Sports periodization

Sports periodization is an athletic training strategy that uses cycles of different types of training to help athletes achieve the best possible performance at the most important times. It organizes the training schedule so that the athlete works on the skills that are most needed to break performance plateaus and achieve peak abilities in time for key events or competitions. It can be used for all sports and all types of training, and is structured to accommodate the athlete’s personal goals and objectives.

Background

For centuries, athletes trained by working to build their strength and endurance in advance of major events. They practiced the individual skills needed for their particular sport, such as jumping over hurdles or shooting a hockey puck. They might practice more intensely during their active season and focus on conditioning and strength training in the off-season. However, their training was built on intuition and what they or their trainers thought might help the most. This could be based on past experience or common practice, and may or may not work for an individual athlete.

In the 1960s, Russian physiologist Leo Matveyev introduced a new concept in training. His approach was based on dividing the athlete’s training year into different cycles. Each cycle focused on a different aspect of training, and each was timed to help the athlete reach a peak in performance in time for a key event or important competition.

Matveyev’s work was based on earlier work on the body’s response to stress done by Hungarian Canadian endocrinologist Hans Selye. Selye, who is known as the father of stress research, developed the current understanding of how overloading the human system causes stress. His theory, known as general adaptive syndrome, is at the root of Matveyev’s work. Matveyev suggested that training too much in the same ways stresses the body in the wrong ways and does not allow for the maximum development of a person’s athletic abilities. Matveyev’s approach to correct this is known as periodization.

Overview

Sports periodization divides an athlete’s training into three levels of cycles. Each cycle is designed to help build up a certain aspect of the athlete’s physique or abilities, with an ultimate goal of having his or her body in the best possible condition to perform when it will matter the most. Periodization mixes periods of harder training with periods that allow the body to rest and recharge, and promotes the changes to the body’s structure and systems that maximize performance.

The system is built on a one-year training cycle. The year is then broken down into different time blocks that are based on the key competitions or events on the athlete’s schedule. It looks at the athlete’s year as a whole and works backward from the major events to build the training regimen.

There are three major cycles in the periodization approach: the macrocycle, mesocycle, and microcycle. Each plays a part in achieving maximum ability at multiple times during the year. This is important because athletes do not generally compete just once in a year and need to have endurance and stamina for multiple events and may need to have different skills available for each. For instance, a competitive runner may need more speed for one event but more ability to endure hills for another.

Macrocycles are part of the long-range planning for the athlete and trainer. This is the overall cycle for the entire year that looks at all of the planned competitions and other events that need to be factored into a training schedule. By looking at the schedule as a whole, the trainer and athlete can make sure that the necessary elements of training—intensity, endurance, competition, and rest and recovery—are all included in a systematic way. The macrocycle is the longest cycle and the most likely to be changed according to circumstances, such as accommodating an injury or accounting for other schedule changes.

Mesocycles are the periods of time devoted to a specific training goal for each of the training elements. A mesocycle is usually three to four weeks in length and includes a defined number of workouts dedicated to addressing specific abilities or skills. For example, during the period devoted to endurance training, the schedule may include a certain number of workouts devoted to building oxygen consumption, or VO₂, along with the appropriate number of days of rest and recovery.

Microcycles are the shortest cycles in periodization. They are generally about a week long and focus on one particular aspect of training. For instance, a runner preparing for an upcoming race may focus on several distance runs paired with several days of much lighter workouts to rest during the week leading up to the event.

These cycles are broken into phases to help prepare for key events. They usually include a preparatory phase dedicated to conditioning and strength training that are not necessarily sport specific; the competitive phase that includes the athlete’s sports season or competitions; and the recovery phase that comes at the end of competition. Many team sports break down into longer phases that are months in length, while individual sports such as running or bicycling will include shorter phases before and after each competition.

Within these phases, it is not uncommon for several related microcycles to combine to form a mesocycle. This is because in periodization, the cycles are interwoven and built on top of one another to form an overall training program that is comprehensive. By stacking microcycles into mesocycles and planning mesocycles so they fit into the overall macrocycle, the overall result is a consistent training program that includes all of the elements necessary to allow the athlete to reach peak performance without wasted training efforts.

Bibliography

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Holmes, Tyrone. “Macrocycles, Mesocycles and Microcycles: Understanding the 3 Cycles of Periodization.” Training Peaks, 11 Apr. 2017, www.trainingpeaks.com/blog/macrocycles-mesocycles-and-microcycles-understanding-the-3-cycles-of-periodization/. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.

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Phillips, Michael B., et al. “Tools and Benefits of Periodization: Developing an Annual Training Plan and Promoting Performance Improvements in Athletes.” The Sports Journal, 5 Aug. 2016, thesportjournal.org/article/tools-and-benefits-of-periodization-developing-an-annual-training-plan-and-promoting-performance-improvements-in-athletes/. Accessed 19 Nov. 2018.