Linear Periodization is a very popular form of training. It simply means that you start out with a fairly light weight at the start of a training cycle, and you add weight week by week until you are using a very heavy weight at the end of a training cycle. When lighter weights are used at the start of the cycle, more reps per sets are done. As the amount of weight increases from week to week over the training cycle, the amount of reps decreases, although the amount of reps doesn’t necessarily decrease every week, and may decrease every two or three weeks as weight is added from week to week.
Increase by the Right Amount of Weight from Week to Week
As you read through this article, an eight week linear periodization plan will be listed. It starts with ten reps and ends with one rep. The amount of weight that you use each week is based upon your own strength level when using various rep ranges. Using the right amount of weight as weight increases each week is the biggest key to making the training work. If you increase the amount of weight by too much from week to week, you end up straining more and more as you progress through the weeks. This is a sure way to fail. If you don’t increase by enough from week to week, you come to the end of the training cycle way under your single rep training max. This is why I would urge you to be very careful to follow the guideline in the right hand column for how much weight to use each week. You may have to go through the cycle more than once before you get the feel for how much weight to use for each exercise.
Stick with Strong Reps, Avoid Week Reps
I must also give my opinion by saying that I feel it is best to avoid training to failure and to stay within the boundaries of using strong reps. Strong reps are reps that you can do while using a steady even pace from rep to the next without slowing down your rep pace. Weak reps are the slower reps that occur at the end of set and should be avoided.
Example of Linear Periodization
Training Frequency
People vary widely in how often they need to train to respond best to their workouts. Personally, I am amazed at the number of people who experience incredible long term results by working a muscle group only once per week with a linear periodization program. It is also quite common to work a muscle group twice per week by using the linear periodization workout once per week for each muscle group, and then work each muscle group a second day of the week by doing two or three sets of ten reps using about 60% of a max single rep. This can be done as whole body workouts or split routines. You can also try the linear periodization cycle in combination with high frequency training by repeating the workout that is listed for each week three or more times per week. If you are working out within the boundaries of strong reps, high frequency training with a limited number of sets (as in 2 or 3 sets) tends to work well.
When to do More Warm up Sets
When using linear periodization, the training volume drops very low when you reach the weeks where you are only doing one to three reps per set for an exercise. This does not cause a problem for everyone, but others may lose strength and muscle mass from doing so few reps per workout. If this happens to you, do more warm up sets to increase your total workload and training volume. I recommend at least five to six warm up sets for five reps using forty to fifty percent of your single rep max if you need the extra training volume. You may add to your warm up volume even more by preceding this with a set or two of ten reps with 30% of your single rep max.
By doing extra warm up sets, you can increase your total workload and stimulate your metabolism and nervous system during the weeks where only a few reps are being done per exercise. This will help you to maintain the strength that you have built up from the earlier weeks of the training cycle. Precision training and sensible adjustments according to what your body needs is a huge key to experiencing success with linear periodization or any type of training. If you have been using linear periodization or may be using it in the future, consider giving these principles a try. Best of training to you.