So, you’ve started training. You’ve been doing the same thing almost daily now for the past few weeks and things seem to be going well. Now what? You know that the body needs change in a routine in order to hit new levels of fitness. But, how do you change it up? Do you run more miles? Lift more weights? Swim more laps? How much is too much or not enough to achieve results? Believe it or not, it’s not as hard you think to step your fitness up to the next level if you can follow a plan of periodization in your training.

Periodization should generally follow a pattern of base building, intensity, tapering, competing, and then ending with a recovery period. Base building needs to last at least three to four weeks where the intensity is kept to a minimum and the volume of training is high. Every week, there should be a slight increase in volume, but because the intensity is kept low, the body can adapt to increased volume without added stress. This is a crucial cycle because if your body is not able to tolerate volume, it will not be ready to handle the next cycle of intensity.

Following the base period, intensity is the next focus. During this cycle, you begin to stress the body in a different way but adding more intense workouts. This can mean, adding in speed workouts in the pool or on the track or lifting heavier weights in the gym. However, it is important to decrease the volume of your training when you increase the intensity so that your body can recover from each workout. Similar to increasing volume, you need to increase intensity slowly and only once your body has adapted to the previous workout.

One of the hardest, yet most important aspects of periodization, is rest and recovery. Prior to competition, you need to taper off your workouts and allow your body to recover from the previous weeks of training. Many athletes think they need to train more before competition to ensure that they’ll be ready for the demands about to be placed on the body. But this is not true. Your body needs the rest in order to be ready for competition day. Tapering is done by cutting back on volume, not intensity. Keep your intense days hard, but cut down the time you devote to the workout. This way, your body is continuously experiencing the stress, but it doesn’t break it down as much.

Recovery from competition is also a vital aspect of training. During competition season, your body experiences a high amount of stress. Once this cycle is over, you need to allow your body time to recover. Depending on the duration of your competition season, you may need several weeks to fully recover and begin the base period again. Following these guidelines will help you plan your competition cycle and get there injury free and ready to go!