Not every workout should end with you on the floor in a puddle of sweat, completely decimated. While it’s good to occasionally test our limits, doing so every single workout, week after week will eventually lead to injury, overtraining, and compromised recovery. And the older we get, the more we need to heed this advice.
At 43, I can’t train the same way that I did when I was 23 or even 33. Shit’s just different — hormones, old injuries, mobility issues, lifestyle, stress levels, and more all affect how much recovery we need and how we need to plan our workouts.
This doesn’t have to mean following a precise, strict training plan. It can be as simple as doing a lighter/lower intensity workout one day, a moderate one another day, and a heavy/high intensity workout each week. Or even a week of each, followed by a deload week.
A deload week is when you significantly decrease the volume and intensity of your workouts, usually for a week or so. This is to give the body time to rebuild stronger and fitter. This is known as supercompensation. It’s why runners taper their runs one to two weeks before a big race.
It’s simply not a good idea to go balls to the wall every day, week, or month of the year. Even elite athletes don’t do this — they take their recovery and off-season training very seriously. So, plan ahead and add in deload weeks and vary your workout intensity and volume throughout the week to enhance your training and reduce your risk of injury and overtraining.