What is a taper?
A taper is defined as a short-term reduction in training load during a period leading up to a competitive event.Tapers are actually used across a variety of sports. A sprinter would taper in the lead up to a big event so they can give their best sprint performance on the day. A powerlifter tapers close to a meet so they lift at their strongest. The goal of a taper is to maintain training adaptations developed during the training program whilst simultaneously allowing the negative impact of training to diminish. Ideally this results in increased recovery and ultimately increased performance.
How should a taper be structured?
A taper in general is a reduction in training load so it could involve a reduction of volume, intensity, frequency or a combination. When this comes to lifting and bodybuilding (which is what we are primarily concerned with here) however things get confusing when we talk about deloads and tapers. So when it comes to bodybuilding it's best to just think of a taper as a reduction in volume.
There is no strict rule when it comes to volume reductions. I have seen suggestions as high as reducing volume by 70%. I personally tend to er on the safer side and suggest reductions in volume of approximately 50%. 50% is usually sufficient to remove the negative effects of training without detraining adaptations produced during the training phase.
How long should a taper be?
This will depend on the training program that lead up to the taper and how deep of a recovery hole was dug. It also depends on whether the taper is happening on it's own or in conjunction with a deload. I like to see most lifters taper for at least one week. Usually a few weeks is a good period of time but there isn't really a limit so long as performance is increasing. At some point I suppose you could technically call it an intensity focused training block if the taper drags on for long enough, but that's semantics.
I personally will usually deload for a week first and then follow it up with a taper that lasts two weeks. This is not a strict rule as I have tapered for longer periods (4 weeks and even 8 weeks at one point). Deloading prior to tapering just makes sense because you get to a point where you are reasonably recovered/healed up and then you are able to remove some volume and increase intensity. It's an ideal structure at least for the contexts I put myself in.
I will usually cut my volume by 50%. So if I'm doing 4 sets per exercise I will do 2 sets. If I'm doing an odd number of sets I will typically just round the number of sets up eg 5 sets = 5/2 = 2.5 -> becomes 3 sets during the taper (I'll do 2 if I'm not feeling great). Most of my sets are 3 per exercise right now so when I taper I do 2 sets per exercise. I find this easier than trying to rearrange the number of sets per exercise to compensate and get things exactly right. Getting it exactly right is not important. The main thing is you reduce training volume enough so that recovery and hopefully performance improves.
Remember this is just the structure I currently use. It does not cover all contexts for all people.
Do you have to taper AND deload?
No. They do often work well together but you can certainly just deload or just taper. If you were to just deload you might find you are recovered and your joints feel better but if you were to go straight back into normal training volumes and intensities any performance benefits you might see could be short lived. If you just tapered you'd probably see performance increases and potentially less likelihood of detraining adaptations. But you your joints might be less likely to recover as much as they would had you deloaded because whilst volume has reduced, heavy loads have been maintained constantly and possibly have even increased. In other words both deloads and tapers address recovery and performance but do not address all aspects equally.
What is the purpose of tapering as a bodybuilder?
The point of this question is that tapers are typically used to increase performance and a bodybuilder's competitive event isn't reliant on short term increases in performance (or performance in general). So why would a bodybuilder need to taper? Well in my case I generally will test my maxes for my major lifts which I then base my percentages off for my next training block. So a performance increase in that case is actually desirable, kind of like tapering for a powerlifting meet.
If you aren't testing maxes I still think it's worthwhile for both the recovery aspects and the actualising of strength and hypertrophy gains. Bringing volume down temporarily and increasing intensity (load) might allow you in some but not all cases to maintain some of that strength going into your next training block.
I think it also just makes sense doing some periods where volume is higher and some periods of time where intensity is higher. You could even take this further and do whole blocks of training where a particular training variable is a focus (volume, intensity or frequency).
Will I lose muscle during a taper?
Typically no. Intensity is quite good for maintaining muscle mass over short to medium terms. You might find you are a bit flatter just due to less volume ie you won't get as much of a pump. But we know the pump is not something that is particularly important for hypertrophy anyway. The only problem I can see is if you were to take volume too low and do that for too long you might risk some of your adaptations.
How do I transition from a taper to normal training?
There are no hard and fast rules but I generally like to do my best to maintain the strength increases I have experienced within reason on some of my exercises. I usually just do this where I can and take what I can get. That is, I will continue to train with good form and my body is pretty good at telling me where I can maintain strength and where I have to either let the load come back down or reduce my reps a bit.
In terms of volume it's usually a good idea to start the next training block with an intro week where the volume is just a bit higher. This avoids a huge gap between low volume, high intensity and suddenly jumping to a much higher volume. There is just no way you are going to maintain strength making that kind of jump and it doesn't make sense to structure training in that way in most cases.
What kind of performance increases can I expect?
This might depend on a variety of factors including fatigue/performance decrements experienced during the training phase, the effectiveness of the deload/taper structure and how advanced/skilled the lifter is. Generally performance increases are noticeable but not massively sizeable. For example I usually can increase the amount of weight I am able to lift on most of my compound lifts by a small amount. I can usually keep these increases going for the extent of the taper. I also will usually find my secondary isolation work a bit easier being able to complete one or more extra reps for many of my exercises even if I cannot increase the weight.
For this reason I think skilled lifters benefit a lot from tapers in that they are in tune with their bodies, they know what they can normally lift with good form and they have realistic expectations of the rate of strength and muscle gain. So an increase of 1 or 2 reps during sets of lying leg curls is a performance increase that they notice and is significant to them. Whereas a beginner or even an intermediate won't always recognise that as anything of much worth and I think that just comes down to training experience, knowing one's body, exercise technique/skill and knowledge of what is realistic.
Summary
- Purpose = improve recovery and performance
- Volume = 50%
- Intensity = normal, and make increases where possible
- Duration = 1 week or greater
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