You have to learn that 2 weeks before the competition, you aren’t going to get stronger. All you can really do is screw things up. Don’t lift 1RMs; instead, deload or train with lighter weights. You want to peak at the competition, not in training.

With all of the information we have at our fingertips, it’s easy to lose track of some of the basic principles of strength training. One that’s easy to forget: Balance training and recovery as evenly as possible.

Even though you don’t want to do it, you have to do it. And by “it,” we mean “deload.”

There’s a piece to the accommodating resistance puzzle that I don’t think anyone ever really discusses: using bands too often can ruin you for straight weight. There’s also an equally overlooked method of fatigue management.

Is deloading a necessary part of improving as a lifter or is it just a weak excuse to be lazy one week out of every month?

Thinking that overtraining cannot happen is wrong. Immediately jumping to the conclusion that you need to back off or deload is also wrong.

Not all fatigue is the same. Understanding the mechanism behind adaptation is crucial to progress.

Overtraining is a lot harder to do than people think!