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Periodization for Novice, Intermediate,

and Advanced Lifters
15–19 minutes

In the last installment of the Powerlifting Programs series, we

analyzed the critical training variables that must be manipulated
properly in order to satisfy the core, foundational principles of all
good powerlifting programming. Namely, we discussed intensity,
volume, and frequency.

Our previous discussion analyzed these topics only in relation to

each other. In this article, we’ll endeavor to put these concepts into
the context of an actual powerlifting program. In other words, the
primary focus of this writing is going to be the planning and
organization of powerlifting training. We’ll use ProgrammingToWin’s
concepts of the “novice”, the “intermediate”, and the “advanced”
athlete as hypothetical lifters for whom we are designing a training
cycle. This will better help us understand these concepts in the
context of reality.

If you’d prefer to watch rather than read:

Overview

Mladen Jovanovi?’s concept of the three-level model to training

organization is going to be central to our discussion:
Photo: complementarytraining.blogspot.com

At the highest level, we have to develop a competitive plan for the

athlete based on the realities of the calendar. We have to answer
questions such as: when is the next meet, how many weeks do we
have to prepare, what are the training objectives, and several
others we’ll soon discuss.

Dropping down to the next level, we arrive at periodization.

Periodization is the process by which we organize, combine, and
plot the timeline of training goals. For example, the early part of a
powerlifter’s “off-season” (in-between meets) may be dedicated
primarily to muscular hypertrophy. As the meet draws closer, the
training focus would likely shift more towards improving maximal
strength. In this case, the exact length of each period, the method
of transition between periods, and the level of emphasis on
particular training objectives during each period is the very
definition of “periodization”.

Finally, we get to familiar territory. The third level deals with

programming. By my definition here, programming entails the
actual manipulation of volume, intensity, and frequency to produce
the training effects that the periodization plan calls for.

The Novice Powerlifter

To best understand the interplay between the different levels of

planning, I think working our way through a number of hypothetical
powerlifting case studies is appropriate. First, we’ll begin with
novices.

In Practical Programming, Mark Rippetoe pioneered the idea that

“novice”, “intermediate”, and “advanced” athletes all require
different periodization lengths in order to optimize rates of
progression. By Rippetoe’s definition, a “novice” is a lifter who can
perform a workout which stimulates an adaptation and recover from
that workout in time for his next training session. In simple terms, a
novice can set a PR on the squat on Monday and, by the time
Wednesday rolls around, they’re ready and capable of doing setting
another one.

You can see that the novice goes through a full stress-recovery-
adaptation cycle between each workout.Photo: Practical
Programming 3rd Ed, Mark Rippetoe, 2014.

For novices, the competitive plan is always going to entail

improving everything. Primarily, they need better technique, more
muscle, and more strength.

Now, in terms of periodization, it is completely inappropriate to

organize a novice’s training into distinct periods where each training
objective is focused upon for a given time before another then
assumes the emphasis. One of the hallmarks of the novice is that
they require very little volume in order to make progress. Because
of this, novices can, and, indeed should, develop all of their training
objectives simultaneously – this is called Complex-Parallel
Periodization. Even combined, the amount of volume they need to
improve their muscle mass, technique, and maximal strength will
not be enough to overwhelm their adaptive capacity.

Additionally, when we talk about programming for a novice, the

truth is that it is unnecessary to manipulate intensity and volume
within a given training week or training period. Optimizing volume
for a novice is as simple as making sure that, each session, they do
enough to produce an adaptation and not so much that they can’t
recover in time for their next session. Variety in volume just isn’t
needed.

Because the novice is so readily capable of improving all physical

attributes simultaneously, it makes a great deal of sense to pick an
intensity range, such as 80-85%, that will provide a nice blend of
technical improvement, increased muscle mass, and improved
maximal strength. Lately, and perhaps traditionally too, sets of five
have been used for this purpose. 5s are appropriate for the novice
because they offer a nice blend of size and strength without
introducing too much of a muscular endurance component that
often interferes with technique development in the novice lifter.

The Intermediate Powerlifter

Returning to Rippetoe’s definitions, an intermediate trainee is one

who can no longer sustain workout to workout performance
improvement.

For the intermediate, the loads required to produce an adaptation

require recovery periods substantially longer than 48-72hrs. As
such, during the intermediate phase, programming variety becomes
necessary. That is, intensity and volume must be manipulated.
In this example, the intermediate requires a full week to complete
each stress-recovery-adaptation cycle.
Photo: Practical Programming 3rd Ed, Mark Rippetoe, 2014.

Consider the Texas Method.

In Rippetoe’s Texas Method, Monday serves as the volume

stimulus, Wednesday serves as a light day which allows further
recovery but helps prevent detraining, and on Friday the lifter
demonstrates their performance improvements by attempting a PR.
Each week, the cycle is repeated.

The competitive plan for the intermediate is markedly different from

that of the novice. By the time a trainee reaches the intermediate
phase of strength training, they should be participating in meets. As
such, the meet calendar becomes an important consideration in the
overall competitive plan.

Nonetheless, in terms of periodization, the Complex-Parallel

approach remains entirely appropriate. Intermediates generally do
not require periods of specific focus on individual performance
attributes. Programming variety and load manipulation is all that is
required to sustain progress.

Mesocycles and Microcycles

At this point, I need to introduce the concepts of mesocycles and
microcycles. For the novice, each workout and the following
recovery period constitutes both an entire mesocycle and
microcycle. Using the weekly Texas Method model discussed
above, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday would all represent
microcycles, each with an individual purpose, and each training
week would represent a full training mesocycle.

Mon: Volume Day – Microcycle

Wed: Recovery Day – Microcycle
Fri: Intensity Day – Microcycle
Each full Training Week: Mesocycle

You can easily see how the “Texas Method” model could be applied
to a three week wave rather than taking place inside of a single
week. In this case, each week, with its particular volume and
intensity combination, would represent a microcycle and the full
three weeks would constitute a mesocycle.

Week 1: Volume Week / “Accumulation” – Microcycle

Week 2: Recovery Week / “Deload” – Microcycle
Week 3: Intensity Week / “Intensification” – Microcycle
Each Three Week Wave: Mesocycle

My Definition of Intermediate

Rippetoe’s definition of the intermediate trainee ends when the lifter

can no longer sustain PRs on a weekly mesocycle. However,
personally, I find it more useful to consider an intermediate trainee
as anyone who can still use a Complex-Parallel approach to their
periodization.

While the novice-intermediate-advanced categories presented by

Rippetoe are incredibly novel and quite useful in some contexts, the
truth is that level of adaptability exists along a continuum. A week is
just an arbitrary measure of time chosen by human beings for
social convenience. At one point in the intermediate stage, you may
only need 5 days to complete a full adaptive cycle, but, as you get
stronger, you’ll eventually need 7 days, then 9, and so on. The
relationship between volume and recovery is not only different for
everybody, but it is constantly changing as an athlete makes
progress.

Making distinctions based on the length of each training mesocycle

and microcycle quickly loses utility. For that reason, as stated
above, I prefer to define an intermediate as any trainee who can
still make progress on all physical attributes equally and
simultaneously so long as volume and intensity are properly
manipulated.

The Advanced Powerlifter

Eventually, an athlete will reach the point where the volumes

required to stimulate further improvements in specific physical
attributes are so high that it becomes physically impossible to
continue developing them simultaneously.

While it is true that work capacity and recovery ability improve over
the course of an athlete’s training career, they do so in absolute
terms. For everybody, there is an upper limit to recovery. When this
point is reached, an athlete will risk overtraining if they continue to
hammer away at the Complex-Parallel approach.

When this begins to happen, most athletes turn to performance

enhancing drugs to artificially raise their overall recovery limitations.
This allows them to simply add more volume rather than increase
periodization complexity.

However, there is an alternative: Block Periodization. Block

Periodization uses planned training periods, or mesocycles, to
focus upon specific physical attributes such as muscular
hypertrophy, maximal strength, or explosive strength. In the very
strictest of Block Periodization interpretations, only one quality is
focused upon per period. The blocks are organized in strategic
order so that the effects of the previous block carryover positively
into the next.

As you can see, with block, each quality is developed sequentially.

The acronyms aren’t important: substitute any qualities you want
into the boxes.

Pendulum / Emphasis Periodization

So, on one end of the spectrum, we have Complex-Parallel

periodization where virtually all physical attributes are trained
simultaneously and, on the other, we have Block periodization
where each quality is trained in isolation. As you might have
already realized, the reality is that the vast majority of us will benefit
most from something in-between the two extremes.

One very intelligent approach is the Pendulum/Emphasis

periodization scheme. In the off-season, for example, 67% of our
training might be directed towards muscular hypertrophy whereas
only 33% would be placed on improving maximal force production.
For “early” advanced trainees (remember, it is a continuum), this
will result in small improvements in maximal strength and large
gains in muscular hypertrophy. As the training cycle progresses, the
pendulum would swing and the emphasis may become 67%
maximal force production. In this manner, multiple physical
attributes are improved simultaneously, but the loading is
concentrated in a particular direction.

It is my opinion that this Pendulum/Emphasis style of periodization

is going to be optimal for most powerlifters with multiple years of
training experience.

Summary

Whenever we’re organizing our training, the first thing we have to

take into consideration is the competitive plan. When is the next
meet? How many weeks do we have? What classification of athlete
are we?

If we’re a “novice”, very little planning and training variable

manipulation is required. The novice can use a Complex-Parallel
periodization, improve all important training qualities
simultaneously, and do it without variety in intensity and volume
from workout to workout.

Now, if we’re an “intermediate”, by definition, we’re going to require

variety from microcycle to microcycle in terms of intensity and
volume. Typically, intermediate programs call for periods of
“accumulation” (higher volume) and “intensification” (low volume,
but heavy weights). The length of the accumulation and
intensification would depend on the intermediate trainee’s exact
level of adaptability. They might be operating within a weekly
mesocycle such as the Texas Method or they may be using a
monthly mesocycle such as Jim Wendler’s 5/3/1.

Only advanced trainees require more complex periodization

models. For the advanced athlete, the volumes required to spur
progress in any given physical attribute are so high that it is simply
impossible to develop them all simultaneously. As such, periods of
emphasis on specific attributes become necessary and this is
where block periodization enters the picture. Not only does the
advanced athlete have to incorporate complex programming
models that appropriately manipulate volume and intensity, but they
have to layer that manipulation in with the objectives of their
periodization plan at the determined times in their training cycle.

You can see that as you reach each new stage of training
advancement, a level of complexity is layered into the training.

Moving Forward

I did my absolute best to simplify the academic monster that is

training organization in this article. However, for those of you out
there for whom anything is still murky, please feel free to ask! I will
do my best to help. Additionally, I’d highly recommend snagging a
copy of Practical Programming for Strength Training if you’re
looking for further academic understanding.

Moving forward, we’ll begin our analysis of popular training

programs by beginning where I began: Starting Strength.

Did You Enjoy The ProgrammingToWin Series?

If so, you’ll absolutely love our eBook ProgrammingToWin! The

book contains over 100 pages of content, discusses each scientific
principle of programming in-depth, and provides six different full
programs for novice and intermediate lifters. Get your copy now!

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Table of Contents

Powerlifting Programs I: Scientific Principles of Powerlifting

Programming
Powerlifting Programs II: Critical Training Variables
Powerlifting Programs III: Training Organization
Powerlifting Programs IV: Starting Strength
Powerlifting Programs V: StrongLifts 5×5
Powerlifting Programs VI: Jason Blaha’s 5×5 Novice Routine
Powerlifting Programs VII: Jonnie Candito’s Linear Program
Powerlifting Programs VIII: Sheiko’s Novice Routine
Powerlifting Programs IX: GreySkull Linear Progression
Powerlifting Programs X: The PowerliftingToWin Novice Program
Powerlifting Programs XI: Madcow’s 5×5
Powerlifting Programs XII: The Texas Method
Powerlifting Programs XIII: 5/3/1 and Beyond 5/3/1
Powerlifting Programs XIV: The Cube Method
Powerlifting Programs XV: The Juggernaut Method
Powerlifting Programs XVI: Westside Barbell Method
Powerlifting Programs XVII: Sheiko Routines
Powerlifting Programs XVIII: Smolov and Smolov Junior
Powerlifting Programs XIX: Paul Carter’s Base Building
Powerlifting Programs XX: The Lilliebridge Method
Powerlifting Programs XXI: Jonnie Candito’s 6 Week Strength
Program
Powerlifting Programs XXII: The Bulgarian Method for Powerlifting
Powerlifting Programs XXIII: Brian Carroll’s 10/20/Life
Powerlifting Programs XXIV: Destroy the Opposition by Jamie
Lewis
Powerlifting Programs XXV: The Coan/Philippi Deadlift Routine
Powerlifting Programs XXVI: Korte’s 3×3
Powerlifting Programs XXVII: RTS Generalized Intermediate
Program