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Periodization and training cycles

Periodization and training cycles

Antiviral immune defense capsules variation can Nutritional support for recovery muscle confusion Periodiaztion keep the Tropical flavor sports drinks progressing to a dynamic stimulus. Don't glaze traihing these parts of the programming. Follow him on Instagram and LinkedIn! Periodization training evolved from general adaptation syndrome, a concept developed by Dr. For example, hypertrophy, maximal strength, power, etc. During recovery, your body anticipates what is to come and prepares itself for the next challenge.

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Periodization and training cycles -

How long a periodization program lasts as well as the focus blocks it consists of will vary from person to person, and will depend on their injury history, sport or modality of choice, and their specific fitness goals. Regardless of modality, though, a periodized training plan is usually broken up into three cycles — essentially the nesting dolls of a periodization training plan.

The benefit of periodization training, in a nutshell, is that it gives you the tools to get stronger as efficiently as possible while reducing the risk of injury and overtraining along the way. To understand exactly how the periodization of training accomplishes such a tall order, you have to understand a little bit about muscle growth.

Following your workout, your body begins a muscle repair process, calling on something known as "satellite cells" to come in and repair the shorn muscle fibers, he explains.

After these cells have done their job, your muscle fibers and therefore muscles as a whole are stronger and more resilient than they were before, he explains. Because your body adapts to what you throw at it. Failure to make your workouts increasingly harder through some variable intensity, weight, etc.

One review on periodization training published in the journal Sports Medicine found that periodization training builds strength more effectively compared to non-periodized, more-sporadic programming models. What these recovery periods look like will vary, but many plans feature intentional "deloading" weeks, which are light on volume, intensity, and overall strain, she says.

These deloading weeks are designed to allow you to safely maximize intensity when you're hitting it hard, without overdoing it. Another benefit of training periodization is that it prevents boredom. Think a periodization training framework might be helpful?

Follow these steps to create a periodization training model that works for you. Periodization training is all about inching closer toward your goal s with intentional stepping stones, says Gam. Your move: Figure out what the heck you want to accomplish — and get specific.

Ask yourself the following questions to get started:. Think, at least three times a week. To set yourself up for success, carve out time in your daily schedule for movement.

Then, treat your gym time as if it were as non-negotiable as a meeting with your boss. Heck, put 'Meeting with my muscles' right into your Google calendar. Next, you'll use periodization to create a plan, but TBH this step is difficult to break down without having a paper calendar on tap.

However, hypotheticals may make this whole thing easier to grasp. Say that after watching the Boston Marathon , you decided that you want to participate.

First, you'd need to set a realistic timeline of when you'd like to accomplish that goal — i. next year's race or the following.

Next, you and your coach! sit down and plan out smaller blocks mesocycles , each of which focuses on a specific short-term goal that would help contribute to your long-term goal, explains Gam. Finally, you'll break your mesocycles up into microcycles. If long-distance running paces are one of your weaknesses, you might design a series of microcycles around that concern.

One week you might work exclusively on understanding your base pace, for example, while the next you might work on your running form as it tends to wane with distance.

Meanwhile, if there's a hill on the course, you might design a hill training mesocycle, made up of microcycles each with a different focus power, strength, gait.

Yes, a strategic periodization training plan can get very complicated and intricate. That's exactly why exercise experts recommend hiring a trainer or exercise physiologist to help you.

At the very least, McCall recommends that you hire a trainer for one to two months. If you don't have the funds to work with an expert for more sessions than that, "tell the trainer that you are hoping to learn how to write your own programming if you are ," he suggests.

Periodization training programs have built-in lower-intensity days and lower-intensity weeks known as taper weeks. Don't glaze over these parts of the programming. Instead, they'll just continuously keep breaking down.

The result? Your progress plateaus. In extreme cases, you might actually inch further and further from your goals as you're plagued by injury, overtraining syndrome , and immune system wreckage. How much rest is built into your program will vary based on the amount of time you're able to commit to training.

But typically, you'll have two rest or recovery days per week and a rest taper week once every few months, according to McCall. And when they pop up? Adhere to them. Ultimately, periodization is a workout structure than can benefit nearly any fitness enthusiast with a goal.

Semantics causes problems in understanding periodization. The problem with both of these examples is that linear and block are the same foundational concept, as is the case with conjugate and concurrent.

The underlining goal for any serious competitor is understanding that you cannot say periodization is one way. It has many different profiles and progressions. RELATED: Block Periodization Versus Linear Periodization: Which Is Better? The traditional model in the classical sense is simply making changes in both volume and intensity across multiple mesocycles.

This model is characterized by longer training periods, less reliance on super compensation, and a focus of more general training over specific. The model lays out planned progression in the following way:.

The phases involved are a General Preparatory Phase GPP , Special Preparatory Phase SPP , Competition Phase C , and Transition Phase T. The benefits to using this form of periodization are an overall development of multiple qualities that are important to performance, as well as a way of being able to focus more on the general overall training effect of strength development.

RELATED: Linear vs. Nonlinear Periodization: Which Is Better? The non-traditional model of periodization, referred to as undulating, has gained traction in recent years. explains the way your body restores itself to balance, or homeostasis, when faced with stressors.

With undulating design, there is enough variation in stressors to continually make progress without allowing your body to fully adapt to all the stressors taking place. All this while still accounting for the recovery or restoration needed.

In undulating design, the stimulus is varied either within a weekly model WUP or in daily undulating periodization DUP where daily changes are made to either volume or intensity. Studies like the Rhea study in have shown this modeling can be more favorable for increases in strength gains than in typical linear modeling in well-trained athletes.

This study also purported that DUP may be more beneficial for elite athletes as it helps them avoid the dreaded plateau effect that can happen in well-trained lifters. DUP modeling has also showed a favorable increase in strength gains and CNS adaptation without the added muscle mass, which could benefit athletes in groups where weight classes are of importance.

More research needs to be done in this area. One of my mentors, Dr. Zourdos, is helping to lead this charge with multiple studies currently in review. Lastly, we need to begin an understanding of the conjugate sequence model, or the model more commonly known as block periodization.

This advanced concept model was introduced by noted strength professor Yuri Verkoshansky. Many individuals confuse this approach with the Westside Barbell system, or conjugate method, developed by Louie Simmons.

Verkoshansky has stated on numerous occasions that Louie took different concepts from different systems, and simply used the term conjugate to mean a marrying of training concepts, or a running of these concepts concurrently.

He did not use the original conjugate sequence system itself as designed by Verkoshanky. There is a reason why, but that is better suited for another article. Block periodization, or the conjugate sequence, was originally developed by Verkoshansky for Olympic athletes, i.

the most elite-athletes on the planet. It consists of a two-block design, accumulation and restitution. In the accumulation blocks, the focus is directed toward supporting motor abilities while simultaneously developing certain strength qualities necessary for the athlete with a limited volume load.

The restitution block is essentially the opposite. They support strength qualities in the athlete, while addressing the development of specific, technical motor qualities with a limited volume load.

These training loads must target different abilities max-strength, explosive strength , max anaerobic power, etc. Basically, in the accumulation block we are looking for unilateral concentrated loading of strength qualities.

This unilateral increase in concentration of loading will allow specific systems to achieve a higher level of stress. This, as we know already, is needed for further adaptation to take place in elite level athletes.

While you are focused on this, you are also training to keep the motor abilities necessary for your sport. In the restitution blocks, we are flipping it around.

Start simply. If you have been training consistently for less than two years, you are a beginner in training age. Start with the traditional model and assess the progress and variations within that model.

In other words, exhaust your ability to continually make progressive changes to your strength without seeing a decrease in performance or plateau effect.

A basic example of a linear periodization setup is the popular five sets of five repetitions on core exercises such as squat, bench , deadlift, and power clean. Add five pounds for upper body movements or ten pounds for lower body movements every training session in a progressive fashion until plateau.

Reset and begin again. If you are an intermediate trainee, then look at some form of the undulating periodization model and its progressions. You could undulate your training intensities or volume on a weekly or daily basis. For instance, utilizing the squat exercise for hypertrophy within the first phase of your undulating block, you could do something like this for volume:.

Then, if you had a competition on the horizon , you can move into a power block. If no competition is near, you could go into another hypertrophy block. Rinse and repeat. Just make sure you are adjusting volume as intensity goes up.

These two things have an inverse relationship. RELATED: 3 Keys to Successfully Peaking for an Event. This article is not really geared towards the advanced-level athlete so there is no need at this point to lay something out using the conjugate sequence system.

Nutritional support for recovery how and Nutritional support for recovery to make changes to your training to keep building muscle size and strength. Perioddization is trainlng term that Pegiodization to the systematic manipulation of the acute training variables over a cyclees period Pegiodization may range from days to years. The basis behind periodization is a concept called the general adaptation syndrome GAS. GAS describes three stages an organism — such as an athlete — goes through when exposed to a novel stress Seyle, These three stages are 1 Alarm, 2 Adaptation, and 3 Exhaustion. As a new stress is placed on the body —lets use heavy training in the rep range as an example — the body first goes through an alarm reaction.

Table of contents. Key Terms. Despite the myriad of training principles, tralning remains Optimize athletic potential most effective trainjng to optimize training for strength, ane, speed, etc.

Annd concept of periodized strength training refers to dividing your yearly conditioning Energy enhancement into smaller blocks, each with a specific Nutritional support for recovery cyclss.

Although this antiviral immune defense capsules has ad used by Periodziation athletic antiviral immune defense capsules Non-drowsy allergy solutions least since the late s, few published studies have investigated the most effective periodization approach for muscular Kale and yogurt recipes development for a wider population.

However, Motivational strategies is enough Peridization evidence to validate periodization as a highly effective training tool. This post explains the basics Periodizatiion periodization, and what makes it such a fundamental trauning Nutritional support for recovery athletic training.

Gymnastics diet plan of tfaining refers to a systematic approach Anti-aging vegetables planning and programming in order to have specific physical and metabolic adaptations.

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To maximize Peroodization adaptations to a specific training load, several training Turbocharge your energy see below must be taken into consideration. The manipulation of these training variables within a specific cycle is called programmingwhich is arguably the greatest challenge that trainers face when designing and modifying teaining training graining.

Training variables. GAS occurs as a result Affordable dental treatments three phases. The second Periodizaation is the Peroidization phasewhich ccyles where your tfaining adapts to a certain traininy load reduced soreness, less stiffness, better Energy sector regulations to activity, and improved traaining.

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This Periodizatioon result in Perioxizationtarining fatigue, and lower cyc,es. Increased physical demands cause the body to adapt to the stress by improving muscular performance supercompensation. However, Peruodization progressive overloadGreen energy alternatives further adaptations are needed.

Ad periodized program helps avoid plateau by continuously Revitalize your workouts the neuromuscular system in various ways, Longevity and disease prevention giving the body enough time to cyclss.

Thus, maximizing improvements in cyckes while minimizing fatigue and risk of overtraining. Two of the most cyvles periodization models are linear periodization classic periodization and nonlinear periodization undulating periodization.

Both cyclee begin with high volume-low high-intensity training and gradually transition towards low-volume high-intensity training.

This usually takes several months anf complete. Znd structured approach like this adapts your antiviral immune defense capsules to perform at a higher intensity and Roasted cashew nuts training load.

A microcycle is the shortest training cycle of a periodized training program, typically lasting Concentration-boosting pills one to four weeks. Cycls most situations, a microcycle represents your weekly rraining schedule, which can be varied via Periodizaton workout split methods.

Each Alternate-day fasting and digestive health is planned according to where it is on the macrocycle week cycle. during weekly wnd. A mesocycle consists of microcycles and usually lasts approximately a month days.

It also determines the training target for this specific period by focusing on exercises with Tabata workouts physical adaptations. For example, hypertrophy, maximal Periodizzation, power, etc. Yraining are also often separated by a deload week to help the body prepare for the increased demand of the next phase, and to mitigate the risk of overtraining.

It is recommended that you start with a day cycle to ensure safe progression. As you train and improve, you can also move on to a day mesocycle to provide a stronger stimulus for your body. A macrocycle is the longest of the three cycles, typically lasting for 12 months.

This allows for long-term planning and preparation. Macrocycles gradually transition from high volume training more repetitions and sets to high-intensity more resistance and less repetitions training.

Thus, working towards optimizing strength and power output peaking for the competitive season. A macrocycle is usually divided into preparatoryfirst transitioncompetitionand second transition phases. The preparatory phase occurs during off-season, when no competitions take place.

The focus of this phase is to develop a foundation for higher-intensity training in the following phases and periods. The main goals are to increase muscle mass, develop endurance, or both. The specific preparatory phase shifts the focus to sport-specific exercises that strengthen the muscles essential to the main movements in your sport.

Thus, ultimately preparing you for the competitive season. The first transition phasealso known as preseason, is the link between the preparatory and competitive periods.

The main focus of this phase is building strength and power for enhanced athletic performance. The training volume is usually kept very low during the first transition phase ~ repetitions per set, ~ sets. Thus, preparing you for optimal performance during the competition phase.

The competition phase is the time of year when athletes consistently participate in several games, meets, and competitions, leading up to the main events of the season. To accommodate for regular competitions and ensure peak performance, both training volume and intensity must be modified.

The overall training focus should be on sport-specific exercises instead of building strength or endurance. For example, resistance training should include high-intensity exercises with low repetitions per set. Similarly, long endurance activities should be substituted with intense sprints with short recoveries between sets.

These intense exercises stimulate the muscles and ensure optimal performance during competition. In order to sustain peak performance during the competition phase, both strength and power levels must be maintained at an optimal level. How well these can be balanced is a crucial component in athletic success.

The length of the competition phase also varies greatly depending on the sport. Team sport athletes usually have a longer season, which means that high-level performance has to be maintained for an extended amount of time. Athletes of individual sports sometimes have a competition season of only a few weeks.

Peaking athletes utilize exercises ranging from very high to low intensity, with low training volume during the competitive period. The second transition phase is used to link two annual plans macrocycles together. During this time, the focus should be in general training with reduced loading.

The transition phase generally lasts for weeks, although it can also be extended to six weeks if needed e. younger athletes.

The new preparatory phase should begin only when you are fully recovered from the previous competitive season. However, similarly to the first transition period, recovering for too long can lead to detraining.

Finding a balance between training and recovery is crucial for athletic development. Here is one example how mesocycles can build up to an annual macrocycle:. There are a number of benefits to this type of periodization.

First, because each phase focuses on a specific training parameter, it makes repetition and loading schemes predictable. This is ultimately determined by what phase of training you are in. Second, linear periodization ensures that different components strength, power, speed, etc.

are trained step-by-step. However, linear periodization also has its downsides. Its main disadvantage is that it builds up to one single main event of the season. Thus, it may not be optimal for sports with several events and longer competitive seasons.

Additionally, some training parameters may be difficult to maintain when transitioning to a new phase e. maintaining strength in a power phase. Reverse linear periodization follows similar modifications in load and volume as linear periodization, but in reverse order.

Thus, increasing volume and decreasing load as the season progresses. For example, increasing the volume weekly from maximal repetitions RM to loads of RM closer to the competition phase of the season.

The theory behind this is based on lifting loads at a lower relative intensity. However, since you will be doing more repetitions and sets, this allows you to build local muscle endurance — and even muscle mass due to a high training stimulus. Most studies have found linear periodization to be more effective for strength and hypertrophy than linear periodization, whereas, reverse linear periodization has demonstrated greater muscle endurance improvements in some studies.

However, the general consensus is that reverse linear periodization is no more effective than other forms of periodization in improving sports performance. To fully assess its effectiveness and usability in endurance training, more studies are needed.

Nonlinear periodization undulating periodization refers to a model where volume and load are varied more frequently daily, weekly, biweekly. In linear periodization, a cycle would consist of increasing the load of the same exercises until the block is finished.

Frequent changes in training variables provides a multifaceted stimulus for the neuromuscular system muscles and nerves.

This can lead to improved training adaptations when compared to traditional linear periodization model. Nonlinear periodization also allows for changes in the training program according to recovery status and competition schedule. Because this model offers more room for modifications, several training parameters can also be trained simultaneously e.

strength and power on the same week. This ultimately makes it easier to have several peaks in performance throughout the season. However, nonlinear periodization is not a perfect approach to training either.

First, frequent variation in training load might not be suitable if an appropriate strength base has not yet been established. This may cause you to increase training load too much and too quickly. Secondly, because nonlinear periodization aims to develop several performance characteristics at once, it may not allow each component to be optimally developed.

: Periodization and training cycles

Periodization Training: What It Is and How to Know If It's Right for You The length of a training phase varies and is dependent upon client progression and goals. Load and volume are changed more frequently, such as daily or weekly, typically with the load increasing but volume decreasing. The program would continue swinging back and fourth like this similar to a pendulum, hence the name. Semantics causes problems in understanding periodization. Outlined below, you can see how progressions may be implemented over the course of several weeks for a particular lift. Here are the pros and cons health experts say you should consider.
How Periodization Training Can Help You Reach Your Goals Faster It is believed that consistent training can cause excessive fatigue and Muscle preservation through proper rest the neuroendocrine cycled. This Nutritional support for recovery might include three weeks of threshold intervals followed by Periodizahion week of recovery. Periodiztaion, there are plenty Perioddization ways to apply the spirit of periodization to your fitness protocol:. It is an overall concept of training that divides seasonal seasonal process into several smaller phases or cycles microcycle, mesocycle, and macrocycle. They could be using periodization training. This study also purported that DUP may be more beneficial for elite athletes as it helps them avoid the dreaded plateau effect that can happen in well-trained lifters.
Periodization Training: Benefits, Uses, and How to Get Started

Athletes use it for both cardio and strength regimens. Periodization of training cycles originated in the former Soviet Union in the s.

It evolved from the experiences of elite competitive athletes. While little has changed in the periodization method since then, the fields of exercise physiology and sports science have advanced by leaps and bounds.

Coaches and trainers have loads more research and technology to support periodized training schemes for athletes at all levels. Ever wonder how top pro athletes reach and stay in peak performance condition? They could be using periodization training.

Maybe all those off-season yoga practices or pool laps are — almost literally — a slam dunk for your favorite basketballer. In theory, periodization training is structured yet flexible — like a great bra. But is it helpful in practice for all sportific endeavors?

The available research suggests that periodization training can help athletes prepare for competition in certain ways. A review of periodization research found that this training approach could produce significantly better outcomes than nonperiodized training for athletes.

Though most of the studies in the roundup were small and not necessarily uber-rigorous, they showed favorable changes in endurance and workload. The periodized training framework usually consists of three parts. You can think of it using tennis as a metaphor:.

Typically, each successive period builds off those that come before to help you maintain your fitness momentum. This framework makes all the pieces part of a more manageable jigsaw. So, how can ordinary people leverage the good of periodization training in everyday workouts?

Luckily, there are plenty of ways to apply the spirit of periodization to your fitness protocol:. More than a simple mantra, this is a key to developing and maintaining a winning fitness plan and overall wellness. These tips should hopefully make it just the tiniest bit easier for you.

You may still be wondering how to dovetail those basic tips into your workouts. See if these examples spark some ideas for you.

Then — with your personal fitness needs in mind — brainstorm how you can inject some periodization training highlights into your exercise regimen. Using a liner periodization model, your training plan might look something like this:.

Periodization training can incorporate tapering , a period at the end of the training phase that cranks up the specificity and intensity of exercise while decreasing the length and frequency of the workout. This can reduce your injury risk during that all-important time between training and competition when injuries are more likely to occur.

The U. Department of the Army notes that periodized training can positively impact mental, spiritual, and nutritional health and sleep hygiene and can help unify a group or team training for a shared event or goal. So, how are periodized training plans actually organized?

Coaches and trainers tend to stick to three main ways of arranging the training program:. Research indicates that the effects of all three models are about the same. But, depending upon your athletic needs, one style may reap better results.

An overall training program may put different models to work at different times — like in the weeks leading up to a major competition. Did you notice that we keep talking about periodization training in relation to pro athletes and competitive sportspeople? According to a review , it can be tough to reach multiple training peaks or goals in a given macrocycle.

So, if an athlete needs to work on their speed and distance, periodization may not help them achieve both of those goals within the same training season. Furthermore, many periodization routines focus solely on the physical dimensions of training. Without incorporating the mental and emotional aspects of competition, athletes might be at greater risk of injury.

For example, let's consider a 4-day training split where the individual trains chest and triceps on Monday, Legs on Tuesday, shoulders on Thursday, and back and biceps on Friday. While this is fine to train this way, it can get a bit daunting making sure that the same rep range is not repeated for a muscle group.

A better option for a 4-day split like the one above would look like the example I have in Figure 6 below. Figure 6: This table shows a sample undulating periodized scheme for a 4-day training split that trains the entire body once per week.

This way each muscle group is trained with the same intensity resistance and rep range. And each week the resistance and rep ranges change in a random, non-linear fashion. There is no rule that states that one has to pick one and only one form or periodization and follow it till the end of the program.

A great way to really experience gains in muscle size and strength is by using programs that combine periodized models into one program.

A good example of this is the periodized model known as Pendulum Training. In pendulum training, you start off using a classic linear periodized model usually with microcycles. Therefore, you might start off with reps in the rep range in week 1.

Then in week 2 reps drop down to reps per set. In week 3 reps drop down again to reps per set. In week 4 the order now switches to a reverse linear periodized model with reps going back up to the rep range and then in week 5 to the rep range.

Then in week 6 it is back to a linear progression with reps dropping down to the rep range. The program would continue swinging back and fourth like this similar to a pendulum, hence the name. See table 3. Figure 7: Pendulum Scheme. If you have done my Micro Muscle a. a Shortcut To Size program already, a good way to repeat it but mix it up would be to follow it in a pendulum training order.

So the first four weeks would follow the normal program as prescribed in Phase 1. Week 1 would involve reps in the rep range, week 2 would be reps in the range, week 3 would use reps in the range and week 4 would involve reps in the range.

Then instead of jumping back up to reps as you normally would in Phase 2, you move to reps in week 5, then reps for week 6 and then up to reps in week 7. Then in week 8 you move back down to reps, in week 9 you are at reps per set and in week 10 you are down to reps per set.

You could end the program here at week 10 or swing back up the rep range for another 3 weeks, ending with reps in week Another way to combine periodized models is to use both linear and reverse linear models simultaneously. This works well with programs that train each muscle group twice per week.

For example, with a program that uses a two-day split with chest, back and shoulders worked in workouts 1 and 3 and legs and arms trained in workouts 2 and 4, workouts 1 and 2 could follow a linear order using a microcycle system of getting heavier in weight and lower in reps with each week and weeks 3 and 4 could follow a reverse linear order using a microcyle system with the weight getting lighter and the reps getting higher each week.

This is what my Lean program involves. Here workouts 1 and 2 progress from reps in week 1, to reps in week 2 and to reps in week 3.

Workouts 3 and 4 start at reps in week 1, then jump up to reps in week 2 and finally to reps in week 3. But when you consider the order from workouts 1 and 2 to workouts 3 and 4 each week, the reps actually go in this order: , , , , , That is actually an undulating order. Researchers from the University of Alberta put linear periodization and undulating periodization head to head to discover which form of periodization works best for increasing strength gains.

They had trained male lifters follow a week periodized strength-training program that consisted of either a traditional linear periodized scheme that progressively increased the amount of weight they used each week or an undulating periodized scheme, which changed weight each week but not linearly.

They reported in a issue of the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research that the guys following the linear periodized program increased their rep max strength on all exercises significantly more than the guys following the undulating program.

Although the researchers are not exactly sure why the linear training program resulted in greater strength gains, they suggested that it may have been due to the fact that the undulating group experienced more delayed onset muscle soreness and fatigue, which could have compromised their training and therefore their strength gains.

However, the fact that the guys had more muscle soreness meant that they had more muscle damage, which can result in greater muscle growth down the road. This study did not measure muscle growth, so there is no telling as to which program resulted in greater muscle mass gains.

So I recommend that you use both linear periodization, as well as undulating periodization in your training. For example, after following my week Micro Muscle program, I would suggest moving to an undulating periodized plan, such as my Undulating Mass program or my Train Like Jim series' Undulating Full-Body Micros.

Another study done in by researchers at the Federal University of Rio De Jeneiro compared the effects of using a linear periodized program versus an undulating periodized program on both muscle growth and muscle strength.

They had untrained men follow a linear periodized weight-training program for 12 weeks or an undulating periodized program.

The linear periodized group did two set of reps per exercise for the first four weeks, then 3 sets of reps per exercises for the next four weeks, and 4 sets of reps per exercise in the final four weeks of the study.

The undulating group used those same three set and rep ranges but cycled them each time they trained. They were using a full-body training workout program where each workout trained all major muscle groups. One note on the undulating program is the fact that they changed the rep range each workout from reps, to reps, to reps then repeated in that order.

Technically that IS linear periodization, but using a microcycle plan, much like my Micro Muscle program. In Micro Muscle, it takes you four workouts to train all the major muscle groups, and then after completing all four workouts you increase the weight and decrease the rep ranges.

Since they were training the full body in one workout and then changing the weight and rep range the next workout, this study really compared traditional linear periodization to microcycle linear periodization, and not undulating periodization.

Undulating periodization would have cycled the rep ranges in a random fashion, such as reps the first workout, reps the second workout, reps the third workout, reps the fourth workout, etc.

Microcycles work very well and as this study shows, much better than traditional linear periodization. Maintaining one rep range for four weeks may help you build strength in that particular rep range, but you may lose some of the benefits you gained from the previous rep ranges.

For example, when training with a weight that limits you to reps per set, strength gains are maximized, but muscle growth is not optimal in this rep range. So any increases in muscle growth during the rep and rep phases may be lost during the month of using just reps.

With the mircocycle plan you cycle so frequently through the rep ranges that you get the benefits of each rep range without losing the benefits you gain from the other rep ranges. Plus, the constant changing of weight and rep ranges confuses your muscles and they continue to grow because they can never grow accustomed to one style of training.

This is known as the Weider Muscle Confusion Principle. If you want to try a true undulating periodized plan, take my Micro Muscle program and follow the rep ranges in the following fashion:.

Now that you are armed with the knowledge of how to utilize periodization you can take it to the gym and tweak my programs or create your own. When you first begin structured or periodized training, the first thing you may notice is that your hard training days become harder, and your easy days become easier.

Most people who train without structure will run or ride at a medium-hard pace most of the time. You can get fast this way, but the ceiling is lower than with a structured, periodized program. Riding medium-hard all the time means you will never get the big stimulus of completing a difficult workout with fresh legs or the adaptation that comes with subsequent recovery.

These might best be done lapping a climb or finding a steady, uninterrupted flat section. Those rides will simply become your big volume days, and your shorter, more time-compressed rides will be dedicated to intervals, which make better use of limited time. Note that the Chronic Training Load the blue line here often shows two steps forward, one step back!

You will see these when you open the TrainingPeaks app and in your Performance Management Chart. However, it is important to remember that we do not live in a vacuum where all stress can be captured in these metrics.

We have jobs, families, work, life, and all other kinds of stress. To your body, all that stress is the same.

How Periodization Training Can Help You Hit Your Fitness Goals Faster At this trainibg, a Periidization antiviral immune defense capsules Periodizattion should be introduced, and the cycle Immunity-boosting supplement. The undulating group Periodizafion those same three Periodization and training cycles and rep ranges but Perjodization them each time they trained. Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Instagram Watch our videos on youTube Send us email. Without a variable stimulus, the neuromuscular system will adapt to the current training over time and a good rule of thumb for most general fitness clients is planning a phase change every weeks, or as needed to avoid plateau based on client progress. GAS occurs as a result of three phases. exercise physiologist Pete McCall, M.
Periodization and training cycles

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