Respect the Reset

In strength training, we spend a lot of time talking about progressive overload, recovery, and managing physical fatigue. But one thing I’ve seen constantly overlooked, both in lifters I coach and in my own journey as a competitive athlete, is how important deloads and transition weeks are for your mind.

It’s easy to think of a deload as just backing off volume or intensity to give your body a break. And yeah, that’s part of it. Your joints, connective tissue, and nervous system need that downtime after weeks or months of hard training but what often goes unspoken is the psychological benefit of these lower intensity weeks.

Training seriously means more than just showing up and lifting weights. It means thinking about your numbers constantly. Trying to beat last week’s effort. Staying dialed into your nutrition, sleep, recovery. If you really care about training, it means putting pressure on yourself and when you do that long enough without coming up for air, it adds up.

Deloads and pivot weeks are your chance to hit pause.

You get a moment to step back, take a breath, and not feel like you have to be 100% locked in every second. There’s power in that. It gives you a chance to reconnect with why you’re training in the first place, rather than just chasing the next PR or blindly spinning your wheels forward.

I’ve watched lifters come out of a pivot week mentally sharper and more focused than they’ve been in months, not because they got stronger in that time, but because they actually had a moment to decompress. Personally, I’ve come to value those weeks more and more as I’ve moved through different stages of my lifting career.

You’re not weak for needing a break, you’re smart for taking one. These aren’t “lost” weeks, they’re part of the long game. They keep you healthy, both physically and mentally, and they allow you to keep showing up with intent and drive.

So the next time a deload or reset week is on the calendar, don’t rush through it or treat it like a throwaway. Embrace it and respect the reset.

You’ll be better for it.

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