Seasons of Strength: Adapt Your Workouts Through Summer and Beyond

In this episode, we explore the concept of periodization - intentionally changing your workout routine for a specific period of time. As we enter summer, it's the perfect opportunity to consider how to adapt your fitness approach to match the season, your energy levels, and your lifestyle. 

Things you'll hear in this episode:

1.  What is Periodization?

2.  Benefits of Periodization 

3.  Practical Approaches to Periodization 

4.  Seasonal Approach to Fitness

5.  Cycle-Based Approach to Fitness

6.  Summer Workout Ideas 

Episode Discussed

How to slow the aging process with exercise with Pete McCall

Link Discussed

B.COMPLETE

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30+ Non-Gym Ways to Improve Your Health (free download)

Connect with Amy:
GracedHealth.com
Instagram: @GracedHealth
YouTube: @AmyConnell

Transcript

Seasons of Movement

[00:00:00]

Hey everyone. I'm so glad you're here. I know you have a lot of different options when you are hitting play and listening, so I'm really glad you're here. If you are listening in real time, then this is dropping the Tuesday after Memorial Day, which means for all intents and purposes, it's summer.

Now, granted, summer doesn't officially start until, I think it's like June 21st. However, we all know that once Memorial Day hits, then it's summer. Because did we not learn that from the movies we watched growing up? There was always this summer from Memorial Day to Labor Day. So we are in summer, and I thought that would be a perfect time to give you a shorter episode on something I encourage you to think about in this new summer season. I will tell you what that is in just a minute, but this is a conversation I have had with several different people lately, and it goes something like this:

[00:01:00]

"Yeah, I typically [fill in the blank from a fitness perspective]. So I typically run, I typically lift weights, I typically swim, but I haven't been able to do that lately, or I haven't wanted to do that lately. And so now I'm doing something different [fill in the blank with that]."

So maybe they are walking, maybe they're strength training more, maybe they are doing some HIIT. I mean, the possibilities are endless, but I can tell you that at least five times this year, I have heard some variation of that conversation. And because I'm a total fitness nerd and probably don't know how to stay in my lane well enough, I will pop in and say, "Well, actually, there's a term for that. It's called periodization."

And they're like, "What is that?"

And I'm like, "It is intentionally changing your workouts for a period of time, often with an intent, and often with a goal, but not always. Sometimes it's just changing it up."

So I wanted to come on today and invite you to [00:02:00] consider adding some periodization into your workouts for the summer, for this June, July, August, and just allowing yourself to mix it up.

I know a lot of us will get caught in this mindset of like, "Well, this is what I've always done and so this is what I have to do," or "This is what the internet tells me that I need to do, and so that's what I'm going to do." And you don't ever really question how it makes you feel, how it works into your life, into the season that you're in.

And so today I want to step back and tell you a bit more about periodization, why it's beneficial, and how we can do this in our Graced Health mindset.

Periodization was originally used by elite athletes who have very specific training programs, and they will have a season. I have shared often that my family is a football [00:03:00] family. If you have ever played a sport or have someone in your family who plays a sport, then most sports will have something called "in season." Football: fall. Basketball: winter. Tennis: spring. Cross country: fall, which is really unfair, by the way, when you live in Houston, Texas, and fall is considered August 6th because August 6th is not fall. But I digress. Golf is more of a summer sport. Different sports have different seasons, and elite athletes will train based on their season because when they are in season, they may not be able to do some other things as much.

So they will take the off-season to do that. This is helpful in a lot of ways. Now, probably you're not an elite athlete, but you probably have some sort of movement in your life, just in some capacity. And so let's talk about why implementing periodization can be helpful [00:04:00] in your movement.

Switching up your movements and switching up your workouts can have a lot of different benefits. Number one, it can prevent a plateau. A plateau is basically like "I've gotten myself to where I can run a certain amount, or maybe I can lift a certain amount, and I just can't do anymore. I just can't go any faster." When we take the time to change some things up in other seasons, then that may allow us to break through that plateau and accomplish whatever physical goal we may have. And if you don't have a specific goal, by the way, that's okay.

It can also reduce our injury risk. I think about athletes, particularly like middle school and high school who are two-sport athletes, and the irony that most coaches will say, "Yes, we embrace two-sport athletes," but then they never want to share time [00:05:00] for their athlete to do the other sport. However, athletes who do more than one sport actually have a smaller chance of injury. Why? Because they're moving differently.

And the other benefit to periodization is it can keep your motivation fresh. It can allow for some excitement of like, "Oh, I'm gonna do this now," and we'll talk about this here in a second, but it can allow for some more grace, particularly in busy seasons.

Of course, embracing seasons is nothing new. We saw in Ecclesiastes 3:1 that said, "To everything, there is a season," and it goes on to say all of the different things that we have seasons for. I would argue that we can have seasons for how we move. No, it's not biblical. However, it is modeled for us.

This can particularly be helpful for women in perimenopause and beyond because if you are in perimenopause or just over 40, your hormones are doing all kinds of crazy things. No one needs to tell you this. When that happens, we need to be [00:06:00] able to adapt. We need to be able to give ourselves the grace that I'm not always going to be able to do the same thing, and I'm going to change in order to meet the needs of my body in this season of my life, or maybe it's even just today.

And I'll talk about the practical periodization approaches here in just a second, but it can also prevent overtraining. You know, as we get older, if we do the same thing over and over, that's just going to be more taxing on our muscles, on our joints, on our tendons and ligaments. And so when we do things differently, that will help prevent those overuse overtraining injuries that we may have.

It also honors our just changing energy levels. Look, I don't need to tell you that some days we feel great and some days we feel not great. Some days we sleep really well and we're ready for a great workout. Other days not so much. It's [00:07:00] hard to even do anything. When we practice periodization in our workouts, then we allow space for the different energy fluctuations that we will have, not may have, but we will have.

And like I mentioned earlier, it just kind of keeps things fresh. I am in a season right now of evaluating how I want to move in the summer, and in fact, just today I mentioned to my son, "I think it's time to start throwing some pool workouts in." I am not a swimmer, but I will do some higher intensity stuff in the pool, like treading water and just enjoying the pool. I'm not gonna do that when it's 55 degrees. I will do that when it's 87, and also not in the middle of the summer when the pool water gets up to like bath temperature.

So for the next at least month or six weeks, I'm gonna take advantage of pool and water and being able to move in that because I can, and I'm kind of excited to do that.

Periodization sounds like [00:08:00] such a formal word. So how do we like formally do this? Well, first of all, I'm gonna tell you that there's no right or wrong way to mix things up, and there is benefit in having a consistent program if you have goals that you are working toward. There is absolutely a time and a place for sticking with your strength training routine, sticking with your running plan. Back when I used to do half marathons, I had a pretty strict running schedule that I would adhere to because I wanted to get my body to a place where it could run 13.1 miles. If you have particular goals you're working on, there's absolutely value in staying focused on that.

However, there's also value in switching it up. So how do we do that? One of the easiest ways that was recommended to me by Pete McCall, who's been on this podcast a couple times to talk about high intensity training and recovery, he says, "Hey, [00:09:00] rather than getting too technical about it, when the season changes or when the seasons typically change, then change up your workouts."

That's gonna be about four times a year. If you are like a finance or accountant or someone who goes by the quarters, then every quarter change it up. So on April 1st, on August 1st (I'm doing this in my head as I go along), on October 1st, and January 1st, change something up.

So if we were gonna practically put this in, then maybe in the spring we would start working on building endurance of whatever we're doing. Maybe we would add some mobility, just moving your body in a range of motion. And if you're like, "I don't know what mobility is, I don't know how to do that," I do have an online class. It's just $20. It's called "Be Complete," and you can purchase that and that will get your body moving in a lot of different directions, and as a bonus, it'll support you in some of the things that you love to do. It works on your smaller mini muscles, [00:10:00] on your balance, on your stretching and that kind of stuff.

So if you're like, "I don't know what you mean by mobility," then that is definitely an option. Anyway, moving on. So maybe in the summer, depending on where you are. I know we've got some people tuning in from Canada and they're like, "Yes, I can get outside. I don't have to bundle up." This is the time to get outdoors. This is the time to do whatever you can do while you're outside, getting some fresh air, getting some sunshine, going swimming if you have access to a pool, but using the summer and the warmer weather to do some things that you can do in the outside and in the warmer weather.

Maybe in the fall, we start focusing on our strength training. Maybe we have the cooler days, the shorter days, and we do things more inside where we are lifting weights, we're doing body weight workouts, but we're really focusing on our strength. And then maybe in the winter, maybe we take that down a notch and for three months, do more maintenance or [00:11:00] flexibility, more foam rolling and just kind of recovering our body. So that seasonal approach is one way that you can impact your periodization.

Another thing you can do is if you are still having cycles, you can adjust your workouts to your cycles. The follicular phase, which is like weeks one and two in your cycle, that's when you can really kind of go after it, do your higher intensity stuff, do your strength training, do things that really push yourself to the limit if you like doing that. And then your luteal, those weeks three and four: balance, restorative foam rolling, matching your energy output with the energy that is available based on your cycle.

Another thing you can do is structure your week with different things on different days. So maybe Monday, Wednesday, Friday is strength training. You're focusing on different areas. Maybe Tuesday is either cardio or interval or just a nice walk with your friend. You know, I love my [00:12:00] walk and talks. Maybe Thursday is balance and core, or you can do that "Be Complete" that's available. Saturday is just some active recovery. It's something fun. You can do another walk and talk. And then Sunday, let's just call it a rest day or gentle movement if you need to move. Doing different things on different days rather than run, run, run, run, run or walk, walk, walk, walk, walk or swim, or even strength training, like same muscles on consecutive days. That's something we want to avoid as well.

And the final thing you can do to add some variety is to change up your resistance. If you regularly use resistance training, maybe you can change from whatever you are doing to one of the following. Maybe you can do some dumbbells or kettlebells. You can use resistance bands, you can use your body weight. You can use machines if you have access to that or to barbells for particular movements if you have access to those as well. Even just changing [00:13:00] from one modality to another every few months will challenge your muscles in different ways. That is another way that you can add periodization to your strength training.

And since we're coming into summer, I feel like I have to at least give you a few ideas on things that you can do right now over the next few months. Like I mentioned, let's do some water-based workouts.

Obviously there's swimming. If you are a swimmer or if you think you want to be a swimmer, I am at my very best, average. I feel like I need a swimming coach if I ever want to try to swim better, but get in the pool and do some laps. Do some side strokes. You can find some water fitness classes if you have some in your neighborhood or at the local Y or any other neighborhood pool. That's a wonderful way to get some movement in. Maybe you do something like standup paddle boarding where you are working on the water. You may not necessarily be in the water, but you're taking [00:14:00] advantage of the water.

Or you can do something like what I do, which is I will go to the deep end of my pool and do some higher intensity workouts. I will tread water, and if I can, I will get my arms all the way up and my elbows out of the water. I will tread water for about 30 seconds and then take about a minute break and do it again. I haven't done this clearly in about nine months, so I will probably take a shorter window of working hard to begin with and have a longer recovery. As I become more conditioned to that, then I will work longer and have a shorter recovery.

But I tell you what, if you are wanting a workout, get into that deep end of a pool and tread water with your arms out of the water. Do it close to an edge so you can grab onto an edge or you can pull your arms down if you need to, because it is a lot harder than it sounds. Half the time, some of my arm is down [00:15:00] in the water or my elbows are close to the water because it's really hard. But if you wanna have a little fun, you can go try that water workout.

Also in the summer, it goes without saying you want to try to work out maybe early in the morning or later in the evening to beat the heat. Or if you are traveling a lot this summer, first of all, yay, I'm so glad for you, but take along a few resistance loops or resistance bands. I have several workouts in the workouts playlist on my YouTube channel that you can access where you don't need a lot of equipment, but you can keep moving and maybe even move outside if the weather is conducive to that.

And of course if you are thinking, "I'm traveling a lot, I have family coming to visit. There's just a whole lot going on. I don't know how I'm going to get it all done." Guess what? Use periodization as your rest and recovery time. I'm not saying stop, but I am saying it's okay to slow down. It's [00:16:00] okay to focus more on your flexibility, on your mobility, on your smaller muscles, and just allow yourself to enjoy the time knowing that you can ramp that back up in the fall when things get a little more stable.

So this summer, ask yourself how you can implement some periodization into your workouts and have it make sense for the season that you are going to be in. Your season is going to look different than my season, and it's important for you to figure out what is achievable and realistic for you to do, and I'm just giving you permission right here, right now to change things and even take it down a notch if you need to.

And if you're in a conversation and getting funny looks, 'cause you're saying, "Well, I'm just using this as a rest and recovery season..." Now you know that there is an official name for changing [00:17:00] things up for a season. So if you get funny looks from someone and you say, "All I'm gonna do this summer is [fill in the blank] because I don't have time to do what I normally do," and they give you a funny look, then you say "It's called periodization, and Amy said it's okay and good to do."

And by the way, if you work out with someone and you feel like this would be helpful to them, it would mean so much if you would share this episode with them. Word of mouth is truly one of the best ways that we can get this message of aging with grace and strength out to more people, so we can all age with grace and strength even more.

Okay, that is all for today. Go out there and have a graced day.