Masheen

Planning a week

Periodization

Also called periodisation, periodized training, training block, linear periodization, undulating periodization

Periodization is planning training in blocks of weeks, changing the sets, reps and weight from block to block on purpose.

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Week 8: 72.5 kg. Squat top weight by week: 80, 85, 90, 70, then 82.5, 87.5, 92.5, 72.5 kg. Two four-week waves.

In plain words

Instead of running the same session all year, you write the weeks out and vary them. Two models are named most. Linear periodization moves the plan in one direction over the weeks. Undulating periodization changes volume and intensity from day to day or week to week. The blocks have names too: a microcycle is about a week, a mesocycle is several weeks, a macrocycle is the whole plan. The evidence is mixed, and sources differ. A 2022 meta-analysis of 35 studies by Moesgaard and colleagues found periodized training gave larger one-rep max gains at equal volume, with muscle growth no different. The ACSM's 2026 position stand lists periodization among variables that did not consistently change outcomes.

An example

Squat, top weight by week across two four-week waves: 80, 85 and 90 kg, then a lighter week at 70. The second wave runs 82.5, 87.5 and 92.5 kg, then a lighter week at 72.5. Each wave starts a little higher than the last. In the 2022 meta-analysis, undulating plans gave larger strength gains than linear ones in trained lifters, but not in untrained ones.

Often confused with

Linear progression Linear progression adds weight every session; periodization plans whole blocks of weeks, lighter ones included.
Mesocycle A mesocycle is a block of several weeks of training planned as one unit, often four to six weeks ending in a lighter one.
Deload A deload is a short planned spell of easier training, usually a week, with less weight, fewer sets or both.
Linear progression Linear progression means adding the same small amount of weight to a lift every session, with the sets and reps left alone.
Volume Volume is how much training you do, counted either as the number of hard sets for a muscle in a week or as weight × reps added up across sets.
Intensity Intensity, in lifting, usually means how heavy the weight is next to the most you could lift once: the load as a percentage of your one-rep max.

Go deeper

Beginner strength programs compared Starting Strength, StrongLifts 5×5, GZCLP and 5/3/1 for Beginners in one table. Days, lifts, sets and reps, how the weight goes up, and what to do on a miss. Updated

Sources

  1. Moesgaard et al. 2022. Effects of periodization on strength and muscle hypertrophy in volume-equated resistance training programs. Sports Med 52(7):1647–1666 Read
  2. Currier et al. 2026. ACSM Position Stand: Resistance Training Prescription for Muscle Function, Hypertrophy, and Physical Performance in Healthy Adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 58(4):851–872 Read
  3. Bell et al. 2023. Integrating deloading into strength and physique sports training programmes: an international Delphi consensus approach. Sports Med Open 9(1):87 Read

Updated . How these pages are researched and corrected: editorial policy. Every term in the glossary.