be a counter measure of sorts when not recovering adequately. Alternatively, when we are over exerting ourselves we run the risk of not being able to recover in time for the next training session. 

With the setup of our training blocks of three total body workouts a week combined with 1-2 supplemental sessions of Stretch, Hypertrophy, or Conditioning we can easily run into this proverbial brick wall of overreaching and under recovering. This is why we need a contingency to ensure we are consistent towards 3x a week: deloads. 

A Deload week is the answer to having a great shitty day. Wake up, feel like shit, don’t want to train, but need to maintain your routine? Its time deload! There are four primary deloads we can employ at Allegiate: 

  1. Intensity Deload - Drop 30% Intensity from previous week’s Intensity

    1. Example: Drop from 100kg to 70kg with a particular exercise

  2. Volume Deload - Drop 30% Volume from previous week’s Volume

    1. Example - Drop from 5 to 3-4 Sets

  3. Density Deload - Drop 30% Density from previous week 

    1. Example - Taking more rest between sets within 60minute session by taking sets 2 and 4 of a 5 working set method

  4. Governor Deload - Attend a Higher Governor over Lower Governor training session

    1. Example - Attend Strength or Stretch over Team or Hypertrophy

We have instilled a week-to-week progression of week 1 being our lowest relative intensity week, termed a “Base Week.” The general idea is that we get acclimated before we start to really push ourselves. This does not change the fact that we adapt at different rates to the stress we are incurring based on our training age, muscle fiber type, nervous system readiness/fatigue, training schedule/frequency, and overall stress levels.

Regardless of the plan of building up each pragmatically, we will incur burnout towards the end of the block. Deload weeks are going to be our ace in the hole towards accomplishing our mission of 3x a week, 52 weeks a year, for the rest of our life.

Allegiate