Periodization

GaryRuns

You hear the term "periodization" thrown around a lot when researching resistance training. Here's a great introductory video with simple examples that shows you what that means and how to apply it to a lifting program.

https://youtu.be/-Gpev16_6oU

84creative

Only got a few minutes in but it looks good so far. I’ve always followed a linear progression adding weight then aiming to do the same number of reps as last week, then adding weight when I match the reps etc.

I’ve never done this for longer than a 6 month period before taking half the year off as summer was over and I was in my early 20s.

Now I’ve come across the term Mesocycle I’ve structured my training similar to this:

Weeks 1 to 4: sets in the 5 to 10 rep range
Weeks 6 to 9: sets in the 10 to 15 rep range
Weeks 11 to 14: sets in the 15 to 20 rep range

Then start over again hopefully stronger than I was before. I think this is similar to Jim Stoppani’s shortcut to size but he changes the rep ranges each week from memory and I think the rep ranges are slightly different.

I’m only 8 weeks into this plan so
I’ll see how it goes.