Taking a week off of any lifting is not a deload. There is no better way to kill progress than missing an entire week of lifting.
Active Recovery Supersedes Passive Recovery
Active Recovery means preforming light, easy exercise. It benefits recovery by increasing blood flow to the muscles. An increase in blood flow to the muscle delivers nutrient and eliminates metabolites (take out the garbage) which enhances recovery.
Passive Recovery mean doing nothing, allowing for recover but isn't as effective as Active Recovery.
Changing things up with different exercises
Varying Exercises
Research and anecdotal evidence have demonstrated that one of the keys to increasing strength and muscle mass it by varying exercise during a training program; attacking the muscle from different angles.
Varying an exercise can be as simple as going from a Wide Grip Bench Press to a Narrow Grip Bench Press or a High Bar Squat to a Low Bar Squat.
Deload Workout or Week
This works to some extent for novice lifters. However, deloading for one workout or one week in the long run, especially for individual with more training time, it not as effective as...
Periodization Training
Periodization Training is a training cycle based on progressive increases in load, volume, or the combination over of weeks; with the final week being an all out effort or close to it.
The all out effort or close to it is followed by deloading the intensity of the training session and progressively increasing the weight over a period of weeks to a greater load that your previous training cycle, for a personal best.
Part of the reason for this has to do with...
"Wound Healing"
Research simply back up common sense, "The greater the trauma to the body, the longer recovery period necessary for recovery."
Kenny Croxdale