DELOADING ON WEEK 4:

Generally speaking, there are few exercise enthusiasts who understand the concept of periodic resting or deloading. Plain and simple, every so often the body needs some down time as difficult as applying the brakes may be for some to accept. For this week, every 4th week, the Leading Man takes a deload week - a week in which the volume will be reduced to recover from 3 weeks of hard work.

The short-term impact of your workouts - from each individual rep to the fatigue from the entire Workout C - add up as the weeks go by, affecting your body far beyond the obvious muscle soreness. A good night's sleep and great diet do wonders for short term recovery. Longer-term recovery requires a bit more attention to detail, especially on the exercise front. We want to keep our joints, ligaments, muscles, mind, body, and spirit healthy.

By deloading on Week 4, the Leading Man allows his body to relax a little bit, consolidate his strength, and bounce back more powerfully when he begins again with Week 1.

How it works:

Every 4th week the Leading Man does the following:

For Workouts A and C, keep everything the same as it was in Week 3, except for decreasing the reps of the paired bodyweight moves by 50%.

As for Workout B, bring the reps of your strength moves from Week 3 down by 50%. If you were performing a 40-second Hollow Body Hold on Week 3, reduces to a 20-second hold during Week 4 Deloading, before bouncing back up to 40+ seconds when you start Week 1 once again.

Do not decrease the duration of the mobility exercises in any of the Workouts.

Now, for some Leading Men, halving the reps may not be sufficient to properly recover. Stress at work or at home or from a busy schedule on the road shooting films may have taxed the body hard during Weeks 1,2, and 3 calling for additional de-stressing strategies. Here are some other approaches you can add into your Week 4 deload:

• Perform lift with the same weight (as Week 3) and focus on speed. Don't try to go for a personal record weight-wise, but try to move the weight a little more quickly than the previous week.
• Perform a lift and vary up the form of resistance (from your Week 3 practice). If the previous week you performed Standing Barbell Presses, keep the same weight and switch to Seated DB Shoulder Presses or Pike Pushups for Week 4.
• Take it easier on the optional cardio portion of your workouts this week. Go for a longer walk or simply jump rope for a couple of minutes instead of doing more intense HIIT sessions with sprints and box jumps.

The point is to bring the intensity and volume a notch down. Each Leading Man has to feel out what works best for him. And remember, vacations are always a great chance to permit yourself to drop the intensity. Go for a swim, a hike, or simply perform a 10 minute circuit with your best friend. No need to stick rigidly to the program like gospel when you are away with family!

Decreasing the intensity during a Deload week may be hard for some to accept. Trust that regularly taking your foot off the gas will bring long term gains and ensure that the whole journey is sustainable. You may actually feel more sore after your Deload week workouts. Enjoy the rest! We all want to become superheroes. By accepting that his body needs periods of planned rest, the Leading Man actually becomes one.