Theory vs Practice: A Survey on Periodization with Kechi Anyadike-Danes

MOPs & MOEs

We have Kechi Anyadike-Danes back for round two to discuss the second installment of his planned three part research series looking into the divide between human performance research and education and the reality of actual coaching practice.

This episode is specifically focused on periodization. We chart the history of how periodization theory developed, and then we look at how coaches responded to a variety of questions about core concepts within periodization.

Kechi is a doctoral student at the German Sport University Cologne where he has been looking at various aspects of athlete preparation and how coaches perceive various theories, concepts and strongly held beliefs that exist in the training literature. His doctoral research is being supervised and helped by friend of the pod John Kiely from the University of Limerick and Lars Donath from the German Sport University Cologne. Kechi doesn't just focus on the theoretical, he is also passionate about training and coaching (especially weightlifting).

You can find the full text of Kechi's paper here.

We also discussed Yuri Verkhoshansky's paper "The End of 'Periodization' in the Training of High Performance Sport" an abbreviated translation of which can be found here.

The paper by Matt Clark that we mentioned is available on Modern War Institute here.

Some recommended further reading:

Foundations of Training Periodization Part I: Historical Outline by Jimmy Pedemonte

Foundation of Training Periodization Part II: The Objective of Periodization by Jimmy Pedemonte

From Russia with Love? Sixty years of proliferation of L.P. Matveyev’s concept of Periodisation? by Arnd Kruger

Kechi asked us to include on correction to the section when was discussing a system used in ancient Rome/Greece. The system was called the Tetrad. It is not known whether this was the only approach but it is one that has been popularly discussed due to it appearing in a book called 'On Gymnastics' by Philostratus. Below is the description:

By the tetrad system we mean a cycle of four days, each one of which is devoted to a different activity. The first day prepares the athlete; the second is an all-out trial; the third is relaxation; and the fourth a medium-hard workout. The exercise of the first day, the one that prepares him, is made up of short, intense movements which stir up the athlete and prepare him for the hard workout to follow on the next day. The strenuous day (the second) is an all-out test of his potential. The third, the day of relaxation, so to speak, employs his energy in a moderate way, while on the day of the medium workout (the last day), the athlete practices breaking holds himself and preventing his opponent from breaking away.