We’ve added two additional weeks of workouts — your Deload Phase — at the end of your 8 Week STRONG Program aimed at:
Giving your body and mind a break
Facilitating recovery
Improving strength and performance long-term
After your 2-week Deload Phase, the workouts will reset to day 1, allowing you to begin your experience again. Please remember:
Don’t increase your training volume - trust the process! You will NOT lose progress
Listen to your body - take additional rest days if required
Don’t aim for personal bests - be conservative with your weight selection and remember to slowly increase your weights
Stay hydrated and well-rested!
Deload & Nutrition
If you've been in a calorie deficit with a goal of Lose Body Fat or Both, and are noticing that you're feeling a bit depleted or you've hit a plateau with your results, it may be a good idea to start gradually increasing your calories closer to your maintenance level.
This is the process known as 'Reverse Dieting' and will help give your body a break from low calories and boost your progress in the long run.
If you're feeling comfortable and confident with your progress you can certainly continue as is! This can be the case if your goal was 'Both' and you are only in a smaller/mild deficit.
If you've been on Muscle Gain and want to continue your building phase, we recommend considering the targets you've been given throughout the Challenge.
Have your calories been increased gradually during your check-ins?
If yes, by how much?
How did your body respond to this?
Noticing patterns is the key to putting your post-Program action plan together!
Following your goal of Muscle Gain, you may want to begin your cutting phase. To do so, we recommend gradually decreasing your calories by 50-200 each week (dependent on how large your surplus was and your comfortability in doing so) until you reach your sustainable level of calorie deficit.
In any case, we ALWAYS recommend continuing to follow the 80/20 rule of 80% whole foods and 20% soul foods to properly fuel your body to achieve your goals.