Some time ago I took a deload week from lifting. A deload week is when you go to the gym like you normally would, but lift at maybe 50-60% of either the volume or intensity (or both) that you’re used to.
Conventional advice says to take a deload week every 6-8 weeks (with the exception of beginners). This allows your body the time it needs to fully catch up on recovery, and after resting you come back stronger than ever. Many people hit new PRs after taking deload weeks.
But a few days into the deload week I noticed something odd: I felt like I was getting soft.
Not my physical body – which was experiencing good recovery – but something internal was different and it came through in all of my thoughts and actions.
There was much less aggression and “fire” in my approach to life. I didn’t feel the same enthusiasms as I normally did. Despite eating well and green juicing, I had lower energy levels and less drive.
I wasn’t having regular sex at this time either. I felt a complete lack of vitality that I wasn’t used to at all. It felt horrible.
I realized that the lack of intensity in the gym was causing this drop in quality of life. More specifically, it was the type of energetic expression that I usually put out in the gym that was really missing.
I realized that as a man, you need to actively practice aggression in order to keep that inner part of yourself alive and fully functional.
You need to exercise your aggression like a muscle, and keep that part of yourself sharp. This maintains the “fire” of masculine energy burning bright inside of you, and that fire is critical because it shines through in everything you do.
As a man you need to (or need to be able to) go OUT into the world and attack it with everything you’ve got. You need to metaphorically “fuck” the world aggressively and with focused intention. This is the natural expression of the masculine energy that is inside you.
Aggressive expression is necessary to keep yourself mentally and emotionally healthy.
Without it, you start to lose touch with that essential inner part of yourself that provides the vitality, enthusiasm, and drive to live the life you really want.
So after it became clear what was happening I said to myself: Fuck the deload week!
I did a heavy shoulder workout later that day with aggressive gym music blasting in my ears. I hit a PR and just like that, the fire was back.
If you don’t feel this “fire” like you should, then maybe you need more regular expressions of aggression in your life.
Some forms of aggressive expression are:
- Lifting weights
- Physical competitive sports
- Rough sex
- Explosive sports
- Martial arts
Anything that makes you want to yell and feel like you’re going to kill something. Anything physical that makes you really feel alive.
It has to be physical because you can’t “exercise” this part of yourself just by thinking about it. You have to actually do it with your body. This is especially important for introverts, INTJ personality types, and guys that are stuck in their heads too much.
So… am I trying to tell you to never take a deload week? Not at all. By all means take one if you need to. Just make sure you have some other form of aggressive expression in your life during that time. And in fact – make sure you always do.
What do you think? Ever noticed something similar in your own life? Is it purely biological (e.g. testosterone) or is there something else to it? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.