- Joined
- Mar 16, 2007
- Messages
- 25,912
see i think of periodization as a way to keep yourself from those stagnations, as well as a way to have a plan set out for what not only what youre doing now but also what you will be doing however long down the road (using macro/mesocycles etc).. im not saying that its not beneficial to switch things up but the idea that by not performing an exercise for three days your body will forget the required motor pattern is blatantly inaccurate
All I know is what I have learned from my experience in training with weights and cycling. If I use higher frequency and lower volume each day I will reap better results, end of story. With the cycling for instance, I would be much better off doing 25 miles per day for 4 days then I would be doing 100 miles in one day.
I think one of the biggest factors is that when you use low volume you are able to hit your exercies with much higher intensity(IE faster average speed in cycling and higher average weight in weightlifting). When you keep your workouts long you eventually have to lighten the load so that you can continue your exercise. If you keep the workout short you dont have to worry about that and can hit it hard 100% of the time. About 3 days later you come back and can hit it at 100% again for the entire time, wheras if you had done a long workout its going to take you 5 days or more to recover.