All if my athletes go through a progression of training. The program cycles things for a number of reasons, the most important for sport is to avoid accommodation. Accommodation is when the exercise no longer does anything to make them better. Happens all the time, if you keep doing curls and bench everyday, eventually they don't make your chest or your arms any bigger or stronger. Things have to change, often, but not too often.
The cycles can be any number of things; hypertrophy, strength, power, speed, agility, power-endurance, endurance, strength-speed, speed-strength, corrective, just to name a few. The trick is to pick a logical sequence that fits what the athlete needs to make them better as an individual. The easy thing to do would be to force everyone, regardless of goals, previous workout history, and current state, into the same program. It would be easy to say; high intensity intervals for everyone, everyday, for every sport. The hard thing would be to assess the individual, make a real honest self assessment, triage the situation and focus on fixing the problems first. It's hard because no one, no one, wants to spend time doing things they suck at. That sucks. It's a constant cycling of things that suck!
That's athletes though. General physical fitness is different (also known as General Physical Preparedness or GPP). For the GPP athlete, constantly varried, functional movements, done at high intensity, 3x/week plus some recovery days and a steady state endurance day in there, is the absolute best thing they could be doing! So where do you want to be? GPP or athlete participating in a specific sport (that includes "CrossFit" as a sport too!)? There is no wrong answer here. It just depends on how much time you have to spend on this thing. Spend some here, you don't have some there.
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
Endurance
I take the definition of endurance to mean an event lasting greater than 90 min. This could be a single movement, like running, or it could include a few different movements like triathlons. I am not sure where this definition comes from, but I like it because usually at 90 min. the "rules" change. Fuel and hydration become bigger concerns, you can't just use the stores on-board anymore.
There is really only one way to train true endurance, long distance. Not necessarily slow, but long. In general, I like to train my athletes with specific power output numbers for them to hit. In the case of steady state work, I prefer to use heart rate. Heart rate based training has been around for a long time, I'm by no means adding to the knowledge base or conversation, I'm simply stating my preference to train endurance.
Steady state is the foundation, the base. Once this base has been laid you can sharpen things up with intervals, but you can not avoid this base. There is just no way around it. Sometime I hear stories of endurance coaches teaching methods of only intervals to increase "endurance." There's a lot of problems with this. Success will come quick, but will usually fade with time over a long endurance career. Intervals will not prepare the body for the time under tension come race day. There is something you just can't avoid when doing an Ironman, sitting in that damn seat for 100 miles! That hurts if you're not used to it. In those stories, what is usually not included, is how long this "newbie" has been doing steady state training before the intervals. These stories make me cringe, every time. The worst is when I hear about a high school athlete who has potential to be a great endurance athlete start doing only intervals at high intensity for their training. Great, poor kid is now doomed to be a good high school athlete...and then their career is over. Instead they should be building for their senior year of college by building a huge base, like a 7 year base! Intervals have their place, they are useful but they are not the basis of success in endurance events.
There are 3 fundamental aspects of endurance training. 1. Aerobic training, which is done at low intensity for long duration. Aerobic training is volume based, not intensity based, and a majority of training time should be spent here. 2. Anaerobic training, which is done ad high intensity, intervals. There are different energy systems in the body so there are different interval structures to elicit specific responses. Manipulating the work to rest ratios will target specific things. Generally, this is going to improve speed, buffering capacity (tolerance to lactic acid), and anaerobic threshold. 3. Maximum aerobic capacity, which is MaxV02. This is done at really high intensity. This will increase maximum oxygen uptake, major importance.
Good endurance comes from the proper dose of all three aspects, not any one over the other two. The biggest problem is the avoidance of aerobic training, the steady state stuff. It's really, really boring and long...really long. In the end, if you want to be good, you have to do it.
If you can only fit in a limited amount of time to train, understand that you are going to sacrifice how good you are at the sport, there is no single person standing on a podium, in any sport, who uses ONLY intervals, but, if you just want to do something for fun on your weekends the biggest bang for your buck is going to be doing steady state 1x/week, think 2-3 hours at 75% max heart rate, (usually most normal people have Saturday's open for this) and 1x/week a MV02 session. This will get most people into pretty good condition. Add to this 1-2x/week CrossFit workouts for the next 3 months and presto, you'll finish that marathon no problem.
There is really only one way to train true endurance, long distance. Not necessarily slow, but long. In general, I like to train my athletes with specific power output numbers for them to hit. In the case of steady state work, I prefer to use heart rate. Heart rate based training has been around for a long time, I'm by no means adding to the knowledge base or conversation, I'm simply stating my preference to train endurance.
Steady state is the foundation, the base. Once this base has been laid you can sharpen things up with intervals, but you can not avoid this base. There is just no way around it. Sometime I hear stories of endurance coaches teaching methods of only intervals to increase "endurance." There's a lot of problems with this. Success will come quick, but will usually fade with time over a long endurance career. Intervals will not prepare the body for the time under tension come race day. There is something you just can't avoid when doing an Ironman, sitting in that damn seat for 100 miles! That hurts if you're not used to it. In those stories, what is usually not included, is how long this "newbie" has been doing steady state training before the intervals. These stories make me cringe, every time. The worst is when I hear about a high school athlete who has potential to be a great endurance athlete start doing only intervals at high intensity for their training. Great, poor kid is now doomed to be a good high school athlete...and then their career is over. Instead they should be building for their senior year of college by building a huge base, like a 7 year base! Intervals have their place, they are useful but they are not the basis of success in endurance events.
There are 3 fundamental aspects of endurance training. 1. Aerobic training, which is done at low intensity for long duration. Aerobic training is volume based, not intensity based, and a majority of training time should be spent here. 2. Anaerobic training, which is done ad high intensity, intervals. There are different energy systems in the body so there are different interval structures to elicit specific responses. Manipulating the work to rest ratios will target specific things. Generally, this is going to improve speed, buffering capacity (tolerance to lactic acid), and anaerobic threshold. 3. Maximum aerobic capacity, which is MaxV02. This is done at really high intensity. This will increase maximum oxygen uptake, major importance.
Good endurance comes from the proper dose of all three aspects, not any one over the other two. The biggest problem is the avoidance of aerobic training, the steady state stuff. It's really, really boring and long...really long. In the end, if you want to be good, you have to do it.
If you can only fit in a limited amount of time to train, understand that you are going to sacrifice how good you are at the sport, there is no single person standing on a podium, in any sport, who uses ONLY intervals, but, if you just want to do something for fun on your weekends the biggest bang for your buck is going to be doing steady state 1x/week, think 2-3 hours at 75% max heart rate, (usually most normal people have Saturday's open for this) and 1x/week a MV02 session. This will get most people into pretty good condition. Add to this 1-2x/week CrossFit workouts for the next 3 months and presto, you'll finish that marathon no problem.
Sunday, July 24, 2011
Stress
I'm not sure how I'd do if I were back in college with today's technology. It wasn't even that long ago too! My point is, Wikipedia has changed things for me. My mind works in similar ways wiki is organized so I can really loose myself in it. Writing a paper today would be a lot of cut and paste, a lot. I guess if it's cited properly, no worries.
If you look up stress in Wikipedia, drill down to biological/psychological stress, you will find lots of useful stuff about stress, early history and biological effects, etc.
The basics:
General Adaptation Syndrome
In the suntan example the alarm stage is when you lay in the sun. This stage starts the process by putting stress on the body, it will start to respond to this stimulation which is the second stage Resistance. In the resistance stage your body will try to adapt to the situation it's in, hormones are released, chemicals move about, things start happening on a cellular level to try and deal with the stress we are under. At the exhaustion stage the body has spent all the resources available trying to adapt and if the stress continues they system breaks down, think blisters, if it continues long enough, death will ensue.
This system is our best friend and worst enemy at the same time. Our best friend because without it we wouldn't be able to live unless the environment was constant. People can adapt to amazing situations, freezing cold environments, very high altitudes, very hot, limited food and water, the list goes on. It's out worst enemy because our 21st century lives allow for greater and greater amounts of low level constant stress. The body cannot tell the difference between good stress or bad stress, between emotional stress or physical stress so we put ourselves in extended periods of the exhaustion stage which can lead to major health problems.
In the initial stage of the adaptation process one of the major things that happens is the release of cortisol. You might hear this hanging around a CrossFit gym a lot, but since everyone seems to already know what this hormone is, what it does, why we try to mitigate it, no one is asking these questions. I'm pretty sure not very many people know the answers to these questions so I wanted to lay them out here.
Cortisol is a hormone that comes from the adrenal gland and is released in response to stress (good and bad stress/emotional and physical) or low blood sugar. It aids us in the flight or flight response. It suppresses the immune system and helps break down fat, protein, and carbs for quick energy.
The reason we tend to vilify this important and necessary hormone is because our days are filled with stress, we never give the system enough time to adapt and lower all the fight or flight responses (check out Adrenal Fatigue). Our personal life is stressful, work is stressful, working out is stressful.
In extreme cases hypercortisol levels is called Cushing Syndrome. Not that we have this from a clinical level, but noting how cortisol impacts us is important.
OK, so what do I do about it? Here is what Wiki says about reducing cortisol:
I'm going to leave you with these for now and talk more in depth about Mindfulness in another post.
For now the take away is this, you need less stress in your life. Less emotional/mental stress, a proper dose of physical stress and you need to manage the effects of stress by eating clean (zone/paleo), practice your recovery stuff from the physical stress, and start trying to reduce the amount of "other" stress in your life.
If you look up stress in Wikipedia, drill down to biological/psychological stress, you will find lots of useful stuff about stress, early history and biological effects, etc.
The basics:
General Adaptation Syndrome
Physiologists define stress as how the body reacts to a stressor, real or imagined, a stimulus that causes stress. Acute stressors affect an organism in the short term; chronic stressors over the longer term.
Selye researched the effects of stress.
Alarm is the first stage. When the threat or stressor is identified or realized, the body's stress response is a state of alarm. During this stage, adrenaline will be produced in order to bring about the fight-or-flight response. There is also some activation of the HPA axis, producing cortisol.
Resistance is the second stage. If the stressor persists, it becomes necessary to attempt some means of coping with the stress. Although the body begins to try to adapt to the strains or demands of the environment, the body cannot keep this up indefinitely, so its resources are gradually depleted.
Exhaustion is the third and final stage in the GAS model. At this point, all of the body's resources are eventually depleted and the body is unable to maintain normal function. The initial autonomic nervous system symptoms may reappear (sweating, raised heart rate, etc.). If stage three is extended, long-term damage may result, as the body's immune system becomes exhausted, and bodily functions become impaired, resulting in decompensation.
The result can manifest itself in obvious illnesses such as ulcers, depression, diabetes, trouble with the digestive system, or even cardiovascular problems, along with other mental illnesses.Mike Mentzer used the example of a sun tan, which I now use and like as a great example of this process.
In the suntan example the alarm stage is when you lay in the sun. This stage starts the process by putting stress on the body, it will start to respond to this stimulation which is the second stage Resistance. In the resistance stage your body will try to adapt to the situation it's in, hormones are released, chemicals move about, things start happening on a cellular level to try and deal with the stress we are under. At the exhaustion stage the body has spent all the resources available trying to adapt and if the stress continues they system breaks down, think blisters, if it continues long enough, death will ensue.
This system is our best friend and worst enemy at the same time. Our best friend because without it we wouldn't be able to live unless the environment was constant. People can adapt to amazing situations, freezing cold environments, very high altitudes, very hot, limited food and water, the list goes on. It's out worst enemy because our 21st century lives allow for greater and greater amounts of low level constant stress. The body cannot tell the difference between good stress or bad stress, between emotional stress or physical stress so we put ourselves in extended periods of the exhaustion stage which can lead to major health problems.
In the initial stage of the adaptation process one of the major things that happens is the release of cortisol. You might hear this hanging around a CrossFit gym a lot, but since everyone seems to already know what this hormone is, what it does, why we try to mitigate it, no one is asking these questions. I'm pretty sure not very many people know the answers to these questions so I wanted to lay them out here.
Cortisol is a hormone that comes from the adrenal gland and is released in response to stress (good and bad stress/emotional and physical) or low blood sugar. It aids us in the flight or flight response. It suppresses the immune system and helps break down fat, protein, and carbs for quick energy.
The reason we tend to vilify this important and necessary hormone is because our days are filled with stress, we never give the system enough time to adapt and lower all the fight or flight responses (check out Adrenal Fatigue). Our personal life is stressful, work is stressful, working out is stressful.
In extreme cases hypercortisol levels is called Cushing Syndrome. Not that we have this from a clinical level, but noting how cortisol impacts us is important.
Factors generally increasing cortisol levels
- Intense (high VO2 max) or prolonged physical exercise stimulates cortisol release to increase gluconeogenesis and maintain blood glucose.[74] Proper nutrition[75] and high-level conditioning[76] can help stabilize cortisol release.
- The Val/Val variation of the BDNF gene in men, and the Val/Met variation in women, are associated with increased salivary cortisol in a stressful situation.[77]
- Hypoestrogenism
and melatonin supplementation increase cortisol levels in postmenopausal women.[78]
- Severe trauma or stressful events can elevate cortisol levels in the blood for prolonged periods.[80]
- Anorexia nervosa
may be associated with increased cortisol levels.[82]
- Some formulations of combined oral contraceptive pills increase cortisol levels in young women who perform whole-body-resistance exercise training.[84]
- Commuting
increases cortisol levels relative to the length of the trip, its predictability and the amount of effort involved.[85]
- Stimuli associated with sexual intercourse can increase cortisol levels.[86
OK, so what do I do about it? Here is what Wiki says about reducing cortisol:
Factors generally reducing cortisol levelsThis should come as no surprise to you. Our recommendation for everyone is to first and foremost eat a zone/paleo(ish) diet as often as possible, take fish oil/omega-3's, workout hard and infrequent, rest, recover often (massage, sleep more, ice). I want to add to this Mindfulness.
- Magnesium
supplementation decreases serum cortisol levels after aerobic exercise,[58][59] but not after resistance training.[60]
- Omega 3
fatty acids have a dose-dependent effect [61] in slightly reducing cortisol release influenced by mental stress,[62] suppressing the synthesis of interleukin-1 and -6 and enhancing the synthesis of interleukin-2; the former promotes higher CRH release. Omega 6 fatty acids, on the other hand, have an inverse effect on interleukin synthesis.[citation needed]
- Music therapy
can reduce cortisol levels in certain situations.[63]
- Massage therapy
can reduce cortisol.[64]
- Laughing, and the experience of humour, can lower cortisol levels.[65]
- Crying
can reduce cortisol levels. William H. Frey II, a biochemist at the University of Minnesota, proposed that people feel "better" after crying, due to the elimination of hormones associated with stress, specifically adrenocorticotropic hormone.[66] This, paired with increased mucosal secretion during crying, could lead to a theory that crying is a mechanism developed in humans to dispose of this stress hormone when levels grow too high.
- Soy-derived phosphatidylserine interacts with cortisol; the correct dose, however, is unclear.[67][68]
I'm going to leave you with these for now and talk more in depth about Mindfulness in another post.
For now the take away is this, you need less stress in your life. Less emotional/mental stress, a proper dose of physical stress and you need to manage the effects of stress by eating clean (zone/paleo), practice your recovery stuff from the physical stress, and start trying to reduce the amount of "other" stress in your life.
Friday, July 22, 2011
Food
We give a food "lecture" every couple weeks in our Onboarding process. Here is a list of books and links we base it all on.
Links (in no particular order):
http://www.robbwolf.com/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
http://paleodiet.com/
http://www.whole9life.com/
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/
body fat calc (registration req.)
Zone Diet
Books:
Primal Blue Print
Good Calories Bad Calories
Enter the Zone
Mastering the Zone
The Paleo Diet
Books I have not read, but trust the source:
Paleo Solution
Protein Power
Fat and Cholesterol are Good for you
Lights out Sleep, Sugar, Survival
At the end of the day; if you can eat lean meat, veggies, a little berries or fruit, some nuts and seeds, and mostly water 80% of the time you be well on your way to optimum health and nutrition. Remember though if you eat 5 times a day that means there is 35 meals in a week. That means 28 meals must be spot on to get a "B." That's 7 meals through the week. That "one-bite-wont-hurt" mentality is OVER. You get 7 "bites" a week. Spend them well.
No one is saying you have to be perfect. Just realize the cost of what you do. If you are ok with it, then fine, if not, then change something. Simple is NOT easy, but it's still that simple. If something is non-negotiable, that's fine, just realize that your "grade" is going to be showing on your abs. A students get to see their abs, B students kind of, C students, not so much. You get the idea. It's up to you. Attention and time is all it takes. You get to choose where you spend those.
Links (in no particular order):
http://www.robbwolf.com/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/
http://paleodiet.com/
http://www.whole9life.com/
http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/
body fat calc (registration req.)
Zone Diet
Books:
Primal Blue Print
Good Calories Bad Calories
Enter the Zone
Mastering the Zone
The Paleo Diet
Books I have not read, but trust the source:
Paleo Solution
Protein Power
Fat and Cholesterol are Good for you
Lights out Sleep, Sugar, Survival
At the end of the day; if you can eat lean meat, veggies, a little berries or fruit, some nuts and seeds, and mostly water 80% of the time you be well on your way to optimum health and nutrition. Remember though if you eat 5 times a day that means there is 35 meals in a week. That means 28 meals must be spot on to get a "B." That's 7 meals through the week. That "one-bite-wont-hurt" mentality is OVER. You get 7 "bites" a week. Spend them well.
No one is saying you have to be perfect. Just realize the cost of what you do. If you are ok with it, then fine, if not, then change something. Simple is NOT easy, but it's still that simple. If something is non-negotiable, that's fine, just realize that your "grade" is going to be showing on your abs. A students get to see their abs, B students kind of, C students, not so much. You get the idea. It's up to you. Attention and time is all it takes. You get to choose where you spend those.
Power-Endurance
Power-Endurance workouts are mostly cardio but as the name implies the work is something between power and endurance. Another way to look at it would be repeated bursts of power for a moderate amount of time. I tend to side with Mark Twight's definition of "endurance," being greater than 90 min. So based on that, anything less than 90 min. and more than our "power" definition falls into the power-endurance category.
You will find that almost all of CrossFit falls here. Nothing wrong with that either. This is going to offer the biggest bang for your buck. For the average person this is really all they might need to do, especially if they are only working out 2-3x a week for 3 weeks a month. Most people fall into this pattern. Every month there is a reason to take a week off. Some holiday or social event lands on a Thursday - Tuesday and takes the person out of training hard for a full work week or more. So for this person, doing this mixed mode type power-endurance stuff is pure gold.
For the athlete, this period needs to be cycled just like the others. 4-6 weeks in this cycle is generally the most you'd want to spend here. This can also be used to peak the athlete depending on the intensity and load of the sessions.
These workouts can be sub-divided into a couple categories; short, long, and intermittent. I am really partial to Pat O'Shea's IWT's too. IWT looks exactly like a typical CrossFit workout, only there are prescribed rest periods to keep the intensity as high as possible. Another concept here would be cluster training, something like 2-3 reps at max intesity, 10-15 sec rest for 10 rounds or so. The idea of all of these is the same. Power. Max intensity.
If you find yourself working out 2-3x week for most of the month, like my example above, then you are going to want to really, really push hard on these workouts! A common mistake is not hitting these with the "proper" intensity.
Train hard, eat clean, and stay consistent.
You will find that almost all of CrossFit falls here. Nothing wrong with that either. This is going to offer the biggest bang for your buck. For the average person this is really all they might need to do, especially if they are only working out 2-3x a week for 3 weeks a month. Most people fall into this pattern. Every month there is a reason to take a week off. Some holiday or social event lands on a Thursday - Tuesday and takes the person out of training hard for a full work week or more. So for this person, doing this mixed mode type power-endurance stuff is pure gold.
For the athlete, this period needs to be cycled just like the others. 4-6 weeks in this cycle is generally the most you'd want to spend here. This can also be used to peak the athlete depending on the intensity and load of the sessions.
These workouts can be sub-divided into a couple categories; short, long, and intermittent. I am really partial to Pat O'Shea's IWT's too. IWT looks exactly like a typical CrossFit workout, only there are prescribed rest periods to keep the intensity as high as possible. Another concept here would be cluster training, something like 2-3 reps at max intesity, 10-15 sec rest for 10 rounds or so. The idea of all of these is the same. Power. Max intensity.
If you find yourself working out 2-3x week for most of the month, like my example above, then you are going to want to really, really push hard on these workouts! A common mistake is not hitting these with the "proper" intensity.
Train hard, eat clean, and stay consistent.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Power Training
Simply put, power is related to time. How much work can be done in the lest amount of time. If I run for 45 min. my power output is low compared to throwing a baseball. Time to complete the task. Work is basically applying force over a distance. Like moving a barbell from the ground to hips (deadlift) or from ground to shoulders (clean).
In comparing a deadlift and clean we can directly compare the power output of two top level lifters. This comes from Pat O'Shea's book Quantum Fitness II page 92.
Kenady (deadlift)
140kg (body mass)
405kg (mass lifted)
.40m (distance)
2 sec. to execute
work=Force X Distance
For Kenady the work =1587.6
Power = Work/time to execute lift
Kenaday's power output was 793.8 watts
793.8 watts /140 kg = 5.67 watts/kg body mass
Pisarenko (clean):
120kg body mass
265kg mass lifted
.90m distance
.9 sec time to execute
Work for Pisarenko is 2337.3
power is 2597 watts
or 21.63 watts/kg body mass
Directly Kenady is putting out 5.67 watts/kg while Pisarenko is putting out 21.64 watts/kg
This is a massive difference. The biggest component to power output, again, is time. It takes Kenady 2 seconds while Pisarenko moves it further and in only .9 seconds!
Power can be seen in other ways too. "Cardiovasular power," like the 100m dash, or 50m freestyle swim. The 100m is 10 seconds or so and the 50yrd swim is 19 or so. Obviously the run is significantly higher output, the mass is moving further and faster!
Power can be trained by focusing on a couple different areas. Explosive lifts (olympic lifting), plyometrics or "shock training," and sprints. The key thing is, like strength training, intensity must exceed 80-85% of maximum "speed." This can only be done a couple times a week so dosing it is again key.
In comparing a deadlift and clean we can directly compare the power output of two top level lifters. This comes from Pat O'Shea's book Quantum Fitness II page 92.
Kenady (deadlift)
140kg (body mass)
405kg (mass lifted)
.40m (distance)
2 sec. to execute
work=Force X Distance
For Kenady the work =1587.6
Power = Work/time to execute lift
Kenaday's power output was 793.8 watts
793.8 watts /140 kg = 5.67 watts/kg body mass
Pisarenko (clean):
120kg body mass
265kg mass lifted
.90m distance
.9 sec time to execute
Work for Pisarenko is 2337.3
power is 2597 watts
or 21.63 watts/kg body mass
Directly Kenady is putting out 5.67 watts/kg while Pisarenko is putting out 21.64 watts/kg
This is a massive difference. The biggest component to power output, again, is time. It takes Kenady 2 seconds while Pisarenko moves it further and in only .9 seconds!
Power can be seen in other ways too. "Cardiovasular power," like the 100m dash, or 50m freestyle swim. The 100m is 10 seconds or so and the 50yrd swim is 19 or so. Obviously the run is significantly higher output, the mass is moving further and faster!
Power can be trained by focusing on a couple different areas. Explosive lifts (olympic lifting), plyometrics or "shock training," and sprints. The key thing is, like strength training, intensity must exceed 80-85% of maximum "speed." This can only be done a couple times a week so dosing it is again key.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Strength training
It comes down to this; Force = Mass x acceleration. So in order to increase force, I can either increase the mass, or increase the acceleration. Applied to strength training, I can either train at maximal loads, like going for a 1 rep max, or I can use a light(er) weight and move the bar at peak velocity. Generally speaking the weight should be between 45-60% 1 rep max for peak speed.
It would become quickly impossible to continue to try and hit 1 rep max's everyday so the obvious question is, how often should one be doing Max Efforts? This depends on the persons fitness. Safe answer, I know. The more conditioned the athlete, the more often, but, the more conditioned the heavy they can usually lift. Imagine if your 1 rep max was 800 lb squat. How often could someone try to hit that? Not very often. Westside uses a 4 day split, 2 for Max Efforts, 2 for Dynamic days. Seems to work for them and they might be the strongest gym on the planet. That says a lot. I'd error on the side Louie is on. 2 max effort days per week is plenty.
Strength training is only 1 part of the puzzle though. To focus on it exclusively at the expense of all other attributes will create holes in athletic abilities. A "good" program therefore addresses all of these attributes.
I typically have my athletes cycle through 4 or 5 cycles. Foundation period or a Preparatory phase where a little bit of everything is touched on. This cycle and arguable last for years until the athlete is ready for more. Generally speaking 2 months is enough to get something meaningful done. Then the cycle is possibly hypertrophy or strength endurance, then it's on to maximum strength, then power, then Power-Endurance or Metabolic Conditioning, mixed-mode, CrossFit, what ever you want to call it, it's all the same stuff, lastly an endurance phase.
The dosing of intensity, duration, rest, and exercise selection is the magic. The art. The science is given, every good coach out there knows the periodization basics, but I see most of them making the same mistakes; more is not necessarily better. It's not economics where $1,000 is better than $1; 4 workouts a day is not better then 1.
Train hard, rest, and eat clean. Do this for 10 years consistently, you're great-grand kids will thank you.
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