To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under the sun:
A time to be born and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build up;
A time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to lose and a time to seek; a time to tie up and a time to untie;
A time to rend and a time to sew; a time to keep silent and a time to speak;
A time to love and a time to hate; a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 4:1-8
Periodization deals with training the competitor in a fashion that develops different components of skill and athleticism at different times. This is done in order to bring the competitor to peak performance and maintain it over a desired stretch of competition.
Obviously, we cannot function at peak performance indefinitely; by definition a peak is preceded by improving performance and followed by waning performance.
As it goes with the Kairos Methodology and any intelligent approach to conditioning the athlete, the order of the conditioning challenges and their intensity will vary according to the competitor’s attributes and goals.
Periodization in life!
Patterns and cycles are everywhere. They are seen in nature. A flower, a mountain range, a cloud formation – geometric patterns can be seen in these. These things might be considered to be patterns revealed through a cycle; or even many different overlapping cycles – cycles within cycles.
The flower, the mountain, and the cloud are all subject to the seasons – winter, spring, summer, and fall. Within these seasons come cycles of increased rainfall, cycles of drought.
The positioning of the planets even affects the pattern of the life of the mountain, flower, and cloud.
There is little that can compare to the experience of building one’s person to excel in sport and simultaneously implementing and relying upon the principle of periodization.
So, training the athlete is like composing a symphony or designing a building. The factors that will affect the success or failure are combinative. To name some of the demands of the soccer player – he or she has to build muscle mass, increase power and quickness, enhance endurance, and hone skills and develop soccer intelligence.
Through the experience of striving in sport, one can begin to learn to deal with the many diverse challenges we face outside of sport.
The point is that these challenges do not come to us sequentially. If we are going to examine our lives and attempt to improve as people, we have endless responsibilities to which we must tend. We must be sons and daughters, parents, friends, students, workers, teachers, etc. Many of these responsibilities we carry out simultaneously.
The greatest trainers and those who improve in their lives constantly and steadily are masters of periodization!
