Periodization

by Teige West

Think back to when you first started hurdling. The first few weeks or months were probably difficult and intense—you were using muscles in a new way. You were working out more than you may have—ever—in your life; a large portion of your time was devoted to exercise and proper eating. You were probably tired, very sore and you could feel your body changing, getting stronger. And then one day training wasn’t as difficult as it was that first week. You did the same drills and you were winded, but you weren’t hanging over, propped on your knees, gasping for breath, because after a few months, your body had adjusted. Your muscles were bigger and stronger, and your cardiovascular system was more efficient. Most likely at this point, your trainer or your coach suggested reworking certain drills, adding more weight or reps to your lifting, and other changes to encourage your body to continue to get stronger and faster. Your coach used an idea called periodization.

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Periodization is a training method where you change up your strength work (and for hurdling, drills) at regular intervals to keep your body from “plateauing,” or becoming so accustomed to your workout that you don’t experience the physical improvements you need to increase your performance. Research has shown that a properly planned interval training schedule can build your skills to minimize injuries, manage fatigue, work on general fitness, tackle specific challenges, and continually build muscle and endurance. There are multiple ways that you can modify your training to prevent the plateau. You can:

1. Choose different drills that focus on a certain technique that you want to improve, such as concentrating on a more explosive start, increasing your endurance, or speed work
2. Increase the difficulty of drills, such as adding hill work or body weights
3. Change your lifting exercises, choosing new workouts that target the same muscles in a different way
4. You can increase the number of reps and/or sets while lifting
5. You can decrease reps, but increase the weight lifted
6. Change the order of exercises
7. Add or remove drills or exercises to those that you are currently doing
8. Add more rest periods as you increase the intensity of your workouts, thus preventing injury and burnout

Periodization is also about creating a training schedule that acknowledges your experience level and that allows you to peak in strength, power, endurance, speed, and energy at the appropriate time, which may be before competition season or at some specific point during competition season. For example, during an Olympics year, athletes will compete in major titles before and after the Olympics, but of course, they want to plan to peak during the Olympics, because a gold medal is considered the most prestigious title. Athletes may be willing to sacrifice a top world or regional title to win gold. So, the most important aspect of periodization is that your schedule is personal, tailored to your strengths and what you need to improve.

 

Let’s Get Technical

Periodization can be very precise and technical as your progress through your hurdling career. There are some terms you need to know that describe the parts of a periodized training schedule.

• The Macrocycle: This is the larger plan that you have that encompasses your entire hurdling calendar year. A macrocycle is usually a year (or slightly less), depending on what level (i.e. high school, college, professional) you hurdle.
• The Mesocycle: this is usually 2-6 weeks, which is a block of training time.
• The Microcycle: this is usually 1 week. The microcycle is comprised of individual workouts, hours and/or minutes.

 

Types of Periodization

Linear Periodization

There are three theories within periodization and they all manage the intensity of your workout, the volume of training and the improvement of technique in different ways. The first theory is Linear Periodization and it is pretty straightforward; you have probably used this method before. Linear training is when you move forward in your macrocycle, usually starting with high volume, low intensity and ending with lower volume and higher intensity and technique training; but you will perform the same exercises or drills. So, for example, you start your macrocycle with less weight and more reps. As your schedule progresses, you do fewer reps with more weight, ending your macrocycle with more intensity, more technique and less volume. You would generally increase weight in blocks, every 3 or 4 weeks, to avoid injury. Also, you would hone specific techniques, such as working on your form. Linear interval training is recommended for beginning athletes, which is defined as athletes who have been training in their sport for less than two years (or if you had a major injury and had to take a long break from training). The purpose of linear training is to build a solid foundation of fitness and ease your body into the heavy schedule of hurdling; but because you are performing the same exercises, this method can become monotonous, especially for experienced hurdlers.

 

Undulating Periodization

The next theory is called Undulating and is appropriate for athletes who have been competing at least 2 years. This theory and linear periodization have one thing in common: they both start the macrocycle with a low focus on technique, but gradually increase technique training as the macrocycle progresses. The difference between linear and undulating is that undulating interval training allows the individual to choose different levels of intensity and volume within the microcycle (rather than focusing on increasing intensity linearly, block by block). So from our example above where the athlete starts with more reps and less weight, in an undulating schedule the athlete may start with more reps and less weight on Monday, then on Wednesday increase the weight and reduce the reps, and then on Friday reduce the weight even more and add even more reps, but of course, never adding too much intensity or volume to cause injury (Volume and intensity should be inverse; when increasing one, decrease the other). The athlete always performs the same exercises, but varies the weight and reps as the block moves along.

It’s important to note that the athlete already has a strong fitness case from years of competition and can physically handle this type of training. The reason that this theory works is that the body is constantly trying to readjust after each workout, thus preventing the body from plateauing. The schedule can be based on changes to individual daily workouts, or the schedule can be planned so that the variance is from week-to-week.

 

Block Periodization (also called Conjugate Periodization)

This is an advanced theory that should only be used by athletes with a strong fitness base. Generally, Block training is scheduled leading up to competition season (or a specific competition). This theory prepares your body to peak at the appropriate time and only focuses on certain goals. Each Mesocycle or block is dedicated to a specific focus and you increase intensity and volume within that block (which sounds like a linear interval, but there is a key difference: block uses linear training within the Mesocycle, not the overall macrocycle. There is a block theory that doesn’t employ linear training within the block, but adding linearity seems to be the most effective method of this training). Let’s say you have been hurdling for five years, you have a strong fitness base and you have 12 weeks until the time that you need to be at peak performance. You need to work on explosive power and speed work. Over the first 3 week block, you would choose exercises and drills that focus on power. The first day you would start out with less weight and fewer/easier drills. As the three-week block progresses, you would increase weigh, decrease reps and perform more difficult, but fewer drills. After that 3 week block ends, you would begin another 3 weeks block where you focus on speed exercises that gradually become more difficult, but less in volume.

 

Which Method is For You?

Again, if you are new to the sport of hurdling, you should begin with a linear periodization schedule. If you’ve been in the sport for a few years, you may have noticed that there are many, many set training schedules that schools or trainers recommend. If your coach gives you a set schedule, you should, obviously, follow that plan, but you may need changes tailored to your specific skills and talents. If you have appropriate power, but you need to work on endurance for a longer race, then ask your coach or trainer if you can change or add to your plan.

If you’re free to plan your own schedule, sit down with your trainer, coach or someone who can accurately assess your strengths and weaknesses. You want an honest evaluation, so that you can set realistic goals with both long-term and short-term objectives. With your trainer or coach make a list of your top five greatest strengths (it’s always beneficial to remind yourself how far you’ve come from the beginning days of hurdling, even if that was just a few months ago), and your top five areas for improvement. Create a year-long, macro plan to achieve your goals, keeping in mind that you need to include rest days and rest weeks, depending on your fitness level, to avoid injury and fatigue. And, remember, your schedule can always be revised. If you find that your plan is too heavy or too light and you find yourself plateauing or you’re feeling bored and unmotivated, you can change things up. As athlete, you want to challenge and push yourself, but you also want to make sure that you’re keeping a steady pace that doesn’t impact your love for hurdling.

As you move through your macro plan, always keep your diet in mind. You may need to modify your carb, calorie or protein intake.

Creating a training plan is a very personal endeavor, but taking the time to really assess what you want to achieve in hurdling is necessary step. When you find the proper periodization schedule, you will increase your confidence, meet your goals and experience the competitive edge to you need to perform at your best.

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