A way to plan your training

     Fitness is one of those things that is extremely personalized. What works for one person may not work for another. For example, one of my clietns prefers to lift heavy weights because they like the changes within their body. Another client of mine prefers the more endurance style of workouts with cardio at the end. Certain exercises may work for others while others may not work for. If I may use my clients again. One likes to squat while another prefers to deadlift. This is due to a previous injury that one as sustained while previously working out. The type of training may work for one person while others may not enjoy it. One may prefer running and more cardio while another may prefer to lift weights. I'm more of a lift heavy with sprints and short distance running (3 miles or less). I worked with others that enjoy the longer distance running.

    In whichever style of training....notice I said training instead of working out. Working out implies exercises with no end goal. Training typically has a goal.

    One way to look at training is to break it down into Mesocycles or four-to-six-week training blocks. Within mesocycles training can be broken down into phases such as Accumulation, transmutation and realization. Accumulation would be your heaviest cycle in terms of volume and intensity. This block could be two to six weeks with a focus on a particular skill such as power, speed, strength, or hypertrophy. Reps, sets, and load is manipulated to reflect that training. Power would be lighter weights performed quickly. Think Olympic lifts or plyometrics. Strength is lifting heavy with lower reps (five or less) and performed at a slower pace. Hypertrophy splits the difference in terms of weight, reps sets. Typically, its eight to ten reps with roughly 67-85% of your 1RM. For a more cardio centric approach it is typically more volume with additional higher intensity sessions 

    Transmutation reduces the overall volume with the goal of increasing the weight involved. Take a power clean for example. In accumulation phase it may be six sets of five reps. In transmutation it could be three sets of five reps. Hypertrophy could go from four to five sets to three. This phase rarely lasts for more than four weeks. Cardio would focus more on intensity as opposed to volume

    Realization is similar to a taper stage. Tapering is reduction within training to stay "fresh" this would entail cutting down the volume to two to three sets per exercise or reduction of cardio sessions. This phase would last seven to fourteen days.

    These phases are associated with a build-up, hitting the accelerator then backing off for a week or two then reving training back up. It is designed to maintain training over the course of a longer period. Training too long at too high of intensity could potentionally lead to overtraining or worse injuries.