The Evolution of Periodization

Tudor Bompa, PhD, has revolutionized many aspects of periodization training, starting with periodization of strength and power in 1963. He has published 16 books on training, political science, and social anthropology. Most of his books have been translated in 19 languages and used in over 180 countries. Dr. Bompa has presented his training theories and plans in over 40 countries. He has received 23 international awards in 21 countries, including the highest academic award, Doctor Honoris Causa, Polytechnic University of Timisoara, Romania.Scott Howell, MD, PhD, is an advocate of the Tudor Bompa Institute and Research Director of Tier 1 Health and Wellness, Center for Clinical Research in Chattanooga, Tennessee. His primary expertise includes integrated periodization, androgen metabolism, interpretation of clinical research, statistical analysis, and research methods. Dr. Howell lectures on several aspects of periodization, including accurate historical context, directed physiological adaptation, needs analysis, and integrated periodization of sports training, nutrition, and psychological techniques. Dr. Howell also serves as a consultant for doping in sports, pharmacogenetics, and harm reduction in performance enhancement drug users.

This is the firsthand account of how Tudor Bompa, the creator of the periodization training method, became a sports science legend. From his early years and experience with rowing, defection from communism and struggling to learn English, earning a PhD in biomechanics, and becoming a professor at the University of Toronto, to the conceptualization of periodization, Dr. Bompa details his journey and how his training methodology-periodization-evolved into the greatest method in sports science training of the 20th century.Dr. Bompa recounts how he used periodization to effectively train several Olympic athlete legends on their paths to victory and underscores how periodization, even today, is often misunderstood, inaccurately portrayed, and ineffectively used.Fred Koch, a close confidante of Dr. Bompa, contributes a section to the book, describing his journey to make periodization available to the masses and how its methodology is used to train athletes and bodybuilders, ultimately modernizing the periodization training method.This autobiography fills in the gaps between what has been written and what has occurred. It is a riveting account of the man behind periodization and how this training method evolved and became the most widely used methodology of sports training in history-still relevant today.