Fact: female bodies change day to day, week to week.
Fact: no female body is the same.
There’s many different ways to create a sound strength and conditioning program. It’s also a case of different strokes for different folks. But we can’t deny the research that clearly shows how much more empowering an undulating periodisation model of programming for an active woman can be compared to one that’s linear.
Huh?!
In a 1 month training block linear periodisation might look (very simply) like an effort of:
Week 1: 75%
Week 2: 85%
Week 3: 95%
Week 4: 100%
Undulating periodisation, on the other hand, modulates between hard, moderate, light throughout the week and the training block. A week might look like:
1: Hard
2: Mod
3: Easy
4: Hard
5: Mod
6: Hard-mod
7: Rest
And a month might look like:
Week 1: More intense
Week 2: Intense—moderate
Week 3: Moderate
Week 4: Recovery and skill work
As women, because of our hormone profile, we have a built in deload system—PMS week (the luteal phase of our cycle). I talk more about the menstrual cycle and training here and here.
This is a more effective way to train for women because of hormone fluctuations and how lifestyle factors contribute to the management of:
Stress
Nutrition
Sleep
… which directly impacts the ability to create stimulus and adaptation in the gym.
Modulating training allows for LIFE!
It allows you to be exhausted and decide that an intense day is not going to benefit you physically or mentally but you can still do something without beating yourself up.
For you to put being well rested and estrogen-charged to use for a good session.
For you to adapt your training with PMS and still make progress.
For you to still play all the roles in life as caregiver, mother, worker, partner and still make progress without the pressure of it being all or nothing.
To feel empowered by your training, develop body autonomy and use different intensities to contribute to your progress without burning you out or leaving your questioning if you worked hard enough.
The Bold Collective: Out of Gym Edition modulates training for you so you don’t have to work it out for yourself. You will still progress no matter what is going on in life—even during a pandemic. This is a program that is designed to bridge the gap from gym, home, gym so you know that once COVID-19 has settled you're going to return to the gym not questioning if you were training properly at home.
Come on over here to learn more.