Part IV – Training Periodization

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Strength 101: Part IV Training Periodization(http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/strength-101-part-iv-training-periodization/)

ByBrandon PattersonPublished: August 25, 2011Posted in: Columns (http://articles.elitefts.com/category/features/columns/),Powerlifting (http://articles.elitefts.com/category/training-articles/powerlifting-articles/), Training(http://articles.elitefts.com/category/training-articles/)Tags: brandon patterson (http://articles.elitefts.com/tag/brandon-patterson/)

For New Readers

Welcome to Strength 101. If strength theory (particularly the Russian-influenced stuff) isnt something youveput much time into, you should definitely go back and read Part III (../articles/training-articles/strength-101-part-iii-%e2%80%93-organizing-training/), which provides the groundwork for most of what well look at below.

Athletic Improvement: Educating the Body or Exploiting Adaptation?

Parallel systems train multiple skills simultaneously, and they progress mainly by manipulating volume,intensity, and technique as a way of teaching the body what to expect from a competition. Block systems varyspecificity and adaptation targets with different means and methods performed sequentially. The differencesbetween these two forms of periodization can range from slight in strength sports, to very profound in othersports.

Well look at theoretical examples, then explore the complicated realities of just how these systems areperiodized in the real world. I think therell be some surprises along the way, the first of which may be this:modern sport periodization was inspired by educational development theory. Sport scientists basically thoughtthe body adapted by learning during training the same way the brain adapted by learning during classes.Since the brain learned by gradually increasing work and complexity, and could learn many different things atonce, the body was the same way.[i] (#_edn1)

A warning before I go further: Im going to stretch this idea of body education into a homespun analogy. Thisis for illustrative purposes. You arent going to find any Russian texts that adapt school calendars into trainingtheory.

Think about how your high school education progressed. You took multiple courses simultaneously during theyear; as the year went on, the classes got more advanced and eventually focused on complex problems thatthemselves turned into tests and exams. Typical students might start out with Algebra and Life Science inninth grade, and wrap up with Calculus and Physics in their senior year, though as advanced as those coursesbecame, they never drop courses in English and Social Science. For our purposes, the macrocyle is like thefour years of high school between starting and graduation, mesocycles are like individual years or semesters,and skills can be compared to courses.

General High SchoolCourses

Macrocycle Skills

Math Aerobic Endurance

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Strength 101: Part IV Training Periodization http://articles.elitefts.com/training-articles/strength-101-part-iv-trainin...

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Science Maximal Effort TrainingEnglish Dynamic Effort TrainingSocial Science Sport Training

Freshman Year Senior Year GPP/NoviceMesocycle

SPP/AdvancedMesocycle

Algebra Calculus AE: Tempo runs AE: Intense intervalsLife Science Physics ME: Sets of 5 ME: Rest pause, max

outsEnglish: SentenceParts

English:Shakespeare

DE: Bounds, boxjumps

DE: Shock meth., Olylifts

State History US Government ST: Basic steps &shots

ST: Advanced playsystems

If you think the body adapts to work through general accumulation of increasing loads and specificity in a waysimilar to how the brain adapts to education, the idea of training in blocks would never occur to you. Itd makeas much sense as studying Macbeth for three weeks, then dropping it completely to spend two weeks learninghow to calculate the speed of various points along a falling ladder, and then jumping to the study of tripartitegoverning systems.

It wasnt until sport scientists began questioning this theory of adaptation that Block Periodization camearound. Yuri Verkhoshansky was the leader of this movement, which was built around an unusual facet ofathletic adaptation called the long-term delayed training effect.[ii] (#_edn2) Basically, if you buried an athleteunder an extreme load of a single-type of training style, the athletes progress would temporarily drop, thensuddenly rebound to very high levels after the stimulus had been removed. Research into the long-termdelayed training effect changed the paradigm for training high level athletes.

Regardless of your model, not every athlete will progress in the same way. Youll find injuries, illness, lifestressors, age/experience/genetic differences, and other factors that make every athlete unique in how theyadapt. This means that a system has to be flexible enough to anticipate and deal with unpredictablechallenges. You can head off injuries and overtraining with planned breaks and recovery periods. You can alsogo by feel and adjust an athletes training by how they feel on a given day; this approach is often calledauto-regulation. Of course every person whos done any amount of training has adjusted on the fly, thoughthere is a way to systemically approach this; a good example is the Bulgarian weightlifting system, whichcalculated intensity based on perceived maxes for a given day.

You will see systems that rely heavily on auto-regulation are referred to as examples of cyberneticperiodization. I think cybernetic periodization is more of a theoretical construct than it is a practical form oftraining, since any reasonable system responds to the athletes training state, and also because the ultimateexpression of cybernetic periodization would be not having a training system at all. This isnt to say that youshould forget the conceptjust treat it like a philosophical question.

Traditional Periodization

Youll see the forms of periodization for parallel systems go by a variety of namestraditional, linear, andclassical, to name a few. Ill use Traditional Periodization so as not to confuse it with the many types ofprogressions that can occur within it. Traditional Periodization is the form that Matveyev researched and madefamous. It reflects the educational model of athletic adaptation and has a few tenets:

An athletes training volume should decrease between competitive events.

At the same time, training intensity should increase; this can happen through increased loading, greaterperceived exertion, or by increasing the rate of work. A weightlifter will lift more weight, while a runnermight run short intervals at a pace faster than he would keep in a continuous race of the same totallength.

As intensity rises, so does specificity; if its practical, final training activities should mimic competition,and not just the event itself. The competitive environment (geography, atmosphere, climate, etc.)should be recreated if appropriate.

The athletes sporting technique must improve as competition nears.

The variables of volume and intensity are important because a parallel system requires that all needed skillsbe trained at once for most or all of the training period, which means that specificity is always fairly high.Heres how a theoretical diagram looks:

(http://articles.elitefts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/GPPSPPComp.jpg)

I imagine a few folks are scratching their heads right now, and thats basically because Matveyevs work andthe systems it has analyzed and influenced havent been fully appreciated by most parties here in the UnitedStates. Sure, its easy to see that the progressions are mainly linear in that theyre either constantly increasing

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or decreasing. But whats this technique thing? And where are the strength, hypertrophy, and other phaseswe see in bodybuilding rags and beginners programs?

The truth is that Matveyevs ideas didnt reach the Western public intact. Part of this was due to peopletwisting his work to meet their notions, and part of this because his best known work had a large theoreticalelement that invited interpretation, and not as many example programs and routines that could be followedwithout error. The biggest loss was the concept of improving technique.[iii] (#_edn3) Matveyev emphasizedthe importance of technique, whether it was improving shooting percentage in basketball, or getting the rightstride length during the middle portion of a 100 meter sprint. This focus on technique also means that asathletes neared competition, their training could become less parallel and more like a block system.

While Matveyev preferred smooth transitions between varying cycles, any of the progressions we reviewed inPart III can be used as part of a traditional periodization model as long as they are short-term progressionsthat allow for the overall macrocycle to increase intensity while decreasing volume. In fact, Matveyev called forundulating mesocycles to help prepare an athlete for competitions that occur in relatively short order, andundulating microcycles to promote recovery and adaptation.

Western Periodization

Western Periodization is an offshoot of Traditional Periodization. It can refer to either a loose view ofMatveyevs larger concepts, or it can refer to a simplified form of periodization that takes Matveyevs conceptsand strips away some of the nuance. The latter is done mainly by ignoring the need for technique specificity,and assuming the trends of volume and intensity were absolutes; not surprisingly, this version of WesternPeriodization was popularized mainly by bodybuilders and powerlifters who didnt need complicated plans toget bigger and stronger; this adoption by the strength community led to the strength-oriented mesocyclenames which in the Western model refer to qualities like strength, hypertrophy, or power.[iv] (#_edn4)Since the powerlifter/bodybuilder idea of Western Periodization is most common in the strength community,well focus on it.

For powerlifters especially, simpler was better because lifters who stuck to the big three kept their techniquelevels high for meets. In the cases of many, it simply applied a name, terminology, and some scientific backingfor the way athletes were already trainingremember that periodization and competitive peaking are as old asthe hills.

(http://articles.elitefts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/HyperStrPowPeak.jpg)

This simpler model was most-widely used in strength sports; non-strength athletes who used a parallelperiodization model for all of their training were using something more akin to Traditional Periodization. So,Western Periodization is an oddity in long-term training. Its clearly an off-shoot of Traditional Periodization,which is easy to see with its volume and intensity trends. These mesocycles ended up achieving the samekind of results as those in Traditional Periodization, though with less focus and less effect. But if its appliedonly to a single style of training then its really not a parallel system; in this regard, it might sound sneakily likeBlock Periodization, although there are some qualifications to the similarity.

For strength athletes, it was simply a progression of a single means stretched out over a long period of time.For general athletes, it was an isolated weight room factor that worked independently of other skill training.But even as a strength training model, its not the best way to go for many athletes:

Endurance Athletes: If a runner lifts heavily only before a race, he may get some coordination benefits(assuming it doesnt throw off his stride or impair his energy system training). If he lifts heavily at thebeginning of the training cycle, though, hell improve his running economy for the entire preparatoryperiod, which will lead to bigger improvements when the race eventually rolls around. On the otherhand, the odds of even a moderately advanced endurance athlete wanting more muscle mass are low,which means that the hypertrophy mesocycle isnt helpful: remember that muscle is relativelyinefficient, and in endurance sports efficiency is king.

Athletes Who Rely on Eye-Hand Coordination: If youre a baseball pitcher, basketball player, orquarterback, the last thing you want is for your throwing motion to change. Well, if you get strongerlifting maximal weights, you change the dynamics of your body, and create a learning curve for yourselfin getting used to those changes. Do you really want to be relearning how to throw before the start ofthe season?

Athletes Who Rely on Primarily on Non-Maximal Strength: If explosive strength is necessary to yoursport, Western Periodization will actually detrain this ability by loading up maximal effort work at theend of your training cycle. The same is true for athletes who rely on aerobic endurance, strengthendurance, etc.

With all of these problems, its easy to say, Damn, Western athletes and coaches were dumb. Its not thatsimple, though. Western Periodization rarely left the weight room, where it was most effective, and was usedlargely by the people who would benefit most from itstrength athletes, or athletes who relied greatly onstrength. And of course, the broad ideas of the Western model were always tweaked and modified, or run

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simultaneously with other, more sport-specific ideas. Just like there arent many systems that are entirelyparallel or entirely block-based, there arent any coaches out there who use a simple line graph as aperiodized training plan for their athletes.

Remember that Matveyev began his work by observing what successful coaches were already doing. Thetruth is Western coaches and athletes not only used Matveyevs model, but inspired it. Matveyev himself citedAmerican runner Jim Ryun as an example of an athlete who used an intelligently periodized plan to help himset numerous world recordsin 1966 and 1967.[v] (#_edn5) Also important to remember is that Matveyev wasa contemporary of the minds behind Block Periodization. While its not widely acknowledged here in theUnited States, Fundamentals of Sports Training features many specialized micro and mesocycles that can bemanipulated in a variety of ways in manners quite similar to our next subject. Though these specialized cyclesare bit much for a 101 article, he did note the use of shock and unloading cycles designed to takeadvantage of overreaching.[vi] (#_edn6)

Block Periodization

While its easy to see the problems with Western Periodization, even Matveyevs work in Fundamentals ofSports Training has limitations:

It acknowledges that it doesnt have an answer to a frequent, compressed competitive cycle; an athletewith competitions every few weeks would be training at high intensity for an entire training cycle in away that would lead to burnout.[vii] (#_edn7)

At some point, all of the qualities that are developing in parallel will begin competing with each other.On the other hand, the way these different qualities can improve each other isnt taken advantage of.

Its not appropriate for advanced athletes who need high levels of stimulation to improve, but canthandle these higher stresses if theyre applied in parallel.

When it comes to weight training, many of Western Periodizations problems pop up.

These issues are inherent to just about any parallel system, which is why block systems were refined anddefined. Weve used a loose definition of block training so far, though from here out lets raise the bar and lookat the higher-end model. A macrocycle using Block Periodization is designed to hammer an athlete with aparticular emphasis during a series of brief mesocycles, which causes the athlete to overreach; in this systemthese specialized mesocycles have come to be known almost exclusively as blocks.

When overreaching, an athlete basically pushes himself so hard that his performance begins to suffer inwhatever capacity is being trained. Actively trying to overreach might sound like an odd plan. The beauty of itis that after overreaching, the long-term delayed training effect provides a delayed adaptation response that ismuch greater than what the athlete wouldve achieved under less-demanding training conditions. YuriVerkhoshansky, Anatoliy Bondarchuk, and Vladimir Issurin are the best known proponents of periodized blocksystems; Verkhoshanskys and Issurins works on the subject are the easiest to find, so Ill focus on their termsand ideas.

Blocks are generally roughly arranged so that the last block before competition focuses on skills that are mostrelevant to the sport, or on a skill that is easily detrained and/or overtrained. Think again about how mosttraining cycles start with building up aerobic endurance and/or hypertrophy. A big reason why these qualitiesusually start a program is that theyre easy to maintain over the long haul. I imagine most readers of this piecehave done some kind of bulk/cut body composition work. The reason you can bulk and cut is because it takesa much smaller stimulus to keep muscle than it does to grow it, and that this small stimulus works even duringa calorie deficit. Adding mass is also less stressful than going for maxes, and aerobic training is generally lessstressful than movement training focused on power.

The interaction of strength and energy systems is also extremely important in Block Periodization. Think backto the weaknesses noted in Western Periodization, particularly in regards to strength training. Each block mustindirectly improve the following block. Increasing maximal strength improves stride efficiency and aerobictraining improves energy production. These skills work together to improve an athletes overall power duringmore specific training that occurs later on. Now you might recall that training for maximal strength andendurance strength at the same time can lead to conflicting adaptations; this is minor in most instances, andnonexistent in Block Periodization. What essentially happens is that the brief overload causes muscles tomaintain endurance while also improving their strength display. Its very similar to the newbie effect, wherenew trainees can improve multiple competing qualities at the same time; in Block Periodization, the eliteathletes work volume and the slight breaks from means and methods between blocks allow for a similareffect.

The desired qualities are grouped into blocks that roughly correspond to usual mesocycle terms. Issurinssystem uses an accumulation block for GPP, a transmutation block for SPP, and a realization block to peak anathlete for competition;[viii] (#_edn8) Verkhoshansky simply calls them Block A, Block B, and Block C, with theunderstanding that they are basic, special and competitive blocks, respectively.[ix] (#_edn9) Theaccumulation block generally lasts between one and two months, the transmutation block for a month or less,and the realization block for no more than two weeks. Training volume rises and falls during each of theseblocks.

With all of this in mind, we can see how Block Periodization is much more refined than just training in shortblocks or phases. While some aspects of Traditional Periodization are retained, the following itemsdifferentiate pure Block Periodization from anything else:

Block Periodization uses several intense training mesocycles aimed at inducing overreaching andsubsequent adaptation; these are followed by a single mesocycle that integrates the gainedadaptations into optimal athletic performance.

The training blocks are arranged to take advantage of the bodys adaptation to (and retention of) one ortwo skills at a time, and that this adaptation and retention will influence subsequent blocks.

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Block Periodization entwines strength and energy system improvement to improve athletic efficiency.

While Traditional Periodization can utilize overreaching, it does so by overreaching in (and then restoring)multiple skills at once, while Block Periodization overreached in a few specific areas at a time. This goes backto the idea of bodily education versus adaptation.

At the risk of a very gross overgeneralization, Verkhoshansky was a little more concerned with increasingspecificity and short-duration sports, while Issurin is a little more interested in energy system interplay andlonger-duration sports. Their terminology also varies some, though the spirit is largely the same. I should notehere that Verkhoshansky (who I would consider to be the systems innovator, and probably its outrightinventor), refers to Block Periodization as the conjugate-sequence system, which you may remember fromPart II.

But enough with the words already. A conceptual Block Periodization diagram might look like this:[x] (#_edn10)

(http://articles.elitefts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/BlockABC.jpg)

What occurs in a given block is largely determined by the sport, though we can make a few generalizations.Block A is usually focused on maximal strength and aerobic endurance, though lifters will focus more on repsand GPP. Block B taps into improved maximal strength by focusing on increasing power though strength andmetabolic methods. Block C melds the new gains into functional sport technique. For more detail on whathappens in these blocks, Verkhoshansky offers the following broad guidelines for cyclic sports like running,swimming and biking:[xi] (#_edn11)

(http://articles.elitefts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/BlockABCTable.jpg)Because a block system only trains a few particular qualities of sport at a time, those qualities are what suffermost from the intense stress while the rest of the athletes abilities are only moderately diminished (if theyreimpacted at all). This means that when the athlete begins overreaching, his training can jump to a distinctquality without holding back his overall improvement. These short bursts of different training styles also meanthat its easy to arrange mesocycles to meet various sporting seasons.

Verkhoshansky recognizes six distinct variants of Block Periodization that are capable of meeting almost anysport cycle by prolonging, shortening, or even eliminating particular blocks depending on the frequency ofcompetition.[xii] (#_edn12) Noting that blocks can be eliminated is particularly important; when Block C iseliminated from a particular marcocycle because of closely-spaced competitions, its often acceptable forvolume to stay fairly high throughout the short competitive cycle and let the competition itself serve as a BlockC. Sports with compressed schedules require a different approach. Heres what an American football seasonmight look like:

(http://articles.elitefts.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/PreSeasonSeasonBlockABC.jpg)

Notice that Block C covers the entire competitive period, and is supplemented with a period of generalizedtraining to maintain basic skills. This set up pushes the boundaries of what we call Block Periodization. Ingenerally, Id argue that for a sport like football, training blocks will have to meet many demands, and in thisway theyre more like traditional parallel systems. In the model above, Block C is most likely a longmaintenance cycle that has few or none of the specific qualities of a pure block system, with the means andmethods determined as much by players health as any sporting quality.[xiii] (#_edn13)

Block Periodization and Strength Sports

You might be wondering just how this talk of energy and adaptations in Block Periodization applies topowerlifting. The answer, much as we covered in our discussion on systems, is that powerlifting is toostraightforward to fit into a purely parallel or block approach, and that trait carries forward into how its trainingis periodized:

Powerlifting doesnt have that all-important interdependency of strength and energy systemsthe liftsare just too short and spaced too far apart for energy systems to be important during competition.

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In powerlifting, you properly sequence adaptations (Block Periodization) by reducing volume,increasing intensity, and improving technique over time (Traditional Periodization), so programs have ageneral air of similarity.

Unlike in other sports, powerlifting is always training maximal strength, whether at its periphery in earlymicrocycles, or squarely before competition; this makes incorporating the overreaching aspects ofBlock Periodization tricky, since an powerlifter cant overreach and then jump to a different focus.

Also unlike most other sports, the best means for improving performance are the competition lifts, soany specificity changes are relatively subtle in comparison to block systems: a runner can go frombounding runs, to tempo runs, to intervals; a lifter will go from heavy deads, presses, and squats togeared (or simply heavier) deads, presses, and squats.

With this in mind, its not surprising that whats defined as a Block Periodization approach for a powerlifteroften looks very similar to Traditional or Western approach. A traditionally periodized powerlifting programcould go from raw benching to suited in order to increase intensity, while a block-style system could do thesame thing in order to realize strength adaptations gained from raw benching-induced hypertrophy. Bothstyles also train maximal strength throughout the macrocycle, starting at the periphery of max effort training. Basically, two different approaches have come up with solutions that look fairly identical in the grand schemeof things.

In fact, Verkhoshansky himself recommends a block lifting program thats quite similar to a great number ofprograms that feature short term volume/intensity undulations within a bigger-picture Traditional Periodizationor Western Periodization scheme.[xiv] (#_edn14) Gabriel Naspinski provides a longer-term approach that ismore recognizable as pure Block Periodization due to its interchangeable blocks and manipulation ofspecificity,[xv] (#_edn15) though again the limited energetic demands of powerlifting mean that it doesnt meetour ultimate model of Block Periodization.

From a distance, Block Periodization for powerlifting resembles an abrupt and compressed version of WesternPeriodization, with the biggest changes involving time and flexibility. Block Periodized powerlifting programsadhere to short mesocycles with varying interchangeability, while Traditional and Western Periodizedpowerlifting programs use longer mesocycles that are more rigidly arranged. Ill praise Naspinksi again fordeveloping a program that exemplifies this paradigm.

Even before being exposed to academic-level discussions of parallel and block training, powerlifters of allstripes had largely settled on a fairly narrow set of rules that grab ideas from both systems. Weve alreadyseen how a system like Westside mixes ideas. On the other hand, Ed Coans training style was largelyWestern-influenced, though he threw in blocks of different training means and methods to key his progress. Agood example of this is the intense complexes of back exercises he would perform during portions of longdeadlift cycles.[xvi] (#_edn16) In fact, any of the methods of gaining strength can be used in short blockfashion. A good examples comes from Cal Dietz, Head S&C Coach for the University of Minnesota, whoadvocates a system built around isometric-, concentric-, and eccentric-focused blocks.[xvii] (#_edn17)

If had to think of a strength sport that could fit into a full Block Periodization approach (one that would appearvery different from a Traditional or Western model), it would be strongman competitions, specifically WorldsStrongest Man-style meets. To take a hypothetical stab at how such a program might look, Id say thebeginning of a macrocycle could include aerobic energy work and maximal effort lifts, and would progress tolactic threshold energy work, explosive strength work, strength endurance activities, and event-specificchallenges.

With all of these different factors and caveats in mind, its safe to say that Block Periodization isnt the ultimatesolution to long-term sports planning. It seems that pure Block Periodization is probably best-suited formedium-distance racing sports (running, swimming, hurdling, etc.) and explosive strength sports where thecompetitive event isnt the best means for improving general strength (hammer, discus, long jump, etc.) Thisshouldnt be a surprise as the coaches who pushed Block Periodization forward were involved in these sports.

Even in the instances where its most differentiated from Traditional Periodization, Block Periodization doeshave its weaknesses:

Its appropriate only for advanced athletes with an advanced training background who can retain skillsand adjust to intense training.

Its most effective in sports that lie between the complexity extremes of team sports and weight liftingsports.

Its a better response to compressed competitive cycles, but still not perfect.

Its extremely demanding and requires a completely healthy athlete to be effective. For that reason,Block Periodization is best-suited for sports that dont cause much physical damage to the athlete sothat the high-intensity techniques of later blocks can be kept up.

If the blocks arent timed right, overreaching can become overtraining, which will destroy athleticperformance.

While Ill end our look at training periodization here, I dont want to suggest that the science is complete, andthat we now have two perfect methods of long-term training, with one or the other appropriate for any athlete. Thats just not the case. It has complicated and controversial roots, and like all aspects of sport science, ourunderstanding and practice of training periodization is always evolving.

Wrapping-Up

Strength is a complicated thing. Unless youre lucky enough to have an excellent coach at your side, reachingyour fullest reasonable potential will have a considerable intellectual element. To that end, I hope this serieswill help you avoid a lot of the confusion I waded through ten years ago when I first cracked open


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Supertraining.

Beyond what Ive said here and in earlier parts, my best advice to readers who are getting into advanced textsfor the first time is to keep an open mind. Youll find at some point that a solid idea youve had on a system ormethod just doesnt apply to what youre reading. Ive tried hard to make my own generalities as applicable aspossible, though theres no such thing as a lowest common denominator for sports science. Questions andcomments are welcome below; if you come to this piece late, or have questions about earlier articles, Iregularly check for new comments. You can also catch me on Twitter if you dont mind a really shortresponse.

Strength 101: Pt I Strength and the Body (../articles/training-articles/strength-101-part-i-strength-and-the-body/)

Strength 101: Pt II The Methods of Strength Development (../articles/training-articles/strength-101-part-ii-the-methods-of-strength-development/)

Strength 101: Pt III Organizing Training (../articles/training-articles/strength-101-part-iii-%e2%80%93-organizing-training/)

[i] (#_ednref) Verkhoshansky, Y. and Verkhoshansky, N. (2011). Special Strength Training: Manual forCoaches. Rome: Verkhoshansky.com.

[ii] (#_ednref) Verkhoshansky

[iii] (#_ednref) Siff, M.C. (2000). Supertraining. Denver: Supertraining Institute.

[iv] (#_ednref) In this sense, power correlates to powerlifting or lifting low reps in the max effort range, andnot as in achieving maximal force/power production as through explosive lifts in the 70% range.

[v] (#_ednref) Matveyev, L. (1981). Fundamentals of Sports Training. USSR: Progress Publishers.

[vi] (#_ednref) Matveyev

[vii] (#_ednref) Matveyev

[viii] (#_ednref) Issurin, V. (2010). Block Periodization: Scientific Concept and Implementation. Presented atRowing Coaches Clinic, October 15.

[ix] (#_ednref) Verkhoshansky

[x] (#_ednref) The diagram is extremely simple and roughly analogous to what youll find in Supertraining; bothIssurin and Verkhoshansky provide much more comprehensive diagrams in their referenced texts.

[xi] (#_ednref) Verkhoshansky

[xii] (#_ednref) Verkhoshansky

[xiii] (#_ednref) Note that until recently, many NFL S&C coaches used HIT methods and machine-basedtraining; the goal was to maintain strength with as little repetitive damage to the athlete as possible.

[xiv] (#_ednref) Verkhoshansky

[xv] (#_ednref) Naspinski, G. (2010). A Practical Guide for Implementing Block Periodization for Powerlifting.USA: http://articles.elitefts.com/articles/powerlifting-articles/a-practical-guide-for-implementing-block-periodization-for-powerlifting/.

[xvi] ( #_ednref) Bryant, J., and Dobson, B. (2011). Metroflex Gym Powerbuilding Basics. USA:Joshstrength.com.

[xvii] (#_ednref) Dietz, C. Tri-Phasic Undulating Block Method. USA: Xathlete.com

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Tweet 7 109LikeLike About the Author

Brandon Patterson is a recreational lifter and sports science junkie.

He focuses on culling through and translating the esoteric aspects of strength research, theory, andprogramming for the benefit of everyone from coaches to beginning lifters. Brandon also runs Second LevelFootball (http://www.secondlevelfootball.com/), a website devoted to gridiron football. You can follow him onTwitter @BPSportScience for commentary and news on sport training and theory.

17 Comments

Reply (/training-articles/strength-101-part-iv-training-periodization/?replytocom=128229#respond)

SH

Posted August 25, 2011 at 6:24 PM

So Block Periodization is basically training different energy/strength systems in different blocks. Movingfrom one area of concentration to another. And overreaching in those different blocks so as to takeadvantage of the rebound that occurs after stopping that specific Block?

Would I be safe in assuming that Block Periodization is a type of training that improves the athlete inevery aspect of physical fitness?

Interesting article. I am just trying to grasp the meaning/concept of what Block Periodization is.

1.


Erik Gunnerson


Love this set of article Brandon Strong Work !

2.


Jeff in Napa.


Nice work

3.


Alex Miller (http://weighttrainingforever.com)

Posted August 26, 2011 at 1:40 AM

Hey Brandon,A long and informative article. There are many stimulating topics here concerning overreaching,adaptation to stimulus and specificity. It is important to separate strength athletes from non-strengthathletes (as you have done). Most guys who have been lifting for awhile get a little confused in the sensethey dont know if they want to be powerlifters, bodybuilders or Olympic weight lifters. They seem toforget that each is a sport in which weight training is but a back drop just as it is for a non-strength athleteto be in a state of general physical preparedness (GPP). The sport that you choose to do gets you intospecific physical preparedness (SPP) and that sport youre getting in shape for may football, powerlifting,baseball, MMA or anything.You also did a good job explaining overreaching bringing in the idea of the dual factory theory approach.Good job.http://weighttrainingforever.com/dual-factor-theory-training/ (http://weighttrainingforever.com/dual-factor-theory-training/)

4.


Alex Miller (http://weighttrainingforever.com)


Hey Brandon,A long and informative article. There are many stimulating topics here concerning overreaching,adaptation to stimulus and specificity. It is important to separate strength athletes from non-strengthathletes (as you have done). Most guys who have been lifting for awhile get a little confused in the sensethey dont know if they want to be powerlifters, bodybuilders or Olympic weight lifters. They seem toforget that each is a sport in which weight training is but a back drop just as it is for a non-strength athleteto be in a state of general physical preparedness (GPP). The sport that you choose to do gets you intospecific physical preparedness (SPP) and that sport youre getting in shape for may football, powerlifting,baseball, MMA or anything.

http://weighttrainingforever.com/dual-factor-theory-training/ (http://weighttrainingforever.com/dual-factor-theory-training/)

5.


Johno


Awesome!Heavy going for a Friday arvo here in OZ..But welcomed netherless!

6.

Reply (/training-articles/strength-101-part-iv-training-periodization/?replytocom=128967#respond)7.

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8 of 11 11/06/2014 2:52 PM

Brandon Patterson (http://www.twitter.com/bpsportscience)


SH Your first paragraph is pretty on-target for what I call pure Block training, a la what the Russianscame up with specifically for Olympic sports. If I were to pass what you wrote along as a definition, Idprobably add that the blocks have to feed into each other so that skills in different blocks are enhancedby their predecessorsthis is a point that tripped me up for a while, and is really important forunderstanding why pure Block and Western Periodization blocks are different.

As far as your question about physical fitness, improving aspects of physical fitness is more of a meansand methods thing. You can set up a Block or a Traditional approach to address as many aspects aspossible, but you dont have to (and probably wouldnt want to). If anything, the intense focus andspecialization of Block systems (and the sports theyre best for) means fewer aspects are likely to betrained.

Just to put this all in context, if we think about Periodization as a long-term way of bringing out positiveadaptations in particular areas of physical fitness, then Block Periodization is important because it seemsthat (at least for the moment) its the best long-term training approach to wring the last little bit ofimprovement out of high level athletes in particular sports.


Ty


Great article Brandon!

8.


SH


Brandon, could we assume that a little GPP for a naturally gifted athlete at their sport would go a longway?As opposed to a lot of GPP for less gifted/talented athlete that is struggling to make the team, seeplaying time, or make it to the next level?

9.


Warren


Brandon,

Great job! Block Training is hard for a lot coaches to understand due to the fact Western Periodzation atthe University level. However, my question to you, how can block training be used for the sport ofbasketball. Any suggestions would greatly be appreciated!

Warren

10.


Joe Giandonato


Well written and thought provoking. Im favoriting this. I look forward to more of your content, Brandon.

11.


Brandon Patterson (http://www.twitter.com/bpsportscience)


SH Id say it depends on the sport, the athletes skill set, the training system, and how you narrowdown GPP beyond the broad strokes I used in the articles, i.e., are you looking at GPP as somethingdone on the side after your main workouts, or is GPP an entire training mesocycle. Using youth footballas an example, a no-skill kid whos never done physical activity and a very strong/quick kid whosoverweight and cant stay on the field will both benefit from lots of general GPP, but of different types andfor different reasons.

If you got a specific example in mind (one thats got factors similar to what I just mentioned), you mightwant to ask the folks in Q&A for practical coaching observations.

12.


Anthony_Carlquist


I like this article. Finally someone that finally makes sense in looking at it. It didnt seem to revolutionaryto me.

With all of these different factors and caveats in mind, its safe to say that Block Periodization isnt theultimate solution to long-term sports planning. It seems that pure Block Periodization is probablybest-suited for medium-distance racing sports (running, swimming, hurdling, etc.) and explosive strengthsports where the competitive event isnt the best means for improving general strength (hammer, discus,long jump, etc.) This shouldnt be a surprise as the coaches who pushed Block Periodization forwardwere involved in these sports.

13.


9 of 11 11/06/2014 2:52 PM

(http://www.elitefts.com/view/?sp=6865)

Copyright Elite FTS. All Rights Reserved.


Brandon Patterson (http://twitter.com/bpsportscience)


SH I feel GPP is more dependent on the athletes conditioning state, the sport involved, and how younarrow down the broad definition I use of GPP, i.e., is GPP an entire mesocycle or cluster of mesocycles,or is it something you do for a little bit after a main workout. Imagine two youth football players, one whois participating in athletics for the first time and is unskilled, and the second is experienced and veryfast-twitch, but is overweight and cant stay on the field. Both would benefit from GPP, but of differenttypes and for different reasons.

14.


Brandon Patterson (http://twitter.com/bpsportscience)


Warren I suggest going straight to the source. Check out Special Strength Training by theVerkhoshanskys. If you ask because youre thinking of actual implementation, keep in mind all thequalifiers that come with Block Periodization for a team sport.

15.


Dan

Posted December 28, 2013 at 12:34 PM

Dude, great stuff. Ive still never read Matveyev (if you know of a sub-$200 copy for sale, let me know)specifically.

Just wanted to say thanks for putting things like this out on the internet. So many bad sources of info outthere, i just hope people are finding this instead of the other crap.

danny

16.

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Part IV – Training Periodization