How to Use DUP for Bodybuilding & Powerlifting

Part 1
by Chris Marzarella

Pavel Tsatsouline once quoted in his book Power to the People (1), that the way to
do more chin-ups is to grease the groove by doing lots of chin-ups every day.
What Pavel was stating was that, repetitive and reasonably intense stimulation
strengthens the nerve impulse to the muscles involved, making them stronger and
more enduring. This is not to say that every set must be taken to absolute failure.
Quite the opposite, as Pavilion states:
Muscle failure is more than unnecessary it is counterproductive! Neuroscientists
have known for half a century that if you stimulate a neural pathway, say the bench
press groove, and the outcome is positive, future benching will be easier, thanks to
the so-called Hebbian rule. The groove has been greased. Next time the same
amount of mental effort will result in a heavier bench. This is training to success!
The opposite is also true. If your body fails to perform your brains command, the
groove will get rusty. You are pushing as hard as usual, but the muscles contract
weaker then before! To paraphrase powerlifting champ Dr. Terry Todd, if you are
training to failure, you are training to fail.
Enter Daily Undulating Periodization
Undulating periodization, as described by Charles Poliquin (2), differs from Linear
Periodization (LP) by making changes in intensity and volume in a more frequent
fashion. Rather than making changes every 4 weeks, the undulating model makes
these same changes on a bi-weekly basis. However, the switch to Daily Undulating
Periodization (DUP) is repeated and increased volume training in different rep
ranges on a daily basis. The higher the training volume per week, the more rapidly
the gains can come.
This is not to say you should train the same way every day, and there are some
caveats that need to be adhered to. I have had both powerlifters (myself included)
and bodybuilders improve on both of their needed outcomes of strength and
hypertrophy respectively. Not one of my athletes failed to get stronger or bigger in a
shorter amount of time.
I am not giving the advice to jump into the deep end of the pool if you dont know
how to swim.
On the contrary, it does take a little time to get used to higher frequency training.
When I started training for NPC Masters Nationals this year, I wanted to make it a
goal to take as few days off as possible and just repeatedly train until my body
started to feel overtrained and utilize a planned deload week. While I do take
one day off from training (but with HIIT cardio), this was not always the case. The
concept of deloading was introduced when I started to use Jim Wendlers 5/3/1
protocol and it has since been a staple in any of my programs for myself and clients.

To summarize my training, I started out with two workouts on Monday and Tuesday,
cardio only on Wednesday, back to training for Thursday and Friday, off Saturday
and cardio Sunday. Now, just 7 weeks into training, my coach Kent Bierly at Pure
Focus in Brick NJ, we agreed that training every day except one day a week is far
more beneficial for hypertrophy and to my physiology. To date, every one of my
training days has had a substantial boost in every workout and my body looks
developmentally different.

This is not a fluke. I have a 56 year old female raw powerlifter who struggled for
many months to move past a 100 pound one rep max on bench press. Once I got
her past the fear of pressing one hundred pounds, I switched her training from 5/3/1
where she made very respectable gains, to DUP. Her protocol is laid out like this:

This application can be done on bodybuilders looking to gain mass or enter a fat
loss period. A figure client I have trained for 5 years always desires to grow, and
continue getting stronger. She has always responded well to higher volume training.
In her off-season, I made a weeks worth of training the full body four times a week:

During the course of her training year or macrocycle, my figure clients off-season
can last anywhere from four to six months. The period of time selected is called a
mesocycle and it is committed to gaining size and strength. As a planned event gets
closer, one power day will be omitted, with the central focus placed on hypertrophy
while maintaining strength levels. This mesocycle will usually last twelve to sixteen
weeks, otherwise known as pre-contest training. Of course, her strength will dip
slightly as her diet gets closer to her contest.
If no other shows are planned that year, she will resume the mesocycle of
developing more power and hypertrophy and slowly add calories up after her show.
This process is called reverse dieting. I may also take a month and work on
needed areas of improvement. That is another article at another time. This too can
take up to 6 months or more to ensure as little fat gain as possible.
This is just one form of a mesocycle that can be used with athletes, regardless of
whatever sport they may be in. This is not the only way to grease the groove when

you are a powerlifter or physique athlete. Another way to train using DUP is this
way.

As you can see from the example above, you will be able to recover within three
days before resuming. In a study examining an athletes recovery (3), Rhea (2003)
concluded that for untrained individuals and trained individuals a frequency of 3 and
2 days, respectively, per week per muscle group is optimal, which translates to 1-2
days rest between sessions. However, this will vary depending on total volume of
resistance training, individual training status, and overall goals (e.g., training for
hypertrophy, strength, endurance, etc).
Another study (4) found that different lifts, such as the deadlift, squat, and overhead
press require more rest than smaller muscle groups such biceps, triceps, and
forearm flexors. This is due to the increase in motor unit recruitment and larger
muscle mass involved with these multi-joint exercises. Thus, we can get around this
by using the leg press or front squats on one of the hypertrophy days instead of
squats, a variation of the deadlift such as good mornings, rack pulls or stiff leg
deadlift, and finally a variation of the bench press instead of the overhead press.
In next months article we will go over:

planned overreaching vs overtraining and the differences

Obtaining a safe one rep maximum

Whether or not overtraining actually exists

A defined deload plan for both powerlifters, bodybuilders and physique

athletes


Downloadable DUP training templates for both powerlifters, bodybuilders and
physique athletes for the amount of time an athlete has to train

Recovery techniques and various supplements to support recovery

References:

1.) Power to the People: Russian strength training secrets for every American By:
Tsatsouline, Pavel. Dragon Door Publications 2000

2.) Poloquin, C. Five steps to increasing the effectiveness of your strength training
program. NSCA J 10(3):3439. 1988.

3.) Rhea, M.R., et al. 2002. A comparison of linear and daily undulating periodized
programs with equated volume and intensity for strength. Journal of Strength and
Conditioning Research, 16(2), 25055.

4.) Bishop, P.A, Jones E., & Woods A.K. (2008). Recovery from training: a brief review.
Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research., 22(3):1015-1024