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

Application of Aerobic Program Design to Training Seasons

Athletes who participate in a specific sport generally have seasons. In order to train for a specific season, an athlete's periodizational training should be structured to ensure that they "peak" at the most advantageous time; when their season starts! Below is a list of how training cycles are broken up for an aerobic athlete.

Off-Season (Base Training)

Generally after an athlete completes their sport season, they take a short amount of time off from any training before they get back into their training regimen. Off-season can therefore be considered the starting point and should be used to create a base-level of aerobic conditioning.

Preseason

Preseason, or towards the end of the off-season, is the second cycle. This is when the intensity and duration for an athlete are greatly increased. It is at this point that any strengths and/or weaknesses should be addressed to hone any specific training modes that need extra or less attention.

In-Season (Competition)

Here is where any weaknesses would continue to be worked on from the preseason training during "practice" sessions. Duration and intensity should be greatly reduced in the interest of the athlete so that they are rested and recovered for their competition days.

Postseason (Active Rest)

This cycle is intended to just keep a fairly consistent level of aerobic conditioning, but to allow time for rest and recovery. The duration and intensity of the training sessions should definitely be "throttled-back" during this time to not only allow the body to heal, but to also allow the athlete to mentally relax to prevent cases of "burn out".

-Tyler Robbins
B.Sc. PTS