Periodization is just breaking down training into blocks of progression which end with a deload before starting again, these blocks are called mesocycle, or meso (pronounced meh-zoh) for short. A great way to accomplish this is to use RIR or reps in reserve as a measure of progress. Here is an example of how you might use RIR: if your 10-rep max for squat was 185 lbs (meaning you could squat 185 lbs 10 times and absolutely no more) and you want to aim for an RIR of 3, you would do 7 reps, leaving 3 in reserve. So, to progressively overload, the first week you should aim for sets in the 2-3 RIR range, the next week would be 1-2 RIR, the third week aim for 0-1 RIR and finally in the fourth week you could push all the way to failure or even beyond. At this point you have a couple options, if you feel you have hit a wall, then you deload, on the other hand, if you think you can push a little harder next week then you have no reason to stop your progress. Keep going until you’re too exhausted to progress or you actually get weaker from one week to the next. After your deload, drop the weight down from the last hard week, try to find your new 3 RIR which should be a decent bit higher than the last one and start a new mesocycle. Just to clarify, the new 3 RIR should be somewhere between your first 3 RIR and your last hard week weight. This may seem confusing, and you probably won’t get it right the first time. Just keep working and gauging it. That last week where you push to failure can be used as a guidepost to see how close your 3 RIR guess was. If you thought you could do 7 reps at 185 and have 3 RIR, but then the last week you tried 185 to failure and got 12, then 7 may have been too few. Just keep in mind, it’s a gauge not an exact measure, do the best you can and adjust when you need to.     

Rest 

Just like with everything else, rest is different for each type of training. In hypertrophy, resting 1-2 minutes is a solid way to do it. It’s simple and easy to measure. However, it’s not quite the best way. Resting should actually be self regulating. Determining how long you should rest is pretty simple. First make sure your breathing is under control. Sometimes when pushing really hard, or doing high-rep sets you might start breathing really heavy. So first make sure your breathing returns to normal before starting another set. Once your breathing is under control, you want to make sure the non-target muscles that are contributing are fully recovered. You don’t want your set of curls to get cut short because your forearms weren’t recovered enough. If you’re struggling to gauge that feeling, just use the 1-2 minutes as a guide. In practice it shouldn’t take more than 90 seconds for a muscle to be as ready as it’s going to be for this type of exercise, but that doesn’t mean it will feel ready after 90. Lastly, make sure you are mentally ready for the next set. Sometimes, a hard workout can be mentally taxing as well, so get yourself right and start the next set when you’re ready. 

Hypertrophy Specifics 

There are a few other traits specific to hypertrophy that you won't see in powerlifting or strength training. These traits include things like slow eccentrics, full or hyper-range of motion, time under tension, muscle isolation exercises and high levels of machine use. 

An eccentric movement, also known as a negative, is identified by the need to slow the weight down. Some examples are; the lowering of the weight in a curl, the weight moving toward you in a leg press, or the handle moving back up in a cable tricep push down. In each of these examples you must exert force to prevent the weight from falling too quickly. When training for hypertrophy the eccentric portion of the exercises should always be done slowly and in a controlled manner, as this part of the exercise has been shown to be extremely growth promoting. 

Range of motion changes depending on your fitness goals. Power and strength will be explained later, as for hypertrophy, we want to use full ranges of motion. Most people think that squeezing the muscle really hard during a rep is what grows them, it’s actually the opposite. What we really want to do is stretch the muscle as far as possible (while keeping tension on the target muscle, and staying safe) before pushing or pulling the weight through the rep. Not only do we want to let the muscle stretch, but we also want to pause in that stretched position for 1-2 seconds. There is another reason to use this increased range of motion, on top of increased hypertrophic benefits, it can help maintain healthy joints and reduce the potential for injury when done correctly. These larger ranges of motion, combined with the higher reps, and pauses will also lead to the inability to use super heavy weights, which also reduces the chances of injury. Luckily, we don’t need heavy weights to make a workout hard. So don’t let your ego guide you, drop the weight, and really feel the reps. 

Time under tension is a term that is pretty literal, it just means the amount of time the target muscle is having force exerted on it by the weight. One of the goals with hypertrophy training is maximizing time under tension. We accomplish this by not allowing the muscle to relax at the end range of a rep, or at least keeping that time to minimum. For example, during a bicep curl, do not let your arms relax when the weight is at the bottom of the rep, keep the bicep tight and the weight controlled, even as you take the weight through a full range of motion. 

Muscle isolation is picking exercises that work limited muscles or even a single muscle at a time. Examples include bicep curls, leg extensions, or lateral raises. These types of exercises are rarely, if ever, used in strength and power training, but are a staple of hypertrophy. The purpose of this kind of training is pretty obvious, it trains a specific muscle with the intent of growing that muscle larger. Hypertrophy training usually consists of a series of isolation or near isolation type exercises systematically working each muscle in a weekly routine. 

Machine use is something much more common to hypertrophy than other types of training as well, the reason being, machines allow for more isolation of a target muscle. This is accomplished by removing the need for stabilization. For instance, during a barbell bench press, multiple muscles (lats, delts, triceps, pecs and more) must work together to stabilize the weight, but on a machine press, stabilization is taken care of by the machine, so the only muscles needed are those used to push, namely the pecs, triceps and in some cases a little bit of the shoulder. So switching out normal exercises for a machine that hits a target muscle is a great technique when training for hypertrophy. 

Progression

Progression in strength training is not terribly different from hypertrophy, each workout you’ll want to try to add a little more weight. 2.5-5% is a reasonable increase from week to week. At the beginning of your strength training journey you will likely be able to make much larger jumps, week to week. As you progress and become stronger, you will see a significant decrease in the increases you are able to make. Eventually, if you progress far enough, increasing by a couple pounds will be a great achievement. It’s important to ensure you use proper form, and full range of movement for your lift. If you try to increase weight too quickly you will begin to compromise your form, which increases chances of injury and can slow down progression. 

With strength training, reps in reserve is also important. Very rarely should you be pushing all the way to failure, you should push close but not all the way. The best time to push to total failure is pre-deload. This ensures the fatigue doesn’t affect future workouts. Just like with hypertrophy, you’ll want to start a mesocycle with a few reps in reserve each set. As you progress in your mesocycle you can decrease the RIR until you hit that wall, then deload. Deloading in strength training is likely more important than it is in hypertrophy. In hypertrophy you can probably add more reps for quite a while, especially as a beginner. With strength training, you should be using much heavier loads and your reps should be limited to lower numbers, so increasing reps isn't as viable of an option. With all that in mind, assuming you are training with enough intensity, you will only be able to progress so much before hitting a wall. That’s when you deload, and start a new mesocycle with a slightly higher starting weight than the previous meso, thus allowing you to push a little higher each time. 

Rest

Rest in strength training is pretty different from hypertrophy. Instead of 1-2 minutes, you will want to rest for a minimum of 3-5 minutes, and even longer as you become more advanced. Strength training sessions tend to be long hours in the gym with the vast majority of the time spent resting. When strength training, you are placing a great deal of stress on your muscles, and central nervous system, this warrants a much longer rest between sets. So bring your phone, and probably some snacks, maybe a phone charger too.