By Amy King
There’s little dispute on the idea that fitness training can produce many benefits for your body.
These include increased muscle mass, reduced fat, and improved cardiovascular fitness.
You may already know a fair bit about exercises, sets, and reps, however have you considered other important factors like training periodization?
This article will discuss the concept of periodization in fitness training and why it works so well!
Whether you are just starting off with fitness training or are more advanced, keep reading as we reveal this concept and how you can apply it!
If you've been in the fitness game for some time, you probably know that achieving certain results takes time.
The principle of "periodization" entails separating goals into periods, where they are the sole focus.
In classical bodybuilding-type fitness training, you have three main periods:
So, think of it this way - trying to lose fat and gain muscle at the same time all the time is the equivalent of multitasking, where results in each regard are suboptimal due to the fact you are splitting your attention.
If you give your undivided attention to the task at hand, you will achieve better results, simple as that!
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Much like any other species, humans have what seems to be a fine-tuning to the natural cycles of our planet.
We tend to be more active during the summer and less active, in sort of a "recovery mode" during the colder seasons.
Your training periodization can match those exact parts of your human cycles, to favor each goal. Alternatively, it could align with on or off season if you’re involved in competitive athletic pursuits. Or in other cases with how you respond during certain seasons of the year.
If you wish to align your training with seasonal changes, then many think of it this way...
If you're looking to lose fat and maintain lean body mass, starting a fat loss period shortly before full-blown summer starts is likely a good idea.
Summer leads to us naturally being more active - Going to the beach and swimming, hiking in the cold mountain when it's hot elsewhere, etc.
In many places in the world, it is also common for there to be longer periods of daylight which impacts our natural sleeping rhythms and tends to increase overall daily activity levels.
All this activity makes it far easier for you to establish a caloric deficit and favor weight loss. Plus, having less mass in general makes it easier to regulate our body temperatures and adaption to the hotter weather.
Plus, not many of us are immune to wanting to feel good and look good wearing a swimsuit!
This is EXACTLY why a fat loss period is well-suited for summertime!
On the other hand, the cooler months tend to be favored for the opposite activity
Meaning that most people associate…
Much like bears, humans tend to start consuming more food during the colder seasons and sleep more.
This elevated appetite and lower activity levels make it easy for you to create conditions that favor muscle-building and overall improved athletic performance and progress.
Once the full-blown summer is over, if you start a gaining phase, where your main goals are to:
Periodization helps provide structure to your training as well as optimize your results by aligning it to your natural energy cycles or intended goals.
It also helps keep the metabolism in check by challenging it to adapt and become more resilient and efficient.
Many of us also need variety, not just at a physical level but also at a mental level. Having phases of our training helps us to set short-term goals towards our long-term goals and thus helps keeps us engaged and motivated.
For example, during growth phases it is common practice to set or beat personal bests for strength to make use of the extra calories and rest.
And finally, periodization also helps us create adaptive rather than maladaptive behaviours such as obsessing with “looking shredded” all the time and attempting to maintain an unhealthy level of leaness.
As we mentioned, the third period is the transitional period, which is something mandatory, between the other two periods.
The transition period entails a gradual change in caloric intake and training output and can be considered an "opening" for the bulking/cutting periods.
If you're starting a weight-loss period, transition into it smoothly, by gradually decreasing your calories until you start losing weight at a healthy rate of 0.5 to 1kg a week.
Once the weight-loss period is over, transition slowly into a gaining period, by gradually increasing your caloric intake and upping training intensity, sets, and reps.
This will allow for a smooth transition, that won't leave the body and the metabolism shocked.
It also helps the body introduce more variety of nutrients that may have been reduced or omitted during the cutting phase.
And, if you have tackled the cutting phase sensibly then your metabolism will likely have increased in efficiency. This means it will effectively use the modest increase in calories to help build muscle mass and strength without also gaining too much fat.
The seasonal changes of our planet have different effects on the body and its nervous system, leading to changes in metabolism.
These interactions can be leveraged as an extra helping hand for your fitness goals.
Split your goals into periods, train accordingly and give it time!
P.S it’s also late spring, meaning if you’re looking to lean up for Summer… the time to start is now.
To help you do that why not join my 12-week Summer Body Transformation Group Coaching Program?
Amy King is the founder of AKE Fitness & Nutrition. When she’s not serving her clients, she is pursuing her corporate career in mining, bodybuilding and spending time with loved ones. She calls Perth, Western Australia home.
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