Clean Run Magazine - January 2008 - 54

Using Periodization to Create Peak Performances By Webb Anderson When you pull out your calendar to plan the new year, how do you schedule your training and showing time? Do you give much thought to preparing for the big events, or does your advanced planning only extend to asking your boss for the vacation time you will need to attend the shows? Whether you are an organized planner, or a spontaneous reactor, your team’s performance at the events that are most important to you can improve dramatically by following a simple concept called periodization that has been used for years in organized sports. According to the online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, periodization is defined as “the attempt to categorize or divide time into discrete named blocks.” Sports periodization is “an organized approach to training that involves progressive cycling of various aspects of a training program during a specific period of time.” Wikipedia reports that periodization has been used by the athletic community since the late 1950s. For more than 50 years, professional athletes have recognized the benefits of structuring their training programs around the major competitions they plan to attend. The idea behind periodization is simple: identify the events coming up this year that are most important to you, then plan your training so that you can be at peak performance for those events. For agility I’ve adapted the concept of periodization to include three distinct phases: Foundations the ramp-up phase Specialization the focusing-for-specific-performance phase Recovery the cool-down phase I follow these three simple stages in preparing for all the major events on my show schedule. Step 1: Identify the Events Where You Want to Peak For most people, I would recommend choosing no more than four “peak events” each year. That doesn’t mean that you don’t want to do well at all the other competitions you attend that year. It just means that you plan to schedule your training and showing to ensure that you are the best you can possibly be during those select events. For me, my list of 2007 peak events was a short one: AKC Nationals in March, European Open in July, and AKC Invitational in December. Your list might include your breed specialty, the USDAA Nationals, Great Outdoor Games, or any number of other events that are important to you. For someone who is getting close to finishing a MACH or other championship, the completion of the title might be considered the peak event. In this case, you can’t assign a specific date to the peak event because you don’t know exactly when it will happen. But, when you are close to achieving the result, you want to remain at your peak performance until you get there. So, for Step 1, pull out your calendar. Pencil in the major events in your year where you want to peak (no more than three or four events). If finishing a title is your peak, estimate a time frame that you believe is realistic for you to achieve that title and write it in the calendar as a peak event. 54 Clean Run | January 08

Clean Run Magazine - January 2008

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Clean Run Magazine - January 2008