What is periodization?
I titled the last post “Simple Periodization” without actually explaining what periodization is. As do many advanced topics related to athletic science, the concept of periodization arose from the old Soviet Union in an attempt to organize training into logical periods of time. Originally, it was used to help the athlete enter competition at peak performance. Since then, periodization has taken on many different forms and can be used to organize any type of training.
For example, in preparing for an American football season, an athlete may focus on hypertrophy for two months, then maximal strength for two months and then speed and power for the last two months before the games begin. The general theory is that volume should be reduced as you approach competition while the intensity goes up.
Volume is generally defined as sets x reps. Add up how many reps you did overall, and that’ll give you the overall volume. The more reps done, the higher the volume of the workout. This can be somewhat deceiving because two different workouts can have two very different effects. Consider 3 x 8 compared to 8 x 3. Each workout will give you 24 reps, but the workouts will cause very different adaptations. If you can figure out why, give yourself a prize. I’ll explain in a later post. For this post however, just think of higher amount of reps = higher volume.
Intensity generally refers to how heavy the weights are that you are using. Using 85-100% of your maximum is considered high intensity. Volume is lowered when using these types of weights because they are so much more fatiguing on your central nervous system.
Volume and intensity are usually related in such a manner so that when volume is high, intensity is lower and when intensity is high, volume is lower. For example:
Your maximum bench press is 100 lbs for 1 repetition.
- A higher volume bench press workout could be something like 4 sets of 12 reps. To accomplish 48 total reps you would only be able to use about 65-75 lbs for each set. This would correspond to 65-70% of your 1 rep max and is considered medium intensity. This workout would fatigue your muscles but not as fatiguing to your CNS.
- A lower volume bench press workout of 4 sets of 6 reps would only have 24 total reps, half the volume of the first example (48 reps). However, doing 6 reps at the heaviest weight possible would be considered high intensity because you are using around 85% of your 1 rep max. This type of workout may not make your muscles feel real tired, but is much more fatiguing to your CNS.
Keeping these examples in mind, lets go back and look at the football player.
Phase I: Hypertrophy phase
This phase would consist of the highest amount of volume and moderate intensity. The football player is trying to add on some size and strength. He’d be doing traditional mass building exercises like bench pressing, squatting, deadlifting, and rows. Sets and reps would be something like 3 x 10 or 4 x 8 for each exercise.
Phase II: Strength
The intensity goes up while the volume goes down as the athlete is trying to increase his strength and maintain the size he built in phase I. Instead of working out with hypertrophy inducing rep ranges of 8-12, the athlete would work with 3-5 sets of 5-8 reps.
Phase III: Maximal Strength/Power
The volume would drop further while the intensity continues to climb. When developing maximal strength and power, volume has to drop simply because using maximal weights is so fatiguing on the CNS. Sets may stay at 3-5 but the reps will drop to between 1 and 5.
The important thing to remember is that periodization allows for differences in intensity and volume and thus trains different aspects of physical fitness. Volume is highest the further an athlete is away from competition while intensity is lowest. As competition is approached, volume comes down and intensity goes up or stays equal.
So periodization is an organized effort to allow the athlete to perform at an optimal level by carefully managing training and recovery. An athlete who over-trains will not preform at his highest level. This does not just hold true for athletes training for competition. It’s true for all of us. Check out the prior post on this subject to see why.
In the next post, I’ll explain how periodization can be used by the normal trainee who is just trying to look good.
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