As athletes, we want it all.
Bigger, leaner, stronger, fitter, faster, and more powerful.
In pursuit of this holy grail, you've probably noticed a few things:
1. You only have a certain amount of time to train, and trying to cram training all these aspects into your week can be tough
2. You can't progress all aspects at once. Trying to get bigger means you might lose a bit of leanness. Optimising for endurance might mean strength won't increase as much.
3. You want different things at different times of the year. You might not care about losing a bit of abdominal definition in winter if it means you can pack on a bit more muscle. And when it comes to championship time, you probably care more about performing at your best on the pitch than you do about your bench press PB.
With these things in mind, your training focus will, and probably should, change throughout the year.
Contemplating these changes ahead of time will allow you to plan how and when you're going to prioritise and progress each quality at the appropriate time.
The process of systematically planning these changes in training ahead of time is known as periodisation.
In this episode, I break down what that should look like, and how you should think about peaking at the right time when it comes to your athletic goals.
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Regards, Conor O'Neill, Know Yourself Performance