Would deloading for a month in order to help fix my lifting form ultimately detrain me?
Im currently on starting strength, been doing it since the 3rd week of December (prior to that Ive been doing some dumbbell lifting, which was from October to November).
Squat is at 155lbs Deadlift at 175lbs Bench at 115lbs Overhead press at 90lbs
Ive made what I think are significant advances to my lifts but have injured myself a bit from time to time because of terrible form.
Ive managed to fix some of my form issues for the past 3 weeks but have found that while I continue to relearn the lifts by fixing form, I struggle to handle the increasing lift load demanded by the program. Im unsure if its because of my diet or just my form (I believe its both though) that I struggle.
Anyway, to cut to the chase, I want to do SS again by resetting my weights (i.e. starting with just 45lbs for all exercises) for a month and then moving up to my current PRs again, this time with proper form.
However Im unsure of what might happen to my PRs and my muscle gains if I do this. But I really feel this deload is crucial for me to move forward.
Im planning to continue my IF with a 4 hr feeding window, and then doing a -30% on rest days while maintenance on training days. The reason behind the deficit is because Ive recently upped my bf% to around 16% and would like to at least go down to 12% in 2 months or so.
tl;dr: Would deloading for a week to fix form issues work for me or would it be counter productive? I will do -30% cals on rest days and maintenance on training days since Im at around 16% bf and would like to be at 12% bf in 2 months time with intermittent fasting.
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Are you truly injured? If you are get better and then get back to lifting. Otherwise.
Should I reset my weights for a month?
No, not if you are following the plan in starting strength.
I have read starting strength and it says nothing about a novice lifter de-loading for a month to practice your form. If you are only 2 month into a progressive overload regimented and you are not getting stronger every work out you need to look at your sleep, food, and hydration.
If you get your 3x5 on the bench press at 115lb what weight are you doing next session? 120lb or 125lb. That would be a huge jump. In starting strength they would advocate moving up by 2lb. Does your gym have 1lb weights? Use them. If not wedge some 1lb dumbbells that the aerobic classes use under the clips or go to Walmart and buy 2 1lb dumbbells and bring them to the gym with you.
Don’t get ahead of yourself. Putting 5lb on your lifts a month is good progress.
If you absolutely can't do the required reps with good form I'd argue that you're not truly following the program. It's not just about lifting X weight for Y sets of Z reps, you also have to be doing the lifts correctly and safely. The weights you're lifting aren't big enough right now that I'd expect it to have an effect on your form, so the likely answer is that you haven't yet learnt to do them correctly (not surprising, this can take a lot of time).
If your form is definitely incorrect, and you definitely can't fix that while continuing to increase the weight, you need to stop increasing the weight - or even deload - while you fix that. Poor form means you're more likely to get injured, especially as the weight on your lifts goes up. It's also generally easier to do the lifts with heavier weights when you're using good form, so there are still gains to be had from fixing it.
It's easier to learn to do them correctly now, even if that means you're not necessarily increasing the weight you lift each session, than it is to fix bad habits later or recover from an injury caused by poor form.
That said, if it's just a matter of struggling to do the required reps with good form, but you are able to do them while keeping your form correct, then that's nothing to worry about. It's expected that you won't necessarily find it to be a breeze, and that the rate at which you're increasing the weight will begin to exceed the strength gains you're actually making.
For one thing, I don't think a single week is going to do much for either your form or your overall fitness. So short answer: no, deloading for a week isn't going to make you measurably weaker. But I'm not sure this solves your problem, fixing technical issues is a long term project (read: forever). There will always be something with your technique you'd like to fix.
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