Why periodisation is NOT just for performance in the game of sport, but for the game of life
For Life, Not Just for Sport
Lets take a look at the British Journal of Sports definition of periodisation in sports:
“Periodisation is increasingly used these days as a powerful tool to increase sports performance. The importance of periodisation can hardly be overestimated. Its general objective and definite advantage is in the possibility to split training process into manageable smaller blocks. This split is not just about time management. Each of those blocks is actually targeting specific training objectives, so they can be addressed in a better, more precise manner.”
(British Journal of Sports Medicine 2010)
What’s absolutely fascinating, is that this statement could be written about life generally could it not? If you removed the word ‘sports’ from that statement, could it not apply to human beings output in general? Because if it works in sports, why not life? If the three connecting elements here are humans, output and performance, the methodology is surely the same.
And, in fact, the methodology is the same because periodisation is based on the human mind and body in any context, not just sport. This was one of the key findings of Sean’s PhD research.
So put simply;
Periodisation chunks your output load into small, more manageable pieces
Periodisation helps you to laser focus on small but meaningful aspects of your output
Periodisation is designed to plan your output load so that you can recover and then adapt to reach the next challenging goal.
When we apply the same principles to other aspects of life, it means we should be implementing all of the above strategies into our absurdly crammed lives, in order to get at least some sort of perspective, control and recovery. And why leave it there? Why not use it to improve performance?
“First and foremost, planning and periodisation are the keys to successful recovery and adaptation. If its true that recovery is what is linked to adaptation and therefore enhanced preparedness, the recovery should be planned as systematically as training"
(The essentials of Periodisation GG Haff)
We Need to get Multi-Category Stress-Recovery Balance
This is what we do at Energy Health Inc. We apply the science of periodisation (the systematic planning of performance and recovery) to the categories in which we live our lives - Mental, Emotional, Social, Physical (sleep, exercise, nutrition) and Environmental output. We look at where individuals have high output in each area and whether it is balanced or imbalanced with the right recovery. Where there is a high output load, we look at the recovery required to counteract that load:
For example - Where you are planning a week of long shifts at work or long work hours - you plan a long stretch of recovery.
Going one step further, you can actually periodise your life in a way that essentially has you ‘pre-plan’ your high load days, weeks, months or even years, and your associated recovery need.
In fact sports science even covers the importance of periodising your nutrition, as a way of enhancing your performance, since it is ultimately the fuel for the body.
"The term nutrition periodization is typically used to describe changes in nutritional intake in response to certain periods of training.. Mujika et al. [14] concluded that “Nutrition should be periodized and adapted to support changing individual goals, training levels, and requirements throughout a season and/or training cycle”. Hawley and Burke [4] discussed the importance of a long term periodized training-nutrition program as a way to enhance performance. “ Jeukendrup - Sports medicine - Periodized Nutrition for Athletes - March 2017
Since not all ‘fuel’ that humans use is created equal, the scientists tell us that it’s ‘Gold Medal Nutrition’ that leads to high performance outcomes. The same applies with our sleep, our physically activity, our environment and our mental and emotional states.
Follow the Science to Optimise your Life
Ultimately, if we look at the optimum ways in which we can experience our lives, which have us recover, adapt and perform at our highest levels, we need to consider the optimum ways to live daily, weekly and monthly, how we can literally operate at a gold medal standard.
The science around sleep, emotional and mental wellbeing, environmental and social stimuli are well noted. It’s all there and in focused detail, we just need to listen to it and use it to create our competitive advantage.
The combination of a periodised approach to our recovery and adaptation, as well as our gold medal standards all categories in life, will ultimately lead us to the path of mastery in high performance.