Periodization
On social media, there’s a lot of messaging that says if you’re not making ugly faces and crawling out of the gym each day, you’re not working hard enough.
When you see this consistently, you may start to think the goal with every gym session is to go as hard as possible.
But for those of us trying to build lean skeletal muscle or increase endurance, relentlessly “going heavy” isn’t very effective. It’s also a good way to burn out or injure yourself.
Despite what you see, most bodybuilders are usually working through purposeful cycles. They’re alternating between lighter weight with high rep ranges, moderate weight with medium rep ranges, and heavy weight with low rep ranges. “Going heavy” is only part of the picture.
What is periodization?
Periodization is a method of organizing your training to focus on specific goals. Periodization training is typically broken up into macrocycles (an annual season), mesocycles (a specific training block within the season, about 3-4 weeks) and microcycles (a week within a mesocycle).
Each mesocycle has a specific outcome (like strength, hypertrophy, or endurance) and the exercises and rep ranges will change within the microcycles to accomplish the mesocycle goal.
What’s the difference between periodization and progressive overload?
Progressive overload and periodization work together to build an effective program. Periodization is a programming style designed to change throughout the year to achieve specific goals. Progressive overload works within the periodization framework to gradually increase the stress on the body by increasing the weight, repetitions, or training frequency.
What are some typical training phases?
Endurance Phase: Muscle endurance means you can perform an exercise repeatedly without tiring. An endurance phase of training will focus on higher repetitions and lower weight. You might try for sets of 15-20 at <65% of your 1RM (one-rep maximum).
Hypertrophy Phase: A hypertrophy (muscle growth) phase of training will focus on moderate repetitions (around 8-12) at about 67-85% of your 1RM. As you can imagine, bodybuilders love this rep range. It’s also the range best known for the “pump”: that full, tight feeling you get when blood pools in the muscles.
Strength Phase: If you want to build maximum strength, a cycle of low repetitions (around 1-6) with heavy weight (87-100% of 1RM) will be effective. This type of lifting can build size, too, as a byproduct of being strong.
What about deload weeks?
A deload week is a planned period of recovery, often seen at the end of a training cycle. It can be a helpful way to push through plateaus and recover from exhaustion. You don’t need to skip the gym completely during a deload, but you should decrease the reps and/or weight.
Each mesocycle has its benefits, but you don’t want to stick to just one for too long. To keep your body guessing (and therefore progressing), you’ll want to follow a program that cycles through all of these.
