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03-26-07, 01:08 PM
After reading the article in the current USAT magazine on the training cycle, I got curious and went to a site where you can see various people's training logs. It was quite clear that almost no one trained in regular cycles. If you're not don't worry, the fact that you're training is a plus. However, to maximize benefit I suggest cycling your weeks.
By "cycles" I mean, most people "in the know" use a 2 week or 3 week "on"(an "on" week is your average training week), followed by one "rest"(rest weeks mean maybe less workouts or easier workouts) week. Going hard for too many weeks more than 3 risks injury and over training. Going easy any more often than 2 or 3 means you are not pushing yourself as much as you could. This cycle of 3:1 applies to all training. If you're building up then your training hours for say 4 average building weeks would be 5 hours, then 6 hours, then 7, then rest at 5.5 hours. The following cycle you would start over again but higher hours, maybe 6, then 7, then 8-9, then rest at 6. This continues until you reach your top allowable training whether it be due to time or fitness level or capabilities. As you'll notice the "rest" weeks may not increase as much as the "on" weeks. When you are at your max training threshold, lets say 9-11 hours per week, you still want progressively harder weeks, followed by a rest week. So for instance after your build you would probably train in a cycle of hours of: 9, 10, 10-11, 7-8, *start new cycle* 9-10, 10-11, 10-11, 7-8 *start new cycle* etc...
This does take planning weeks in advance, or even months.
If this is over your head, don't worry, Joel Friel does a much better job of explaining it in his book. But the general idea is, you should be consistent. Make training predictable for your body. Those rest weeks will become internally acknowledged reminders to build your body and you may not even notice. These down weeks become essential to building muscle and repairing damage previously done in training, they are in no way a sign of weakness or slowing you down. Missing workouts will inevitably happen, but I think the idea in "cycle" training, is to not try and make it up, but be more stringent about hitting your "on" weeks than your "rest" weeks. I know for me "rest" weeks involve detaching from the sport a little bit and paying attention to other parts of my life a little more.
By "cycles" I mean, most people "in the know" use a 2 week or 3 week "on"(an "on" week is your average training week), followed by one "rest"(rest weeks mean maybe less workouts or easier workouts) week. Going hard for too many weeks more than 3 risks injury and over training. Going easy any more often than 2 or 3 means you are not pushing yourself as much as you could. This cycle of 3:1 applies to all training. If you're building up then your training hours for say 4 average building weeks would be 5 hours, then 6 hours, then 7, then rest at 5.5 hours. The following cycle you would start over again but higher hours, maybe 6, then 7, then 8-9, then rest at 6. This continues until you reach your top allowable training whether it be due to time or fitness level or capabilities. As you'll notice the "rest" weeks may not increase as much as the "on" weeks. When you are at your max training threshold, lets say 9-11 hours per week, you still want progressively harder weeks, followed by a rest week. So for instance after your build you would probably train in a cycle of hours of: 9, 10, 10-11, 7-8, *start new cycle* 9-10, 10-11, 10-11, 7-8 *start new cycle* etc...
This does take planning weeks in advance, or even months.
If this is over your head, don't worry, Joel Friel does a much better job of explaining it in his book. But the general idea is, you should be consistent. Make training predictable for your body. Those rest weeks will become internally acknowledged reminders to build your body and you may not even notice. These down weeks become essential to building muscle and repairing damage previously done in training, they are in no way a sign of weakness or slowing you down. Missing workouts will inevitably happen, but I think the idea in "cycle" training, is to not try and make it up, but be more stringent about hitting your "on" weeks than your "rest" weeks. I know for me "rest" weeks involve detaching from the sport a little bit and paying attention to other parts of my life a little more.