29 Jun Deloading Period – Perfect Year – Part III
The fight has just ended and the fighter has experienced one of the most intense emotional experiences that exists. All of the fighter’s time, focus, and energy was focused on a single point and now that point is in the past. Like any other high planning and habits can help mitigate the crash. Keep in mind the same holds true even if the opponent pulls out late, so even if there is no fight a de-loading phase should follow a big camp. There are two paths that are commonly taken.
- Check out – Fights over? No need to be back in the gym until the next one is booked time to relax, gain back some weight, get deconditioned, and re-establish more of a life balance.
- Gas Pedal – Feeling good? Imagine how much more improvement can be made if the same schedule is kept up. Back to training, stay on the grind! Make sure momentum is not lost.
The problems with each of these strategies is obvious. Checking out gives up any opportunity to improve, and pressing the gas pedal down is a sure path to over training. Both approaches will fail over the long term. The fighter that only shows up for camp will stagnate, the fighter that never leaves will plateau. Allowing the body to reach a de-conditioned state will increase injuries, but over training and never resting will cause the same. There needs to be an intentional middle ground.
De-loading needs to be an intentional choice executed correctly. Athletes who are training twice a day for six days each week have an enormous gap left in their lives without training. Also, the chemicals emitted by the body during a workout are something any athlete becomes accustomed to and this can let depression sink in.
What should a fighter be doing in the aftermath of a fight?
After Action Report: AARs should be completed multiple times. The fighter must be in a good headspace to make the AAR worthwhile, but due to the chaotic nature of the fight their memory will pull forth and be receptive to different information at different times. Completing a quick debrief with your head coach the night of the fight is typically beneficial if it can be accomplished. After that another brief can be done the following day, and then a week later. Ideally the final session would include film of the fight to breakdown as well.
Stay out of the gym: Let’s keep this simple, do not enter the gym. Do not watch practice, do not train light, do not drill, nothing that looks like fight training of any kind. Find different environments to stimulate new parts of the brain.
Keep activity in the mix: For the last 8 weeks a fighter has been taking on consistent high volumes of training. Turn the volume and intensity way down but keep the body moving around. Great ideas for de-load weeks: walking, hiking, rock climbing, camping, swimming, any water sports, playing on the beach, etc. Make it enjoyable and simple but stay active. Do not seek to spend a week locked away binge watching netflix.
Eat for Quality not Quantity: 8 weeks+ of locked in dieting creates a body that runs like a well oiled machine. The diet should be relaxed, calories should be increased after a weight cut but focus on finding food that is truly enjoyable. Do not eat just to stuff your face.
Now depending on the severity of the camp and the competition the fighter can walk back into the gym. Mind and body refreshed and refueled and mentally ready to attack training again with renewed purpose and vigor. Every time I followed this prescription I had a great camp right after. Every Time I justified a reason to get right back to the gym I ended up sick or injured within 3 weeks and had to take time off anyway. Our bodies are build for periods of stress followed by recovery. If you do not plan the recovery into the schedule your body will create it on its own.
Perfect Year Compilation
Deload
Skill Development (coming Thursday June 30th)