I’m thinking about mapping out my training for a year or so - you know, micro-cycles, meso-cycles, macro-cycles, the whole bit. I’m wondering if anyone else out there has taken the time to do this, and what results (if any) this sort of approach yielded. Any advice and/or comments will be helpful. Also, if you could list your age and number of years training in your response I’d appreciate it.
I decided to plan every training/diet cycle for 2000. I had done it off and on in the past but never to this level of detail. I’m 34 and have been training since I was 14 (when they forced us in high school for football). I think I took one year off at some point in college. Anyway, I would consider myself “experienced”.
Summary of plan for 2000 - cut, bulk, cut, maintain.
In January, I was approximately 190 lbs (5’10") at 11% body fat. This is because I spend all fall traveling to my alma mater’s football games (FSU). Since I was on the road for 12 weekends, you can see how the beer & wing diet caused me to become fat. First off was 9 weeks of GBC and the T-Dawg diet. By mid March, I was down to 175 lbs at approximately 8% (I didn’t bother to check).
Next, I used King’s 12 week leg program and began his 12 week chest/back program three weeks later. I also started the mass phase of the Anabolic Diet. When I finished the leg program, I did three weeks of leg GVT while finishing the chest/back program. I added 22 lbs but shot back up to 11%. Still, the size/strength increase was amazing.
Now, I’m in my sixth week of the cutting phase of the Anabolic Diet while using GBC again. When I was measured last week, I was at 188/8%. I plan on continuing this diet/training cycle for three more weeks. Football season just started again so it will interesting to see if my “Carb Festival” weekends are excessive.
Beginning in October, I plan on concentrating on the basic movements - deadlifts, squats, bench, and chins - and incorporating one day of sprint training. I’ll also keep calories at a maintenance level. Since I’m only in town four days a week (I love football), I’ll just try and maintain until after the bowl game. Then, I’ll analyze where I’m at and plan out 2001.
I’ve been very pleased with the results of my 2000 plan so far.
Thanks for the input, Will. Have you by any chance read Tudor Bumpa’s book, with all the micro-, meso- and macro-cycle stuff? If so, what’d you think of it? I’m thinking about buying the book, but would like to hear some unbiased opinions about it first.
Chris - No. I haven’t read the book. I pretty much came up with my cycles using Poloquin and King ideas. I think I might pick up a copy however. Sounds like interesting reading and I know his stuff is highly recommended.
Hey guys,
I guess my comments are that the whole concept of periodized training includes very well defined concepts of hypertrophy training, strength training, power/sports specific training, and planned rest (unloading). The NSCA has some good ideas on periodized training that are time-tested and well proven in thousands of athletes. Now, although these programs arent necessarily “cutting edge”, and I think that these programs could use a bit of tweaking, they are very effective. It’s like nutrition, you can get really big with solid nutrition in the absence of tons of supplements. Periodization is a great idea and a year of this type of training will probably yield far better results than a year of haphazard training due to physiological as well as psychological factors. Sometimes just having a plan is enough. To maximize on periodization efficiency, the principle have to be correct though and you need to understand why each phase falls in what order. You cant just pick programs randomly throughout the year, decide to adhere to them for X amount of time, and call that periodization. Perhaps I’ll write an article on periodization principles for the magazine to discuss this. Whatever you decide, best of luck in getting large.
I mapped out 6 months one time, and stuck to it for the most part. I had help in that I modeled it after Louisville’s S&C prgram (I played basketball). Make sure you allow yourself some make up days here and there, as sometimes, things just come up unexpectedly. It’s hard to see 6 months to a year in the future. Keep it well planned and organized, but flexible. If I were to do it again, I would map out general goals, as for as training phases go (the meso, macro, and micro cycles) as opposed to exact sets, reps, and weights on exact movements. And if you get off track a little, you may just need to revamp a little. As for results, I had good ones, but I was just a teenager then so, whoopy. I grew like 3 inches that summer too.
Also, William Kraemer has a good book on periodization, it’s coauthored with someone else.
This is for John Berardi - Thanks for your comments! An article outlining periodization would be great . . . I’ll look forward to it. In the meantime, where can I find out about the NSCA’s stuff? Is it substantially different from Bumpa’s ideas on periodization? (I’m not training for any particular sport, just to get bigger.) 'Preciate the help.