"How many times a week should i train?" This is a question often asked in discussion forums. And the answer is "any number of times necessary to achieve your goals".
In this installment we will look at a few classic program designs, starting from the most often to the least often.
We will refer to the sine wave again. Take note that you have to balance the peaks and valleys. The more often you try to push, the more often you have to back off.
For our purpose of kettlebell lifting, we will only consider full body training. Body parts splits have no place for us. However you could split your training into Jerk Days, Snatch Days, Assistance Lifts Days or any combination of these.
Check out www.girevoysport.ru and http://girevoysportafter40.blogspot.com/2009/01/two-roads-to-same-end.html for some of these programs.
By the way, the microcycle does not have to be one week long. It can be as short as three days. I don't know what is the longest. But one week is a common one and easy to program.
Seven days a week
This should only happen once in a blue moon. The body needs rest at least once a week.
Five to six days a week
A classic program utilized by professionals. Needs a lot of variation in the training load. Tricky and can be mentally taxing. Generally the two rest days are consecutive days.
Four days a week
Another classic. Two days on, one day off, two days on, two days off.
Eg: Mon strength, tue endurance, wed off, thur strength, fri endurance, sat & sun off.
Another variation is to separate the two consecutive days from the other two days.
Eg: Mon - wed - fri - sat.
Three days a week
I think this is the most common program followed by recreational/amateur athletes. Has a good balance of training and non-training days. Easy to program.
Eg: Mon - wed - fri, tue - thur - sat.
Two times a week
Should only be done ocasssionally. Maybe for a back off week or when travelling or tapering for a competition.
Three times in two weeks
This maybe useful if you split your lifts. I see this in some powerlifting programs. Say you do Jerk on mon - fri - next wed, snatch wed - next mon - fri.
Once a week
I don't think this is worth considering at all. Too infrequent to make any significant loading and therefore progress.
The back off week
Every three weeks or so, you should take a back off week to recover from all the training load. Start over on the fifth week with a load slightly higher than the first week or you can continue the progression from the third week onward.
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Now these are some examples of waving your load. Load is defined as either volume or intensity or both. The numbers refer to the load, which is an arbitrary unit. This is as simple as it gets. For further details, refer to Pavel's Power to The People.
Three days a week, two steps forward, one step back.
Week 1: 10 - 11 - 12
Week 2: 11 - 12 - 13
Week 3: 12 - 13 - 14
Week 4: 6 - 6.5 - 7 (Back off week. Half the load of the previous week)
Week 5: 11 - 12 - 13
Week 6: 12 - 13 -14
Week 7: 13 -14 -15
Week 8: 6.5 - 7 - 7.5 (Back off week. Half the load of the previous week)
The number of steps forward and back can be any number depending on your recovery ability.
Three days a week, forward for three weeks, start over from second week.
Week 1: 10 -11 -12
Week 2: 13 -14 - 15
Week 3: 16 - 17 - 18
Week 4: 8 - 8.5 - 9 (Back off week. Half the load of the previous week)
Week 5: 13 - 14 - 15
Week 6: 16 - 17 - 18
Week 7: 18 -19 - 20
Week 8: 9 - 9.5 - 10
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The 4x7
We cannot discuss microcycle without discussing The 4x7. The program looks like this:
Day 1: Moderate (strength), RPE 5-7
Day 2: High (endurance), RPE 8-10
Day 3: No, Intu-Flow(R), RPE 1-2
Day 4: Low, Intu-Flow(R) and Prasara Yoga, RPE 3-4
RPE = rate of perceived effort. It is assumed that RPT is => 8, and RPD is =<3.
So far this is the most interesting program that i have tried. Because you can have more than one goal in one cycle and progress for all of them.
Think of The 4x7 as two different programs back to back. So the Mod Days are one cycle and the High Days as another cycle. The High Day is a peak day. Peaking every four days is very frequent by most standards but it is balanced by the two recovery days.
The different intensities are supposed to be done in this order. Follow the program to the letter and you'll experience the magic.
You can take more recovery days but not less. Example if you a travelling take an extra No or Low etc. This is the only program whereby the recovery days are dictated. And yes, you must take recovery days to keep progressing. The more you subject your body to abuse, the more you need to compensate for it (refer to sine wave again). As it has been said, most people don't overtrain, they underrecover.
There is no need to take a back off week with 4x7 as recovery is already built-in.
As to how proven is this program i have no idea. There is no papers published comparing 4x7 to other programs.
Check out Scott Sonnon's blog for more details: http://www.rmaxinternational.com/flowcoach/?p=41
Next Instalment: The Training Day
