So you want to learn about Concurrent Periodisation... take a seat, this is going to take a minute.
Lets start with what it means. Concurrent means to train two physical abilities at once during a micro-cycle.
You may be thinking, physical abilities? What does that even mean? I'll lay them out for you.
- Maximal effort method (1RM)
- Repetition method (hypertrophy)
- Speed work (50-75% for maximal speed)
- Strength Endurance (~80% high sets, medium reps)
- Power (85-95% 1RM)
- Strength Speed (70-90% 1RM high sets, low reps)
- Ballistic Training (30-50% 1RM)
For your main lifts or activities in your workouts you need to alternate between two of the above. You may be a strength athlete in your off-season so you'll pick the repetition method on Upper 1 and strength endurance on Upper 2 for example.
Merging Concurrent into a split
The best way to design a split with concurrent periodisation is an upper/lower split
- Upper 1 (Repetition Method)
- Lower 2 (Repetition Method)
- Upper 2 (Strength Endurance)
- Lower 2 (Strength Endurance)
However if you don't like this split you can do the following
- Day 1 (Repetition Method)
- Day 2 (Strength Endurance)
- Day 3 (Repetition Method)
- Day 4 (Strength Endurance)
Supplemental Lifts
While that is only your MAIN lifts we still have a whole programme to craft.
After your main lift you now have a second objective, what is going to help the lift or activity you just performed the most in a different way? Most of the time it will be volume orientated. For example if your performing a heavy pause bench then you may move on to an incline bench etc... Reason being is your main lifts don't grow without support from supplemental lifts and those lifts do not get stronger without the work put in to your main lifts, a ying and yang effect.
Accessories
Make sure to have a handful of accessory lifts that complete your workouts. This is your tricep work, isolation work etc depending on what your training that day, around 80% of your workout should be accessory based.
Progression
There's a few methods to this, Create your split, times by 4 and make that into a 4 week plan. In those 4 weeks, each week you can either depending on the physical ability your training you can
- Add Weight
- Reduce Rest Times
- Increase Volume
Now I hope for you the reader you have the intuition to know which one is appropriate depending on the ability your training.
Rules To Follow
Every 4 weeks revaluate your lifts and switch them around, if you do not, you run risk of stagnation, overuse injuries and boredom. Do not change the abilities your working on before 4 weeks is up. You need this time for your body to accommodate and adapt to the challenges your throwing at yourself and then improve upon that. Plan a deload every 8 to 12 weeks, it doesn't have to be major but the body does need a break after two solid blocks of work.