EMMA'S 12-MONTH PERIODIZATIONCASE STUDY
Emma came to EPN from the UK at 48 years old. Like so many women before finding EPN, she assumed the answer to revealing the physique she wanted was fat loss, but what she actually needed was more muscle.
Her work schedule and UK time zone made joining a live cohort impossible. So she became the first person to ever purchase the EPN 7-Day Mini Course, and went on to execute a full 12-month periodization cycle with:
2 coaching calls (one to kick off the build in August 2025, one to review at the end in March 2026)
A handful of Instagram DMs and email exchanges
That’s it 😅
She had been maintaining her weight for nearly a year before the build (the first time in her life she'd ever done that), following Jordan Lips's lifting program, and tracking consistently in Cronometer.
She came to the first call with a detailed prep document, having dug through three years of EPN Instagram posts to build her own plan, my jaw dropped.
My response? Add the build calculator to her sheet as a thank-you. That's how prepared Emma was.
And also, now the mini-course comes with access to that document with all the education pieces embedded in it so that you don’t have to comb through it like Emma!
The Periodization Plan:
Sept 2024 - August 2025: 12-Months at Maintenance
First time ever maintaining for a full year; one "failed fat loss" attempt mid-year she bailed on and learned from
Sept 2025 - February 2026: 26-Week Build
She targeted an intermediate trainee’s conservative rate of gain, and gained 6.3lbs over 6+ months.
March 2026 - April 2026:8-Week Deficit
Emma is targeting an 8-week deficit before returning to building over the summer, it’s safe to say she might be hooked on building :)
A 6-Month Build
Emma's build lasted approximately 6 months, following Jordan Lips's lifting program in her home gym setup.
Going in, Laura selected an intermediate, conservative rate of gain for Emma's profile: small and petite, long-term goals, and a high priority on the majority of the weight gained being lean tissue.
Emma described it as a "build of two halves": more conservative early on, more aggressive toward the end when she started recognizing how much better she felt.
The mental side was manageable because she'd been prepared for it through years of consuming EPN content.
"Now, having been through a build, I know that it's not a trend until it's a proper trend. It's just noise." -Emma
How She Did it Solo
What helped Emma stay the course doing this solo, through monthly work travel and all the normal life variables, was the EPN check-in spreadsheet and the ability to zoom out.
The tools that changed how she saw her data:
The weekly averages tab: thinking in timeframes beyond a single week or day-to-day fluctuations
The 4-week rolling view: understanding that a signal only exists if weekly change is consistently > +/- 0.2 lbs
The notes column: contextualizing higher and lower calorie weeks, so travel and events, didn't feel like failures
Sleep tracking: the discipline of logging it prompted real bedtime hygiene improvements
"There are so many variables. But this spreadsheet just gives me peace of mind. I just put the data in and I don't really worry about things because I know what to look out for now."
Emma executed this entire periodization cycle with 2 coaching calls, a handful of DMs, and the EPN 7-Day Mini Course.
She was the first Mini Course participant to complete a full periodization cycle independently while managing a demanding work schedule, caring for her family with 3 kids, and doing it all from a home gym.
She is proof that the process works if you do the work.
Emma did this alone with the Mini Course. The Nutrition Periodization Project gives you everything she had, plus a year of community and coaching.
