An Adaptive Framework for Block Periodization in Strength Sport

Periodization, or what the idea of periodization means, has fallen out of favour in a lot of powerlifting training over the past few years.  Prompted initially by John Keily’s stern scolding of the dogmatic way in which periodization camps developed and passed down their cultish tome of ideas, provoking many an internet forum argument over which periodization style yielded the best results over time, and which one had the strongest leader.  The main point of Keily’s writings was that formal periodization literature and textbooks will give you different formulaic prescriptions (Western periodization, Conjugate Periodization, Block Periodization) that will all claim to yield the greatest adaptive responses along with the greatest peaks in performance, therefore that is the best way to train athletes over the long term.  Keily’s experience, which I can completely relate to and understand, as I am sure many other strength and conditioning coaches do as well, was that the formulas did not work all the time, or with every individual, or the timing was incorrect. 

Godfather Mike T was working on this idea as well, working to combat experiences where athletes were stronger 4-8 weeks out from a meet than they were on meet day. The famous example being Brett Gibbs deadlift training, where he learned that if he reverse periodized Brett’s Deadlift training (heavier lifting further out from the meet, lighter lifting closer to the meet e.g. 3s @9 for a block, then a block 5s @8 into comp) he had greater and more repeatable performances on competition day, as training didn’t fizzle out the way it had previously. From there Mike developed his Emerging Strategies Framework as an attempt at a bottom-up training system up where the information received from the athlete’s training and performance would indicate where the training should go.  While I agree with many of John Keily’s critiques of dogmatic periodization strategies and have been very influenced by Mike T’s ideas for years now, I still don’t think we should throw all periodization concepts out with the bathwater.  I have also been very influenced by Block Periodization concepts over my time coaching athletes and powerlifters and have been working on systems of integrating Block Periodization concepts with a Bottom-Up Framework. 

To do that let’s try to describe Block Periodization: Block Periodization focuses on attacking a specific quality, using concentrated dosing, for a certain period of time, with the plan of building on that quality during the subsequent block of training.  Depending on who you ask, there are 4 main phases, or blocks, to a Block Periodization Model; The  Preparatory, Accumulation, Intensification, and Realization Phase. 

Preparatory Phase

The goal of this phase is simple, get people in good enough shape to handle hard training in the future, whatever that may mean within the context of your sport.  When working with a new individual, it is my experience that it is safe to assume that they are either under prepared for the workload you would like to place on them, or they have glaring weaknesses or holes in their game.  This is where the idea of a preparatory phase becomes very valuable.  The other scenario where this style of block becomes highly valuable is post meet.  In a powerlifting context you can usually assume that people have put their bodies through the ringer heading into competition, not to mention the psychophysiological stress and disruption that comes with competing in a powerlifting meet.  This is a period where individuals can and should step back a bit from hyper specific training, both in movement selection and absolute loading. This provides an opportunity to address: overuse injuries, nagging areas, weak points, general movement patterns, health related fitness markers, while also giving a mental and physical break from the preparation required to send it on meet day.  This block is characterized by lower volumes and intensities to start, slowly ramping things up, easing people back into training, while having a higher focus on prehab (injury prevention), general conditioning, and corrective movement patterns.  This doesn’t necessarily mean you have no SBD work in your program, for some people it might not even mean a lowering of SBD frequency, but perhaps using more variation, with less specific loading. 

The Spectrum of Specificity

Quick Tangent, specificity is a sliding scale and is going to be individual to everyone.  There is both specificity of movement pattern, and specificity of loading (SAID).  Movement pattern specificity can be very wide.  Low bar competition squat can be altered using bars, stances, implements, tempos, pauses, and accommodating resistance. The spectrum can be extended further if you include unliteral loading patterns (lunges, split squats) on your scale of squat movements, while also consider all the ways you can vary these types of movements using similar strategies. If you’re really lucky, you train in a gym with a plethora of squat or knee dominant machines available to you (Hack Squat, Belt Squat, Pendulum Squat, Leg Press), again having the ability to manipulate these machines using tempos, stances, accommodating resistance, and so on.  I could go on about this, when good coaches say things like “your options in the gym are infinite” they really mean it. 

You can play with all these movement options before you even consider specificity of loading.  Specificity in a powerlifting context means your ability to express maximal force for 1 rep at 100% or an RPE of 10.   We have a sliding scale of reps at our disposal, along with the sliding scale of %1RM, and for our purposes I would simplify RPE as saying it is a sliding scale of proximity to failure. 

During a preparation block, you will usually have all these phasers turned down relative to a powerlifting context.  You might lower or manipulate SBD frequency, which for some individuals might mean comp squatting 1-2x per week, while for others it might mean not doing any comp squatting at all, but both types of people will probably benefit from reducing movement monotony and hopefully diminishing training staleness.  From there, absolute loads will be lower, either by increasing reps, reducing %1RM, and/or reducing proximity to failure.  Again, this will mean different things for different people.  Some people will want to hammer leg press (low spec) for sets of 15-20 (low spec), but train to failure (RPE 10).  Some people will want to do a whole bunch of comp squats (high spec) in the 3-5 rep range (moderate specificity) at 60% of their 1 RM (very low RPE).  While goldilocks might want to do my personal favourite; high bar squats (mod spec), for 8-10 reps (low spec), in the 6-8 RPE range (mod spec).  I would argue that all these options fulfill the requirements of a Preparation Block.  We haven’t even discussed how volume or number of sets can be manipulated. 

Beyond that you might just lower total training frequency relative to an individual’s customary frequency, allowing for more total rest and recovery over a microcycle.  This style of block will usually start with a low intensity, low volume, and gradually increase both until we reach the point where we know we are ready to train hard and perhaps dive into an Accumulation style block.  If you know where you want to start your Accumulation Phase, you can work backwards from there to plan the first week of your Preparation Phase.  This could be a certain intensity for a certain number of reps moving a certain way, a certain number of hard sets per movement pattern or body part, a general fitness marker, or if you have someone working on some weaknesses or nagging injuries, you might string the block out until an individual is moving pain free under a certain load. 

Accumulation Phase

The goal of the Accumulation Phase is pretty straight forward; do more work.  If in the preparatory phase we built our work capacity enough to handle hard powerlifting training, in the accumulation phase we purposely try to do more powerlifting training, primarily my driving up training volumes.  The first benefit of this phase is the increased amount of good, heavy enough practice, assuming good load selection, allowing an athlete to accumulate more perfect reps with appropriate loads.  I would argue that the second benefit is executing many sets, with good form, builds the individual capacity needed to complete heavier, more specific training, later.  If on meet day you have 5 or 6 warmups, and then 3 maximal attempts, you had better be in good enough shape to handle 24-27 sets of high effort and intention.    The third benefit is the muscle growth potential of a higher volume phase.  At the end of the day the contraction of muscle is what moves the weight, and if we are doing a lot of volume in the powerlifts, while also getting stronger, then we are probably building muscle in the right places.  This muscle growth will be important as building our base wider will help us move bigger weights in the future.  Some might argue that an accumulation or hypertrophy style period will build muscle so that in the next block you can teach that new muscle to be stronger using heavier weights.  

An Accumulation Phase is characterized by slightly more specificity than the Preparatory Phase, with the primary goal of increasing the workload placed on an athlete over the block.  This will induce muscular hypertrophy, increase work capacity, but also accumulate higher amounts of fatigue as the block goes on.  Generally, this is done by increasing volumes while maintaining relative intensities over a 4-6 week period.  My favorite way to do this is to simply add submaximal sets of different SBD variations every week, usually back off sets, working to build high weekly workloads without stressing too much about the performance side of things.  Not only will slightly lower intensities or specificities plausibly impact performances, but so will the fatigue accumulated by the athlete created by these higher workloads.  The main idea here being that we are again focusing on competing lots of heavy enough practice, building our base wider so that we can build our pyramid taller later. 

As always, what this means will vary for different types of lifters.  An accumulation phase might have a higher training frequency than a Preparatory Phase, and an intensification block for that matter.  If not a higher training frequency, at least a higher frequency of true SBD variations.  Some examples might be your classic Comp Bench (high spec) for multiple sets of x5 (mod spec) at 70% (low-mod RPE), ascending sets of 8 (low spec) up to RPE9 (high spec) using a close grip, or taking multiple sets of 6-10 reps (low spec) to failure (high spec) on an incline dumbbell press (low spec). 

One note to make about an Accumulation style training phase is that it is plausible that you may see a dip in peak sport performance during this phase, this is okay, the goal is to be a higher performer months from now, not tomorrow.  Accumulated fatigue from chronic training stimuli will drive adaptations needed for future performance. 

Intensification Phase

So, we spent a bunch of time making sure that we are prepared enough to do the work needed for productive training, after that increasing the training dose and accumulating more work, now it is time to intensify that work, to make that workload harder or heavier.   The primary goal of the intensification phase is to increase force production by focusing on strength expression.  If you did build muscle during the Preparatory and Accumulation blocks, now will be the time we teach that new muscle to be stronger.  Typically, volumes will be lower than the accumulation block, whether you look at number of sets, number of lifts, or tonnage, but generally each set will have a higher average intensity and/or a higher RPE.  So not only will the reduction in training workload illicit some expression of performance, but the specificity of the stimuli will also facilitate strength adaptations.  At some point, to lift heavier weights, you need to lift heavier weights.  This training will still be highly fatiguing, but the goal will be more focused on lifting the heaviest weights rather than lifting submaximal weights the most times.  This is the part of our pyramid building journey where we are trying to stack blocks higher and higher. 

An Intensification phase will be more specific than an Accumulation phase, both in movement pattern and in absolute loading.  This will allow individuals to dial in their technique under heavier loads, so that technical execution becomes automatic on gameday.  The increased loading should drive neuromuscular adaptations.  If you have a set amount of volume or number of sets to start a block, that number will maintain throughout the block while intensity and/or RPE are increased over time.  Frequency adjustments can be interesting during this time.  Some lifters will require a higher amount of competition lift specificity to maintain sharpness in their technique.  In other words, some lifters will still need practice sessions on top of their heavy priority 1 competition lifts.  An example of this type of individual might be the wide grip high arch benchpresser, or the hyper efficient sumo deadlifter.  While other lifters might need a reduction in total training frequency, just for their body to be able to recover from the heaviness of the training.  An example here might be the round back conventional brute force puller, or bigger lifters low bar squatting 500, 600, 700… (800!?) in the gym, who simply need a break from the amount of stress the absolute loading places on the structures of the body.

Intensification protocols can and should be pretty fun, at least I hope they are.  If you have been bitten by the iron bug and actively chosen the brutality of this sport, then I hope you love heavy training.  There is something about following a period of higher workload, where the goal is more like repetitive sprint efforts, with a period where you essentially get to work up to one blissful, mind numbing, blood pressure spiking, all-out, effort.  Some classic intensification prescriptions might be comp specific singles at RPE 7-8 followed by back off work in the 75-85% range, ramping sets of 3-5 reps up to RPE 8-9 with your priority 2 movement, and in some cases the use of amraps.  Even accessory work can be trained heavier, again with a slightly lower number of sets, trying to account for the increased brunt of increases in absolute loading. 

Realization Phase (Taper)

“Just wait for the Taper.”  “In Taper We Trust.” 

The primary goal of the Realization Phase is to reduce fatigue while maintaining adaptations.  This should influence and improve skill acquisition and increase ability to demonstrate performance.  We are trying to ride the line between keeping the stressor high enough to maintain adaptations, but not high enough that it impacts recovery.  This should be your most specific training phase.  Some individuals will see an increase in intensity during this period, with a reduction in volume.  While others might see a decrease in absolute intensity, but an increase in average intensity as their total workloads are reduced.  Quality trumps Quantity during this period, and that will be specific to the individual. 

Depending on the individual, this period could be anywhere from 1 session (2-3 days assuming you have a day or two of rest prior to meet day), to sometimes 3, or maybe 4 weeks.  This should be your most specific training period when looking at what percentages of the workload come from movements higher on our spectrum of specificity. 

Knowing how an athlete tapers relative to a workload can be very useful and comforting.  We’ve all been there; you are 2-3 weeks out and you just aren’t feeling strong or ready for meet day.  In a worst-case scenario, you flat out missed a weight you have either hit before, or recent training indicates you should have been more than capable of.  You’re ready to spiral in the gym, all your anxieties and doubts welling up inside of you.  You unsnap your belt, ready to yet it across the gym.  When you hear whispers on the wind gently blessing your ear “Just wait for the taper.”  And all your doubts and anxieties drift away.  “Is that you God?”  You come back to reality; oh it was just your training partner reminding you that you are going to be perfectly okay on meet day.  Your recent training has shown you are strong; you have been training your ass off, you are at the end of multiple months of hard training, at the end of the day we always have the taper in our back pockets.  Tapers work.  While obviously we don’t want to overshoot or miss in training, it happens.  The longer I coach, the more examples I have of this happening, and the more examples I have of athletes going through this exact scenario and then going on to be perfectly successful on competition day.   

The great thing about our Taper concept is that, as always, they are specific to the individual, and where that individual is at a specific time.  In a more ideal scenario, you smoke PRs in all your lifts in training, build momentum into the meet, feel good, and to some degree you hold the training stimulus constant, maybe tapering for a session or two but essentially training right into the meet.  This has become more common as a taper strategy, some people just compete better when they head into meet week training normally with a bit more fatigue.  So not only will you need to learn what kind of taper works best for an individual, how training has gone leading up to that point can also inform how much or how little training dose is removed during the taper phase.  Again, some people might use 1 light to moderate training session, while others might hit their openers 6-7 days out and rest for the remainder of the taper.  Most people probably sit somewhere in the middle. 

At the end of the day, the definition of Periodization is the manipulation of training variables over time in order to maximize performance at a given date or time.  This never meant that any individual should be handcuffed to a periodization camp or training style.  Individuals, or their coaches, will still need to experiment and cater their programming to their needs, wants, goals, strengths, weakness, biomechanics, recoverability, schedule, and life.  This just means we need to develop better systems for learning about individuals and what works for them.  The next part of this series will talk about how I have tried to mould these concepts to fit a more bottom up planning strategy.