Regardless of the level you are coaching or competing at, it is always a goal to try and prolong a peak level of performance for a long period of time. The question is, how do you do this? In the traditional system of periodization, it is common to hit peak for one big meet and then try and hold this peak for as long as possible. This is especially true in the U.S. for both the collegiate and professional seasons.
College athletes and coaches have to be prepared for conference meets, regional meets, finals, possibly the U.S. Nationals, and even the World Championships and/or Olympics. Professional athletes have to be ready for nationals and then try and hold that peak until the worlds or Olympics, often while trying to make money at Diamond League or other European meets. Looking back at both past and present performances, holding this peak level of performance using a traditional periodization program has proven not to be so easy. However, looking at this year’s results, Coach John Smith did a great job accomplishing this with Raven Saunders. She was able to win NCAAs, have a great result at nationals, and then throw a personal best and finish fifth at the Olympics. The question is, how do we go about doing this using Dr. Bondarchuk’s System?
To review, in the past two articles I wrote (The Cycle and Exercise Classification of Dr. Bondarchuk’s System and Choosing Exercises and Applying Data Using Dr. Bondarchuk’s System), I discussed the different cycles built into this system: Exercise Selection and Implement Selection. Although I discussed the Maintenance Cycle briefly, I would like to go over in detail how to set up and implement it effectively. I was originally exposed to one way of implementing a Maintenance Cycle within this system. Now those of us who use this system have two ways to set up a Maintenance Cycle. I will begin by detailing the first way, and follow up with the second—the most current way we are using to maintain a peak level of performance for a long period of time.
It is important that you first know in which sessions your athletes hit peak form. This is important because, in order to have an effective Maintenance period, you have to go into the Maintenance Cycle at peak form. For example, I know that my peak form during a Developmental Cycle takes place in anywhere from 14 to 22 sessions. If I only have two SPEs, it will take 14 to 20 sessions. If I have three SPEs, 16 to 22. This has been true for every Developmental Cycle I have ever completed. Therefore, if I know that I have a Maintenance Cycle next, I will start my Maintenance Cycle two to three sessions after I hit peak form: either at 16 or 18 sessions. In my opinion, it is important that you start the Maintenance Cycle earlier in peak form then later. You don’t want to wait too long in peak form and start to have your performances decline.
Before we get into the setup of the Maintenance Cycle, let’s first discuss how you determine that a Maintenance Cycle will follow your current Developmental Cycle. It would be optimum that you only compete when you are at peak form. However, this is not always the case for athletes at the high school or college levels because there are often dual and invitational meets every week. Therefore, you may compete in many meets when you’re not in peak form. However, once you reach peak form, it may be necessary that you stay in form for the next number of weeks because all of the bigger meets are back to back.
For example, once our big meets start at the high school level in Southern California, they don’t end until the state meet is over. This period can last six weeks, including a league meet, CIF Prelims, CIF Finals, Masters, and the state meet. This is five meets, but I say six weeks because the league meet is often a week and a half before the next major meet, which is CIF Prelims, so you have to be at peak form for up to six weeks.
The same is true for college. However, there are less meets in that span of time, including conference meets, regionals, NCAA Finals, and even U.S. Nationals. These meets usually fall two weeks apart from each other, which means that you have to hold peak form for up to eight weeks. So back to the point: How do we determine when to go into Maintenance? It is determined by looking at when your athlete hits peak form and deciding if there is enough time to run another Cleanse/Rest Cycle and Developmental Cycle before the next big meet. If there is not enough time to run both those cycles again, then going into Maintenance would be the best thing to do.
“Go into Maintenance when there’s no time to run Cleanse and Development cycles before the next meet.”
Let’s have a look at two hypothetical situations. I will use both high school and college examples, to make it easier to understand how this works. At the high school level in So Cal, we have a meet called the Arcadia Invitational at which many coaches and athletes would like to perform well. This can be considered to fall in the middle of our season, although the latter half of the middle. I would have my athletes hit peak form for this meet, knowing that I have enough time to run both a Cleanse/Rest Cycle and Developmental Cycle again so that they can hit peak form for a second time starting at our league meet. Once they hit peak form at the league meet, I know that each of the following weeks are big meets that have eliminations. Therefore, I know that we cannot go into another Cleanse/Rest phase or another Developmental Cycle, due to the importance of each meet.
I will now choose to go into Maintenance for each of these meets. I can choose to go into Maintenance either at the league or CIF prelim meets, based on how long my athlete holds peak form during the Developmental Cycle. If I have my athlete hit peak form on the day of the league meet, I know that they have roughly six sessions of peak performance. I can manipulate the number of sessions that we have between these two meets to hold off going into Maintenance until after CIF Prelims. This is where the art of the coaching profession comes into play. You’ll have two options, and the best way to figure out what to do is to experiment.
When applied to the college setting, we can compare the Arcadia meet—which falls in the middle of the season—to a major dual meet against a cross-town rival that is extremely important to your program. Examples are USC vs. UCLA, Cal vs. Stanford, etc. It may be of extreme importance to hit peak form at this meet and then again starting at your conference meet. Therefore, you have to determine if enough time lies between the two to run both a Cleansing Cycle and Developmental Cycle. If it does, then you do so; planning to hit peak form again at the conference meet. After hitting peak form at the conference meet, it would be time to move into Maintenance for the remaining big meets—regionals, finals, nationals, etc.
Setting it Up
As I mentioned before, we have two options. I call one “The OG Maintenance Phase,” and the other, the “The Terracing Maintenance Phase.” To begin, both are set up as so:
- CE
- SDE
- SPE#1
- SPE#2
- GPE Circuit
- A. Twist
- B. Back
- C. Frontal Plane
- D. AB
Like I said, the Maintenance Phase is set up exactly like any Developmental Phase. However, the way it is implemented is entirely different. Yes, it is still important to keep good data. However, the point at which you change the cycle varies depending on whether you’re doing the “OG style” or “Terrace Style.”
When using what I call the “OG Style,” you switch all exercises every 14 days no matter what. It doesn’t matter if you got four sessions or 10 sessions during this period. At Day 14, everything changes. New implements (CEs), new SDE, new SPEs, and new GPEs. Personally, I have held a level of performance of +/- 20cm for up to six weeks after hitting peak form using this style of Maintenance.
When using the “Terrace Style,” exercises are switched in a more conservative style. This concept is to cause less shock to the body. So how do we apply this style?
The first thing you do after hitting peak form and determining that it’s time for Maintenance is to change the implements or CEs. After two to three sessions using new implements, you switch out the SDE. Now you have the new implements and a new SDE. After two to three more sessions, you switch out SPE No. 1. After two to three sessions more, switch out SPE No. 2. Finally, after two to three more sessions, you switch out the entire GPE Circuit. At this point the entire training plan is different and you start to repeat the sequence for as long as needed.
I have not personally used this style. However, I have applied it to my athletes and we have held a level of performance after hitting peak form for up to six weeks as well. To make it a bit clearer on how this style would look, I have included a chart below with a hypothetical situation.
Original
- Throw: 16-14-6k
- SDE: Nieder Press: 3×5
- SPE #1: Hang Clean: 3×5
- SPE #2: Back Squat: 3×5
- GPE Circuit (3 sets)
- Long Twist x10e@10K
- RDL: x8@60K
- KB Windmill x8e@12K
- Ab Wheel x10
Start of Maintenance
- Throw: 18-16-15
- SDE: Nieder Press: 3×5
- SPE #1: Hang Clean: 3×5
- SPE #2: Back Squat: 3×5
- GPE Circuit (3 sets)
- Long Twist x10e@10K
- RDL: x8@60K
- KB Windmill x8e@12K
- Ab Wheel x10
2-3 Sessions into Maintenance
- Throw: 18-16-15
- SDE: Nelson KB Throw: 3×5@16K
- SPE #1: Hang Clean: 3×5
- SPE #2: Back Squat: 3×5
- GPE Circuit (3 sets)
- Long Twist x10e@10K
- RDL: x8@60K
- KB Windmill x8e@12K
- Ab Wheel x10
4-6 Sessions into Maintenance
- Throw: 18-16-15
- SDE: Nelson KB Throw: 3×5@16K
- SPE #1: Close Grip Snatch: 3×5
- SPE #2: Back Squat: 3×5
- GPE Circuit (3 sets)
- Lon g Twist x10e@10K
- RDL: x8@60K
- KB Windmill x8e@12K
- Ab Wheel x10
6-9 Session into Maintenance
- Throw: 18-16-15
- SDE: Nelson KB Throw: 3×5@16K
- SPE #1: Close Grip Snatch: 3×5
- SPE #2: Speed Step Up: 3x5e
- GPE Circuit (3 sets)
- Long Twist x10e@10K
- RDL: x8@60K
- KB Windmill x8e@12K
- Ab Wheel x10
8-12 Sessions into Maintenance
- Throw: 18-16-15
- SDE: Nelson KB Throw: 3×5@16K
- SPE #1: Close Grip Snatch: 3×5
- SPE #2: Speed Step Up: 3x5e
- GPE Circuit (3 sets)
- Long Twist x10e@10K
- RDL: x8@60K
- KB Windmill x8e@12K
- Ab Wheel x10
As you can see, after 8-12 sessions all of the exercises are completely different. This style offers a slower change; in theory, causing less shock to your system. However, we have had success using both styles and it is up to you to figure out which works best for you or your athlete.
I’m hoping this article wasn’t too long-winded in reaching the main point. However, I must stress the importance of knowing when your athlete hits peak form and knowing if there is enough time to run another Cleanse and Developmental Cycle or move into Maintenance.
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