Get Better Results with This Technique from Professional Sports

Periodization: How to Break Your Fitness Goals into Seasons

Have you ever had the experience of getting on a roll with your workouts and your nutrition, and seeing great results for weeks (or even months)…

… only to be completely thrown off by a vacation?

Plus, doesn’t it seem like these life events tend to come in clusters – a family birthday followed closely by a massive work deadline followed closely by a holiday?

This is a conversation I have often with clients – how do we balance the concept of consistency (which is paramount to long-term, sustainable results) with the natural fluctuations of life? How do we stay the course when the pattern is naturally up and down? How is it possible to see results when it seems like so many challenges can add up in certain seasons?

My answer is a technique borrowed from professional sports: periodization.

What is periodization? It is not only a tool, but a mentality about exercise, nutrition, and good results – it’s the concept that you need to embrace seasons. When you use periodization, you organize your efforts into “blocks” of higher effort and focus alternating with seasons of maintenance and recovery.

Even if you’re not an Olympic track star or a record-setting swimmer, periodization can help you get better results by embracing the balance and seasonality of life. Periodization acknowledges that not only does life run on a calendar with holidays, vacations, and work deadlines, but that your body also appreciates breaks and seasonal variety.

In this blog post, I’m going to be sharing three examples of how I commonly use periodization with my one-on-one clients:

• Example 1: Periodization in weight loss – how to alternate weight loss bursts with periods of maintenance, being realistic about calendar events
• Example 2: Periodization in body recomposition – how to structure periods of muscle gain and fat loss without compromising performance or hormonal health
• Example 3: Periodization in running – how to recreationally race (and even do multiple races a year) without burning out

Example 1: Periodization in weight loss

Unless you are aiming to lose less than 5-10 pounds, reaching a weight loss goal tends to take multiple months (at the very least). Even at a very rapid rate of weight loss like 2-5 pounds per week (which, yes, is rapid!), it’s wise to structure in periods of maintenance because it is inevitable that your weight loss efforts are going to bridge holidays, vacations, and busy work stresses. Because of the biggest enemy of weight loss is losing steam and falling completely off track (and then staying off track), it’s very smart to proactively plan the challenges and how you’re going to handle them and then bounce back. With weight loss, the big picture is what matters, and this is where periodization can be so helpful!

For example, let’s say you aim to lose 40 pounds. This realistically could take 4-12 months, depending on how rapidly you lose weight. Even in 4 months, you are going to hit at least one holiday, and if you start your journey at the beginning of fall, you’re going to hit 2-4 holidays. And that’s just holidays – not accounting for work deadlines, kids’ events, or other life transitions.

Periodization in weight loss means that you take a look at your calendar (let’s say the upcoming three months), and and bookmark certain periods where you’re just going to intentionally maintain. During those challenging periods, you’re going to cool your engines a bit – not take your foot completely off the pedal, but just… slow down a little. Maybe instead of going to the gym six days a week, you go three. Maybe instead of 12,000 steps a day, you take 7,000. Maybe instead of tracking every meal, you just do your meal prep and go about your business. And you have no expectations for weight loss during those times – you bide your time, delivering the bare minimum of your health-promoting habits, and then when the moment is right, you hit the gas again.

Here’s an example of periodizing your weight loss based on your calendar:

• Weeks 1-2: nothing going on, hit the gym 5x/week and adhere quite closely to nutrition goals, expect to lose 1-3 pounds
• Week 3: busy work deadline, decrease workouts to 3x/week, allow for more like 50-80% nutrition adherence, expect to lose 0 pounds
• Week 4: back to normal, back to gym 5x, expect 1-2 pounds of weight loss
• Week 5: weekend wedding, hit the gym 4x during the week, be extra conscientious with nutrition, take it easy on alcohol at wedding and do a hotel gym run, expect 0 pounds of weight loss

This is a busy month, but you might still lose 2-5 pounds, even though things aren’t perfect – and there are serious mental health benefits to not holding yourself to rigid expectations!

There’s a big difference between maintaining and completely giving up, and that is how periodization can significantly help with weight loss. It helps you identify periods of higher effort vs. periods of lower effort – not falling into all-or-nothing thinking, which is ultimately what torpedoes progress. If you can modify your expectations to not be attached to weight loss during maintenance periods, you can make your weight loss efforts much more successful.

When you build breaks into the plan, they’re not failures – they’re part of the plan! That’s periodization.

Example 2: Periodization in body recomposition

In a different example, let’s say you want to lose 5-10 pounds of fat, but you’re already in decently good shape and just want to look more defined. This often goes hand in hand with gaining muscle and improving strength, as well.

For fitter, leaner people, the problem is that your body has trouble focusing on more than one thing at the same time – unlike for a beginner, your body will not want to lose fat and build muscle at the same time. In concrete terms, women who are seeking to gain muscle will struggle to gain more than a pound (or even a half pound!) of muscle per month, even with a really smart training and nutrition plan. And if you’re trying to lose weight at the same time, this can backfire.

Your physical performance, your hormones, and your mental health will all work the most optimally if you focus on one goal at a time. This is where periodization is incredibly helpful.

For example, for leaner people, it’s smart to periodize your efforts cyclically something like this:

• Fall and winter – hypertrophy, lots of weightlifting and muscle gain, slight calorie surplus, maybe 3-5 pounds of (mostly) muscle gain
• Holidays – maintain weight, maintain healthy habits to best of ability
• Spring – maintain strength, focus on fat loss, slight calorie deficit, maybe 3-5 pounds of (mostly) fat lost
• Summer – maintain weight, maintain healthy habits to best of ability

Periodization helps you effectively improve performance and gain muscle during some parts of the year, and harmlessly create a calorie deficit and see good physique results at another part of the year. It also takes into account the fact that some seasons will see no progress – for example, if the holidays and summer are busy (as they are for many parents), it can be wise to set low expectations of any “progress” other than maintenance and healthy habits!

For very active people, periodization also helps to prevent injury by acknowledging seasonality, and building in some buffers for recovery. It also helps weight-conscious, leaner people get out of constant diet mode, which can restore optimal hormonal levels and actually make progress more visible and satisfying.

This cyclical model of weight management and athletic performance is a great gear to shift into once you’ve reached an ideal weight, if you’re still in the weight loss mode of the first example!

Example 3: Periodization in running

Ahhh, runners…

I am a runner myself, so I know this territory well.

I am using running as an example of periodization because it is unique in its “cultural” pressure and opportunity – most women are more likely to sign up for a 5k or a half marathon than they are to enter a powerlifting meet. Plus, I see women literally run themselves ragged more often than I see them overdoing it at the gym.

Then, if you layer on the extra dimension of runners being weight-conscious… then it’s really a recipe for disaster.

Running has great opportunities for periodization, but they are unfortunately often overlooked because runners often tend to struggle with burnout and injuries. Many runners sign up for one race and then another and another without providing ample time for recovery and cross-training.

Instead of getting caught in the grind of high-mileage running with no end in sight, here is a suggested training cycle that allows for several races a year with optimal performance (and low risk of injury):

• Spring: a few shorter, faster races, maybe a 5k and a 10k (speed work but not a ton of mileage)
• Summer: cross-training, weightlifting, maintain strong 5K base (just running a few times a week)
• Fall: train for your big race(s) – perhaps a half marathon, or even a half marathon on the way to a full marathon
• Winter: cross-training, weightlifting, just a few runs a week

It is also important to point out that long-distance running (which I would classify as anything over a 10k) is not a good way to lose weight. Long-distance running is a sport, and it needs tons of fuel – especially carbohydrates. When weight-conscious runners tackle long-distance training but continue to restrict carbohydrates and calories, this is a perfect storm for burnout, injury, and lackluster results.

If a runner wants to lose some body fat, the smart approach is to create the yearly cyclical training plan that I outlined above, and only focus on fat loss during cross-training seasons (if you’re not rehabbing an injury), or even a tiny bit during a shorter race season (like training for a faster 5k). When I work with half marathon and marathon runners who are also prioritizing weight loss, we taper off weight loss goals once their long runs are over 10 miles because once you hit a certain level, you need higher carbs and calories even on your rest days.

If you are trying to run long-distance and lose fat at the same time, you are essentially asking your body to choose between fueling the run and recovering from the run. And your body will choose fueling the run, which means that there are no resources left for recovery – and this is where injuries (and poor performance) begin to simmer.

Periodization helps you focus on making great progress by building in seasonal recovery and variety, which is great for athletic performance!

Conclusion

Periodization means that you embrace seasonality, and you know what you are focusing on at the moment. You know what is coming up in the future (and how you will shift your efforts), but you are 100% in the present and concentrating your efforts on your current goals. While health-promoting behaviors are always in season, periodization gives you options for balancing your efforts around your actual life, and it boosts both physical and mental health by promoting optimal hormonal function as well as realistic expectations about results.

Whether we’re talking about weight loss, body recomposition, or athletic performance, periodization can be an incredibly impactful tool for preventing all-or-nothing thinking, as well as taking your progress to the next level!

Need help making a plan for yourself? Feeling stuck? Schedule a free 30-minute consultation with me, and let’s chat!