Savage Fitness Personal Training

05/11/2025

04/11/2025

"Nah bro....just need to go beast mode"

I remember a time when even uttering the term "deload" would have been met with looks of confusion and an assumption that you were just not working hard enough!

But taking a deload can see you break through plateaus, allow your body to recover after an intense cycle of training and ultimately see you become a monster in the gym!

Think of it as taking 1 step back to take 2 forward

OR pumping the breaks on an F1 car as you approach that hair pin, so you can fly down the home straight!

So let's get into the topic of deloads....

[1 WHAT IS A DELOAD?]

In layman's terms a deload is a short, planned period of recovery.

Reducing the loading you are using, taking a couple more rest days/training less frequently or just taking the foot off the intensity pedal a touch.

Taking nothing to failure, leaving reps in the tank, dropping any intensifier techniques etc

[2. WHEN TO TAKE A DELOAD]

☑️LIFTS GOING DOWN? Pay close attention to your BIG lifts where your focus is on lower volume/heavy loading sets.

This could point to you becoming close to overreaching as your CNS takes a battering when performing these types of movements consistently with heavy loads.

☑️JOINTS GETTING SORE? The odd ni**le here and there is normal when you are progressing your lifts. But when your elbows, knees etc are crumbling and failing you it is probably not only time to take a deload but also go see a sports physio to get you patched up

☑️MOTIVATION IN THE GUTTER? We are not always going to be buzzing and "in the zone" to get to the gym and train and that's normal from time to time. But if you are having to drag your arse to the gym daily, going through the motions and have no drive then that is your body's way of signalling that a deload is required!

So stop "pushing through" and letting your ego take over. Pull back and your body will thank you for it!

[3. HOW TO SET UP A DELOAD?]

There are a few ways you can structure your deload, which we will talk about here:

☑️REDUCE LOADS - You should be looking at bringing the weight used down to around 50% of your 1RM. And DON'T think you need to compensate by repping out a huge number reps.

Keep the reps and sets moderate, remember this is a recovery phase! This is the most common approach

☑️REDUCE VOLUME - This is where your loads stay the same and you bring down your rep ranges and/or number of sets. So for example if you are doing 5 working sets, bring that down to 2-3

☑️TARGETED DELOADS - Not as common an approach and this is when you can target particular exercises to deload. This is ideal if you are just seeing a plateau on a given exercise and you are not particularly beat up overall or in danger of overreaching.

So for example if your squat has stalled or declined slightly but you are still ramping it up on the leg press, leg curls or lunges then bring down the loads used on the squat and bash out a few "easier" sets so as to not take away from your overall progress while giving you CNS a rest.

[TAKE AWAY MESSAGE]

Don't be a bro and ignore the signals. Your body is very clever and will make it clear to you when a deload period is needed:

🔹Sore Joints
🔹Lifts stalling/declining
🔹Overreaching
🔹Motivation low

28/10/2025

Breakfast protein builder..

From protein pancakes, to yogurt & fruit, omelettes, bacon or sausage sarnie, or a fry-up.. 👀

What’s on your perfect breakfast plate?

Egg, egg white, whey protein, yogurt, sausages, bacon medallions & turkey rashers..⁣

18/10/2025

👀 Your environment is shaping you more than you realize.

The people you spend time with influence your habits, your mindset, your standards, even your ambition.

If you're surrounded by excuses, you'll start making your own.

But if you're surrounded by action-takers, you’ll feel pushed to level up.

Energy is contagious.

So is mediocrity.

You don't rise to your goals, you fall to the level of your circle.

Choose wisely.

Spend time with people who challenge you, inspire you, and hold you to a higher standard.

Because success isn’t just about what you do, it’s about who you do it around.

Change your circle, and you just might change your life.🏆🔥

28/09/2025

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU FOCUS ON PROGRESSIVE OVERLOAD ?

Amazing things start happening when you start focussing on progressive overload.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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So many people judge the success or failure of a given training session on meaningless observations, such as whether they sore or not, or how much they sweat.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Both have very little to do with gaining muscle.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
The key to adding muscle is to focus on making MEASURABLE strength gains. ⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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That means either increasing the amount of weight you're lifting or the number of reps you're completing.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
So write that s**t down. And next week try and beat what you did the previous week.⁣⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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As long as you're getting stronger over time, your body CANNOT FAIL to be changing shape in all kinds of positive ways!⁣

28/09/2025

Time passes by anyway so we might as well think longer than a couple of weeks into the future.

If your goal is weight loss your not going to get a year down the line, 31lbs lighter and regret your decisions.

And if you keep doing that for another year, maybe add in some exercise too, your going to be a completey different person to what you would have been.

Good things take time, but there's no rush and no regrets if you are always making progress.