# periodized training



## GFR (Mar 22, 2006)

*Periodization Plans*


While HIT training seems to be developing somewhat of a cult-following in the amateur world of bodybuilding, periodization seems to be attracting the same type of following in the academic world of the United States. Periodization is definitely nothing new, as some experts would have you think. Many strength athletes have incorporated different cycles into their training for a long time. Only now is this phenomenon emerging under the rubric of "science", however. As Fleck and Kraemer tell us, the simple definition of periodized training is "a training plan which changes your workouts at regular intervals of time". Possibly a better way to use and define periodization would be stating that changes take place at a prescribed time, not a regular interval of time.​ This may seem like splitting hairs, but doesn't it make more sense to periodize your workouts as specifically as possible to you, and not just to change your cycle every 4 weeks, regardless? The accepted Western model for periodized workouts nowadays typically takes one from a high -volume, low-intensity beginning phase to a phase which ultimately leaves you at a lower volume and a higher intensity. Volume here basically indicates number of repetitions per body part, while intensity is indicative of the load, or percentage of 1RM. (This is not, however, necessarily the way they still do it in Eastern Europe. Many coaches now rely on a system that Louie Simmons percent training is based on.) There is plenty of jargon associated with periodization, and hopefully this can help make sense of it.​ Macrocycle: this typically refers to your training plans for one year.​ Mesocycle: this refers to the phases your training is broken up into. They may be as short as 4-6 weeks or as long as 12-16 weeks.​ Microcycle: this typically refers to one week of training.​ Generally, those who follow periodization models label the mesocycles as to what the goals of the cycle are, e.g. Strength, hypertrophy, power, or active rest. This concept is fairly self explanatory. Your microcyle is basically referred to based on how high your intensity and volume is for the week. (this is dictated by what mesocycle you are in and where you are at within the mesocycle) To try and illustrate this, someone who has been training hard all year may decide to first use an active rest mesocycle. The microcycles (weeks) during this period would all be moderate volume and low intensity. After a 2 or 3 week mesocycle of this, you might go to a hypertrophy, or size, phase, which would have the first few microcycles at high volume and low intensity while the last few microcycles would be moderate volume and moderate intensity. Then one would progress to a strength phase, which would progress from a first microcycle of high volume and moderate intensity to a last microcycle of moderate volume and high intensity. Lastly you would use a power mesocycle with low volume and high intensity throughout.​ There are probably two useful aspects of periodization. They are: 1)specificity, and 2)variation. The specificity referred to here is the performance of specific repetition and intensity levels depending upon one's goals. The kind of periodization scheme followed above was based on the fact that whoever designed the program felt that the lifter/athlete would benefit from a hypertrophy or growth phase, a strength phase, and a power phase. The repetition levels and intensity levels are then planned accordingly. On the other hand, someone who is a HIT trainee who wanted to obtain the same goals might train within the same repetition range and simply add weight as he/she got stronger (which would not last long if one was doing the same program week after week). It has long been accepted (with slight variations for the number of reps, etc.) that in order to build muscle most efficiently one performs sets of 8-12 reps with 65-85% of 1RM with 45 sec.-1.5 min rest between sets. For relative strength and power gains, one trains with sets of 1-6 reps with 80-100% 1RM with 2-5 minute rest periods. Training with both methods, at least periodically, is essential to maintaining progression and growth. This leads to our next point.​ Variety is being increasingly recognized as important to gains in both strength and size. Many experts feel that the body adapts to a routine within a month . Strength coach Jud Logan has turned this thought into the saying "the best routine is the one you are not using". Some professional bodybuilders will take this so far as to change the exercises they do for a given body part at each session. This is obviously not practical for a natural trainee or beneficial for anyone training for strength or athletic reasons. One needs to continually train with the multi-joint, basic lifts and continually progress on them to make real gains. The good news is, however, that a little variety goes a long way. Factors that you can manipulate that will keep your body from adapting include, but are certainly not limited to; changing volume, changing intensity, chang ing tempo of repetitions, changing secondary exercises, changing workout frequency, or changing your training split. As you can see, there are many alternatives to choose from when manipulating the workout factors for greater variety. The 'dinosaur training' routine provides enough variety by changing your rep ranges every few weeks and changing secondary exercises every so often. So, if you already plan workout changes that occur periodically based on things like establishing a new 10 repetition maximum , spending 3 weeks working for 5 reps, or 6 workouts for each body part before slowing down repetition tempo, you are already implementing some form of periodization. One way to apply periodization would be to take a periodized scheme like the one that Tom McCullough wrote up for the NBAF magazine and apply it to the bench on Monday, the squat on Wednesday, and the dead lift on Friday in conjunction with the \lquote dinosaur\rquote routine. Use your current 1RM to calculate the weight for the entire program.​ Week 1: 70% 1RM for 3 sets of 10 reps Week 2: 70% 1RM for 3 sets of 10 reps​ Week 3: 73% 1RM for 3 sets of 10 reps Week 4: 76% 1RM for 3 sets of 8 reps​ Week 5: 79% 1RM for 3 sets of 6 reps Week 6: 82% 1RM for 3 sets of 5 reps \par​ Week 7: 85% 1RM for 3 sets of 5 reps Week 8: 88% 1RM for 3 sets of 5 reps \par​ Week 9: 91% 1RM for 3 sets of 3 reps Week 10: 94% 1RM for 3 sets of 3 reps​ Week 11: 97% 1RM for 2 sets of 2 reps Week 12: 100% 1RMfor 2 sets of 2 reps​ Week 13: 104% 1RM for 2 sets of 1-2 reps Week 14: 107-110% 1RM for 2 sets of 1​ Another way to apply periodization to the bench, squat, and dead lift in the quote dinosaur routine would be to use something like the poundage progression used by the Nebraska Cornhuskers. For 3-4 weeks, do 3 sets of 10 using 60, 70, and 75 percen t of your 1RM, respectively. Over these 4 weeks, as soon as you hit sets of 10 with all three of the weights, begin to raise the weight slowly on the last set for the last couple of weeks. (thus, you may end the four weeks doing 3 sets of 10 with 60, 70, and 78% of your max, for example) For the next 4 weeks, do three sets of 5 with 75, 80, and 85 percent of your 1RM. Again, as soon as the last work set reaches 5 reps, begin to slowly rais e the weight. For the last 4 weeks, do 3 sets of 3 with 80, 85, and 90 percent of your 1RM. You can ride this part of the cycle out so that once you have hit 95 percent of your former 1RM for 3 reps, you can begin trying a new 1RM for the third set for the next couple of weeks. Use this weight as the 1RM number for the next complete cycle.​   One thing about increasing the weight in small percents like you do in these routines is that small plates would be helpful. I personally called Ironman Home Gym Warehouse at 1-800-447-0008 and ordered 1.25 pound plates for about 75 cents each. Depending on where you live, the shipping on these might cost $10-15, but the cost is well worth the gains these plates will enable you to make as you progress at a more sustainable pace, sometimes causing your cycle to extend 3 or 4 weeks and adding 10 more pounds to your max than would have been the case if you had tried to make larger jumps.

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Some other links*
http://www.unm.edu/~lkravitz/Article folder/circuitperiod.html

http://www.acefitness.org/fitfacts/pdfs/fitfacts/itemid_288.pdf

http://us.home.lifefitness.com/content.cfm/periodizedtraining-andwhyitsimportant


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## GFR (Mar 22, 2006)

eriodized Training - and Why It's Important
You have the best intentions regarding your workout, but find that your motivation has been sapped. Lately, no matter how hard or how often you work out; you just can't seem to progress any further. You're stuck on a plateau. It turns out that the exercise you've been doing has worked so well that your body has adapted to it. You need to "shock" or "surprise" your body a bit. You need to give it a new challenge periodically if you're going to continue to make gains. That goes for both strength and cardiovascular training.
"Periodizing" your training is the key. Instead of doing the same routine month after month, you change your training program at regular intervals or "periods" to keep your body working harder, while still giving it ade-quate rest.
 For example, you can alter your strength-train-ing program by adjusting the following variables:
The number of repetitions per set, or number of sets of each exercise
The amount of resistance used
The rest period between sets, exercises or training sessions
The order of the exercises, or the type of exercises
The speed at which you complete each exercise
There are many different types of periodized strength-training programs, and many are geared to the strength, power and demands of specific sports. The most commonly used pro-gram is one that will move you from low resist-ance and a high number of repetitions to high resistance and a lower number of repetitions. Such a program will allow your muscles to strengthen gradually and is appropriate for any-one interested in general fitness.
*Research Shows Better Results * Research from the Human Performance Laboratory at Ball State University has shown that a periodized strength-training program can produce better results than a non-periodized program.
 The purpose of the study, published in the journal Medicine &Science in Sports &Exercise in 2001, was to determine the long-term training adaptations associated with low-volume, circuit-type training vs. periodized, high-volume resist-ance training in women (volume = total amount of weight lifted during each session). The 34 women in the study were divided into those two groups, as well as a nonexercising control group. Group 1 performed one set of eight to 12 repeti-tions to muscle failure three days per week for 12 weeks. Group 2 performed two to four sets of three to 15 repetitions, with periodized volume and intensity, four days per week during the 12- week period.
As the chart above shows, the periodized group showed more substantial gains in lean mus-cle, greater reductions in body fat, and more sub-stantial strength gains than the non-periodized group after 12 weeks.
*Periodizing Your Cardiovascular Workout * You should also periodize your cardiovascu-lar training for the same reasons-to further challenge your body, while still allowing for ade-quate recovery time.
If, for example, you're a recreational runner, running for fitness, fun and the occasional short race, you'll want to allow for flat, easy runs, as well as some that incorporate hills and others that focus on speed and strength.
What you don't want to do is complete the same run every time. If you run too easily, and don't push yourself, you won't progress. And chances are you'll get bored. Conversely, too much speed or high-intensity training will lead to injury or burnout, and most likely, disappointing race results.
If you are serious about improving your time in a 10K, in completing a half-marathon, or even a full marathon, you'll need a periodized program geared to each type of race. Many such programs are available from local running clubs, in running books and magazines, from some health clubs, as well as on running websites. Specially designed periodized training programs are also available for cycling and many other sports.
Periodized training will ensure that you continue to make measurable progress, which will keep you energized and interested in reaching your goals.


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## GFR (Mar 22, 2006)

*Periodization (or Periodized Training)
*
Athletes and coaches have subdivided their training into various sub-periods for many years. Although micro cycles can be traced back to Phylostratus in 202 BC, the first modern use was in Germany, used by the coaches who's athletes dominated the 1936 Olympics.
 The modern practice of periodized training was largely invented and refined by Eastern-block nations during the Cold War (1950-1970), when sport became the battlefield for contesting ideologies. Despite the efforts of many sport scientists, there is not a sound scientific basis for periodization. However, there is much evidence to show that, on a practical level, it really works.
The modern meaning of the term "periodization" is largely associated with Tudor                                  Bompa, who has written and invented significantly on this topic in the last forty years. Major contributions have also been made on this topic by Vern Gambetta, Istvan Balyi , PeterTschiene                                  and Charles Poliquin.
In its simplest form, "periodization of training" means "dividing the training up into periods". Each period is dominated by one training goal - to get faster; to get stronger; to build endurance; to recover from fatigue; to deliver peak performance. In the real world, these periods, called phases, are not totally devoted to one training mode.
A small detour is required here to review the concepts of overload training. Think of the body as a black box. If you stress one of the systems inside the black box beyond its normal workload, the black box responds to the stress by trying to make that system stronger, strong enough to tolerate the higher stress level. 
The black box [body] can, however, only make the system stronger if it is given a rest phase in which to build this stronger system. Training then, consists of overloading the body system that is to be trained, letting the system rest and rebuild, and then stressing it again to a higher level. 
Periodization is all about managing this stress-and-rest cycle to optimize improvement and maximize the overall gain in performance. The kind of periodization applied to a particular athlete will be strongly influenced the sport the athlete pursues, the physical characteristics that are required, and the training age of the athlete.​*Annual Training Plan:*
A generic, periodized annual training plan is classically divided into the following eight phases: 
General Preparation
Specific Preparation
Pre-competition
Competition
Taper
Peak
Relax
Off-season
Phases will be described                                  in more detail below.
Each phase can last for many weeks. The characteristics of a phase are that the over all goal of the training remains the same and that the tendency in the training load (up, down, level) remains consistent over the phase. Phases are in turn, subdivided into smaller units, called macro cycles.
The training load, described as volume, is measured in hours, or miles, or weight lifted, or laps or kilometers, largely at the convenience of the sport. Hours are a convenient measure for calculating volume distribution. Volume is increased during a phase to improve training response, at the expense of increasing fatigue levels. Volume is decreased across a phase to lower fatigue levels, so that improved performance can show through. There are exceptions to these general rules and some phases may maintain the volume at a constant level.
Macro cycles are used to control the training load and the fatigue level generated by training. If the training load is increased continuously over a long phase, say twelve weeks, by the end of the phase, the athlete will accumulate so much residual fatigue that he/she will not be able to train properly. The wise coach will break the phase into smaller sections (macro cycles) that have weeks of increasing load followed by a rest period. The length of these macro cycles is governed by the systems to be trained and the time in the training year.
 A typical macro cycle from the General Preparation phase would be three weeks of increasing load, followed by one week of lower load. This is called a 3-1 macro cycle. For endurance athletes working on aerobic capacity, where training is focused on long duration and low intensity, either 3-1 or 4-1 macro cycles are appropriate. During the pre-competition phase, where these same athletes will be working at much more intense training, doing intervals on or above the anaerobic threshold, shorter macro cycles, 2-1 or even 1-1 would be appropriate.
                               The next level down is the micro                                  cycle, which in most sport training coincides with the week. A 3-1 macro cycle, which has four micro cycles (3+1), is most often four weeks long. Micro cycles determine how the training load is laid out during the week. Most of the time the pattern is "a heavy-day, followed by a light-day", a model much honored in the breach. Designing micro cycles is almost another art in itself, as the definitions of "light" and "heavy" must take into account both the volume of training, the intensity of the training, and the [energy] systems trained. Heavy and light are measured and defined in terms of fatigue level incurred and recovery opportunities available.​*Building an Annual Plan:*
*Timing:*
If you have followed the periodization logic so far, we are going to:

 Divide our training year into phases,
Divide the phases into macro cycles, each                                      with 1-5 micro cycles,
Allocate our training load into daily chunks                                      within micro cycles,
Allocate our daily training hours to particular                                      training types.
Only at this point do we decide whether to get on our bike, go to the pool, the gym, the track or the sauna!
 First define in general terms what your training year looks like:
                                 When does it start [start date]?
                                  When is your first competition [first race]?
                                  When is your most important competition [the                                    peak race]?
From this information, we can work out how many weeks there are between each of these dates, so we can calculate how many weeks are available for each of the phases in our training plan.
"Start date" to "first race" includes the first three phases, Gen.Prep, Spec.Prep and Pre-comp. 
"First race" to "peak race" includes Competition and Taper phases. 
"Peak race" to year-end, includes Peak, Relax and Off-season. 

Given these three dates, YPI can easily generate a first draft of phases for you to edit. At this point, you will know the start, end date, and duration for each phase.
Now you have to decide how many hours to train during each phase. Adding up the hours in each phase to gives the training load for the year [total hours]. This calculation is easier to do backwards!​*Volume:*
Given the total volume, it is possible to calculate the hours per phase, based on a classic annual volume curve. Where does this "total volume" figure come from? 

 How many hours did you train last year?                                      Add 10%.
What is the sport norm for your age class?
Ask other athletes/coaches in your sport                                      about total volume;
Experiment with YPI - choose a number and see what kind of hours per week you get at 100% volume. Is it too high or too low?
The volume curve is somewhat sport specific, but in general has a similar shape in all annual plans. The basic volume curve built into YPI increases through the preparation phases to some peak value (100%) at the top of the Pre-competition phase. Volume is adjusted downward by 40-50% for the Competition phase, which assumes a level volume load. Volume decreases again in the Taper phase, dropping to perhaps 25% of the maximum volume. The Peak volume depends on the nature of the competition. After this comes the unloading phase called Relax, in which the total volume maybe around 30-40% of maximum volume, followed by Off-season, with a further decrease in volume.
 Given the total volume, YPI will help you do the calculations that will give you an appropriate volume curve for your training plan. Using the built in macro cycle buttons, and then the built in micro cycle buttons, youcan very quickly get to the point where you know, logically, how many minutes will be optimal for a particular training day.​*Emphasis:*
Emphasis governs what kind of training you should be doing at which time in the year. The options are:

 Mental,
 Tactical,
 Physical,
 Technical.
The balance of these four elements is very phase and sport specific. For example, in an endurance sport, where the general preparation phase starts 5-6 months before the competition phase, the balance might be:
 Mental, 10%
 Tactical, 0%
 Physical, 85%
 Technical, 5%
Ten percent may not seem much, but for an endurance athlete training 10-14 hr per week, 10% is 60 to 90 min./week Ten to fifteen minutes, five days a week over 12 weeks, can go a long way.
 For a biathlete, who uses the general preparation phase to work on shooting skills as well as for endurance training, the ratio would look more like this:
 Mental, 2%
 Tactical, 0%
 Physical, 83%
 Technical, 15%
Formal mental training can be decreased as precision shooting involves practicing the mental skills of focus, concentration and attention control.


*Intensity:*In books and articles that describe periodised training plans, the intensity curve is usually a near-reciprocal of the volume curve. As volume increases, intensity goes down; as volume goes down, intensity increases. This reciprocal arrangement should result in fatigue loads that are consistent with the athletes training capacity. 

Effective aerobic training requires low intensity training over long durations (long slow distance), applied over a long time period. Training the anaerobic system requires very intense activity over short periods of time (interval training) and it responds quickly to training load. Happily, endurance athletes can train these energy systems sequentially and end up with a classic Intensity vs Volume profile.
Intensity is a sometimes a hard item to come to grips with. It usually refers to physical intensity of effort, but doesn't have any consistent measurement across exercise types. For a track and field athlete who normally runs 3000m races, running 4 x 400m intervals at 90% race pace is more intense than jogging 1600m at 50% race pace. But how does that compare with spending an hour in the weight room doing hypertrophic exercises? Each sport has its own way of coming to grips with this comparative scale. As a general guideline, the more fatigue produced per unit time, the more intense the activity. Other general measurements of intensity are based on perceived effort (1 -10 scale), or on relative heart rate. YPI uses heart rate zones and converts this information into an estimate of fatigue level (Banister).​*Phase Details:**General Preparation: *Is usually the first phase of any periodized plan. In this phase, training focuses on developing a foundation for the sport performance. This is where the athlete trains those systems that are slow to change, for example the aerobic energy systems. Long term changes, such as increasing muscle mass and strength would also be targeted in this phase. Training is aimed primarily at overall fitness. Athletes in more technical sports would also use this phase to work on significant technique changes or to tune new equipment. Volume/load would be increasing throughout.
​*Specific Preparation: *Is a continuation of the preparation phase, but signals a transition into more sport specific training. For example, a cross-country skier who was mostly running and biking in the General Preparation phase, would begin to include more and more roller skiing into the training program during this phase. Also during this phase, the athlete would begin to work on systems that train more easily than those targeted in Gen. Prep. For example anaerobic energy systems, speed and power. Volume/load would be increasing throughout, with peak volume (hr./week) higher that in General Preparation.
​*Pre-competition:*This is the phase where the athlete prepares specifically for competition. The peak volume (hr./week) in this phase may be less than in the previous phase, or it maybe more depending on the sport type, training history and the length of the Competition Phase. Generally, if the volume is less, the intensity of training will be increased. A good rule of thumb is to try to keep the fatigue level constant as the volume goes down and intensity goes up. Macro cycles will be shorter, tending to 3-1, 2-1 and sometimes 1-1.​*Competition:*In order to perform well, the athlete should be relatively rested. To accomplish this, the total volume and the fatigue levels are reduced significantly in this phase. Peak volume may be reduced to 50% of the highest previous peak volume. In sports where the competition season is relatively long, the early races will be treated as training races. Racing effort is counted in the training load. Between races, training will focus on exercises and drills that keep the athlete tuned up for racing. Significant effort will be put into recovery activities. The slope of the volume curve may be flat, with many 1-1 or 2-1 micro cycles, matched to the competition schedule.​*Taper:*This phase is primarily designed to lower the accumulated fatigue level to as low a value as possible, while optimizing the race-readiness of the athlete. Volume is gradually lowered across the phase while training focuses on short, intense training efforts followed by mental and physical recovery activities. Taper length depends on the sport and on training age. Generally speaking, the older the athlete, the longer the taper; young children and teens have relatively little endurance, but recover quickly. Another rule of thumb is, the shorter the event, the shorter the taper needed, probably reflecting the different residual fatigue levels experienced, for example, by sprinters and marathon runners. A two-week taper phase would use a 1-1 macro cycle, with a decreasing volume. Volume would be about 25-30% of peak volume.​*Peak:*This is the peak performance time. It may be only one competition lasting two days, or it maybe a week or more of play-downs leading to a final competition. Emphasis is on mental preparation, performance and recovery. Fatigue levels may go well above normal competition levels by the end of a peak period if recovery is neglected.​*Relax:*This is a de-tuning phase, in which the training load and it's intensity is gradually lowered from the levels experienced in the competition phase. The volume of training at the peak of this phase may be higher than in the competition phase, but the intensity will be lowered and the focus will be on recovery. Volume decreases across the phase, which is generally only one macro cycle.​*Off-season:*Strictly speaking, this is not a training phase, it is a stage in the year devoted to recovery and regeneration, particularly mental recovery. Rifle shooters put away their rifles and go fishing, hockey players get out their golf clubs and go walking, cross-country skiers go hiking, etc. It is also the time to take care of chronic and repetitive strain injuries. No particular volume constraints, although activity should not drop off suddenly, or fall too far below the beginning levels anticipated for the first macro cycle of the next general preparation phase.​*Macro Cycles: *Macro cycles are subdivisions of Phases. Each Phase is subdivided into one or more macro cycles. Macro cycles are usually from two to five weeks long. Each week is a micro                                  cycle. A two-week macro cycle would contain two micro cycles. A five-week macro cycle would have five micro cycles. The way you divide up the weeks in a Phase depends on the number of weeks in the phase and its purpose: loading, maintaining, competition, taper, unloading, etc. 
Longer macro cycles are usually found in loading-phases. As a consequence, macro cycles are rarely longer than five weeks, because four to five weeks of increasing volume of training without a rest can lead to injury and over training and certainly lead to debilitating residual fatigue levels.
Preparation phases are usually more than five weeks, sometimes longer than ten. A ten week phase could be divided into three macro cycles: 4, 4, 2, or two macro cycles: 5, 5. One would normally avoid a 3, 3, 3, 1 pattern because of the single week at the end [because it would follow a recovery week and precede a low week in the next macro cycle, leading to three low weeks in a row (see below)].
Preparation phases are normally loading phases, i.e. the volume increases over the duration of the phase. Working on the principle of "load and recover", loading macro cycles are usually divided into a loading period, followed by a rest period. For example, a five-week macro cycle could is divided 4-1,i.e. four loading weeks, followed by a lower volume recovery week.
                               Here are some examples that are pre-coded in                                  YPI Planner:


1-1: High followed by low. Useful in competition phase, especially where athletes compete on weekends. A repeated pattern of 1-1 cycles gives a sequence of load and taper weeks [micro cycles]. The 1-1 macro cycle is frequently used in taper phases for unloading. Also used to include a special training block in a phase.

2-1: Two loading weeks, followed by a recovery week. Useful in phases where intensity is high, requiring more frequent rest and recovery.

3-1: Three loading weeks, followed by a recovery week. A utility macro cycle, most often used in preparatory phases.

4-1: Four loading weeks, followed by a recovery week. Used mainly in endurance sports in preparatory phases where high volumes of low intensity work are required for aerobic training.
Custom: The custom macro cycle option can be used to generate any sequence of micro cycles [weeks] that are required within a macro cycle. For example, a five week macro cycle could be designed as: two-up, one-down, one-up, one-down, if so desired. The custom macro cycle function allows the YPI user to override the phase's loading factor and/or calculated volumes, and set the micro cycle volume(s) to any desired value. Most useful in competition phases.
*1-0:* Used for one-week phases, e.g. a Taper or Peak phase. Automatically assigned a one week macro cycle and a single micro cycle by YPI.

In YPI, a phase can be loading, unloading or maintenance. If the workload is increasing, then YPI increases the volume of training in each successive macro cycle. If the volume is decreasing, YPI decreases the work volume in successive macro cycles. For maintenance phases, the amount of work per macro cycle is pro-rated to give a flat volume curve.
Within each macro cycle of loading and maintaining phases, the chosen loading pattern is followed, e.g. a 2-1 macro cycle in a maintenance phase would contain two loading plus one recovery micro cycles. In an unloading phase, the sequence is reversed, giving a pattern of micro cycles with decreasing volumes within the macro cycle: one high followed by two low, providing a gradual taper in volume.
*Micro Cycles:*Micro cycles are sub-parts of macro cycles. Generally seven days long (one week for convenience) micro cycles can be longer or shorter, but are rarely longer than two weeks. Unlike macro cycles, which have a distinct load - recovery pattern, there is no generally agreed model for how to vary volume or intensity within a single micro cycle.
                               There are some generally applicable rules of                                  thumb:
Follow a heavy-volume day with a lighter volume                                    day.
Follow an overload activity with recovery                                    activity.
Avoid training that stresses the same energy                                    system(s) on successive days.
Allow sufficient time for recovery between                                    workouts.
Approximately 50% of training time should                                    be recovery activity.
Put one rest day in every micro cycle.
These generalizations are derived from high performance situations where athletes are training year round and often seven days a week. They must of course be modified for younger athletes, recreational and masters athletes, fitness exercisers, etc. to allow for their different physiology, ambitions, practice times, etc.
 To make micro cycle planning easier, YPI Planner provides a number of pre-calculated micro cycle patterns. When the user clicks on one of these buttons, the program calculates the time per day for each day of the micro cycle, based on the pattern chosen and the underlying loading goal of the Phase. Once calculated, the pattern can be customized and the total time for that micro cycle adjusted. 
                               Some example pre-programmed patterns from YPI                                  are:

Low - high, no days off. Sometimes used in severe overload situations.






 High - low, Friday off. Typical for athletes who only have lots of time to train on weekends.





 Low - high, Sunday off. This pattern gives both the athlete and the coach a day off on the weekend.





 Race week/Pre-race week: Could be a race week for short duration events. Could be used in the last week of a taper phase in endurance sports, with races scheduled for the week afterwards.





 Mid-week rest: Used for high intensity low volume micro cycles, for example, just before a taper - peak sequence.
If you have followed the process to this point, the calculations will have provided you with a plan that shows how much volume you should plan to do in on a particular day in a particular week during the year.​*Daily Training Tasks: *

 This is the lowest level of the plan - what to do today. This is the area in which it is most difficult to be prescriptive, either in theory, or particularly in software. This is the point where the training volume calculations meet the purposes of the training plan, the specifics of a particular sport, together with the capabilities and training history of the trainee.
                               The training literature yields only a few generalizations:
Follow an intense practice session with a                                    less intense session.
Follow an overload activity with a recovery                                    activity.
Allow sufficient time for recovery between                                    workouts.
Avoid training that stresses the same energy                                    system(s) on successive days.
Avoid training that stresses the same mental                                    system(s) on successive days.
Approximately 50% of training time should                                    be recovery activity.
Avoid dehydration. If not, re-hydrate as soon                                    as possible.
Eat sufficient calories in a balanced diet.
The general thrust of the plan is outlined when you think about Emphasis (see above) and Intensity (see above). In the YPI Diary, where detailed daily planning takes place, this issue of training emphasis is made concrete on a weekly or micro cycle basis. 
 In YPI, the user fills out an Intensity table that lists, for each phase, the proportion of training that should [ideally] be spent on each aspect: Mental, Technical, Tactical and Physical training. Physical training is further sub-divided into training intensities based on heart rate zones: Z1, Z2, Z3, Z4, Z5 and Strength, expressed as a percentage of the time available.
YPI Diary uses these percentages to calculate the minutes per week that should be spent on each aspect of training. These are the ideal, or target amounts. When you fill out the planning part of the Diary, adding training activities to specific time slots for each day, YPI keeps a running total for each aspect on-screen. The user can compare the target volumes with the plan-to-date as training tasks are added to the week. It is up to the user to distribute the allocation(s) over the training week (micro cycle) using the general guidelines given above. The user-allocated training tasks are not constrained

​ http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/forums/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=430757
​ http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/forums/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=430756


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## GFR (Mar 22, 2006)

Periodization for Bodybuilders Part 1,2 and 3
by Lyle McDonald




http://www.bayareapowerclub.com/Programs/Periodization for bodybuilders.htm


http://www.ironaddicts.com/Periodization for Bodybuilders.html?t=1761

http://www.mindandmuscle.net/page.php?pageID=243&issueID=19


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## furion joe (Mar 24, 2006)

I've always enjoyed reading stuff by Lyle McDonald.

Thanks for the articles and links.


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## P-funk (Mar 24, 2006)

yea, Lyle is the man.


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## Gordo (Mar 24, 2006)

I'm bookmarking this thread ,great stuff and links....thanks a bunch for this


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