Living a balanced life is essential for mental health. But, life doesn’t always allow for the type of balance we’d like to achieve. When work or parenting seems to take over our time and mental capacity, it’s even more important to strive for balance.

I have several activities that I know I need to incorporate to live a balanced life. I need to work and generate income (going freelance taught me the importance of doing hired work to maintain my own balance). I need to write creatively. I need to play music and learn new songs or skills on my instruments. I also need time for family and meaningful social interactions. Oh, and sports. And lifting. Arts and Crafts. Chores. Home improvement…on and on and on, it seems.

Not all of this will get done in a week or a month. Lately, I’ve been chewing on the concept of periodization – or how we organize training cycles as lifters – as a way to ensure I’m hitting the highlights.

There are several types of periodization in powerlifting. Each scheme can be effective for most lifters, so choosing a program comes down to personal preference and experimentation. 

A linear periodization scheme is where a lifter starts with higher reps/lighter weights and, over the course of months, moves to lower reps/heavier weights.

Another lifter may engage in daily undulating training, in which some exercises are done for higher reps/lighter weights on a given day, while others are done for lower reps/heavier weights. The point is to ensure we’ve planned, hopefully in an intelligent way, to hit different rep schemes and intensities over a training cycle.

I currently train in five blocks, utilizing a hybrid of linear, daily undulating, and wave loading concepts. I’ve arrived at this program by tweaking my training over the last four and a half years to something that allows progress and, as importantly, is enjoyable, which keeps me training.

Reaching for balance in my life, I can think of organizing my life in a periodization model. Obviously, I can’t put off career or family time for entire blocks, but I can emphasize music and art for a month, then rotate to home improvement, and so forth.

There are potential pitfalls to consider in this approach. In lifting, we risk losing strength gains if we don’t lift heavy for an entire block. So, we often sprinkle in an over-warm single at about 90% of our max once a week. Evidence and practical experience show me that a heavy single is enough to maintain my top-end strength during a lighter-weight hypertrophy block.

I’ve been thinking about what I need to do weekly with music and with creative writing, or frankly, home improvement, to get a quick stimulus that keeps my skills fresh until I can devote more time to these activities. I’m still toying with this concept, but so far, it looks like

10-minute intensive stimulus: 

Music – Practicing scales, fingerboard exercises, and the latest song I’ve learned on weeks where I’m not otherwise practicing.

Writing – Journaling during weeks that I’m not otherwise writing a lot.

Home Improvement – using a saw, drill, or brush every week.

Perhaps I can create a journal to better allow me to schedule out my “balanced life” blocks. In the meantime, you can find a balanced life chart here to start looking at what activities you need to incorporate to start moderating your life with more balanced activities. And if you are too busy to train, check out these tips to reduce your time in the gym.