Periodisation for strength: How to progress long term

I remember in my younger years jumping on the internet and trying to learn as much as I could about lifting. It wasn’t long before the word “periodisation” came up.

I was puzzled yet intrigued by this fancy word.

Naturally, it was a letdown. Turns out it’s just long-term planning.

It’s a dry topic but there are some simple ideas you can take away from it. Take a lesson from powerlifting or sports. The exercise routine looks different throughout the year.

 

Common periodisation methods

High Volume + Low Intensity to Low Volume + High Intensity

Powerlifters build from light weights further from competition to maximum weight on competition day. You might be thinking why not train with maximum weight year long? This is a good question, after all, isn’t powerlifting just about lifting the most amount of weight? The trouble is that you don’t get strong from just doing your 1 repetition maximum. It’s simply not enough total workload to develop strength. Also, some people get beat up from high-intensity training.

There are many ways to organise a training program to achieve this. A simple example of block periodisation for squats:

Weeks 1-4 (Preparation Phase): Build to a smooth and heavy triple. Then perform 3 sets x 8 reps
Weeks 5-8 (General Strength Phase): Build to a smooth and heavy double. Then perform 3 sets x 5 reps
Weeks 9-12 (Maximal Strength Phase): Build to a smooth and heavy single. Then perform 4 sets x 3 reps

Notice the reps are dropping over the weeks meaning the weight will increase. Another example is Andy Bolton’s cycling.

 

General to specific training

The above is an example of general to specific weight selection for powerlifting. It could go even further with exercise selection. Choose movements that are less like the sport further from the competition and gradually switch them to be more like the competition movement.

 

An example of periodisation for  squat accessories:

Week 1-4 (Work on imbalances): Lunges 3 sets x 10 reps
Week 5-8 (Work on quad strength): Front Squat 3 sets x 5 reps
Week 9-12 (Heavy skill practice addressing squat depth): Pause Squat 3 sets x 3 reps

 

Notice the exercise changes over the blocks to work on different qualities. They build off of each other.

 

Off-season to In-season

Off-season is a great time to spend more time in the gym to build strength and neglected qualities. That increased time and training will allow for more progress but could impact recovery. The idea is to spend the off-season developing these areas and allowing the in-season training to be more minimal. Once in-season it’s all about game-day performance. Athletes need to recover and spend more time on sport-specific training not lifting weights.

 

To give one more powerlifting example:

Off-season: Overhead press 4×10
In-season:  Low Incline Bench 4×10

Notice that the overhead press doesn’t translate to bigger benching that’s why it’s not used in-season. However, to keep healthy it’s included off-season.

These are overly simple examples of periodisation. In practice, there is a lot more nuance to how they are applied.

 

How periodisation helps everyday lifters

Ok great. We just covered periodisation for strength and sport. But what does that mean for the everyday person lifting for health? Here’s the takeaway.

1. Most people aren’t athletes and don’t want to spend as much time in the gym. Instead of training everything at once and living in the gym, periodisation allows you to rotate between different qualities over a longer period.
2. It’s ok to change things up. If done correctly you won’t lose all your gains. You might even find that changing things up is a lot more fun.