Before reading further it is important to recognize that the following is not a blanket black and white stance and establishing the length of a training cycle requires some nuance. For instance, if you have a vacation planned for 5 weeks from the start of your cycle you probably don't want to have your hardest week of training during your vacation. Consistency, as you may now know, is one of the most important components to a well designed training program. As such, making sure you factor in your schedule and responsibilities is a huge consideration when establishing how long your cycle should be. We never recommend hard training weeks during vacations or events that are otherwise intended to provide rest.
We want to avoid training cycle length from being too short and also too long. Too short means we would need to train incredibly hard for short periods, only to then deload and spend a large percentage of the year performing deloads. Alternatively, having incredibly long cycles likely leave more to be desired in the first few weeks leaving progress on the table if you were training harder. There is a nice middle ground between the two. On average, somewhere between 4-8 weeks in total length covers most people for their cycle length.
Where Should You Start
Beginners:
- Can handle longer training cycles.
- So fresh that any amount of training will help to improve physique making early weeks in a super long cycle still productive
- Up to 8-12 week in length
Intermediates:
- Much stronger than beginners, still adapting relatively quickly, but able to induce more damage and recovery demands.
- Somewhere between 4 and 8 weeks of accumulation
- Length can vary quite a bit based on how quickly overload is being presented.
Advanced:
- Much stronger, and can thus induce far more fatigue and stress on the body.
- Adapt much more slowly than their beginner and intermediate counterparts
- Somewhere between 3-6 weeks of accumulation
For more specific context, check out the video below!