Training Design I

It has been close to 10 years since I wrote my first articles on non-linear periodization and I have to say the response to the information has been both expected and unexpected.  What I didn’t expect was how people would latch onto it as a “training system”, compare it to others, follow it verbatim, and attribute it to me.  Let me assure you, undulating periodization didn’t start with me; however I did stumble upon it as a teenager just through trial and error.  I would shuffle through muscle magazines every month like Scripture from the time I was twelve years old, trying to find all the secrets to muscle building.  Per the norm in those days, and just the fervor of being young, I would train every day, sometimes twice per day.  Though a bit misguided perhaps, I at least discovered early that over-training was possible and I would have to cycle my workouts so I was using different exercises and different training emphasis when hitting the same body part for the second or third time that week.   If I started with flat bench the first chest workout, I’d do incline the second.  Guided by Joe Weider and the ghost writers of his empire, I was thinking angles, degrees, and recovery long before I was in physical therapy school.  

As my career progressed and I began focusing on strength, biomechanics, and balancing hypertrophy versus power…learning about energy systems, fiber types, and performance research resources, I discovered what most of us learn the hard way: less can be better.  When I started squatting once every other week instead every week, I was able to move my squat to 500 lbs (from 400) in one year.  I saw my dead lift rocket and my strength and size were greatly improving. I found that instead of the traditional periodization model for athletes, there was a way to get the best of muscle hypertrophy and strength – for a bodybuilder – by using smaller cycles of training.  There was an old system of light week/heavy week, but it seemed vague to me.  Simply training “light” didn’t make sense regarding type-II and intermediate muscle fiber as well as working the glycolitic energy system fully.  It needed to be intense; not light.  At the time I was developing my own protocols, I was unaware that undulating periodization was being researched in university human performance labs simultaneously.  As validating as it was to see the merits of what I was embarking upon, it was still geared toward athletes.  As a bodybuilder, though strength and performance is a goal, it’s to the end of muscle size.  Modifications have to be made for the non-performance athlete and the non-power lifter. 

First understand what I alluded to above.  Though I don’t have the space to make this a volume on muscle physiology, there are reasons you need strength work, power work, and hypertrophy-specific training.  There are different energy systems you tax, you recruit different amounts and patterns of motor units (muscle fibers), you train your nervous system differently, and it’s all important.  The problem is that you can’t cover it all in one workout or one style of training – that is the critical component of training…it’s the theme sentence to this article…the only way you’ll ever actualize your full potential.   We at times try to catch it all in a particular style of training – think of traditional pyramid training.  You warm up, add weight, add weight, add weight, and eventually you’re working in every possible rep range.  The problem is for each variable to be trained completely (energy system and fiber type), you have to have multiple sets to failure (or close) in each rep range; not just a glancing blow on your way to the next set.  

Think of a power lifter or an athlete.  Though there are different protocols, I know successful coaches who would have their team squat a couple of times per week, bench three times per week, but maybe only dead lift once or twice per month.  As a matter of fact, that is the exact pattern of a friend of mine who coached his way to back-to-back NCAA Division I national titles and broke several records along the way.  But, the goal of the lift per day, was different each time – each day of the week.  There was a micro-periodization model to balance the energy system dominance, fiber type, and recovery.  Again, as body builders, we have to throw in hypertrophy work, but the stronger you become, the more weight you can use for that hypertrophy work.  Another major reason to consider power lifters is that if you never train specifically for strength and power, you’ll never maximize fast-twitch muscle fiber growth.  Granted, they have the least growth potential, but they still grow, you train your nervous system for better motor unit recruitment, and you set yourself up for better hypertrophy work.  

Another thing to consider is actual exercises.  If I squat every week as the core of my leg work, I never train assisting muscles and movement patterns quite as well and I can quickly over train.  If I use the squat as my core leg movement for my strength work, I won’t use it for my hypertrophy work very often.  The design is scary for a body builder – I’ll tell you right now you’re going to think you’re not doing enough work.  Below I’ll outline examples for each body part, but until you get in the gym for a couple of months and see for yourself, it will be just theory.

As I introduced this topic, I mentioned I was surprised by some outcomes – the way competitors have adopted this system as a specific protocol to copy – but what else happened?  Results.  Anyone who has executed the program to the letter has reported personal bests in lifts, better recovery, and more size.  The email I receive to this day is staggering with enthusiasm.  It simply helps you recover maximally so you can train the best of the two energy systems needed for growth (aerobic is important, but not addressed in training) and all the muscle fiber/motor units you can tap into through a two-week model.

On to legs!

Applying the design to leg training, you'll want to keep a primary strength movement at the center and other exercises will be used for intensity and growth training. Along with just about every other veteran of training, I believe the squat is unbeatable for this purpose, especially if you observe power lifting rules of depth.  Not everyone can or should squat due to biomechanical or injury issues, but I'll use it as the core of this example. 

True to the basis of this training model, heavy strength training will be complimented with more intense, faster-paced auxiliary movements. My personal experience with a two-week rotation has produced the best results over and over again in almost thirty years of searching and experimenting with every design imaginable. As described, this would mean one week of heavy, core lifts and the next week would include more moderate weights, but with brain-exploding intensity. I'll outline a sample two-week rotation and then follow with more explanation. 

WEEK ONE 

SQUATS 

bar x 20 

95 x 20 

135 x 20 

185 x 15 

225 x 10 

275 x 5 (first documented 5-rep set – heavy, but not too challenging) 

315 x 5 (a little harder) 

365 x 5 (tough) 

405 x 2 (failure) 

STIFF-LEG DEAD LIFTS 

95 x 10 

135 x 10 

185 x 8 

225 x 5 

250 x 5 

275 x 5 

That's it for week one. I'm big on warm up sets as you can see, but once you get to the 5-rep sets, take plenty of rest. This is strength training. I vary the rep/set schemes a little for each body part due to the physiology of the fiber type and the mechanics of the movement. The 5/5/5/2 scheme for squats is something I borrowed from the same power lifting coach and friend, who happens to be a world-record-setting squatter. The goal is that every time you squat you will increase your 2-rep max and possibly one, two, or all of the 5-rep sets. Same thing for the 5-rep sets on the dead lifts. You want to increase your strength as you can on these movements, but not at the expense of changing your form. If you add twenty pounds but were sloppy or shallow, you didn't really increase your strength. 

WEEK TWO: 

LEG PRESS 

90 x 25 

180 x 25 

270 x 25 

360 x 20 (All reps continuous - no rest/pauses - all sets!) 

450 x 15 

540 x 10 

630 x 10 (To failure) 

EXTENSIONS 

50 x 15 

80 x 10 (Hold each rep - superset into one final set of leg press 270 x 50 non-stop!) 

HAM CURLS 

80 x 20 

120 x 15 

160 x 12 

200 x 8 (failure) 

250 x 5 (failure) 

Week two is designed to stimulate growth but at the same time, provide a functional rest from the heavier squat work. If you squat heavy each week it won't be long until you plateau and are chronically sore and fatigued. Every time you squat on this system you should feel fresh and strong. That is huge – you must feel fresh and strong every time you squat or do any of your heavy work.  But, the intensity work is not a light workout; it's a higher-volume workout. You should even try to progress your weight each week here as long as the form and reps stay where you want. You can also toss in other auxiliary work such as a couple sets of hack squats or one-leg leg press or one-leg reverse squats as long as you keep the workouts to an hour or so. You can do virtually anything for this workout as long as you're providing enough intensity for the volume. I’m a huge fan of super sets and giant sets to help create that intensity.  The guide I laid out above is not the only way to train.  You can start creating some good patterns using the same intensity-based workouts for awhile, or you can change it up every week.  Then get ready to squat the next week!

Back and bicep training.

I’ll never be able to look at any training design or exercise without filtering it through my physical medicine background.  Back workouts should strengthen, not degenerate your spine.  Form is always the primary consideration.  Second, as a pro bodybuilder, I know you’ll never be successful without an excellent back.  Whatever genetic blueprint you have, you have to maximize them from the rear.  

I use dead lifts for the core strength movement done once every two weeks.  Nothing in my mind can replace the dead lift; it is coequal with the squat for your body.  You can use a trap bar or a sumo stance, but I’m not a huge fan of the conventional hands-outside-of-the-knees dead lifting form.  It’s just too much forward momentum on the spine and isn’t necessary.  A trap bar or sumo stance naturally keeps the weight closer to your center of gravity and will still affect every muscle in your back.  The trap bar mimics a squat, but with the weight in your hands.  A conventional dead lift will work your low back a little more due to being more horizontal at the bottom of the movement, but the work also causes more strain potential to that area.  The sumo dead lift will bring your adductors and glutes into the movement a little more and allows you to pull more with your lats.  Whichever you prefer, attack it with a power lifter’s mentality.  You may also want to consider placing the barbell up on small platforms of three or five inches so you’re not quite as stooped forward.  Power lifters need to come off the ground and often train even deeper by doing the opposite – placing the weight lower than ground level – but it’s more dangerous and not necessary for bodybuilding needs.  You have to be safe (keep your head up, butt down, belt on your heavier sets) but you want to increase your strength.  This non-linear periodization model, by definition, dictates we go for strength.  In another format, you may want to do more reps and less weight to “feel” more of your lats working and emphasize conditioning of your low back.  But here, it’s all about effort.  I deviate from the 5/5/5/2-rep scheme after warm-ups (as I explained with squats) for a safety reason.  The reversal of the dead lift at the bottom is where the toughest sheer forces are for your spine and soft tissue strain of your upper back.  I would still have you warm up well, but we’ll do more singles at the top of the pyramid such as this:

WEEK ONE:

DEAD LIFTS

bar x 20

95 x 20

135 x 15

185 x 10

225 x 5 (work set, but not too difficult)

275 x 5 (getting tougher)

315 x 5 (almost difficult to get all 5)

355 x 1 (difficult, but doable)

405 x 1 (max effort)

This would be a typical pattern, but use your own judgment based on experience, strength, and orthopedic health factors.  I would then move on to one machine row exercise and do about 4 to 5 sets ending with a set in the 6 to 8-rep range.  One important note regarding timing is to view your squats and dead lifts as the most aggressive movements you’ll do, and they contain overlap.  If I am brutally sore from squats, I’m not going to be able to comfortably get down into the dead lifting position, nor will I be close to full strength.  You have to separate these workouts as far apart in the week as you can and monitor recovery.  For Biceps, I would use something like the standing barbell curl as a tracked core exercise, but don’t worry as much about increasing strength every week if it means you compromise your form.  I would stick to just 5 to 6 sets including warm-ups and then you’re done after hitting a 2-rep finishing set to failure.  

The next week is your high-intensity week.  This is where you get to do a lot of exercises and sets after such a structured strength week.  You can change your workouts each time if you like, but here would be an example:

One arm dumbbell rows 6 to 7 sets finishing with a 6 to 8-rep set

Pull downs 4 to 5 sets finishing in the 8 to 10-rep range

Chins 1 set to failure

Shrugs 4 to 5 sets

Hyper extensions and reverse hypers 3 to 4 sets

You can use some super-setting or other intensity techniques; just make sure you finish within 45 to 60 minutes.  There’s no set pattern to the exercise selection or implementation.  Again, I’m very big on super sets – I rarely do straight sets during the high-intensity weeks; that is saved for the strength week.  Do two exercises for biceps such as alternating, supinating dumbbell curls and hammer curls for intense, slightly higher rep sets than the previous workout.  

So there you have it.  One heavy, slower-paced core week designed for strength and massive hormonal support, and one for more lat work in a high-intensity format.  As I said with legs, you should feel fresh and recovered every time you are hitting a strength movement and your numbers on paper should show it!

Chest, delts, and triceps.

Chest, delts, and triceps will be covered here, but you don’t have to do them all together.  A good variation is to do shoulders on their own day or some people like to pull bis and tris out for their own day.  In the off-season when eating to grow, I find it helps to have a day off between every workout for recovery.  Overlap of exertion and nervous system fatigue make it important.  I typically use a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule, but a four-day rotation will work fine.  Again, think of one week being a core, strength week.  Your goal isn’t a great “pump,” a high volume, or even a super level of intensity.  It’s simply strength.  You’ll compete against your training journal every two weeks to beat your last session.  You’ll leave the workout thinking you didn’t do enough because the number of exercises is few, but like a power lifter, your focus should be just on that top set and the couple leading up to it that number a specific rep range.  The next week is the opposite.  It’s not a light week by any means, but it’s all about intensity, a higher volume, and using exercises other than the core, strength movements.  I’ve said it in throughout the article, but don’t mistake this for the easier week.  This is a tough week!  When I write 10 reps for a set, for example, that means continuous tension reps with no pause and absolute failure – that’s not a light set. 

WEEK ONE:

FLAT BENCH DUMBBELL PRESS

Four to 5 warm up sets, 3 progressive sets of 5, and a max set of 2 – just like the established pattern.   The 3 sets of 5 and the top 2-rep set can be progressed each week even if only by 2.5 pounds.  Even if the 3 sets of 5 are the same, I would try to get more weight on the 2-rep set.  But, quality and speed of reps have to be consistent.  It’s not progress to get more weight because of momentum.   Smaller muscle groups won’t progress at the same rate as the larger movements.

I would then go to me core delt movement, which can be a seated military, a standing push press, a seated dumbbell – whatever you like that is safe.  I would follow the exact same format but without as many warm-ups since I just did chest.

I would personally always pick lying tricep extensions with a curl bar for my core tricep exercise.  There is nothing better in my opinion.  I use a full movement that stretches the long head of the tricep – that means my knuckles will touch the bench.  Using form to get all the muscle fiber you can is critical – this is not a “skull crusher.”   You would drop the bar toward your forehead initially as if it was, but then allow the bar to move along your head in a very controlled way to the bench before reversing motion smoothly all the way to a full, extended position overhead.  I would also follow the same 5/5/5/2-rep scheme.  

That is it for the core week.  Simple, and like I said, you’ll feel like you want more, but don’t.  Save the intensity for week two.  If you are taking your time between sets, achieving maximal recruitment, and getting into absolute failure, this is enough.  

WEEK TWO:

Pick an incline press and an auxiliary movement like cables or flies and super set or do drop sets – any high-intensity technique – but trash them!  Same for shoulders: laterals, upright rows, a couple sets of a different type of press, and produce a lot of blood flow.  For tris, this would be a good time to use a cable press with a bench dip or standing EZ-bar behind-the-neck extension or any combination of a couple exercises.  Even with the increased sets and exercises, you should be done in an hour because of the faster pace.  

One last word on what you should expect:  recall that you should be stronger and fresh each core week.  I’ve used that phrase so much any editor would cringe, but that’s the bottom line – it’s what makes this type of format work better than arguably any other.  You’re getting two full weeks before attempting max effort sets on compound exercises.  You’ll get stronger, you’ll recover better, and you’ll gain as much muscle as your genetic potential allows.  At the end of 16 weeks, you will have performed each core lift 8 times and will likely be seeing plateaus in progress.  As they say, every good thing must come to an end and you have to cycle away from this specific periodization model for a time.  I would “flush out” from this phase with a couple of months of more instinctive training not emphasizing strength.  Your body needs the longer-term rest before entering another round.  As great as it is to train against your log book every week, see and feel the progress, and have a structured plan, it can bleed the fun out of training if you pursue it too long.  Use the time between non-linear periodization cycles to have fun and try new workouts and protocols.   Stay safe, but live large!

__________________

Joe Klemczewski is the founder of The Diet Doc and Perfect Peaking and has coached bodybuilding and figure clients to over 150 pro card wins and almost 50 pro titles.  He can be reached through his competition website perfectpeaking.com.