Steve,
I have been doing some research and trying to design a routine to prepare for the upcoming race season. I have read about some periodized workouts that look interesting. What can “Joe Racer” gain from a 21-week periodized routine over a standard 4-day split routine for the same amount of time? I read your post on periodization. It makes a lot of sense but also brings up more questions.
In an article over at Racer X Virtual Trainer about periodization for strength training they lay it out like below. I know that Carmichael Training Systems uses the same type of format for their MX athletes.
- Weeks 1 – 4 Anatomical Adaptation
- Weeks 5 – 7 Muscular Transition
- Weeks 8 – 13 Maximum Strength
- Weeks 14 – 17 Power Endurance
- Weeks 18 – 26 Pre-Season Training
You’ve mentioned “Daily Undulating Periodization” instead of the layout above. I did a “Google” search and found the hits interesting. The way I see it it would be a 4 days a week in the gym;
- Monday: Upper body (low-volume, high-intensity)
- Tuesday: Lower body (low-volume, high-intensity)
- Wednesday: Rest
- Thursday: Upper body (high-volume, low-intensity)
- Friday: Lower body (high-volume, low-intensity)
- Saturday: Rest
- Sunday: Rest
So if I read it right, you do not like the linear periodization routine because of maintenance issues. For example, in weeks 14-17, when you are working on power endurance, you are doing nothing to maintain your maximum strength you gained from week 8-13. Is that correct?
There are a few things to consider when laying out a periodized training program:
- The level of the athlete.
- The persistence of the various strength and cardiovascular qualities.
Concentrated workloads like those proposed in that article are unnecessary and, indeed, inappropriate for the low-level athlete (unfortunately, most of us fall into that category). The “Average Joe” can and should mix methods to improve their fitness. This is known as concurrent training and is one of the tenets of Daily Undulating Periodization.
For the elite athlete, however, this method loses it’s utility and concentrated loads become necessary. One of the guys that I work with is so fit that his self-designed, mixed-method approach was no longer stimulating adaptation. I had to completely overhaul his program; concentrating on one or, at most, two qualities in a given training mesocycle.
The length of those mesocycles will vary according to the time necessary to develop a given quality as well as how long the previous ones will linger or persist. This is known as the residual training effect. Concentrated loading takes advantage of this phenomenon, superimposing one quality upon another. Understand that some qualities are more stable than others and this must be taken into account when designing a periodized training program.
The template that you’ve outlined looks pretty good and you are correct in understanding my criticism of traditional periodization.
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