DUP: Daily Undulating Periodisation
This is training system for the advanced lifters and advise at least a years constant training before trying DUP . The gains of strength and therefore my body composition has been quite unbelievable in just this 1st month, and it’s a system I will be keeping in my routine (with a planned break from loading). Traditional bodybuilding programs where in periodisation blocks of 4-8 weeks of either
Power = Sets of 1-3 reps at 70-90% 1RMStrength = Sets of 3-5 reps at 80-90% 1RMHypertrophy = Sets of 8-12 reps at 70-80% 1RMEndurance = Sets of 15-20 reps e below 70% 1RM
The difference with DUP you work across a number of different rep ranges and loads through every single progression block in 1 single program. There was a old bodybuilding myth that training a single body part or loading on same compound movements would result in over-training and injury but in fact, a 2002 study from the “Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research” concluded that – “Making program alterations on a daily basis was more effective in eliciting strength gains than doing so every 4 weeks.”
Just use caution and be mindful to your body and if you need more recovery time then listen! to your body! No one can tell you at what pace you should go you only learn that yourself from trial and error. There is multiply ways to implement a DUP for your own gains but without me getting to technical and droaning on this post will focus on how I designed my 1st month doing DUP keeping it simple and easy to follow once you understand the structure go and design your own.
Lets start with the structure, I choose 3 different programs to tweak weekly.
A: THE BIG 3! (BIG x1) POWER
The Deadlifts,
The Bench Press,
The Squats,
# Compound base exercise and the foundation of the Program-
These exercises are not set in stone so if you have a injury or preference you can exchange for another compound movement. Personally like many females (not all!) I don’t train chest … just don’t want the square or hard look and prefer to keep as soft as possible and only doing push ups occasionally for overall fitness maintenance! So I substitute Back exercises instead, Bent over rows, Pendlay rows, T-Bar rows, Pull ups (I suck at these so yes I do them-It’s like Rhino trying to Pull her Bodyweight lol!)
B: ACCESSORIES (ACC x2) STRENGTH
The Deadlifts Accessories,
The Bench Press Accessories,
The Squats Accessories,
# You will pick 1A Exercise for Power and the 2B for Strength and Rotate the sequence each DUP day.
C: PREHAB (PRE x2) HYPERTROPHY
These consist of a number of different exercises which the Big 3’s miss, more for isolated target areas and aiding in injury prevention.
So – Core work, Biceps, Triceps, Direct hamstrings work, Delts
Choose 2 body parts and change EACH workout (not weekly) giving as much variation as possible.
Confused? Simply put it’s 3 sessions, of 60 mins each week, each session has 1 x BIG, 2 x ACC, 2 x PRE
Here is a SAMPLE SESSION of DUP 1
BIG 1 – 5 sets of 4 reps – Squats (Wide, Straight, Front, Back it’s up to you)
ACC 1 – 4 sets of 6-8 reps – Chest Press Incline, Flat, Decline (in my case Bent Over Row, Push Jerk, Pull Up)
ACC 2 – 4 sets of 6-8 reps – Deadlift (Sumo, Romanian, Stiff Leg – again choice is yours) 4 sets of 6-8 reps
PRE 1 – 3 sets of 10-15 reps – Here’s where You can have some fun and concentrate on some week Body parts isolated – Bicep curls, Tricep Kickbacks, Ab roll out, Ham curl machine.
PRE 2 – 3 sets of 10-15 reps – Another Isolated Body part.
Now for the Next DUP or DUP 2 rotate the Big 3 to Chest Press as the Power move so if you lifted O-bar +40 kilo for 8 reps as the ACC1 in DUP 1 then here you would go heavier for 4 reps only so +50 Kilo and if that’s doable add another 5 kilo and log it down so next DUP 2 next week you know where to go as you logged where you been!
My Personal TIPS
1; I find 3 DUPS in 1 week was starting to niggle my joints and I was tired with my extra 2 martial arts/2 Hypertrophy lifting training so I added another days rest if needed so I would complete 3 DUPs in 8-9 days sometimes if I needed a extra 2-3 days rest from the Power lifting.
2; DUP training is based on free weight exercises Dumbbells, Barbells but if you’re having issues with your knees and want to use leg press machine then change it personally for you.
3; So a friend read the post and asked what to do if he didn’t know his 1RM? Well lets start to not get too technical just choose a weight that you think you can do for 4 reps if you find it was easy and could of done more then log it down and add more for next set until you find your 4 rep max. Then the next week when it’s time for the next DUP1 day start at where you left off and try to do all 5 sets with that weight if you can’t go down and log it! When eventually you complete all 5 sets at that weight (no matter how long it takes-Safety always!) Then start to load an add 5-10kilos for 1 set …..not all 5 sets!