A deload is a crucial part of a resistance training program… but also the least sexy.
 
Who wants to be told to take a break from hardcore training?
 
But hear me out: You don’t grow when you’re smashing the weights in the gym. In that session, you’re actually doing the opposite, creating a lot of stress to challenge your body to become fitter.
 
It’s when you’re resting, in the hours and days following each session, that your body grows bigger and stronger in order to handle that training stress better in the future.
 
So recovery is the Super Soldier Serum that transforms you into Captain America.
 
However, when you’ve been training hard for a few weeks, just taking one or two rest days may not be enough to restore your body.
 
That’s when a deload comes in.
 
It’s the quick pit stop you make to propel yourself forward. Without it, sooner or later your car will slow down, or you might even lose a tyre. 
 
Now, if you’re ready to boost your training, this article will cover:
 

• What a deload is
• The purpose of deloading
• Different types of deload
• When and how to use one

 
Time for some brain gains.

​Are you at the beginning of your fitness journey and want to design your own workouts? Then you’re in the right place. Read this article and learn to apply basic principles of exercise science to create your own full-body training sessions.
 
First of all, I’ll be completely honest with you: A single blog article is no substitute for a personal trainer or coach, who can teach you correct form and draw upon their expertise and experience to craft a training program suited to your current fitness level, skills, and individual body.
 
But not everyone has access to a coach, and some training is better than no training.
 
As a beginner, what you need the most are consistency and practice, so you can get great results for months with a simple, well-structured full-body workout.
 
I trained this way three days a week for six months when I started bodybuilding. I have clients who do the same, even if they’re not beginners anymore, and still get incredible results.
 
Now that I’ve spent long enough singing the praises of full-body training, let’s get into the basics.
 
In order to create a science-based muscle-building workout, you need to understand:
 

• Exercise selection
• Exercise order
• Reps
• Sets
• Rest intervals
• Tempo

 
Ready? Strap in.

If you want to increase your strength or muscle mass, the solution is obvious: Add some kind of resistance training to your workout routine, whether that’s lifting or callisthenics.
 
But did you know that you need to train in two different ways to maximise strength or muscle mass?
 
In today’s article, I’m going to cover exactly that and more, including:
 

• What is strength?
• What is muscle mass?
• What are the main differences and similarities when training for one or the other?

 
Let’s start off with strength.

​Lifting is a game of diminishing returns.
 
When you start, you can grow muscle just by looking at a dumbbell. You will be able to lift more weight or do more reps in almost every session without having to think about it.
 
Alas, a few months later, your progress slows down. Sometimes, it stops altogether.
 
What do you do now? You need to become more strategic.
 
This article aims to arm you with some knowledge to keep getting results from your training.
 
First things first…

I am 10lbs heavier in the picture on the right.

Useful Links: July 2019 Update | One Month Update | Three Months Update
 
I haven’t written a “bulk update” since July 2019 because there was nothing new to add. I continued to eat, gain weight at what I considered an appropriate pace, train hard, and learn more about myself as a lifter, which helped me design better and better programs for myself overtime.
 
No one likes to read a story that starts well and ends well, so I figured I would wait until something interesting came along.
 
Well, what came along was a world-wide pandemic and an order from the British government to maintain social distance and stay at home as much as possible.
 
My gym and all others in the UK closed down at the same time as many other fitness facilities across the world.
 
I haven’t done a home workout since September 2018, when I moved from London to Portsmouth, went back to university, and joined a local commercial gym. At the time, I was only three months into serious lifting, so a pair of adjustable dumbbells still posed an adequate challenge to my strength.
 
I am a bit further along my training career now, so, at first, working out at home felt like a problem rather than a solution.
 
How was I going to make progress? Was I going to make progress? How much would I eat?
 
Read on to find out what I chose to do and why.