Periodization and the Phenomenon of Physical Stagnation
The real secret to fitness success is reigniting gains after that gorgeous initial burst of progress inevitably and invariably subsides.
Manly Aerobics: World Climbing Champion Jurgen Reis and Marty Gallagher deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Dr. Jim Wright took the picture. The three had trudged for a solid hour and were at the turnaround point when this photo was taken. Gallagher related "It was five below zero. Despite the intense cold I still burned a respectable 1,200 calories on this extended outdoor aerobic session. We had been hit with an ice storm and every branch and blade of grass, every tree and bush was glazed in glassy, crystalline diamond-ice. The sky had a pinkish glow and the whole exercise session took on episodic strangeness; like a scene out of science fiction movie; phantasmagoric, psychedelic." Cardio can be effective and exhilarating if undertaken outside in the elements. "If you have the gear, cold weather cardio is beautiful, effective and invigorating." Dr. Wright said. He theorized that clean outdoor air, forced through the circulatory system at an accelerated rate, bestows a "multitude of benefits, amongst them 'atmospheric ionic density' that essentially supercharges the circulatory system, promoting cleansing and blood enrichment."
The only certainty in fitness is inevitable onset of physical stagnation.
Factually, any lame, ineffectual fitness routine (or diet) can spark gains in an untrained body - for a little while. This assumes the lame-o strategy is executed with the requisite gusto. The mistake the untrained make is in assigning credit to the protocol when in fact the credit should be assigned to the acute sensitivity of an untrained body.
Instituting any exercise and/or diet regimen, and executing intensely, faithfully and consistently will have an incredible impact on any untrained, out-of-shape body. The more untrained the greater the impact.
When the completely untrained suddenly begin training and eating in a regimented, disciplined fashion, their virginal bodies respond rapidly and dramatically. In the already weird world of fitness, a strange and predictable psychological phenomenon occurs and is what I call the "misplaced allegiance syndrome."
Fitness acolytes will often assign near-magical powers to whatever lame system they happened across and used initially. These rabid acolytes invariably experienced an initial exhilarating burst of rapid and radical physical progress. Unfortunately acolytes usually draw the wrong conclusions and develop a misplaced allegiance to protocols that, more often than not, are lame, ineffectual and deserve no allegiance from anyone.
When lame modes and methods are used in normal circumstance they deliver zero results. However a strange and mysterious physiologic anomaly exists that allows the ineffectual to become effectual for a slim sliver of time. Real Fitness Pros are painfully aware of this space oddity. Lame personal trainers pushing lame systems are completely oblivious to this irrefutable biologic fact. As Oscar Wilde once quipped, "They speak with the easy assurance of the blissfully ignorant."
Take any person brand new to fitness, take someone completely out-of-shape and sedentary, then suddenly subject them, immerse them, in any form of disciplined fitness and for a short period of time watch as they miraculously reap radical and rapid results Then the gains cease. Blessed are those early and astounding physical gains: tangible, irrefutable, positive and profound. These early dramatic gains are often mistakenly attributed to whatever random system of training or diet the acolyte stumbled on to when they decided to "commit to get fit."
Likely it was some hip, popular, au currant exercise or diet style, something all the rage at that particular point in time, perhaps a Boot Camp paired with the South Beach Diet. Pilates anyone? Power Yoga? The Zone Anti-aging Diet? The acolyte decides to immerse themselves in a serious fitness effort and POW! The results stack up so fast the acolytes head is spun around; he feels he has stumbled on to something that needs to be shared - that's when the trouble starts and the physical gains cease.
Factually the early initial results should be attributed to the untrained status of the acolyte.
Here is another little-known fitness truism: the more untrained the individual is the greater the rate of initial progress. A man at 90% of his god-given genetic potential has to work one hundred times harder and way smarter than a stone cold beginner in order to elicit 1/100th the progress. An untrained acolyte can work moderately and stupidly and make huge gains in that magnificent initial burst - for a short period of time - the athletic elite need work way more intensely and way smarter and for way longer to elicit way less progress: infinitesimal by way of comparison.
As any Mac Daddy coach or athlete knows, the real question is not - how best do we trigger gains for an untrained body? Any lame-o program implemented with gusto can accomplish that - The real secret to fitness success is reigniting gains after that gorgeous initial burst of progress inevitably and invariably subsides.
This is the core fitness conundrum, the transformational riddle of the ages.
Acolytes mistakenly attribute magical transformative powers to those random fitness regimens initially used. Some acolytes develop rabid devotion to these luck-of-the-draw methods. Some develop a fanatical, fundamentalist mindset and will proselytize and actively seek to convert non-believers to their incredible fitness system, a system that factually ceased delivering results no more than six weeks after commencement.
Some loyalist will stay with a particular routine for years. How sad is that. They develop a predictable blind spot that prevents them from seeing the eight hundred pound gorilla sitting in the center of the room: that cold fact is this - since that initial fitness burst, that magnificent solar flare, they have made zero quantifiable progress, nada.
Real Fitness Pros understand that every fitness system of training or diet has a finite shelf-life. Recognizing when a system has run out of steam, recognizing when no more results are forthcoming, is both an art and a science in and of itself.
Progress in fitness need be determined objectively, not subjectively.
No need to ask someone how you look if you've lost 20 pounds of fat and added five pounds of solid muscle - you know how you look - you look one hell-of-a-lot better than you did than you looked before you started!
Progress in fitness should be coldly accessed and reduced to mathematical certainty: you are either losing fat or you are not. You are either adding muscle or you are not. You are either improving or degrading. Treading water, at least in fitness, is a myth. As a member of the human species you are in a continual state of flux. Physical homeostasis is a myth; there is no such thing as 'staying the same.' The physical shell, The Soft Machine, is either improving or degrading.
Real Fitness Pros know (from decades of personal observation, empirical data and training others) that workout or dietary regimens need continual rotation, usually every four to six weeks.
Top athletes have formalized the systematic rotation of exercise. This formalized system of rotation has evolved into a strategy known as periodization. Periodized training strategies are always set into timeframes. Exercise rotation occurs in anticipation of stagnation. Once a training strategy is set into a timeframe, the athlete then reverse-engineers, starting with the desired final result: what is the goal? What constitutes the finished physical product? Weekly training goals are then established. The sequential attainment of weekly goals eventually deposits the athlete at the predetermined finish line.
The classic 12-week periodization "cycle" consists of three, 4-week "mini-cycles" tucked inside a larger "mezzo" cycle. Take a look at the table/chart below. This is an example of periodized training template. In it, a hypothetical athlete seeks to add twelve pounds of muscle in twelve weeks while simultaneously increasing strength substantially. For illustrative purposes, we assume he starts off this program with a 300 pound squat, a 200 bench press, 315 deadlift and an overhead press of 150 pounds.
90 days later our athlete is able to rep these weights; each successive week he pushes his bodyweight up one pound. No more, no less. Anabolism is established by eating plentiful amounts of wholesome foods. By being discriminating in his food choices, weight gain is muscle gain. Manly cardio is done four times per week on the "off" days. Here is how a Pro would set up a periodization template for a student...
12 Week Periodization Cycle
Week Squat Bench Deadlift Overhead Press Bodyweight
1 185x8 145x8 200x8 75x8 180
2 195x8 150x8 210x8 80x8 181
3 205x8 155x8 220x8 85x8 182
4 215x8 160x8 230x8 90x8 183
5 225x5 165x5 235x5 100x5 184
6 235x5 170x5 245x5 105x5 185
7 245x5 175x5 255x5 110x5 186
8 255x5 180x5 265x5 115x5 187
9 270x3 190x3 285x3 135x3 188
10 280x3 195x3 295x3 140x3 189
11 290x3 200x3 305x3 145x3 190
12 300x3 205x3 315x3 150x3 191
The athlete starts off handling moderate poundage for eight rep sets. He ends up handling heavy poundage for strength-peaking triples. Each week he grows larger, each week he grows stronger. His 12 pound weight gain is muscle gain because he eats lean protein, fibrous carbohydrates and fruit in ample amounts and to near exclusion. He performs cardio to keep the metabolism elevated.
Weight training occurs three times a week. He performs cardio exercise on his non-lifting days. Light cardio, such as outdoor power walking carrying a weighted pack, swimming or hoisting kettlebells keeps the metabolism from becoming sluggish. Cardio aids digestion and speeds recovery by forcing blood through battered muscles thereby pushing out toxins and accumulated waste products. Periodization is the coin of the realm amongst the athletic elite. Periodization is the art of legislating change.
The fundamentalist fitness acolyte shuns change. He clings to played-out regimens that once bestowed real results. Elite athletes have a veritable closet full of exercise and dietary regimens, each ready to roll out at a moments notice; ready to rotate into the mix the moment stagnation rears its ugly head.
Empirical experience has demonstrated that a sufficient amount of time need be directed towards a serious transformational effort. Periodization cycles typically range in length from between 6 and 16 weeks, with 12 being the average length for a serious periodization effort. The twelve week cycle is classically sub-divided into three, 4-week cycles. A predetermined performance level is established in the major lifts. All exercise results are logged. Periodization of cardiovascular training and diet are also highly recommended and will be the subjects of future articles.
If you are a fundamentalist acolyte - cease and desist! If you are not using periodization tactics then time to start. If you are resisting and avoiding change - let go! Change is a wave to be surfed; otherwise it becomes a tidal wave that drowns you.
If you are a motivated individual interested in taking your fitness efforts to the next level, contact Marty at www.mgso@embarqmail.com and enquire about becoming a phone client. Gallagher works with a limited number of phone clients around the world.
The real secret to fitness success is reigniting gains after that gorgeous initial burst of progress inevitably and invariably subsides.
Manly Aerobics: World Climbing Champion Jurgen Reis and Marty Gallagher deep in the mountains of Pennsylvania. Dr. Jim Wright took the picture. The three had trudged for a solid hour and were at the turnaround point when this photo was taken. Gallagher related "It was five below zero. Despite the intense cold I still burned a respectable 1,200 calories on this extended outdoor aerobic session. We had been hit with an ice storm and every branch and blade of grass, every tree and bush was glazed in glassy, crystalline diamond-ice. The sky had a pinkish glow and the whole exercise session took on episodic strangeness; like a scene out of science fiction movie; phantasmagoric, psychedelic." Cardio can be effective and exhilarating if undertaken outside in the elements. "If you have the gear, cold weather cardio is beautiful, effective and invigorating." Dr. Wright said. He theorized that clean outdoor air, forced through the circulatory system at an accelerated rate, bestows a "multitude of benefits, amongst them 'atmospheric ionic density' that essentially supercharges the circulatory system, promoting cleansing and blood enrichment."
The only certainty in fitness is inevitable onset of physical stagnation.
Factually, any lame, ineffectual fitness routine (or diet) can spark gains in an untrained body - for a little while. This assumes the lame-o strategy is executed with the requisite gusto. The mistake the untrained make is in assigning credit to the protocol when in fact the credit should be assigned to the acute sensitivity of an untrained body.
Instituting any exercise and/or diet regimen, and executing intensely, faithfully and consistently will have an incredible impact on any untrained, out-of-shape body. The more untrained the greater the impact.
When the completely untrained suddenly begin training and eating in a regimented, disciplined fashion, their virginal bodies respond rapidly and dramatically. In the already weird world of fitness, a strange and predictable psychological phenomenon occurs and is what I call the "misplaced allegiance syndrome."
Fitness acolytes will often assign near-magical powers to whatever lame system they happened across and used initially. These rabid acolytes invariably experienced an initial exhilarating burst of rapid and radical physical progress. Unfortunately acolytes usually draw the wrong conclusions and develop a misplaced allegiance to protocols that, more often than not, are lame, ineffectual and deserve no allegiance from anyone.
When lame modes and methods are used in normal circumstance they deliver zero results. However a strange and mysterious physiologic anomaly exists that allows the ineffectual to become effectual for a slim sliver of time. Real Fitness Pros are painfully aware of this space oddity. Lame personal trainers pushing lame systems are completely oblivious to this irrefutable biologic fact. As Oscar Wilde once quipped, "They speak with the easy assurance of the blissfully ignorant."
Take any person brand new to fitness, take someone completely out-of-shape and sedentary, then suddenly subject them, immerse them, in any form of disciplined fitness and for a short period of time watch as they miraculously reap radical and rapid results Then the gains cease. Blessed are those early and astounding physical gains: tangible, irrefutable, positive and profound. These early dramatic gains are often mistakenly attributed to whatever random system of training or diet the acolyte stumbled on to when they decided to "commit to get fit."
Likely it was some hip, popular, au currant exercise or diet style, something all the rage at that particular point in time, perhaps a Boot Camp paired with the South Beach Diet. Pilates anyone? Power Yoga? The Zone Anti-aging Diet? The acolyte decides to immerse themselves in a serious fitness effort and POW! The results stack up so fast the acolytes head is spun around; he feels he has stumbled on to something that needs to be shared - that's when the trouble starts and the physical gains cease.
Factually the early initial results should be attributed to the untrained status of the acolyte.
Here is another little-known fitness truism: the more untrained the individual is the greater the rate of initial progress. A man at 90% of his god-given genetic potential has to work one hundred times harder and way smarter than a stone cold beginner in order to elicit 1/100th the progress. An untrained acolyte can work moderately and stupidly and make huge gains in that magnificent initial burst - for a short period of time - the athletic elite need work way more intensely and way smarter and for way longer to elicit way less progress: infinitesimal by way of comparison.
As any Mac Daddy coach or athlete knows, the real question is not - how best do we trigger gains for an untrained body? Any lame-o program implemented with gusto can accomplish that - The real secret to fitness success is reigniting gains after that gorgeous initial burst of progress inevitably and invariably subsides.
This is the core fitness conundrum, the transformational riddle of the ages.
Acolytes mistakenly attribute magical transformative powers to those random fitness regimens initially used. Some acolytes develop rabid devotion to these luck-of-the-draw methods. Some develop a fanatical, fundamentalist mindset and will proselytize and actively seek to convert non-believers to their incredible fitness system, a system that factually ceased delivering results no more than six weeks after commencement.
Some loyalist will stay with a particular routine for years. How sad is that. They develop a predictable blind spot that prevents them from seeing the eight hundred pound gorilla sitting in the center of the room: that cold fact is this - since that initial fitness burst, that magnificent solar flare, they have made zero quantifiable progress, nada.
Real Fitness Pros understand that every fitness system of training or diet has a finite shelf-life. Recognizing when a system has run out of steam, recognizing when no more results are forthcoming, is both an art and a science in and of itself.
Progress in fitness need be determined objectively, not subjectively.
No need to ask someone how you look if you've lost 20 pounds of fat and added five pounds of solid muscle - you know how you look - you look one hell-of-a-lot better than you did than you looked before you started!
Progress in fitness should be coldly accessed and reduced to mathematical certainty: you are either losing fat or you are not. You are either adding muscle or you are not. You are either improving or degrading. Treading water, at least in fitness, is a myth. As a member of the human species you are in a continual state of flux. Physical homeostasis is a myth; there is no such thing as 'staying the same.' The physical shell, The Soft Machine, is either improving or degrading.
Real Fitness Pros know (from decades of personal observation, empirical data and training others) that workout or dietary regimens need continual rotation, usually every four to six weeks.
Top athletes have formalized the systematic rotation of exercise. This formalized system of rotation has evolved into a strategy known as periodization. Periodized training strategies are always set into timeframes. Exercise rotation occurs in anticipation of stagnation. Once a training strategy is set into a timeframe, the athlete then reverse-engineers, starting with the desired final result: what is the goal? What constitutes the finished physical product? Weekly training goals are then established. The sequential attainment of weekly goals eventually deposits the athlete at the predetermined finish line.
The classic 12-week periodization "cycle" consists of three, 4-week "mini-cycles" tucked inside a larger "mezzo" cycle. Take a look at the table/chart below. This is an example of periodized training template. In it, a hypothetical athlete seeks to add twelve pounds of muscle in twelve weeks while simultaneously increasing strength substantially. For illustrative purposes, we assume he starts off this program with a 300 pound squat, a 200 bench press, 315 deadlift and an overhead press of 150 pounds.
90 days later our athlete is able to rep these weights; each successive week he pushes his bodyweight up one pound. No more, no less. Anabolism is established by eating plentiful amounts of wholesome foods. By being discriminating in his food choices, weight gain is muscle gain. Manly cardio is done four times per week on the "off" days. Here is how a Pro would set up a periodization template for a student...
12 Week Periodization Cycle
Week Squat Bench Deadlift Overhead Press Bodyweight
1 185x8 145x8 200x8 75x8 180
2 195x8 150x8 210x8 80x8 181
3 205x8 155x8 220x8 85x8 182
4 215x8 160x8 230x8 90x8 183
5 225x5 165x5 235x5 100x5 184
6 235x5 170x5 245x5 105x5 185
7 245x5 175x5 255x5 110x5 186
8 255x5 180x5 265x5 115x5 187
9 270x3 190x3 285x3 135x3 188
10 280x3 195x3 295x3 140x3 189
11 290x3 200x3 305x3 145x3 190
12 300x3 205x3 315x3 150x3 191
The athlete starts off handling moderate poundage for eight rep sets. He ends up handling heavy poundage for strength-peaking triples. Each week he grows larger, each week he grows stronger. His 12 pound weight gain is muscle gain because he eats lean protein, fibrous carbohydrates and fruit in ample amounts and to near exclusion. He performs cardio to keep the metabolism elevated.
Weight training occurs three times a week. He performs cardio exercise on his non-lifting days. Light cardio, such as outdoor power walking carrying a weighted pack, swimming or hoisting kettlebells keeps the metabolism from becoming sluggish. Cardio aids digestion and speeds recovery by forcing blood through battered muscles thereby pushing out toxins and accumulated waste products. Periodization is the coin of the realm amongst the athletic elite. Periodization is the art of legislating change.
The fundamentalist fitness acolyte shuns change. He clings to played-out regimens that once bestowed real results. Elite athletes have a veritable closet full of exercise and dietary regimens, each ready to roll out at a moments notice; ready to rotate into the mix the moment stagnation rears its ugly head.
Empirical experience has demonstrated that a sufficient amount of time need be directed towards a serious transformational effort. Periodization cycles typically range in length from between 6 and 16 weeks, with 12 being the average length for a serious periodization effort. The twelve week cycle is classically sub-divided into three, 4-week cycles. A predetermined performance level is established in the major lifts. All exercise results are logged. Periodization of cardiovascular training and diet are also highly recommended and will be the subjects of future articles.
If you are a fundamentalist acolyte - cease and desist! If you are not using periodization tactics then time to start. If you are resisting and avoiding change - let go! Change is a wave to be surfed; otherwise it becomes a tidal wave that drowns you.
If you are a motivated individual interested in taking your fitness efforts to the next level, contact Marty at www.mgso@embarqmail.com and enquire about becoming a phone client. Gallagher works with a limited number of phone clients around the world.
