Having either depressed or angered folks with my discussion on anabolic steroids and how they factually build muscle and strength without training I want to shift gears and write about something that is in the long-list of “Stuff I’ve been meaning to put down” and never gotten around too. Specifically I want to talk about the idea of Heavy/Light/Medium training,
Daily Undulating Periodization
I imagine that many if not most readers are familiar with a current training idea/fad called Daily Undulating Periodization or DUP. DUP came out of problems with old-school linear periodization and the fact that physiological characteristics that are not trained for extended periods are lost.
The basic idea is that you train in different repetition ranges (i.e. 5’s, 8’s, 12’s) on different days to target different “aspects” of training (strength, growth, endurance) in hopes of getting the best of all worlds. DUP has benefits and problems (not the least of which is a tendency to overtrain if every day is taken to maximum) but that’s neither here nor there.… Keep Reading