NOT DELOADING: EDGE KEEPING

Let me start by saying that, despite being a fan of Vikings, medieval warfare, and Dungeons and Dragons, I have zero actual awareness of how to maintain the edge of an edged weapon, so this metaphor has gotten away from me before I’ve even introduced it, but grand me the principle of charity here and appreciate my enthusiasm in the face of my incompetence.  “Deloading” is a much maligned concept in the world of training, either completely misunderstood or viewed with disdain by those who simply ALWAYS want to push to the limits and don’t understand WHY they can’t.  And keep in mind: that’s coming from me!  But, in turn, that’s why I want to discuss it: there IS a way that one can deload while STILL pushing to the limit and, in turn, I find it helpful to re-frame how one thinks about deloading.  This isn’t “deloading”: this is “edge keeping”.

The alternative is viable at times as well

First, let me say that, when I was a late teen/in my early 20s, I had scheduled deloads.  Why?  Because I had so much free time that I COULD.  These days, in my 30s, working full time, as a father, LIFE provides me deloads, so I wait for them to happen.    Hell, as I am writing this, I actually subluxed my left shoulder this morning in the middle of a deadlift workout and ended up calling an audible and doing 10x10 Safety Squat Bar good mornings.  There could not be a better example of a life provided deload and, in turn, an exercise in edge keeping.  Yeah: I didn’t do my scheduled deadlift workout, but there’s no question regarding if I put in the work to keep strong.  Deloads, as the name infers, are an opportunity for us to reduce the load on our body, but that doesn’t mean we dull our edge.  We heal AND we grow strong during that time.

Edge keeping is creativity paired with intensity.  We impose an artificial limitation upon ourselves: we AREN’T going to do what we usually do.  For me, operating off a 5/3/1 based paradigm, when I engage in edge keeping, it means I am going to spend a week NOT doing the barbell squat, deadlift, bench and press.  And no, I don’t get cute and swap to trap bar deads, safety squat bar squats, etc: the point is to spend time AWAY from these lifts.  BUT, I am NOT in the business of training any less INTENSE (understood meaning banging your skull against a wall, NOT “percentage of 1rm”, for you nerds out there): I’m simply no longer beating my body up with the same movement patterns.  It gets a chance to rest and heal BY doing new stuff.

Sometimes new things DON'T quite have that healing effect...

And the “new stuff” is crucial here.  Any week you spend edge keeping is a GOLDEN opportunity to try out new stuff and LEARN from the process.  If all you do is the exact same movements you normally do but with less volume, that’s a squandered week.  But if you head over to wodwell and roll a die and pick 7 workouts for the week, you’re BOUND to pick up something from the process.  Just this last time I ended up edge keeping, I was limited to 2 20kg kettlebells and a hill, and I came up with ALL sorts of insanity and developed a nasty kettlebell complex of a half snatch caught into a thruster.  I also discovered Dan John’s double kettlebell front squat challenge of 1 clean-1 front squat, 2 cleans-2 front squats, up to 10, down to 10.

One of the other rules was to not put the KBs down...I failed

A good amount of my “bad ideas” have come about during periods of edge keeping.  And once that period is done, I can carry those lessons learned into my regular training and get even better.  Because what could be the possible consequence of making a mistake during this 1 week period away from regular training?  We recover TOO much?  Now is the time to keep our edge THROUGH variety, experimentation and intensity.  We’ve seen what happens to those that settle into ruts and refuse to experience new experiences: latency, decline, and death.  Be alive!  Keep sharp and try new things.

Early in my training, I was so much the opposite: whenever I had time away, I did EVERYTHING in my power to try to simulate what I was doing previously to the maximal extent possible.  I’ve done deadlifts in a smith machine (you can imagine the disaster THAT was), I’d use stupidly light dumbbells to try to simulate machine movements, I’ve pulled deadlifts with a standard barbell (ouch), etc etc.  I was focused entirely on the wrong thing: I thought it was the PROGRAMMING and movements that mattered.  What was the result?  I’d come back from my downtime fatter, smaller and weaker, because I had spent so much time trying to replicate what I had been doing previously that I never had any time to actually get good at any of those weird movements and put in the necessary effort to grow from them. 

Maybe I could just put more weight on the bar instead...

Now, I come into my edge keeping time knowing that nothing is going to be like it was, and that’s by design.  All I have to guide me is effort.  I’m going to do some stupid WODs or self-inflicted insanity and go until I can’t.  And each time I do this, I come back better, stronger, fitter and ready to tackle the “real” training.  I jumped STRAIGHT into the hardest workout of BBB Beefcake when I got back from edge keeping, doing my final edge keeping workout on Thursday and hitting BBB Friday morning.  I was a little more sore than usual afterwards, but just as strong, ready and able DURING the workout.

There’s no reason for a period of deloading to mean a period of getting WORSE.  Make the most of these downtimes and focus on keeping your edge.  Do things that are new, weird, different, out of your comfort zone and experimental and let effort be your sole consistent link between how you normally train and how you’re training.  Upon your return, you will be fresh, healed, strong and, ultimately better.  

He always comes back like that...

Or should I say: sharper.