#Deload Week?

[wellnessuniverse]

Mastering Deload Weeks: A Guide to Optimizing Your Progress

[fell-contract]

me after nutting so hard from the hot verbal bear on cam that i hit myself in the eye

[seiwas]

unrelated to anyth here but i just hit my pr for my romanian deadlifts 🥹 this has been a year!!!!! in the making!! i am so 🥺🥺🥺

[pansy1993]

being a brave big boy and attempting to train

[artisanalpeanutbutter]

I'm taking my first week off from exercise (excluding my recovery from surgery and bizarre two month illness), and it's because of an injury lmfao. Does this count as a week off or is it mandatory rest?

[lafortis]

Ugh my muscles hurt I was literally hearing such a lazy day I didn't eat enough 😮‍💨 it's okay it's actually oddly easier to hit my macros when I'm working lol. Plus I just take two shakers with me and I'm good. I'll be fine again tmo

[suntreehq]

Got my leg day deload week session in.

Changed up how I am having my protein shake and tried to make a protein hot chocolate type drink (with added tumeric and other spices).

It tasted nice but the whey clumped up in the hot milk which kind of brought down the experience.

[frownyalfred]

Bruce is always covered in bruises and bandages and scars but it doesn't really hide that he's pretty. Clark finds him debilitatingly attractive in any case.

And then one day, maybe because he's literally been forbidden from working cases and consigned to bed rest, Clark finally sees Bruce without a single black eye or broken nose and he realises "oh, wow, so he's gorgeous gorgeous" and doesn't know what to do with that information

If he’s ungodly attractive while sleep deprived, covered in bruises, and dehydrated, imagine what one week of sun, fresh air, a deload week, a balanced diet, and some aggressive massage therapy would do for him. He’d be drop dead gorgeous. As in, people would start dropping dead when they make direct eye contact with him.

[bbcphile]

WIP Wednesday

Happy Wednesday! Have some more of my MLC longfic! This excerpt comes from a little before the one I posted last week, when they're still in the tree and FDB is trying to convince DFS to let him help before DFS collapses. (You can find all previous excerpts here.)

**

A-Fei took a long, slow breath and swayed closer to the trunk as he exhaled, his forehead almost brushing against his battered knuckles. “Go back to Lotus Tower,” he said at last. “I’ll meet you there.” 

“Did you not hear a word I just said?” Fang Duobing snapped. “I’m not going anywhere without you. We’re leaving together. So let me help you. Please.”

A-Fei pressed his palm harder against the trunk, and faint tremors started to run through his arms. 

The branch beneath them vibrated. Fang Duobing glanced down to make sure it wasn’t about to break. 

It was perfectly sturdy. A glance at a-Fei’s stance showed he’d locked his knees. His legs must have started to buckle and shaken the branch, and this was a-Fei’s untenable solution. 

Fang Duobing sighed. “Will you at least sit down while we come up with a better plan?”

A-Fei’s head shifted subtly as he looked down and then at the branch to his right. “No need,” he gritted out, leaning harder against the tree.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Fang Duobing said. “Your legs are about to give out and you don’t think you can squat down enough to sit on the branch you’re standing on without falling. So sit on the one to your left instead,” he said, patting it with his palm. “You won’t have to bend your knees as far so it won’t put as much strain on the muscles. I can even help you, if you’ll let me.”

“Unnecessary,” a-Fei said, his voice trembling under the strain.

“That’s clearly not true, which means you don’t think you can do that, either.”

“Fang Duobing!” a-Fei spat out.

“So we have two options: one is I turn around and let you collapse on the branch and try to catch yourself before you fall out of the tree. I hate this plan and I don’t want us to do it. The other option is that you let me help you.”

Even from looking at a-Fei from behind, it was clear that his jaw was twitching. “How?” he bit out at last.

“Like this.” Fang Duobing put his right foot in front of his left, squatted slightly to lower his center of balance and increase his stability, and held his arms straight out to a-Fei, palms up. “Take my hands.”

A-Fei’s strained exhale was practically a growl. “Why.” 

“Your legs need help supporting your weight, don’t they? So deload them by supporting yourself with my arms. Pull on them as hard as you need to to keep your legs from buckling as you sit. I’ll be your counterbalance. That should help lower you to where you were sitting when I got here.”

“No.”

“Fine. Then can I put my arm around your waist and help support you as you sit?”

“No.” 

“Then let me carry you out of the tree with qinggong!”

“No.”

“Then come up with a better suggestion!” Fang Duobing snapped, flailing his arms. 

“I made one,” a-Fei snarled. “Go.”

“Absolutely not! I will give you space and I will help you only as much as you will let me, but I will not abandon you in a fucking tree! You’re my friend, a-Fei! Friends don’t do that!”

A-Fei went so still the tremors briefly stopped. “Friend?” he said, in a tone so deliberately devoid of affect Fang Duobing couldn’t begin to interpret it.

“Obviously!” Fang Duobing rolled his eyes. Then he paused and winced. “Well, I’m probably more annoyance than friend to you, but you’re a friend to me! So let me help you. Please.” 

The tremors started again without additional response.

Fang Duobing sighed. “Fine,” he said, recentering himself and closing his eyes. “My eyes are closed. I can’t see you. That’s as much privacy as I can give you. Now will you try taking my hands? I’d try it facing the other way but my shoulders don’t bend like th–” He cut himself off as large, warm hands, still tacky with blood and faintly trembling, took his.

“Stop listing left,” a-Fei said, tugging him to the right. “You can’t help anyone if you fall.” 

Fang Duobing went very still, hardly daring to move in case it shattered the precarious truce between them. “You’re . . . letting me help?”

A-Fei's whole arm twitched, the vibrations shooting through their joined hands. “Just get on with it. And–” another twitch. A-Fei’s clenched his arm so forcefully his fingers went rigid in Fang Duobing’s hand. “–Open your eyes. Before you hurt yourself.”

[justicecaballer]

oh i just think i needed a deload week actually

[live-laugh-loads]

Finished up week 3 of marathon training over the weekend. The weather is starting to really get hot and I’m noticing it on my runs. Saturdays long run was a struggle; I think I’m going to have to wake up earlier to avoid the heat. This week is a deload week which will be nice!

[earthnashes]

How do you keep up the motivation for working out? Or the planning of what exercises to do and go for? Asking cause I’ve been interested in weight training and tried it before but ya know- after 3 months, took a break, and now it’s hard to get back into it. Hope you don’t mind the questions! Congrats on your progress too!

I don't mind questions at all, no worries! :)

So I guess my answer to the question is to really evaluate why you're trying to get into weight training: What are your goals? Is it for the aesthetics? Is it because you wanna be strong, athletic? Is it a lifestyle you're willing to commit to?

I say ask yourself these questions and really evaluate what you want out of it, because I'll be honest: motivation is what got me started, but it isn't why I'm still at it. The bottom line to getting into weight training at any level in my opinion is to view it as a lifestyle commitment. Because it is; anyone can lift weights, for sure, but if you wanna make any meaningful progress in the gym you have to take it seriously.

As such, my one of my biggest tips in the motivation department: make weight training a non-negotiable component to your lifestyle. More than that, make your health a non-negotiable component to your lifestyle. Because fitness is a long game, one you will play for the rest of your life, so it must become a regular part of your life, however way you choose to make it so.

SO with all that said, some tips that could help you to stay consistent:

1.) Make a training plan. Figure out exactly what you're aiming for with your training program (are you training for strength or hypertrophy? Conditioning?), then select the training split (Fullbody | Upper Lower | Push Pull Legs | Bro Split) and exercises you're going to utilize to reach that goal (I recommend only selecting 4-6 exercises per workout. If you're doing more than that, unless you're an experienced and/or professional lifter, you're building unnecessary fatigue). Do your research here.

2.) Decide your training frequency. An extension to 1: once you've decided your training's purpose and the exercises that'll help you reach it, choose for how long this block will last. At minimum to see any sort of progress I recommend 4 weeks, but ideally something around 6-16 weeks for your training program to see substantial results is best. This is including the deloads (premeditated active rest periods), which is another thing entirely so I won't go into detail here.

Once you figure out how many weeks you're gonna go, plan how many days a week you're gonna go. Select specific days and times and treat it like it's mandatory. No matter how you're feeling or the weather or whatever, you're fuckin goin to that gym and getting the workout in. Be mindful of what your body is saying, but hold yourself accountable; don't make excuses.

3.) Have contingency plans. Let's say you've planned a training block for 5 days a week and you're going strong. But something at work comes up and it cuts your time much shorter. Instead of shrugging and going "Welp, can't go anymore I guess :/" try thinking "if I can't go 5 days, I'll go at least 4 days a week." Can't go 4 days? Go 3 days, so on. Backup plans for your backup plans. Learn to adapt to the challenges every day life brings you.

4.) Treat it like riding a bike. Weight training regardless of your goals is a long term game, and there are always gonna be ups and downs. There are gonna be times where it's hard to get back into it. Well, like falling off a bike, the best thing you can do to continue riding the bike is to get back on it. So get back on it. If you need to start slow again, then do it, because any step is still a step more than before. You'll gain momentum again, just give yourself some grace and patience.

5.) Trust the process. Because weight training is a long game, it's also a game of waiting. Visible progress is gonna take some time, so take inventory on other things to gauge it. Instead of looking at the scale or at the mirror, ask yourself how you feel. Do you feel more energized? How has your mood been lately? Do you feel a little more confident? Do you move easier? In the gym, are your numbers going up? Do the weights move easier? Do you feel focused and in the zone when in the pocket? Take inventory with yourself often and trust that you're making progress, even on days where it feels like you've stagnated.

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Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand that's all I got! I hope that answers your questions! :)

[sportsbianism]

only worked out twice last week and i felt like shiiiiit so im calling that a deload and starting fresh with low reps on monday. yeehaw

[liesmyth]

hi! love your jockposting. I recently finished C25K and am trying to figure out what to do next. I found that plan to be a good time with my dog. I sort of want to try longer distances? Like a 10k? But Reddit seems to hate B210k and some people seem to say that I should just focus on regularly running for a half hour for a while before I try to add on?

HI I'M DELIGHTED YOU LIKED IT

Ok so full disclosure, I'm not familiar with B210k. I looked it up, and I agree with Reddit that it isn't great, but IDK if you care about details like variety of runs during the week and possibly introducing speedwork. I'm also not a fan of run/walk-based training programs, because I think it's way more useful to 1) slow down your pace but still be running when you need to, in terms of mechanics and 2) walk IF you need to, whenever, without it being framed as a beginner shortcut you should grow out of.

However, I'm not sure I agree with Reddit that the weekly increases are too big! Personally, I found going from 5k to 10k a lot easier than just starting to run in the first place, and the same might be true for you. If you want to give B210k a try do it, and maybe re-do one of the weeks if you feel like it was tough enough already that you don't want to advance to the next one, or take a deload week in the middle where you run 70% of the previous week.

Not to be cheesy but ~listen to your body!! ✨

Some other recs that could interest you:

The Hal Higdon Novice Base Building Program, jumping into whichever week you feel you're at and going from there.

The r/running order of operation -I think it's pretty solid but again, it's a bit slow going! I think it's good for developing a habit in the long term, though.

I think if your goal is just "run a 10k once to see if I can do it" you're totally fine just winging it. However, if your goal is "build up to running 10k at least once a week" then I think you'd be better off taking a longer-term base-building approach and bumping up your total volume (= distance covered weekly) as well as the long run (going from 5k to 10k) because it helps with recovery and injury prevention.

Even as a beginner, your long run shouldn't be longer than 35-40% of your weekly mileage, ideally even lower. So if your goal is to go out and run 10k every Sunday, you should work your way up to running at least 25k/week (including the 10k long run!) to get your body used to running through multiple lower-intensity efforts.

Anyway here are some base training tips from my fave Running Nerd, Pfizt. Text in ALT!

[suntreehq]

Deload

Decided to go ahead and make this a deload week as I was feeling a bit fatigued AND the change in season is affecting my motivation levels.

This was definitely the right decision, as I actually got a workout in, and felt pretty good about it, despite motivation/energy levels not being the highest.

Sticking to a calorie deficit this week, and next week I might take a diet break (eat at maintenance) and go back hard on the weight training.

[platesnotdates]

Fresh PR for a Monster Hunter wilds week of deload