Hello all and welcome to another fitness blog post! This week I will be touching on the topic of periodization. Periodization training refers to the cycles of your workouts with regard to their intensity, rest time, weight used, speed, exercises performed, etc. 

So why is it important to vary your training and the factors in it? The first reason is to keep your activity interesting and motivating. In my personal experience, motivation starts to lack if I am doing the same kind of workout everyday. It’s the variety that keeps me motivated. Setting new goals for myself (i.e. handstand, pistol squat, running faster, etc) makes me look forward to each day as well as allowing me more freedom in my workouts.

Secondly, our bodies are incredibly sophisticated machines designed to move but that also adapt quickly to a particular movement. If we move in the same way everyday our progress slows and sometimes stops altogether. This means that in order to keep meeting our fitness goals, be they weight loss/gain, aesthetic, or skill-related, we need to change up how we move frequently. 

Some of the factors that influence our training include [1]:

• The number of repetitions per set, or the number of sets of each exercise

• The amount of resistance used

• The rest period between sets, exercises or training session

• The order of the exercises, or the types of exercises

• The speed at which you complete each exercise with proper form

Adjusting any one of these factors could make a huge difference in how your body responds to the workout, and affect your subsequent progress. If you find the workout is getting easier decrease the rest time between exercises and up the resistance. It’s important to be honest with yourself to know when an exercise is getting easy and/or if you are able to do more. There was a quote plastered on the wall of my old gym: “it doesn’t get easier you just get stronger.” It’s a bit corny but theres a lot of truth to it. Push yourself and challenge yourself daily and you will see consistent change and progress.

However, these changes don’t only apply to the world of strength training. Sometimes the way your body is moving also matters. For example, I took up practicing yoga seriously and consistently in January of this year as one of my goals for 2018. While I consider myself a fit and active person, yoga was really hard for me at the start and I hated doing something that I wasn’t good at. But I wanted to be more flexible and stronger so I kept at it. Overtime it became easier and I saw improvements in many other areas of my training - I could lift more, my posture improved, I wasn’t as sore after my workouts, and I felt really great. It’s important to challenge your body and push yourself out of your comfort zone to see what you are capable of. If I hadn’t started yoga I would have never realized how much I enjoy being flexible and enjoy working out with just my body weight. My challenge for you all is to try a new activity (i.e. swimming, running, boxing, lifting weights, yoga, tennis, etc) to see how it improves other aspects of your training. Like I said, our bodies were designed to move so why not try to be active in as many ways as possible. 

Lastly, this idea of periodization training also applies to our fitness goals throughout the year. Whether summer is approaching, it’s holiday season, or you’re planning a vacation will also affect what kind of workouts you do. In my post A beginner’s guide to the gym I talked about finding your deeper “why” for being fit and that it should go beyond the superficial (i.e. 6 pack abs, rounder butt, bigger chest) in order to be sustainable. The time of year though has an effect on what type of workouts you feel like doing. For example, as I write this in November it is currently cold, grey, and windy outside giving me close to zero motivation to leave the house and go to the gym. Therefore, I have taken to home workouts because at least it’s one way to work up a sweat. However in the summer it’s nice to be outside, so maybe you take to the park or forest for your sweat session. The same applies to traveling- find a way to move your body and challenge yourself regardless of your surroundings.

The idea of having different cycles for your trainings allows you more freedom so that you can mix up your workouts regardless of the time of year, location, or equipment at your disposal. It’s not as important what you do so much as how often and how intense you do it. Keep challenging yourself physically and mentally and you may be surprised by all that you are capable of. 

So what do you all think? What kind of training are you currently practicing? Have you recently switched up your style? Leave a comment below and let’s get a thread going :)

Thanks for reading this week’s post! If you have any blog topic requests please shoot me an email or DM me on Instagram.

xoxo,

Alexandra 

Sources:

1. Author American Council on Exercise Contributor Read More Less. “Periodized Training and Why It Is Important.” ACE, 2018, www.acefitness.org/education-and-resources/lifestyle/blog/6660/periodized-training-and-why-it-is-important