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Deload Week Calculator

Set recovery-week load and volume from your normal training.

How it is calculated

The tool applies two separate cuts. The load is reduced by the intensity percentage and the set count by the volume percentage:

deload load = normal load × (1 − intensity cut / 100)
deload sets = normal sets × (1 − volume cut / 100)

Load is in kilograms, sets are per exercise, and both cuts are percentages (0 to under 100). The load result is shown with two decimals and the sets with one. Normal load and sets must be above zero, and a cut of 100 % or more, or a negative cut, returns no result. Because the cuts are independent, you can trim volume hard while keeping the bar fairly heavy, or the reverse.

Worked example

Suppose your normal working weight is 100 kg for 5 sets, and you choose a 10 % intensity cut and a 40 % volume cut.

Load: 100 × (1 − 0.10) = 100 × 0.90 = 90.00 kg.
Sets: 5 × (1 − 0.40) = 5 × 0.60 = 3.0 sets.

So in the deload week you would work with 90.00 kg for 3.0 sets, which in practice means 3 sets.

Try this example →

Common mistakes

  • Entering the target percentage (for example 60 for "train at 60 %") instead of the reduction. A 60 % cut leaves only 40 % of your normal load.
  • Cutting load and volume by the same large amount at once; the two fields are independent, and many people reduce only one of them.
  • Typing the weight of a single heavy set as the normal load when your work sets are lighter, which makes every deload number too high.
  • Entering the total sets for the whole session instead of the sets for one exercise, then applying the result to each lift.
  • Expecting a result for a 100 % reduction: the tool needs a cut below 100, since a full cut would be a rest week, not a deload.

About this calculator

A deload week deliberately reduces training load — usually by cutting the weight on the bar, the number of sets, or both — for a short period so the body can recover from accumulated fatigue before it turns into overtraining or injury, without losing the fitness adaptations built up over previous weeks. Each reduction is calculated as a percentage off your normal working weight and your normal number of sets rather than an arbitrary number, so the deload stays proportional to how hard you've actually been training.

Strength athletes and bodybuilders build deload weeks into a periodized program every 4-8 weeks, especially after a hard training block or before a competition peak, because chronic fatigue masks strength gains and can eventually stall progress even when the training itself is sound — a planned deload is a recovery tool, distinct from an unplanned one forced by injury or burnout.

Apply one percentage cut to your usual working weight and another to your usual number of sets, and you get the load and the set count for the recovery week.

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