I get a lot of questions from fellow fitness enthusiasts about how to properly deload from intense exercising. It is imperative to give yourself either an entire week off training from time to time or give yourself a “deload week” where you do minimal amounts of exercise to keep active, but not tax the body too much. After my first month of RKC prep training, I gained some awesome strength and endurance gains and decided to take some time to revamp my body, especially on account of my brand new job (read about that here).
So, here’s what an active deload week typically looks for me. Keep in mind, I’m still continuing with my snatch practice you can view here as part of the deload week. It’s somewhat taxing, but not overly taxing at the time.
Active Deload Week
Monday: 20 minutes of two arm swings set at 30 seconds of work followed by 45 seconds of rest. I used a 20 kg kettlbell for this. end with snatch practice.
Tuesday: Off
Wednesday: 3 sets of 6 24kg deadlifts. 3 sets of 6 12kg goblet squats. 3 sets of six double 16kg squats. End with snatch practice.
Thursday: Off
Friday: Push up, pull up, and swings. Complete 10 Pushups, 1 pull up, and 20 24kg kettlebell swings. Do as many rounds as you can in 20 minutes. End with snatch test practice.
Saturday: Off
Sunday: Off
You’ll notice that Monday, my intervals of rest for the swings are longer to give myself more recovery time. Wednesday is heavy on squats, but low on sets so as to practice form and not worry so much about intense strength sessions. Friday is still a somewhat demanding day as I wanted to keep my endurance work up to speed. However, I have not implemented any serious complexes and have cut the time of the workout down from roughly 30-45 minutes to no longer than 25 minutes (rest included). So…I’m still moving about here, just not as insanely as I did in weeks 1 through 3 of RKC Vienna prep. I hae also purposely added in additional rest days on the weekend to help calm my body down. Remember, deloading is about maintaining our strength and not over stimulating our nervous system too much.
If you have any other questions about how to construct an active deload week, please feel free to email me at janelle@primalburgher.com. Also, be on the look out for month two of RKC prep workouts as I will be spending the weekend off constructing that new bugger. OH MAN!
As always, remember to eat smart, train hard, and enjoy your life!
Love Always,
Janelle Pica-HKC, CPT
