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What do we get if we throw pebbles into a lake. Small ripples that quickly subside. There is little disturbance or change to the large expanse of water. How about a heavier stone? Well there’s a splash! Water flies everywhere and the disruption is causes to the once deathly still lake is pretty significant.

What can all this possibly be related to in the game that is health and fitness?

I strongly believe that one of the BIGGEST reasons that people will struggle to achieve any health and fitness goal is because they put too much effort or lack there-of (I’ll explain later) in to the pebbles. What are some examples of pebbles in health and fitness?

• Fat burners and most supplements for that matter.

• If you do your cardio before or after you have eaten.

• When you eat carbs and what type of carbs you eat.

• Protein within 10 minutes of finishing a workout.

To explain why these are pebbles I need to tell you what some of the stones are. We are looking at things like;

• Energy balance.

• Protein intake.

• Adherence.

• Appropriate resistance training that;

• Is specific

• Is performed with timeless technique

• Follows a progressive overload

• I could go on but you get the picture

• A healthy mindset around training, nutrition and the body.

What I’m getting at and for now we will keep this discussion to physique based goals is that if you put more time into the stones you will elicit a far greater result in comparison to putting your effort into the pebbles. If you’re trying to drop body fat but don’t have your energy balance in check then no fat burner in the world is going to help you.

When you look at it, it makes perfect sense. Do the things that you HAVE to do in order to achieve your physique goal. Using fat loss as an example again. For the goal of fat loss you HAVE to be in an energy deficit. You DON’T HAVE to use a fat burner or do your cardio before eating to lose fat. So why are the latter the things that people put most of their thought and effort into? Well it doesn’t take much effort to pick up a pebble and throw it. A stone on the other hand is heavier. You’ll have to squat down, use two hands and then give it a huge full body swing just to get it over the water’s edge. It’s tough to begin with but once you get over that initial barrier, the effect is huge. It’s easy to buy a fat burner and chug a scoop every morning hoping you’ll have abs by the end of the day. It takes more effort to sit down with a coach to get real and honest about your current nutrition and what needs to be implemented for you to make long lasting change. I believe that we all know WHAT has to be done, facing it is the issue especially when we are constantly promised easier and quicker solutions. Believe me, if you told me that I could keep my s**ty diet and all I had to do to get lean was do cardio for an hour before I eat I’d be all over it.

After all that I still need to say this. The pebbles have their place BUT ONLY when you have thrown all the bigger stones. They have the potential to give you that extra 1% with your training and nutrition but I can’t stress enough how useless they are without the key foundations in place. It’s like trying to drive to a destination. You can have the car and the directions but if you don’t know how to drive then you won’t be going anywhere.

In summary, if you want to create long lasting change then you have to do things that make waves.

If you are not tracking, you’re guessing, plain and simple. Tracking your training is the most effective way to gage your progress in the long term. Have you ever seen the guys in the gym who turn up every day and rip themselves to shreds over a session, most of them still look the same right? Largely due to no structure, grinding the same weights and not progressing week to week. It is a good way to spin your wheels if that’s what you’re into.

In order to track your training, you should first plan out and structure it.

This ultimately requires a coach to do it for you or for you to take time to put the plan in place. I assume you all have a goal. To reach this you need a system that works you towards this end goal. Guessing your way there is very inefficient and can be a huge waste of your time.

The further advanced you become in the gym, it becomes increasingly important to track your training to find progress (that’s not to say low level advancement won’t benefit from tracking). This is because increases in muscle size and increases in strength become so minuet in advanced lifters that you may need to compare successive meso cycles to even see progress.

Yes, in some cases there are exceptions. Take a beginner for example. If they come into a gym and just focus on proper form and technique, they will progress just from this. Largely due to becoming more efficient at coordinating the movement and having a larger window for adaption. Even still, tracking your training at this low advancement level is important to build the habit.

Tracking your training allows you to properly determine if you have made progress. Here are some examples of how you might gage improvement;

Max Load Testing

• Lifting a heavier amount of weight than the previous Max Load test. In general, 1RM tests are more applicable to powerlifter and 3-5 RM’s are better for physique athletes.

Volume PB

• Sets x Reps X Weight Lifted = Volume. In the case of volume PB’s you can increase any of the above variables meso to meso and it will be a volume PB. Eg: Last mesocycle you lifted 3×8 of 90kg. The next mesocycle you did 4×8 of 90kg. This is considered a volume PB.

AMRAP

• This is picking a submaximal load and doing reps to failure. If you can take the same load and do more reps before failure next time you have progressed. Eg; 80kg squats for 6 reps. The next time you test AMRAP you do 80kg squats for 9 reps.

Lower RPE

• The RPE for a given exercise is lower than last time. The amount of reps in reserve you have for a given exercise at a set load is greater. This indicates the exercise has become easier. If 10 x 8 @80kg starts at an RPE 9 and in 5 weeks you can do 10 x 8 @80kg with and RPE 7 then you have progression.

The three below are not so much trackable on paper. They do however, play a subtle role in determining improvements and are well worth mentioning.

Movement Quality

• As mentioned above, is a means of progress. Exercises are essentially a skill, to perform a skill you need to have the right timing and sequence of events. That is, your nervous system telling your muscles when to move, where to move and in what order.

Physique Improvements

• You look bigger in different photos. Your muscles have a bigger appearance.

You become less sore

• This is your muscles becoming accommodated to a given stimulus (repeated bout effect). The more you do something, the less it impacts you in the future. So as you go along a meso cycle, for example you hit week 5, by now your muscles are building up more of a resistance to the given stimulus or each exercise. This is actually where you make some great ‘gains’. You can do more work and be less sore as a result of it.

Mental Improvements

• Becoming more confident in the gym is a sign of improvement. Knowing you can execute a movement with timeless form is important for ‘confidence under the bar’.

Summary

If you are serious about obtaining results, then tracking your training is a must to get the most out of it. Overtime you will be able to see what has worked best for you with your development. There may be some trends to your performance in certain mesos, so you can take this and apply it next time. Gaging performance and seeing what works best for you is a must when shooting for your goal.

In both training and nutrition, we have principles and methods. Principles are the governing body that dictate WHAT we must do to achieve any goal. In most cases this is very black and white. A method is HOW we achieve this principle! There are a magnitude of different methods that are governed by respective principles. If the methods are in line with these principles, then you have given yourself a great chance at achieving your goal. The method chosen is dictated by individual variability and preference.

A simple analogy for principles vs methods would be trying to get to any nearby destination. You know where you have to go and it requires you to travel (principle). How you travel (method) is up to you and is dictated by individual variability, preference and the situation. It might be a short walking distance but it’s raining so you decide to drive. You might see there is heaps of traffic so you decide to ride your bike. In short, the goal is the destination, the principle is travel and the mode of transport is the method.

Why does it become important to differentiate between principles and methods specific to training and nutrition? The truth is, there are a magnitude of methods that we can take advantage of. Principles on the other hand are very specific and need to be upheld. Looking at examples from both a training and nutrition standpoint we can get a better understanding why this is the case.

Training

There are 7 common training principles, these being;

• Specificity

• Individuality

• Progressive Overload

• SRA model

• Fatigue management

• Reversibility

• Variability

Taking Specificity as an example. It’s common knowledge that strength is specific to the skill (exercise). Therefore, to get stronger at said skill you need to train specifically for it i.e if you want a stronger squat then you need to squat. Using this squat example, you will need to set up your training blocks that have a focus on the skill of squatting as well as overloading with intensity over time! More practice with progressively heavier loads eventually equals a heavier squat.

Let’s look at another method. Say you have the same goal of adding Kg’s to your squat but you’d rather program the leg press as opposed to a squat. Whilst this is a method for increasing leg strength, it is not SPECIFIC to the squat. In a general sense, leg strength will increase if you appropriately apply progressive overload but translating it into you squat will be hindered from the lack of practice specifically to the skill.

Nutrition

Two of the most common nutrition principles are as follows:

• For fat loss to occur you must consume less energy than you expand (deficit)

• For lean mass gain to occur (in most cases) we must consume more energy than we expand (surplus)

For fat loss to occur we must be in an energy deficit, principle! How we then go about creating this deficit can come from any number of methods. As stated variation, preference between individuals and the environment will dictate the method used. IIFYM, rigid meal plans, portion guides and habit based change etc are all different styles of nutrition practice that can be used to plan and create a calorie deficit, but which one is right for us?

A beginner to dieting may not be ready to be thrown straight into meal plans or IIFYM. Simple behaviour change may be more appropriate whilst the knowledge required for other methods surrounding nutrition is developed.

In another example, a busy parent who works long hours could have a lot of success with a rigid meal plan where the decisions on what they need to eat are made for them. What works best for you and what you can adhere to will ultimately have a large say in the end outcome.

Summary

The key takeaway is that having a good understanding of the principles underlying our desired goal/s is vital. The method at which we achieve this principle is then selected based on individual variability, preference and what the situation demands. Without this initial understanding of the principle, the method is a guess. The principle tells us what’s required, how we get there is our selected method.

The organisation of training variables through specific phases of a training plan. It essentially provides us a framework to working towards a desired outcome.

Think of periodisation like a book. Like a book, a well periodised program should have flow. If the chapters of a book are out of order then the story won’t make sense. The content might be there but if the chapter are jumbled you’ll get to the end and have no idea what you just read. Your program should move seamlessly from 1 cycle to the next and finish with an outcome that “makes sense”

The Stages Of Periodisation

Periodisation can be broken into 3 stages:

• Microcycle

• Weekly planning

• Mesocycle

• Monthly planning

• Macrocycle

• Yearly planning

Below is an example of how all these cycles would work in with each other. Every cycle has its own specific goal. Let’s look at a physique athlete as an example

Macro cycle

• Compete in 12 months

Meso Cycles

• His meso cycles will contain blocks of training specific to volume, strength and recovery.

Micro Cycle

• His micro cycles will be his week to week training

Article Reference

To make understanding of periodisation easier we will be referring to the below example of a 3 stage periodisation model. Whilst it might look like a jumble of words at the minute, we will relate each type of periodisation back to this example.What should be noted is that ALL types of periodisation can be related back to this example which brings to light a very interesting point. No program is exclusively one type of periodisation. Each type of periodisation is a PATTERN than you will be able to apply/identify to all programs.

Meso 1 (Accumulation 1)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-10 rep range

• Volume/hypertrophy focus

Meso 2 (Accumulation 2)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-15 rep range

• Volume/hypertrophy focus

Meso 3 (Intensification)

• 10-15 working sets per muscle group

• 1-8 rep ranges

• Intensity/strength focus

Why Is Periodisation Important?

Fatigue Management

This is the Fitness/Fatigue model. Increases in fitness require overload but with overload comes fatigue. In the model whilst both fitness and fatigue will increase with training, fatigue has a much steeper curve. We can’t express this improved fitness in a fatigued state. Lucky for us we can reduce fatigue quite rapidly whilst maintaining fitness. Using power lifters for example. They will accumulate fitness and fatigue in training and then in the leading weeks before a meet, will taper training to reduce fatigue and allow them to perform on the day.

Phasic Training

The nature of periodisation allows for the meaningful rotation of general and specific preparation. Let’s use the powerlifter for example. Obviously for success in powerlifting there needs to be training periods focussed around the big 3 at heavy loads. Remember, expressing strength is a skill. BUT training at heavy loads with complex movements is very systemically fatiguing and training like this year round will lead to increase injury risk, sub optimal performance and non-functional overreaching. This is why going through periods of a more general preparation are necessary. Spending a period of time focussing on volume, addressing weak points in lifts and taking some (not all) emphasis off the big 3 will allow for increased success in a specific phase and then peak into competition.

Adaptive Capacity

Adaptive capacity refers to the slowing of progress due to the lifter becoming closer to their genetic ceiling. The rate of progression will get smaller as our advancement level goes up. (We get less and less return from our training – diminishing returns).

In summary what periodisation aims to allow for is further progression. If we look at a very typical 3 meso cycle hypertrophy program we may see something like our article reference;

Meso 1 (Accumulation 1)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-10 rep range

Meso 2 (Accumulation 2)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-15 rep range

Meso 3 (Intensification)

• 10-15 working sets per muscle group

• 1-8 rep ranges

What you can see is that after 2 blocks of accumulation with a focus on volume we can move into an intensification block where the focus is load/intensity. Neither blocks are mutually exclusive of each other (hypertrophy blocks can have lower rep ranges and strength blocks can have mid to high rep ranges), however they are more specific to the goal of the mesocycle.

We shift the emphasis from a more hypertrophy focussed style of training to a strength focus meaning there is a shift in the stimulus which requires a different adaptive response from the body. The really nice point about this type of structure is that whilst volume is lower in the intensification block to reduce some fatigue, we can still maintain gains made in the accumulation block as we are not likely to drop below our MEV.

TYPES OF PERIODISATION

• Linear periodisation

• Block periodisation

• DUP (Daily Undulating Principle)

Linear Periodisation

This type of periodisation sees volume decrease whilst intensity increases over time. A considerable amount of time is spent in each training phase.

High volume/ low intensity work moving into higher intensity/ lower volume work then finally into peaking, (volume very low).

What you will generally find in resistance training is an inverse effect between volume and intensity i.e as volume decreases over a meso cycle, intensity will in general increase and vice versa. However, this is specific to the individual. See below example for a decrease in volume and increase in intensity (typical linear progression)

Week 1: Back Squat, 4 x 10 @ 100kg

Week 2: Back Squat, 4 x 9 @ 102.5kg

Week 3: Back Squat, 4 x 8 @ 105kg

Week 4: Back Squat, 4 x 7 @ 110kg

In different context see the example below, a beginner will highly likely be able to add 2.5kg to the bar every week without dropping rep x set volume.

Week 1: Back Squat, 4 x 10 @ 50kg

Week 2: Back Squat, 4 x 10 @ 52.5kg

Week 3: Back Squat, 4 x 10 @ 55kg

Week 4: Back Squat, 4 x 10 @ 57.5kg

Week 5: Back Squat, 4 x 10 @ 60kg

In the typical linear model (let’s take a 16-week intermediate powerlifting prep), you’ll see high volume/ low intensity work moving into higher intensity/ lower volume work over the 3 meso cycles.

• Meso 1 (Volume/ accumulation, up to 8 weeks)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-12 rep range

• Meso 2 (Intensification/ strength, up to 6 weeks)

• 10-18 working sets per muscle group

• 3-8 rep range

• Meso 3 (Peak/ max strength, up to 2 weeks)

• 1-4 working sets per muscle group

• 1-6 rep ranges

Now let’s draw the attention to our article reference. You can see a similar framework here. The accumulation phases (high vol/ low int), moving into an intensification phase (low vol/high int). What is the take home point? Types of periodisation are not mutually exclusive. They all intertwine in some ways to form a systematic pattern that is directed towards a goal.

Meso 1 (Accumulation 1)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-10 rep range

Meso 2 (Accumulation 2)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-15 rep range

Meso 3 (Intensification)

• 10-15 working sets per muscle group

• 1-8 rep ranges

Consideration:

As we begin to delve into the types of periodisation, it’s important to remember that each type is not restricted to any given time length. In the case of linear periodisation, it’s impossible for you to constantly increase on a training variable every single week/session. For example, you can’t add weight to the bar every time you come into to squat (unless you are a novice). There will be times where load is reduced for fatigue management, increases in volume to elicit hypertrophy etc. What this will mean is that there will be peaks and troughs in your squat loads but if you take those peaks and troughs and draw a straight line through it, you should see a linear progression over time.

BLOCK PERIODISATION

Block periodisation refers to breaking programs into meso cycles that are distinct in their goals/features. Again using our ARTICLE EXAMPLE:

Meso 1 (Accumulation 1)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-10 rep range

• Volume/hypertrophy focus

Meso 2 (Accumulation 2)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-15 rep range

• Volume/hypertrophy focus

Meso 3 (Intensification)

• 10-15 working sets per muscle group

• 1-8 rep ranges

• Intensity/strength focus

As you can see over the 3 phases, there are distinct goals which will therefore dictate how the training variables are manipulated i.e both accumulation blocks focus on hypertrophy and therefore volume increases are prioritised. In meso 3, strength is the focus and therefore volume drops and increases in load are the focus.

Like with all form of periodisation, we can apply the pattern in many ways. Block periodisation for example can occur over a 2-year span with a physique competitor, see below.

Gaining Phase – 12 months

• Increase muscle size

• Fat gain within acceptable range

• Put yourself in a position of strength

• High caloric intake

• Good relationship with food

• Develop favourable training and nutrition habits

Cutting Phase – 9 Months

• Drop body fat whilst maintain muscle mass

• Allow time for some experimentation with responses to peaking strategies.

• This period should aim to minimise outside stressors as much as possible

Competition Phase – 1 Month

• Peak! Most athletes will compete in multiple comps over the span of 3-6 weeks.

• This is a balancing act and experimentation stage i.e using the first 2 comps to experiment and build into the main goal of the 3rd comp.

Post Comp/Recovery Phase – 2 Months.

• Often thought of as the hardest part.

• Strategies must be implemented to

• Ensure mental and physical health are in a good state post comp

• There is enough recovery time

• That they are well set up for future competition and health.

DUP (Daily Undulating Principle)

DUP is typically defined by changing training variables in each session of the week. More specifically the variables of volume, intensity and effort (RPE). In my opinion, the smart use of DUP can go a long way in designing and implementing a very effective program. Let’s look at some examples;

Example 1

DUP is most well-known for allowing an athlete to train all 3 ‘physical’ qualities for a set of lifts. For example, you may see a program that requires you to

Day 1 – Squat Hypertrophy, 4 x 10 @ 80% 1RM

Day 2 – Squat Power, 4 x 2 @ 30% of 1RM

Day 3 – Squat Strength, 5 x 3 @ 85% 1RM

Example 2

DUP is very commonly used on powerlifting using the squat, bench and deadlift. Let’s say this is an intermediate powerlifter having some lock out issues. We know that strength is skill specific so it makes sense to increase the frequency of our lift. But, systemically the deadlift is very taxing so there is no way we could do it at a high intensity 3 times per week. For this individual, their week may look like

Day 1 – Block Pulls, 3 x 4 @ RPE 8

Day 2 – Deadlift (technique session), 5 x 1 @ 70% 1RM

Day 3 – Deadlift (heavy session), 5 x 3 @ 85% 1RM

Example 3

A common way to structure a upper/lower training split is to complete strength at the start of the week and then hypertrophy focussed work at the end of the week.

Day 1 – Lower Strength

• Compound exercise focus

• Low volume, high intensity

• Rep range 1-5

Day 2 – Upper Strength

• Compound exercise focus

• Low volume, high intensity

• Rep range 1-5

Day 3 – REST

Day 4 – Lower Hypertrophy

• Compound & Accessory exercises

• High volume, lower load

• Rep range 8-12

Day 5 – Upper Hypertrophy

• Compound & Accessory exercises

• High volume, lower load

• Rep range 8-12

How does our ARTICLE EXAMPLE display DUP? To see it within this program you’d have to see an individual week of training and you’d see something like the examples we just provided. Another way you’d see Undulation is if we put two of the ARTICLE EXAMPLES back to back. This is undulation over a longer period! Volume starts high, drops down and then rises again for the new block, vice versa for intensity.

Meso 1 (Accumulation 1)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 6-10 rep range

• Volume/hypertrophy focus

Meso 2 (Accumulation 2)

• 12-20 working sets per muscle group

• 10-15 rep range

• Volume/hypertrophy focus

Meso 3 (Intensification)

• 10-15 working sets per muscle group

• 1-8 rep ranges

• Intensity/strength focus

Summary

Periodisation is a framework that we use to give us direction in training. We then must fill in the specifics to ensure that our goal is met. It’s like using google maps. Google maps is the framework, it can take us anywhere we want to go! If we type in the wrong co-ordinates though then we won’t end up at the desired destination.

To continually progress as we move through levels of advancement, periodisation becomes increasingly important. Like the saying many roads lead to Rome. Depending on your training and advancement will dictate the level of detail that needs to be applied in your program (which road you take). As we step up in advancement, our progress becomes less and less, so more detailed, more in depth specific and individualised programming of ‘VIF’ and specific periods of time dedicated to a certain physical trait is required.

Think long term with periodisation and focus on progressing over time (all periodisation should be linear over time). Make sure the model you choose is specific enough to your goal.