Periodize Everything
The state of perpetual suffering and some juicy extras
Welcome to the Acid Gambit Substack! The $5/mo helps fund espresso, zyn, merch, and database monthly payments. Thank you.
"Oh my gosh it’s February already??" That’s more likely a middle class fancy take.
Time goes by quick. And perceived rate of time passing increases as we age. This is a well known fact, but more useful to leverage that towards what you want.
Some quick math. To a 2 year old, a new year represents 50% of their entire life. To a 24 year old, a new year represents just 4% of their life. Moreover, if we plot Perceived Time=log(Age) we get a slightly more depressing outcome:
The perceived time from 0 to 10 is the same as 10 to 100. But of course we're human and have nuance, where an understanding of life experiences, cognitive development, and how humans subjectively experience time, particularly through significant life events and milestones is important to account for. The actual perception of time's passage is influenced by a variety of factors, including psychological, social, and physiological factors, making it a complex phenomenon that isn't easily quantified through simple mathematical models. Additionally, this doesn't change the fact that 1 year = 1 year. The time is the same, the only thing that changes is the rate at which we perceive time passing.
The bottom line, time is going to pass no matter what. As we age, it will feel like it's passing quicker and quicker. Whatever we're trying to accomplish will be difficult regardless. You either wake up sore or you wake up weak. Both suck, but one definitely sucks more. Making the decision of one or the other is irrelevant and massively important at the same time. If the time passes quickly, what difference does it make if it was difficult or easy? In other words, choose the hardest option because it will be over before you know it.
On the topic of waking up sore - I’d rather be in a state of perpetual suffering than a state of perpetual weakness. But it’s not like that forever - just part of the ebb and flow of the training year. Coming off of December I was well rested. Now feeling the pain waking up after heavy squats and form runner repeats.
That's exactly how I like it. There are some periods of time when I'm getting plenty of rest and recovery. There are other periods (that make up the bulk of my current life) where I'm training hard. In other words, I have a systematic plan for my training - I'm periodized.
Within this periodization, I have different focuses. At the present moment, the focus is SPEED at DISTANCE. I aim to destroy my previous 10-miler PR this April. Other periods might be more focused on strength with enough conditioning work to maintain my aerobic system.
If you would like to follow along with 10-miler strength + conditioning, it’s all completely free on the app:
But this can be extended to other domains as well - I want to periodize EVERYTHING.
- Work/Professional Development: This could involve focusing intensely on career advancement for a period, followed by a phase where maintaining current responsibilities is the priority, allowing space to grow in other life areas
- Learning: Periods of intensive learning or skill acquisition could alternate with phases of applying those skills practically or sharing knowledge with others (HS, college, military schools/train-ups, on the job learning, etc)
- Personal Development: Education outside of career-focused skills, personal growth efforts such as working on communication skills or emotional intelligence, reading, etc.
- Fitness + Health: Periodized by focusing on different aspects (e.g., strength, endurance, flexibility) at different times, including rest periods to prevent injury.
- Hobbies: Engaging deeply in one or more hobbies for a period, then rotating to others or taking a break to explore new interests, can keep hobbies fresh and engaging.
- Relationships: Focusing on deepening relationships in different areas (family, friends, romantic) at different times based on available energy
There is no way all of these domains can be at a 10 (from a scale of 1-10 in terms of energy and time). Rather, they naturally fluctuate based on our focus. But pretty much everything we do can be periodized and plotted on a graph. However, we're human and things come up, things change which is totally ok. The biggest thing to maintain is an ability to be flexible at all times while maintaining an overarching focus.
In other news:
Merch
I received the samples for the AG Stickers.
If you’re interested, vote in the IG poll so I can gauge interest for the bulk order. So far I have received a ton of positive feedback. The merch will be live soon @ acidgambit.com.
Bench press
This is going to be super niche so if uninterested you may skip. I had a longtime follower reach out about a stalling bench press. His other lifts are impressive, but for whatever reason could not improve in the bench press. I don’t think I have an especially great bench, but my all time PR was 345#.
He claimed the bench might “just not be for him.” This is dangerous conjecture because you are affirming you will never improve. Rather, you just haven’t figured out what works for you. We can reach our genetic potential in ANYTHING. Now that potential is different depending on your genetics, upbringing, way of life, patience, and effort. For example, I may never run a sub 4:00 minute 1-mile. Is it in my potential to do that? Maybe. Do I actually want to make the sacrifice in weight, strength, effort, and time to accomplish that? Now that’s a completely different question. This could take a decade of focused work. In the same regard, becoming good at bench requires a sacrifice in other areas to become good at it.
He also claimed after 7 days he wasn’t improving (lol) on the program I broke down for him. OF COURSE you aren’t improving it has been 7 days.
The actual training we agreed upon:
Day 1:
HEAVY Bench: build to heavy triple, 6 min E2MOM 3 reps @ 90% of first heavy triple (example, you hit 240 for 3, then 6 min E2MOM @ 215)
Day 2:
Form + Reps Bench. Do pause reps at the bottom, keep the form clean, keep your chest and back engaged at the bottom when you pause for a 1/2 second: 10@50%, 10@67.5%, 8@75%, 6@77.5%
Day 3:
Max-out day: Max Reps @ 80% 1RM
Every 4 weeks, take a week to only do 1 bench session. This will consist of 97.5% your 1RM for 1-4 reps.
This will look like running this for 3 weeks, on the 4th week only do the 1 bench maxout session for 1-4 reps. Then recalcualte your max
Take what you lifted in week 5, and multiply by 1.03 if you completed 2 reps, 1.06 if 3 reps, and 1.09 if 4 reps.
This is your new estimated 1RM the next 4 weeks will go off of.
In a week, the schedule looks like:
Monday: bench
Tuesday: lower
Wednesday:bench
Thursday: pull
Friday: lower
Saturday: bench
Sunday: Rest
This is purely an example I wrote for him and what has worked for me in the past. Run anything on a long enough time horizon where you are progressively overloading and you will experience strength improvements.
The programming I use now largely utilizes a loading (heavy) set and a (15-25% lighter) back-off set. For bench, that looks like 1x6-9 and 1x12-15. Every week, I aim to improve in reps (to the top end of each range) or in weight once I max out the rep range.
You are welcome to try the main program I wrote for the longtime follower above. However, it is mandatory that you commit to it for at least 2-6 months. Do not ever expect to see results in 7 days, let alone a month. Put in the work, be patient, and track progress. Over time (months and years), if you notice you are stalling out, you may take a step back and re-evaluate your training. Otherwise you will become circular, stuck at the same weight, and never get extremely good at anything.
Coffee
One of you reached out about my coffee routine! Great question. I keep it EXTREMELY simple.
I prefer to use either a Bialetti or an Aeropress. Both are super cheap options and considered the “poor man’s espresso.”
Essentially all I do is grind beans to an espresso grind and make my coffee each day. Sometimes I alternate with a celcius, but prefer coffee over everything in the morning.
That’s all. Now get to work and go to the gym.
Cheers.
DISCLAIMER
This is not Legal, Medical, or Financial advice. Please consult a medical professional before starting any workout program, diet plan, or supplement protocol.
merch got me hype