Programming: the length of the smallest unit

I'm writing directly on the Wordpress window as I can't seem to organize a sequence of issues of relevance on a coaching log. I'm not coaching anyone right now. At least not athletically. My work (paid and voluntary) now is mostly related to the pandemic. I believe I covered that on my last log. We're all on the off-season. We're on off-season on everything. We might as well revisit some issues that frequently come up and have no right answer: what's the best number of days for the smallest unit in a periodized program? Please check my article "

One training size fits one" for a scientific review about inter-individual variability and populational diversity on athletic parameters. The short answer is that there isn't one. People assimilate stimuli, acquire and automatize skills, recover and supercompensate differently. When you are dealing with a team, the schedule might not be optimal for everyone and we will never know, will we? But when you can program for a single individual, it's possible to play with time. This is a case of a female lifter who had a number of biological and life issues that made it impossible for her to predict the number of days she could be at the gym. Her recovery seemed to be compromised as well, so after reviewing what hadn't worked for her I came up with a 10-day block or micro-cycle. During that 10-day period, she would have 5 strength sessions at the gym.



  We planned a mesocycle of 8 blocks or microcycle where the intensity of the main lift was organized according to a competition date:



This arrangement gave me time to work on several problems she needed to address with proper assistance work. It worked. Lots of things work as long as you know how to plan.