Last week we talked about basic linear periodization. But over the past decade, several studies have shown the high value of a different form of periodization: undulating periodization.
For example, see this.
But it's interesting to note that comparisons of different periodization models for beginners does NOT show undulating periodization to be superior. (See this.)
I've seen evidence of this myself, so I suggest linear periodization for beginners, and even intermediates.
For more advanced lifters, undulating periodicity is quite valuable. But you have to do it right.
Undulating Periodization
One of the reasons you might not have ever done undulating periodization – or even heard of it – is that it's much more complicated to do (not to mention hard to pronounce!). Some people also call in "nonlinear periodization" but undulating is more accurate.
To save on the typing, I'm going to use UP as the abbreviation.
If you are not keeping a training log, forget about UP. There's no way you can keep track of it all in your head week after week.
The basic idea with undulating periodicity is that you switch among strength-hypertrophy-conditioning regimens much more frequently than in linear periodization.
Weekly vs. Daily Undulating Periodization
The original studies of UP were weekly. Meaning, you'd do a week of low-load, high rep lifts, then a week of medium load, medium rep lifts, then a week of high load, low rep lifts. Let's call that WUP.
But when I mentioned earlier that UP is a relatively recent development in the history of resistance training, I was referring to the daily variation (DUP) – here you are changing the protocol within each week.
And since then, when most people talk about UP, they mean DUP.
An example of DUP for someone on a full-body routine lifting M, W and F is
M=muscular endurance, W=hypertrophy, F=strength.
M = 4 sets of each exercise, targeting 12-15 reps
W = 4 sets of each exercise, targeting 8-12 reps
F = 5 sets of each exercise, targeting 4-6 reps
What About DUP For Split Routines?
Here's how daily undulating periodicity would look for The 6x6x6 Routine:
(Note – here's a brief description of The 6x6x6 Routine: upper/lower split routine; normally advocates 6 reps per set, but includes a couple lower rep, heavier weight sets in each workout using a principal called "wave loading" that I'll have to explain some other time. For this example, I'm just using the 6-rep sets for illustration. There are multiple ways you could apply periodization to The 6x6x6 Routine, or any routine for that matter.)
- Day 1: Upper Body – target 12 reps per set
- Day 2: Lower Body – target 12 reps per set
- Day 3: recovery
- Day 4: Upper Body – target 8 reps per set
- Day 5: Lower Body – target 8 reps per set
- Day 6: recovery
- Day 7: recovery
- Day 8: Upper Body – target 4 reps per set
- Day 9: Lower Body – target 4 reps per set
- Day 10: recovery
- Day 11: Upper Body – target 12 reps per set
- Day 12: Lower Body – target 12 reps per set
- Day 13: recovery
- Day 14: recovery
- repeat
You might find that you want to adjust the timing of the 2-back-to-back recovery days based on your own recovery time (some people take longer to recover from the 4-rep workouts than they do from the 8-rep workouts, for example). If you own The 6x6x6 Routine and have questions about how to apply DUP, just email me.
Even if you are on a "bodybuilder" type of routine that emphasizes body-part splits, there is some anecdotal evidence that UP can help. Arnold (and countless others) talk about doing "heavy days" and "light days" to help stimulate muscle growth. Since modern bodybuilders are almost all on drugs, it's hard to get a good study going that shows the impact of UP on pure-hypertrophy (which is why almost all the science is about impacts of UP on strength gains).
Some Cautions
One thing to avoid with DUP, or WUP as well, is using too high of a rep scheme. For example, studies have shown that if your muscular endurance sessions target 20 or more reps, rather than a more moderate 12 reps, that you actually lose strength on a UP protocol.
If your goal is fat loss, no study I'm aware of has shown that there's any advantage to any periodization model for fat loss. Doesn't mean there's no connection, but it hasn't been proven. My own belief is that it could help when you are already lean and are trying to get ultralean but not distinctive if you are the average person trying to lose some fat.
And I'll end where I started – this is not required for beginners. Most studies comparing LP to DUP (or LP to WUP) show that for beginners there isn't much difference. In fact, beginners don't even need LP – you can just keep slowly increasing the weight or reps (progressive overload) and make most of the progress. LP, WUP, and especially DUP are complicated and if you are just starting out you can get discouraged. Remember, sticking to a decent routine and protocol is far better than inconsistently doing an amazing routine.
Questions? Fire away!
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