#Repost @jailhousestrong with @get_repost ・・・ The concept of breaking training down into discrete periods of focus is not a new concept and is not solely a practice of athletes. Siff and Verkhoshansky, in their 1996 book, Supertraining,noted that ancient civilizations, such as the Chinese, Greeks, and Romans, understood the need for proper physical preparation for warfare. They realized that you simply couldn’t give a soldier his weapon and start to teach fighting techniques. The first thing they needed was to be whipped into shape. As for athletic training, the ancient Greek Olympians spent time in preparatory training for up to 10 months during each year, even in non-Olympic years. Kotov (1917) advised that training should be divided into general, preparatory, and specific training stages. Several Russian texts were written after this, emphasizing such training in track and field, skiing, gymnastics, boxing, water polo, and swimming. One of the earliest examples of periodization reached the Western world in 1946 in England, when Dyson used the Eastern approaches to training and developed a five-phase system of training. It included (a) non-competitive periods, involving gymnasium activities and cross-country running, (b) pre-competitive periods, (c) initial competitive periods, (d) main competitive periods, and (e) post-competitive periods. Today, periodization is used by all organized athletic teams. This is due not only to athletes’ needs, but also to guidelines set by governing bodies. In the NCAA, for example, there are strict guidelines for pre-season and off-season training. Think about all the great powerlifters who focus on hypertrophy and work capacity in the off-season, then dial in the big three specifically as a meet approaches. By cyclically attacking these goals and changing training methods and modalities as objectives were sequentially accomplished, this was periodization in action. Just think about it logically. Would a bodybuilder train the same way for a show four weeks out as he would four months out? Pictured John Grimek champion bodybuilder and world record holder in #overheadpress #jailhousestrong #gasstationready #tijuanabarbell (at Rancho Cucamonga, California) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bp2AqasheDk/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1nbjw4fcpm764