Trackist plans your deload week: a plan of 6 weeks or more ends with one, at the same weights and 60% of the sets, rounded down. When to deload and what to cut.
A deload week keeps the weights and cuts the sets to about 60%. Trackist plans one as the last week of a plan of 6 weeks or more, with 60% of the sets, rounded down. It is not a week off and not a reward. Here is when you need one and exactly what to change.
What is a deload week?
A deload is a planned easy week: the same exercises and the same weights, with far fewer sets. It lets built-up fatigue clear, so the strength underneath can show on the bar. It is not time off, and it is not a reward for a hard training block (a plan of several weeks).
In short: keep the weights, cut the sets to about 60%, keep the rep targets and train on your usual days.
When do you need one?
There are 2 reasons to deload, and they work differently.
Scheduled
In a training block of 6 weeks or more, the last week is a deload. You take it because the plan is ending, not because you feel bad. This version works best, because it comes before the problem does.
When the signs pile up
Take one when these signs stack up over a week or 2:
- your main lifts are falling, not rising, even though sleep and food are normal
- you are still sore when that muscle's next session comes around
- warm-up weights feel heavier than they used to
- sleep, appetite or mood dropped with no other explanation
- joints ache in places that were fine a month ago
One rough session is not a signal. A pattern across a week is.
What to cut and what to leave
| Variable | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sets | cut to about 60%, rounded down, minimum one | volume drives both results and fatigue, so it is the honest thing to cut |
| Weight | leave it | keeping the weight keeps the skill and shows where you stand |
| Reps | leave the targets | you will hit them more easily, which is the point |
| Exercises | leave them | a deload is not the week to learn a new movement |
| Days | leave them | the habit is worth more than the extra rest |
| Effort | stop 2 or 3 reps short | every set should feel like a warm-up you could repeat |
The common mistake is cutting the weight instead of the sets. Doing all your sets with light weights leaves the fatigue in place and takes away the practice with heavy weight.
How long and how often?
One week, every 6 to 12 weeks for most people. Newer lifters can often go longer between deloads, because the weights they lift cause less whole-body fatigue. The closer to failure you train and the heavier you lift, the sooner you need one.
If you finish a deload and still feel flat, the deload is not the problem. Look at sleep, food and stress before you write another training week.
What a deload is not
- Not a week off. Stopping for a week costs you the habit, which is the expensive part, and gives back very little that an easy week does not.
- Not a test week. Do not check whether it worked by maxing out at the end of it.
- Not a failure. The lifters who never deload are the ones who take 4 unplanned weeks off later with a sore shoulder.
Is there an app that plans deload weeks for you?
Yes. Trackist writes plans of 4 to 12 weeks, and a plan of 6 weeks or more ends with a deload week. Trackist multiplies every set count by 0.6 and rounds down, with at least one set left. Reps, rest and exercises stay the same.
The week is marked on the Workouts tab, and the weight suggestion goes quiet for it, so nothing tells you to add weight in the week you are meant to recover. If the plan felt easy and you want the full week, you can skip the deload once it is the current week. The full sets come back from today, and days you already logged stay as they are. There is no undo, which is how a decision should feel.
Before the first set of each session, you rate your sleep, soreness and energy from 1 to 5. With Apple Health connected, the sleep answer starts from last night's sleep. No answer ever changes a weight. After a poor night, low energy or soreness in the half of the body you train today, Trackist offers a lighter session instead: one set fewer on each strength exercise that has more than one and 30 seconds more rest, for today only.
The answers go to the coach and to your recap, so a run of low scores is easy to spot. When the plan ends, you get a recap of it, with how consistent you were and, with Apple Health sleep, how you slept, and the coach writes the next plan from what happened.
If the whole plan feels wrong, not just tired, read what to do when a plan is too hard.
5.0 ON THE APP STORE · NO ADS
Log your next session in Trackist
Trackist writes a plan around your week and your gym, and suggests your next weight from the sets you logged. On the App Store now. Android is coming.
ANDROIDComing soon
5.0 ON THE APP STORE · NO ADS
Log your next session in Trackist
Trackist writes a plan around your week and your gym, and suggests your next weight from the sets you logged. On the App Store now. Android is coming.
