Mixed
A one-week complete cessation from resistance training (deload) at the midpoint of a 9-week program does not enhance hypertrophy, power, or local muscular endurance compared to continuous training, and results in inferior strength gains.
If your goal is maximizing strength, do not take a full week off from resistance training. Continuous training yields better strength gains than a one-week complete break. If you take a break for hypertrophy, expect no loss in muscle size, but do not expect any extra growth. Use deloads to manage fatigue, not to force adaptation.
our findings suggest that a 1-week deload period at the midpoint of a 9-week RT program appears to negatively influence measures of lower body muscle strength but has no effect on lower body hypertrophy, power or local muscular endurance.
Why this rating
Randomized controlled trial with supervised training, though sample size is moderate (n=39) and Bayesian analysis was used.
Source
Gaining more from doing less? The effects of a one-week deload period during supervised resistance training on muscular adaptations
Max Coleman et al. · PeerJ · 2024
DOI 10.7717/peerj.16777
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