I’m sure many of you know The Byrds song, “Turn! Turn! Turn!”. If you aren’t familiar with it, please take a listen…especially to those awesome lyrics! The lyrics suggest that all things will change, nothing should stay the same & that life is about dynamic movement – “To everything turn! turn! turn!” They perfectly sum up the idea of applying periodization to all aspects of your health & fitness. In other words, train yourself into & out of shape!
As athletes we are familiar with using periodization to structure our seasonal training. First, we break the season into smaller segments that each have a specific focus & goal. Then we then create targeted workouts that support the focus of each segment. In this step-by-step way (a periodized way) we slowly work toward the ultimate seasonal goal.
The real point of periodization is the concept of change. We’ve come to understand that, from season to season, an athlete gets fitter, faster & stronger when they don’t try to stay at the same level of fitness all year long. There’s a time to build fitness, there’s a time for that fitness to peak…and then there’s a time to lose some of that fitness.
Periodize Your Life
But what about other aspects of your life? Have you ever considered periodizing those as well? What about your weight training? What about your body weight? What about your diet? What about your sleep? Perhaps these naturally periodize in synch with your training periodization. Maybe when you add intensity to your training you…
- lose a bit of weight
- gain strength & power
- sleep more
- eat a bit more carb
And then when you stop training for that Recovery Cycle you…
- gain some weight
- lose some strength & power
- sleep less
- eat a bit less carb
But what about actually putting some focus to each of these? What if you decide ahead of time what parameters will change & by how much? For example, by the end of your Intensity Cycle, you plan to…
- lose 05lbs of body weight
- squat & deadlift 10% more
- sleep 1-2 hrs more
- adjust your macros to add 05-10% more carb
And conversely, by the end of your Recovery Cycle, you plan to…
- gain 05lbs of body weight
- do a wide variety of different strength exercises (rather than focusing on squats & deadlifts)
- sleep 1-2 hrs less
- adjust your macros to add 05-10% more protein
Status Quo = Stagnation
The point is that change benefits your overall health & fitness. To many of us get stuck in the rut of trying to maintain status quo – the same weight, the same fitness level – from month to month & year to year. And you know what happens when we get stuck in a rut? Stagnation!
So, break out of your rut! Train yourself into better shape & then train yourself into worse shape! I used the word “train” for a reason. If you structure your plan to deliberately gain some weight & lose some fitness…well…you TRAINED that. In other words, you created a program with a certain goal in mind & then did the necessary things to achieve that goal. And that, my friends, is the essence of “training”!
Happy “training”!