Here’s a little of recommended reading for the week:

Deloading on 5×5 Weight Training Programs – The 5×5 sets and reps approach is a very popular one, but most people ignore a very crucial factor that influences how successful this approach is: deloading. Learn more from this older post of mine.

Vitamin D, Calcium, and Dairy Intakes and Stress Fractures Among Female Adolescents – It always seems like calcium gets a lot more love than vitamin D when it comes to bone health, but here’s a recently published prospective cohort study that shows that vitamin D is most likely the bigger player in preventing stress fractures. Just one more reason to supplement!

The Myth of In-Season “Maintenance” Training – I thought Ben Bruno did a good job relaying an important message about the value of in-season training, particularly among youth athletes. The overwhelming majority of kids can continue to get strong with good training in-season, so they need to view in-season strength and conditioning as developmental. Otherwise, it becomes one step forward (off-season), one step backward (in-season) for an entire high school career.