Mix up your training with Phase Training.

[kenzo242]

Endurance
This phase of training is great for beginners, lasting around 4 weeks, who have a lack of pelvic stability and postural control and lack the knowledge of progressing themselves safely and effectively through a weight training program . As experienced lifters, this phase can be used as a recovery phase, typically 1 week, from weeks of high intense training. Allowing for proper recovery and ensuring optimal gains for future routines.

Goals for this stage:
Beginners: increase stability, muscular endurance and neural efficiency of the core muscles.
Experienced: facilitate recovery while maintaining high levels of stability.

Strength
Once you’ve completed the endurance training or used it to recover from weeks of high intensity training, the strength phase can begin. For beginners, you’ve conditioned your tendons, ligaments and muscles to now be prepared for the heavier weights to come. The veterans, you’ve given yourselves a week to recover while staying active and now it’s back to work! Usually 4 weeks long.

The goals of this stage are the same for beginners and veterans:
· Increase the ability of the core muscles to stabilize the pelvic girdle and spine under heavier loads through a greater ROM.
· Increase training volume with more sets and resistance.
· Increase metabolic demand (tax ATP and CP and glycolysis energy systems) and motor unit recruitment and neural coordination.

Power
After around 4 weeks of strength, now it’s time for the power phase. This phase can also go 4 weeks. For all of these, the veterans can tweak it as they see fit. You beginners stick to the program until you get more time and experience lifting.
Here we want to solely increase rate of force production as they apply in sports or everyday life. Using more realistic speeds and forces the body will encounter for your sport or activity. Thus higher speed of movement and higher forces on the body will equal more power.

Power = Force x Velocity (Speed)
Focusing on just increasing force or increasing speed alone will not give you the best power gains. By using both heavy weight with explosive movement and low resistance with high velocity, you can produce higher power outputs.

This style of training gives you a set routine to follow for about a month at a time. Varying the focus of a training program for regularly planned periods of time produces optimal adaptations and allows the participant to control volume of training and reduce injury risk.

[Ian Coe]

I duh think this should be in the strength and power sub forum of the training discussion area of sherdog.

[kenzo242]

Whether you're conditioning or improving strength etc...This periodized template can be used for any method of training.

[paolo27th]

So linear periodization is back?

[kenzo242]

Originally Posted by paolo27th

So linear periodization is back?

Hey Paolo! I didn't think it ever went away. I know there's other periodization models but this one is well suited for the beginners out there. And can still be impemented by the vets to.

A quick story for taking the approach that I do:

I've been involved in martial arts for over 20 years and all realms of fitness for the same time. I've gone and read everthing I could get my hands on and trained in martial arts at 100's of schools where I just walked in and asked if I could train.

I've made lots of friends in my encounters and thankfully/hopefully not many enemies. I have gone to countless MMA schools as early as 1995, before they were offically called MMA schools. So with all of that said here's what I have noticed about alot of the hardcore fighters I've met:

* They work themselves out to the point of no return. Everyday in the gym their workouts are high intensity. Their bodies in a state of constant breakdown and they keep pushing and pushing. Admirable indeed but taking away from the longevity of what they love to do. I know of great fighters that couldn't take that next step to turn pro because they were plagued with injuries.

* Their stubborness to learn new methods or even different methods. For most of these guys, any method, new or old would've sufficed.

My story to you is to let you know that I'm concerned for the up and comers. I think they need to hear something different from what they read in magazines or watch on the UFC All Access shows (Sean Sherks caveman workout is not for anyone with less than at least of 1 year of real training). They need to know a good place to start. From reading some of the threads here, there's a ton of new guys and I want them to have useful information and also basic if need be.

As far as the veterans go, it never hurts to circle back to the beginning as a way to mix things up.

Thanks for replying to my thread.

[Ian Coe]

Originally Posted by kenzo242

Whether you're conditioning or improving strength etc...This periodized template can be used for any method of training.

Oh I know

But your post specifically uses strength as the example, hence my reply