Thursday, February 14, 2013

Introduction to Training Cycle

FatsOff wishes all a Happy Chinese New Year! And yes, this is the period where snacks are in abundance! After the dust has settled, its time to get pumped and sweaty again!

In all training regimes, there must be a goal and objective in order to motivate you to sacrifice your time and effort. There are people who train blindly week in, week out with the same exercises. Our body reacts better when we have a plan. The best is to periodise your training. Here's an example of a training cycle:

Normally a full training cycle lasts from 6mths to a year depending on your objective (we call it the macrocycle). Each macrocycle will then be broken into smaller periods (mesocycles). Reason for that is if your objective is set 6mths away, you have no way to gauge if you are going in the right direction and also you might feel de-motivated. The goal in each mesocycles will serve as a checkpoint towards your ultimate objective. And for someone who does not exercise prior to taking up this training regime, more goals have to be set within a mesocycle in order to keep track on whether he/she is heading towards the correct direction. And thus, we will break each mesocycle into smaller sessions (we call them microcycles) each with their own goals.

Looks complicated? Well, let me summarize here to aid your understanding. Let's assume we are going for a fat burning training regime.

Full Cycle: 6mths (Macrocycle)
Objectives: Burn off 5kg of fats + tone up muscles
  • Stage 1: 4 weeks (Mesocycle)              
    Goal: Building up stamina and strength
    • Week 1 (Microcycle)
      Goals: Able to jog 3km in 25mins + Learn techniques of various gym training exercises
    • Week 2
      Goals: Able to jog 5km in 35mins + Able to do light weights training
    • Week 3
      Goals: Able to jog 7km in 50mins + Able to lift weights that are 65% of Rep Max for 12 reps (upper body)
    • Week 4
      Goals: Able to jog 10km in 75mins + Able to lift weights that are 65% of Rep Max for 12 reps (lower body)
Above is an example for the training cycle (up until Stage 1). Notice how each goal is defined so it is measureable in each of the week? A well-defined goal can serve as a checklist to keep you in the right direction ultimately towards your main objective. The reason I've combined both cardio and weights into the same regime is because both are essential in burning fats and doing without either of them would slow the entire process considerably.

For those full training regime, its still best to go through your fitness consultant or trainer as he/she would know how to analyse your body before coming out with the ideal training plan, as I've said before, no two individuals have the same training plans due to several factors.

I shall stop here for now. Stay tuned to FatsOff - your partner in fat-burning!!!

And lastly, GONG XI FA CAI!!!

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