Thread: Deload from Iron Man

Deload

I will admit that Iron man's program works very well. But with the help of P-Funk and Cowpimp, I have found a way to better it. It's called "Iron Magazine Deload".

After 23 weeks of using I/M's program, I decided to take advice form Iron Addict. This was not to take 10 days off from training but to deload for 2 weeks. after trying this I made my best gains in over two years. Here is how to DELOAD off of I/M's training.

6 Weeks of I/M bulking routine

Weeks 7-8 Deload

You will go to only 2 days a week Training with only straight sets. This will be Sun and Wed or Mon and Thurs and here is what it will look like

Mon:

Incline bench: 2 sets 75% of your max for 6 reps

Rows: 2 sets 75% of your max for 8 reps

Squats, Hacks or leg presses: 1 sets, 70% of your max for 8 reps and 1 set of 20 reps with the same weight. Rest pause until you get in all 20

Thurs:

Overhead presses: 2 sets 75% of your max for 6 reps

Pullups: 15 reps with B/W

Rack deadlifts: 1 set 75% of your max for 4 reps and 1 set 90% of your max 2 reps


That's it sports fans. This deload ended up putting 1/2" on my arms and almost 1" on my quads in 2 weeks time and kept me just as strong going into the next 6 weeks of the Iron Man training.

It's called active rest. I do the same thing every 6 weeks or so. A lot of people recommend taking off a week every couple of months, but I prefer active rest. This isn't to say that you should never take off from training completely, but this way you don't have to do that as often.

Actually, I often go even lighter than that and try to implement a good number of bodyweight exercises. I also like to remove direct spinal loading from the equation every so often.