Applying Sport Seasons to Periodization

Periodization, when applied to athletes, needs to be structured around sport or competition season. An entire year or macrocycle can be broken down into mesocycles of postseason, off-season, preseason, and in-season. In order to prevent training staleness as well as maximize results, each season mesocycle should include variety and different training modes.

Postseason

Simply enough, this mesocycle is in place to allow either active, or complete rest for the athlete since they just came off of a long competition season.

Off-Season

This largely consists of preparatory training and can last for several weeks. If an athlete's off-season lasts for a long period of time (16-24 weeks) there may even be time for 2 cycles of the three main macrocycles; hypertrophy/endurance, basic strength, strength/power.

Preseason

This mesocycle contains the late stages of the preparatory period and transitions the athlete into competition-mode. This is the essential transition from strength/conditioning training into sport-specific training.

In-Season

This is where scheduling may need to get creative in order to schedule mesocycles or microcycles around competitions, tournaments, or the most important games/events.

-Tyler Robbins
B.Sc. PTS