The Crucial Demand for Phasic Training

by: Josh Bryant

Periodization—My Theory and Application

There I was, one night, curiosity running wild. I got lured by “Moonshine Paradise,” neon lights flickering in Cheatham County, due west of old man Chambers’ tobacco farm.

Lo and behold, Brother Barrett himself, ruling at the pool table right in that notorious trailer park my mom warned me to stay away from. Exotic dancers vying for his attention while he sipped homemade moonshine.

You might wonder why he was there, but he had a plan. To be the cock of the walk (as they say in South Louisiana), he needed to decompress from training. It was part of his success secret. So, he soaked up the scene, planning his next training phase between shots and sips.

With Brother Barrett some people saw a pumped up, white trash, womanizing hillbilly, but I saw a man who taught me phasic training, i.e., periodization. 

A BRIEF HISTORY OF PERIODIZATION

Periodization is not just some fancy new invention cooked up by lab coats and functional goofballs.  Even cavemen figured out you couldn’t just grab a rock and start bashing heads without getting your ass handed to you. You gotta build a base, get strong, toughen up before you go swinging at anything bigger than a squirrel.

Ancient Olympians spent time in preparatory training for up to 10 months during each year, even in non-Olympic years.

Even as early as 1917, in the textbook “Olympic Sport” authored by Kotov during the Russian revolution, it was recommended to divide training into general, preparatory, and specific stages. Numerous Russian texts, following this approach, highlighted the importance of such training methods in various sports, including track and field, skiing, gymnastics, boxing, water polo, and swimming.

In the world of strength and conditioning, one of the earliest glimpses of periodization hit the Western shores back in 1946, over in England. A man by the name of Dyson took a page from Eastern training methods and crafted a five-phase system. This blueprint covered (a) non-competitive periods, involving gymnasium activities and cross-country running, (b) pre-competitive periods, (c) initial competitive periods, (d) main competitive periods, and (e) post-competitive periods.

Fast forward to today, and periodization is a standard playbook for all organized athletic teams. It’s not just a whim; it’s a necessity, enforced by governing bodies. Take the NCAA, for instance, where they lay down strict rules for pre-season and off-season training. Now, you might think, “Well, the tactical athlete doesn’t play by those rules.” But here’s the kicker – while a running back can chill in March, knowing the big games are on the horizon, the tactical athlete doesn’t have that luxury. They’ve got to be battle-ready at all times, no matter the fatigue, nutrition, or lack of a proper warm-up. It’s a whole different ball game out there BUT still requires different training phases.

THE NEED FOR PERIODIZATION

Is periodization really a game-changer when it comes to improving athletic performance? You might wonder, why not just hit the gym hard and practice skills 24/7? Fair questions. But let’s turn to the wisdom of the renowned sports scientist, Tudor Bompa, to shed some light on this matter.

“The needs for different phases of training were indicated by physiology, since the development and perfection of neuro-muscular and cardio-respiratory functions, to mention just a few, are achieved progressively over a long period of time. One also has to consider the athlete’s physiological and psychological potential, and that athletic shape cannot be maintained throughout the year at a high level.”

Traditional athletes need to be at peak performance levels on certain preset dates at certain points in the year.  A world-class powerlifter might need to be his best at nationals and worlds, his strength levels are irrelevant to his metric of his success the other 363 days a year.  Tactical athletes need to possess a multitude of physical (motor) abilities of strength, speed, agility, endurance, agility and flexibility at a high level year-round.

In barroom terms, periodization simply means how one organizes training.   The organization is within a single training session itself, from microcycle to microcycle, mesocycle to mesocycle and from macrocycle to macrocycle.  

Variables

It is fundamental the strength and conditioning course looks at the following criteria when organizing the programming of each athlete he is programming for:

• Movement patterns
• Energy systems
• The philosophical and tactical approach of the unit (in football run game or spread)
• The physical condition and temperament of each tactical athlete 
• Methodology for improving required physiological and biomotor abilities
• Totality in cost to finite energy reserve  

Thirty years ago, the term tactical athlete was unheard of, but this distinction is important to insure these first responders get the proper physical preparation they deserve. BUT, just look at their jobs in the way sports scientists view athletic competition and preparation, we can characterize it by two primary subdivisions: biodynamics and bioenergetics.

In sports science, biodynamics consists of movement factors associated with the performance of movement patterns in competition; with the tactical athlete, the difference is “the game” has life or death at stake but the principle remains the same, the game just becomes their occupational demands.  The following factors identified by the late, legendary Soviet sports scientist, Yuri Verkhoshansky, are what is called dynamic correspondence, or transfer of training to sports performance.  

• Accentuated Regions of Force Production (where in the range of motion are the greatest  forces produced/incurred)
• Amplitude and direction of movement (range of motion and direction in which resistance is overcome)
• Dynamics of Effort (motion specific to movement with and without consideration of forces involved)
• Rate and time of maximum force production (for how long and how fast is maximum force produced)
• Regime of muscular work (types of muscle activity: concentric, isometric, eccentric, 
• explosive, reactive) 

Bioenergetics consists of the energetic factors associated with the execution of athletic or occupational demands fuel sources that activate human movement. This refers to the energy systems; together these factors determine the training modalities programmed for an athlete.

Final Thoughts

The importance of periodization in athletic training cannot be overstated. By understanding the key variables and principles, exercise science can take athletes to the next level by letting it be the guide, not the circle jerk of exercise trends.

Hop on one of Josh’s Periodized Programs HERE