23/09/2026
Your life needs a deload too.
If you train, chances are you’ve heard of periodisation.
You have phases where you’re pushing performance, phases where you’re building capacity, and phases where you deliberately back things off so your body can recover and adapt.
You wouldn’t be training at 100% every single day and then wonder why they eventually fall in a heap.
So why do we do this with literally everything else? 😂
I encourage my clients to think of their life in performance zones:
HIGH PERFORMANCE
Training hard. Working hard. Big projects. Busy family periods. Chasing goals.
These phases can be really productive, but they also come with a higher overall load.
RECOVERY & ADAPTATION
Sleep a little more. Reduce training volume. Schedule some downtime. Eat properly. Give your brain fewer things to keep track of.
This is where your body gets to actually repair, adapt and consolidate the work you've been doing.
Muscle tissue needs time to recover from training. Your nervous system needs time away from constant demands. Energy stores need replenishing. And your capacity to handle stress depends on having periods where that stress comes DOWN again.
THE "OH GOD, EVERYTHING HURTS" ZONE
This is what can happen when we stay in high performance mode for too long without enough recovery.
Training starts feeling harder. Sleep gets worse. Motivation disappears. Little niggles start hanging around. Your patience gets questionable. 😂
And eventually, you may need a much bigger recovery period just to get back to where you were.
This is why recovering from burnout can take so much longer than planning recovery into the first place.
If we keep smashing the same tissues without enough recovery, eventually the whole thing can become a much bigger problem.
Your training already has a periodisation plan. Your life probably should too. You don't need to wait until you're completely cooked to schedule a deload.
Sometimes you can look at the next few weeks and think "Ew that's going to be a lot," and deliberately create some space around it.
High performance is much easier to sustain when recovery is part of the plan.
