Deload Weeks: Recharge Your Muscles AND Your Mind

Photo by Sam Moghadam Khamseh on Unsplash

Contrary to popular belief, you can apply concepts from one topic in one field to a different topic in another field.

This is something I’ve done throughout my life to help me get where I am today. One such concept is the idea of training close to failure in weightlifting. I applied this concept to my work, where I’ve pushed myself to send more messages to potential clients. This caused me to fail more often. But I improved my messaging skills as a result.

Instead of being afraid of failure, I’ve learned to embrace it. It’s helped me push myself closer to my goals.  

Today, you’re going to learn another weightlifting strategy you can use to improve other areas of your life.

Let’s dive in.

What is a deload week?

A deload week is a week where you make the week easier to help your body and mind from the previous training cycle.

This is done by reducing the volume, intensity, or duration of your workout.

You can use lighter weights. Or do less reps, sets, etc.

Deload weeks are a popular recovery strategy used by weightlifters.

But deload weeks aren't just to be used in the gym.

You can apply them to other areas of your life.

For example, I applied it to my workload for a week.

Here's why…

After a grueling 3 months of work without taking a day off, I decided it was time to slow down.

I had felt burnt out, ran out of content ideas 4 times, and needed to step back to see the bigger picture of what I was working towards.

I didn't want to take a vacation because I wanted to keep the momentum and consistency I had built.

So, I decided to continue working, but reduce my workload instead.

I reduced the volume of work I was doing.

I sent less DMs, sent less job applications, spent less time growing my social media audience, and so on.

Here's what happened…

I felt rejuvenated after completing the deload week.

My mind felt fresh and ready to go.

It even helped me gain a few business ideas, which helped me build my business.

You'd be surprised how you gain more ideas when you're not doing the things you want to gain ideas for.

Wrapping up

You’ve now learned about deload weeks. They aren’t just for the gym. You can apply them to other areas of your life to recharge. 

Aim to have 1 deload week every 8-12 weeks as needed. Or you can do one unscheduled if you feel the need for one.

Be sure to continue doing your work while deloading. You don’t want to lose momentum and focus while recovering. This will make getting back into your normal routine difficult.

Deload weeks aren’t for being lazy. Deload weeks are designed to help you improve your productivity. They make work a bit easier when you return to your routine. This is because you’ve gained mental clarity from reducing your stress. This mental clarity is a necessity for high-quality, productive work. If you don’t have mental clarity, then you’ll waste your time procrastinating and producing low-quality work.

So, give deload weeks a try.

Find an area in your life where you're feeling tired and give it a deload week.

You'll be glad you did.