We all should cycle our training across the year so it fits in with your lifestyle, goals and, most importantly, your available time!
This can give us a HUGE mind set and confidence advantage:
- rest and recovery is planned in and can be set to holiday time. Nothing quite like feeling you have earned the R&R time and can enjoy the holiday with a better body and energy to boot
- injuries are non-existent or minimal as we cycle the stress of exercise creating balance. Ever seen that gym maniac that seems to put us to
shame then disappears with a blown shoulder or knee?
- Winter months can be used to work hard on strength work which is more an inside activity, Spring we can then hit the trails outside more
- Summer, this can be our 'season' where we can enjoy results from our hard work, take training back a notch and give the time to fun times
- Autumn is our 'pre-season' where
we prep again for a winter of harder work
This approach is really varied so can mean less boredom, injury or burn out.
Apply this to our ancestry then it fits with the seasons we would have had back then:
- Spring to reap
- Summer
to sow, hunt
- Autumn to preserve/ store
- Winter to rest, be together and 'hibernate'
Nutrition can be applied to this alongside
- heavy training we need to eat more whole foods, especially protein, this fits with the extra calories needed to keep warm in winter
- spring we can add in a bit more carbs as we get out more
- summer, naturally our appetites drop a bit, so we can use this time to experiment with new foods and relax the process a bit
I suppose the point I am trying to get out there is that following a cycling process can keep us on track and motivated.
Also
guilt is minimalized as time off means time off and is planned in.
Success comes from discipline.
Ride the wave, however ensure your have a good structure.
Note that this is not an 'I've done 3 hrs on the treadmill so I can have a pizza!' or 'don't worry I will burn it off later'. This mind set is a dieting
one and NOT sustainable.
Periodization is a flexible, SUSTAINABLE, process which could otherwise be called a lifestyle!
Being a 'product' of a healthy lifestyle leads to a healthy mind and body...for ever!
Roll with it!
J
