It’s already Wednesday – this week is flying by. I have two interviews today so I’m hoping that they go well. Keep your fingers crossed for me! Back in December I wrote a post about what periodization is. In short, periodization is planned results. Today I wanted to build on that post and share why periodization is so important to achieving your fitness goals. You’re much more likely to be successful if your workouts are part of a periodized plan.
It’s the road map to your goals // Periodization is the schedule and plan of your workouts – with the big picture guiding you. With your specific goals in mind, you create a periodized plan for 4 weeks, 6 months, or 2 years. You see exactly what you need to do every workout to get you to your half marathon PR, your new deadlift 1 rep max, or your best season of soccer.
It keeps you motivated // On early mornings when your alarm goes off and you just want to turn it off and roll over, your periodized training plan will help to get you out of bed. Knowing that you have a 5 K of speed work on the schedule, you can see how that will move you one step closer to your half marathon PR. The flexibility workout you have planned that you’re not excited about will help you have a greater range of motion in your hips to allow you to get that new deadlift 1 rep max a few weeks down the line.
Your workouts are organized // By looking at the big picture, you’re better able to plan out which workouts you should be doing when. It’s tough to know what you should be doing when you’re looking at each workout individually instead of your plan as a whole across weeks and months. Each workout has a purpose and brings you one step closer to achieving your goals.
It prevents overtraining // If you’ve ever experienced overtraining before you know how miserable it is. Some symptoms include injuries, little to no motivation, and getting sick a lot. It can also be touch mentally. You lose interest in the training that you were so excited about just a few weeks ago. While it can be tempting put in 110% all the time, it’s not sustainable in the long term and having a periodized plan will help to keep overtraining from happening.
Has a periodized training plan helped you achieve a fitness goal? Share it in the comments!
Lots of great tips in here! I have loosely periodized my training in the past, but this season I’m being much more strict about my base/build/peak phases for tri training. It’s going well!
Periodization can make such a big impact on achieving goals. Good luck on your triathlon!