Training Techniques Part 1 - Daily Undulating Periodisation (DUP)
Thought I would write a series of pieces on various training methods that I have employed over the years and also those that I have put into clients programs. I never ever give a client a training program that I haven't tried and tested myself as I want to know exactly how it will make you feel and the pro's and con's of them, both mentally and physically.
To start with I thought I would write about one of my favourite training techniques - Daily Undulating Periodisation or DUP for short. Now it sounds very technical DUP just by the name alone, when the reality is its anything but complicated.
To simplify it further lets break it down into easier to understand pieces;
(Pic 1)
This is an ongoing debate between the “evidence” based guys and the “bros”. There are a couple reasons why higher frequency training works better. For one, you get increased motor learning capabilities with more frequent exposure to the lifts. Lifting is a skill, and like any skill you get better at it with more practice. Getting better at the lifts allows you to dial in your form and become more efficient with the movement patterns. As your form gets better and more efficient it becomes easier to make progress. Another benefit is the more often you stimulate a training response (through muscular contractions), the more often you create an anabolic response and boost protein synthesis. It makes sense that the more often you can create a training response the better off you are going to be.
To start with I thought I would write about one of my favourite training techniques - Daily Undulating Periodisation or DUP for short. Now it sounds very technical DUP just by the name alone, when the reality is its anything but complicated.
To simplify it further lets break it down into easier to understand pieces;
- Daily - We are literally talking about days, see it's not rocket science so far is it...
- Undulating - A word some may or may not of heard of before but undulating means a flowing motion, up and down in a wave like pattern. Now if we refer that back to training it means reps and sets progressing in a non-linear fashion (see Pic 1 below)
- Periodisation - Very simply planning your training for a PERIOD of time to peak and finish at a certain date at your optimum best.
(Pic 1)
Now to truly get your head around DUP training we need to expel some of the myths that we have been taught over the years, call it 'broscience' cleansing of the soul.
Myths
- To build muscle you have to work within the 8-12 rep range exclusively (Bullshit)
- Only train each muscle once a week (Bullshit)
- Hit every muscle from every angle possible like you are a gymnast in the Russian circus (Bullshit)
- You have to confuse a muscle - How the fuck can you confuse a passive object? (Bullshit)
- Intensity principles are the key to progress, supersets, giant sets, pre and post exhaustion (Bullshit)
- Overtraining will make you lose all your gainzzzzzz (BULLSHIT!!!!)
DUP contradicts just about everything you know about training or have been told in the past, yet it is a valuable tool to have in your arsenal when it comes to training, and it works.
Core Principles of DUP Training
- There is a benefit to every rep range. DUP may have hitting reps of 2, 5, 12 all in consecutive training days. What you must understand is that there is a carryover effect between rep ranges as well. In fact, the training effect is much more about about outside factors such as volume than it is actual rep ranges. This is why research has shown similar muscle building responses between high and low rep training as long as volume is equated. Basically, you can gain muscle by using heavy weight for low reps or moderate weight for moderate reps.
This is an ongoing debate between the “evidence” based guys and the “bros”. There are a couple reasons why higher frequency training works better. For one, you get increased motor learning capabilities with more frequent exposure to the lifts. Lifting is a skill, and like any skill you get better at it with more practice. Getting better at the lifts allows you to dial in your form and become more efficient with the movement patterns. As your form gets better and more efficient it becomes easier to make progress. Another benefit is the more often you stimulate a training response (through muscular contractions), the more often you create an anabolic response and boost protein synthesis. It makes sense that the more often you can create a training response the better off you are going to be.
- Focus on the main lifts.
The Squat? How about the Deadlift? Maybe a bodyweight exercise such as the Pull-up?
I know that is a loaded question and hard to answer. There are a lot of “best” exercises depending on the individual, but I can guarantee seated calf raises or leg extensions didn’t immediately come to mind. That is because deep down we know there are certain exercises that just work better than others. We know squats are “better” than leg extensions when it comes to building muscle and strength. If we know this, why is it that we spend the same amount of time each week (sets x reps) on squats as we do leg extensions?
I call this majoring in your minor. Don’t spend as much time on assistance work as you do the main exercises. You don’t need to hit your quad from 10 different angles for it to get bigger and stronger.
There are just not that many “angles” to hit a muscle group from. If you are wondering how you will be able to isolate your brachialis without your favourite curl variation, read on.
- Limit assistance / isolation work
Notice I said limit, not exclude. You can still do assistance work on a DUP program, it’s just going to take a backseat to the big compound lifts. I actually recommend adding assistance work in to help bring up your weaknesses. Do what you suck at. Just remember the big picture. Don’t let your assistance work take away from what really matters.
With that being said, it’s a self regulating system. After hitting squat, bench and deadlift 3 or 4 times per week with a ton of volume, you won’t have much energy left for wrist curls…I think you will be alright though.
What about exercise variation for muscular confusion?
The fact is muscles don’t need to be “confused” in the typical bro sense in order to make progress. You don’t need to do flat barbell bench one week, dumbbells the next, and decline the week after in order to “confuse” a muscle to make progress.
There is nothing wrong with changing up exercises. Actually that is a big part of conjugate style training. I love throwing in variations. However, progress is driven by progressive overload not doing a ton of different exercises to make sure your muscles are confused.
- Progressive overload is the key to progress
When I talk about progressive overload I am really talking about progressing volume or tonnage.
Volume (tonnage) = sets x reps x weight
Weight plays a huge role here. Most bro training styles create more volume by just adding sets and reps and calling it progressive overload.
Bro logic – want to make an exercise harder? Just do a crazy drop set of 40, 50, or 100 reps. Yeah that is hard but what did you achieve? If your goal is to build muscular endurance great, like I said there is a benefit to every rep range but if your goal is maximum muscle and strength you would be better off focusing on adding more weight.
Volume is the major driver of strength and muscle building. A well designed training program has a means of built in progression that increases volume over time.
It’s easier to increase volume when you combine it with increased frequency.
- Supercompensation
DUP training is hard. Somewhere along the way hard training got shamed, but like DUP, it’s making a comeback.
Training hard fell out of favour around the same time the fear mongering around overtraining started.
Overtraining is real, but 99% of people do not need to worry about it. The fact is this. I have trained in gyms all over the country, I have worked with hundreds of clients and have talked to other coaches who have also worked with hundreds of clients and I have came to this conclusion – Far more people under train, than over train.
Let me put it another way. If you are actually training hard enough to be “overtrained”, chances are:
1- You are an elite athlete and you need to push the boundaries to compete at the highest level.
or
2 – You are experienced enough to over train /over reach on purpose.
It’s called supercompensation. You train hard for a period of time, push your training to the limit, possibly even past your recovery ability (over reach) and then you de-load to reap the rewards of the training cycle. Over reaching is the training secret of the elite. You never know how far you can push until you push too far.
So lets move onto programming a DUP training plan...
What the Hell is DUP?
DUP is essentially high-frequency training.
You hit a muscle group or perform a lift three, or possibly even four or five times per week.
Rules and Regulations of DUP
The basic guidelines of setting up a DUP routine are as follows –
– Pick basic exercises. (This generally means squats, bench presses, and deadlifts, but you may also include overhead presses as a main exercise. You can also add exercise variations, such as close-grip benches, front squats, deficit deadlifts, etc.)
– Only choose one “type” of any one movement per cycle. You don’t want squats, front squats, paused squats and safety bar squats in the same training block – choose just one variation at a time.
– Set your week up so you work each exercise in different ranges. These could be classed as “power, hypertrophy, and strength” sessions, or “light, medium, and heavy” – it doesn’t matter what you call them so much, only that you are working at different loads and intensities.
– Don’t go nuts on the accessory work. Performing this much weekly volume on a few specific lifts will leave you spent. If you’re trying to hit 20 sets for biceps, looking to increase your pull-ups, or performing eight different types of lateral raise on top you’ll come unstuck.
The Set-Up
Programming a DUP cycle is surprisingly easy.
First up, decide your exercises – I would definitely go with back squats, regular bench presses, and deadlifts in your first time round. This is just to get used to the rhythm and increased volume.
Step two is to plan your days accordingly. Again, we’re keeping things basic here, so let’s try –
Monday – Squat, bench, deadlift
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – Squat, bench, deadlift
Thursday – Off
Friday – Squat, bench, deadlift
Saturday – Accessory session
Sunday – Off
Now, we need rep ranges.
I like something in the power rep range and intensity spectrum, something in the strength parameters, then some higher rep work as per typical hypertrophy work.
So your three days could be –
Power – 6 sets of 3 at 70% 1RM
Strength – 5 sets of 5 at 80% 1RM
Hypertrophy – 4 sets of 8 at 70% 1RM
Taking this a step further, your week would now look something like –
Monday – Power squat, strength bench, hypertrophy deadlift
Tuesday – Off
Wednesday – Strength squat, hypertrophy bench, power deadlift
Thursday – Off
Friday – Hypertrophy squat, power bench, strength deadlift
Saturday – Accessory session
Sunday – Off
Week-by-Week Progressions
The idea of DUP is to add volume every week. This can be done in one of two ways –
- Add weight and keep sets and reps the same.
- Keep the weight the same, but add sets and reps, while sticking in the given ranges.
Going with the above template, and using the bench press as an example, here’s how a 4-week cycle might look.
We’ll use a 1RM of 250 lbs.
Week 1 (Using weight as the method of adding volume)
Monday – 200lbs for 5 sets of 5
Wednesday – 175 lbs for 4 sets of 8
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 (Focus here is on form/ power/ explosiveness.)
Week 2
You could either add weight, so
Monday – 205lbs for 5 sets of 5
Wednesday – 180 lbs for 4 sets of 8
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 *
Week 3
Monday – 210lbs for 5 sets of 5
Wednesday – 185 lbs for 4 sets of 8
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 *
Week 4
Monday – 215lbs for 5 sets of 5
Wednesday – 190 lbs for 4 sets of 8
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3 *
* I prefer to keep power work the same throughout each cycle
or add sets/ reps –
Week 2
Monday – 200lbs for 5 sets of 6
Wednesday – 175 lbs for 4 sets of 9
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3
Week 3
Monday – 200lbs for 6 sets of 6
Wednesday – 175 lbs for 5 sets of 9
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3
Monday – 200lbs for 7 sets of 6
Wednesday – 175 lbs for 5 sets of 10
Friday – 175 lbs for 6 sets of 3
The Accessory Work
Accessory work should be tough, and focus on areas that the big lifts don’t hit directly.
Ideally, it won’t have any negative impact on your strength for the main sessions. This is why keeping everything at around an 8 to 9 out of 10 in terms of intensity, and not pushing to failure is recommended.
There’s a “done-for-you” accessory session coming below.
A Sample Week
Okay, I won’t hold back any more. I’ll actually give you a complete training week on DUP:
Session 1
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Load |
| Squat | 5 | 5 | 80% 1RM |
| Bench | 4 | 8 | 70% 1RM |
| Deadlift | 6 | 3 | 70% 1RM |
Session 2
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Load |
| Deadlift | 5 | 5 | 80% 1RM |
| Squat | 4 | 8 | 70% 1RM |
| Bench | 6 | 3 | 70% 1RM |
Session 3
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Load |
| Bench | 5 | 5 | 80% 1RM |
| Deadlift | 4 | 8 | 70% 1RM |
| Squat | 6 | 3 | 70% 1RM |
Session 4
| Exercise | Sets | Reps | Load |
| Pull-ups | 5 | 6-8 | RPE 8-9 |
| Military Press | 5 | 6-8 | RPE 8-9 |
| Bent Over Rows | 5 | 6-8 | RPE 8-9 |
| Dumbbell Curls | 4 | 10-12 | RPE 8-9 |
| Triceps Pushdowns | 4 | 10-12 | RPE 8-9 |
| Calf Raises | 4 | 10-12 | RPE 8-9 |
Follow that structure, add the weekly progressions, and I guarantee you’ll see your fastest gains since you left newbie status.
The Wrap Up
It really is no surprise that pro bodybuilders and powerlifters, such as Layne Norton, Ryan Doris, and Paul Revelia, are well and truly on board the DUP gain train.
Volume is, by far, the most underrated aspect in any size and strength building program. It is also quite often overlooked in your typical bodybuilding routines.
If this hasn’t been enough to get off your once-a-week split routine, I don’t know what will be.
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