NSCA National Conference - Soviet System of Periodization

Weight Training Journal

Weightlifting Article

NSCA National Conference - Soviet System of Periodization
Part 1

While I was at the NSCA National Conference Robert A. Panariello presented a topic on the Soviet System of Periodization. What I found interesting about this program was the ease at which it is to setup. The exercises and reps are broken down for you each day, week and month. This is part 1 discussing the basic rep volume setup for your workout.

The Soviet System of Periodization is not for bodybuilders if you are only interested in size I would not advise you to follow this system. Bodybuilders need much more volume to gain the size needed to compete. If you are an athlete, powerlifter, or Olympic weightlifter this system is perfect for you. Everything is planned out for you so it allows anyone to deign an effective workout program.

As outlined in the presentation the basic exercise volume principles of the periodization system is as follows:
Strength exercise volume - no more than 35 +/- 3 reps per exercise
Power exercise volume - No more than 25 +/- 3 reps per exercise

What I found interesting and very important to program design is that you only need 12 total exercise repetitions to have a training effect. That means if you are looking to improve your bench you could get away with 3 sets of 4, maybe 6 sets of 2, you could even do 12 sets of 1. This does not include your warm up, it only applies to your working sets. If you went with 12 sets of 1 and you did not have to work for it you will not see gains.

The Soviet System of Periodization is based on rep totals. For all but the advanced, as in a world Class lifter a workout is limited to 1000 reps per month and can be broken down as follows
Week 1 ~ 22% Tot. Rep.
Week 2 ~ 28% Tot. Rep.
Week 3 ~ 35% Tot. Rep.
Week 4 ~ 15% Tot. Rep.

As you can see the Soviet System of Periodization is based on the theory of progressive overload then an unloading phase. The volume increases for three weeks then for the last week there is a sharp decline in the weightlifters training volume.

Here is where you start to see how simple the program design is. Above is the volume for the month now working sets are broken into reps per week for each day.
If your workout is done on a 4 day split follow these percentages
Day 1 ~ 22% total reps
Day 2 ~ 28% or 27% total reps
Day 3 ~ 35% or 32% total reps
Day 4 ~ 15% or 19% total reps

Now if your workout program is based on a 3 day split below is your daily totals.
Day 1 ~ +/- 40% of total reps
Day 2 ~ 28% of total reps
Day 3 ~ +/- 32 % of total reps

Here is an example of a athletes workout in the weight room using The Soviet System of Periodization. In the example the workout program consists of a 3 day work week with a monthly volume of 750 repetitions. 1000 reps per month is a max, it is advisable to follow a periodization for monthly reps as well, that is why the example is for 750 reps.
Week 1 ~ 22% 165 Reps
Week 2 ~ 28% 210 Reps
Week 3 ~ 35% 262 Reps
Week 4 ~ 15% 112 Reps

To take a closer look at the program design here is one week out of the month. From the above example we can see that for week 3 the athlete is to complete 262 Reps in his workouts for the week. Working out on a 3 day split the reps per day are to be broken down as follows:
Day 1 ~ 40% 105 Reps
Day 2 ~ 28% 73 Reps
Day 3 ~ 32% 84 Reps


Part 2 to follow...

All the best in your weight training, powerlifting, and bodybuilding, programs.
Jason, CSCS

powerlifting
bodybuilding weight training powerlifting


Return to weight training Home page