If you’re relatively new to training (or strength training specifically), you will make big increases in just three weeks. This might make a deload (a light training week followed by a mock powerlifting meet) the better option. Don’t worry, we’ll tell you exactly how to do all this in the DUP Guide to Meet Prep.
Bonus: Why 3 weeks?
A lot of guys wonder why the “optimal” template is set up for 3 weeks.
It’s a valid question, and there are a number of reasons why – it’s not just randomly plucked from thin air.
The main reason is because most intermediate and advanced guys need a lighter week around once a month, meaning that smashing it hard for 3 weeks followed by 1 week of light training is optimal for strength gains without burning out.
That being said, if you want to run two blocks back to back with no rest between, then 6 weeks isn’t an exorbitant amount of time to go without a break. Had we set it up as a 4‐week cycle and you decided to run two cycles consecutively, by week 8, you would be battered, bruised and probably regressing in terms of size and strength.
We’ve set up every DUP template to run for 3 weeks because it’s simply more effective. Therefore, whatever level you’re at and whatever program you choose, you’ll train hard for 3 weeks (increasing volume each week), then take the fourth week off; or, if you decide to go against the deloading principle, you’ll do 6 weeks on, 1 week off.
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29 DUP Part Deux: The 4-Day Week
Not everyone has the time or the inclination to train 5 days per week.
It doesn’t mean you don’t want to reach your goals any less, it just means that you have other stuff going on – work, wife, kids and so on.
You might not even like the gym that much and that’s cool, but if you LOVE the idea of getting big and strong, a 4‐day per week DUP is the option for you.
Essentially, this is the optimal template condensed into four days:
Day 1
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Squat 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Bench
Press 4 4 80% + 5lbs + 5lbs Strength
Deadlift 4 8 70% + 10lbs + 10lbs Hypertrophy
Day 2
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Bench
Press 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Deadlift 4 4 80% + 10lbs + 10lbs Strength
Squat 4 8 70% + 10lbs + 10lbs Hypertrophy
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Day 3
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Deadlift 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Squat 4 4 80% + 10lbs + 10lbs Strength
Bench
Press 4 8 70% + 5lbs + 5lbs Hypertrophy
Accessory Day
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category Chins/ Pull‐
ups 4 5‐8 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Dumbbell
Rows 4 5‐8 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Pulldowns 3 8‐12 RPE 8 RPE 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Face Pulls 3 12‐15 RPE 8 RPE 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Calf Raises 5 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Curls 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Pushdowns 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Lateral
Raises 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
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Notes:
● The only real difference between the 4‐day and 5‐day templates is that the four main lift sessions are squeezed into three days and the accessory rows and overhead presses are taken out.
● You also get a bit more upper back and shoulder volume in the accessory session as you’re not rowing and pressing in the main workouts.
● Just as before, you can train on whatever days best suit your schedule, but the 4‐day template allows you to take a day’s break between the main workouts.
● This template works well with the following schedule: train Day 1 on Monday, rest on Tuesday, perform Day 2 on Wednesday, then add in the accessory session on Thursday, rest on Friday, with Day 3 on Saturday and a rest on Sunday.
The Busy Person’s Guide to DUP
So five sessions per week is way too much?
Maybe even four is pushing it?
The wife’s annoyed at you spending so much time at the gym, and the rest of your life’s starting to suffer?
Again, that’s fine, there’s a DUP template for you, Mr. Busy.
Your workouts will be a bit longer, as we’ll try to get extra volume in, but you can handle that, right?
Here’s how we’ll set it up:
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Day 1
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Squat 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Deadlift 4 4 80% +10 lbs +10 lbs Strength
Bench
Press 4 8 70% + 5 lbs + 5 lbs Hypertrophy
Overhead
Press 4 6‐8 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Chin‐ups/
Pull‐ups 4 6‐8 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Day 2
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Bench
Press 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Squat 4 4 80% +10 lbs +10 lbs Strength
Deadlift 4 8 70% + 10 lbs + 10 lbs Hypertrophy
Barbell
Rows 4 8‐12 RPE 8 RPE 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Lateral
Raises 4 12‐15 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
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Day 3
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Deadlift 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Bench
Press 4 4 80% +5 lbs +5 lbs Strength
Squat 4 8 70% + 10 lbs + 10 lbs Hypertrophy
Curls 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Pushdowns 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Calf Raises 4 12‐15 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
The beauty of this template is that you still get each of the big three in, three times per week, just using the different rep ranges.
Not only that, but you get your “fluff work” in too – the curls, the pushdowns and the raises, so your guns, delts and calves aren’t neglected.
The workouts here may take slightly longer than if you were to train four or five days per week, but you can still be in and out of the gym in 75 minutes and only need three sessions per week.
If that’s still too much though – hey, it’s understandable with today’s modern life – you can still get epic results using DUP twice a week.
The Uber-Busy Person’s DUP Template
The difference here is that instead of working each rep range once a week (one strength, one power, one hypertrophy session) you’ll perform two sessions of each over a 3‐week period:
Week 1, Day 1:
Exercise Sets Reps Load Category
Squat 6 2 80% Power
Bench Press 4 4 80% Strength
Deadlift 4 8 70% Hypertrophy
Barbell Row 3 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Overhead
Press 3 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Pull‐down or
Pullup 3 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Week 1, Day 2:
Exercise Sets Reps Load Category
Deadlift 6 2 80% Power
Squat 4 4 80% Strength
Bench Press 4 8 70% Hypertrophy
Barbell Row 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Overhead
Press 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Pull‐down or
Pullup 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
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Week 2, Day 1:
Exercise Sets Reps Load Category
Bench Press 6 2 80% Power
Deadlift 4 4 80% Strength
Squat 4 8 70% Hypertrophy
Barbell Row 3 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Overhead
Press 3 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Pull‐down or
Pullup 3 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Week 2, Day 2:
Exercise Sets Reps Load Category
Squat 6 2 80% Power
Bench Press 4 4 80% + 5 lbs Strength
Deadlift 4 8 70% + 10lbs Hypertrophy
Barbell Row 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Overhead
Press 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Pull‐down or
Pullup 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Week 3, Day 1:
Exercise Sets Reps Load Category
Deadlift 6 2 80% Power
Squat 4 4 80% + 10 lbs Strength
Bench Press 4 8 70% + 5 lbs Hypertrophy
Barbell Row 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Overhead
Press 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Pull‐down or
Pullup 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Week 3, Day 2:
Exercise Sets Reps Load Category
Bench Press 6 2 80% Power
Deadlift 4 4 80% + 10 lbs Strength
Squat 4 8 70% + 10 lbs Hypertrophy
Barbell Row 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Overhead
Press 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Pull‐down or
Pullup 3 5 RPE 9 Accessory
Although this set‐up means training less frequently than what may be considered optimal, it’s still a far superior approach to a 2‐day template on a typical
bodybuilding routine, where you may only perform an exercise once every two weeks.
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41 Hypertrophy-Specific DUP
Bodybuilders are stuck in their ways.
They still like that “train to failure, once a week” nonsense, so trying to convince Big Barry Biceps from your local spit and sawdust weights room to try a routine where he trains everything two or three times per week and only does squats and deadlifts for his lower body can be a little challenging.
Despite this degree of trepidation, bodybuilders, no matter how experienced, fare fantastically well with DUP.
Often the increase in training frequency alone is enough to ignite new size and strength gains.
Any of the DUP templates will provide this, but that’s not to say they’re necessarily the “best” options if hypertrophy is your number one goal.
There’s one very simple way you can make daily undulating periodization more suited to hypertrophy, and that’s by changing how often you work in different rep ranges.
Remember we had our three rep ranges – power, strength and hypertrophy.
Now, power training can definitely aid muscle growth and there’s no doubt that getting stronger with strength training will also bring about size increases, but as suggested by the name, if you want to increase muscular hypertrophy, then hypertrophy‐specific training is the best of the three.
Hypertrophy training typically involves training in the 8 to 12 rep range, using slightly less weight than you would in a strength workout.
In fact, it’s what you’ve probably read about in most bodybuilding magazines. In nearly every edition, you’ll see “use a moderate load for 3 to 4 sets of 8 to 12 reps, stopping just shy of failure” mentioned at least once.
While there is more to it than that (much more, in fact), that is the basic premise of hypertrophy.
So how can we make a DUP block more suited to hypertrophy training?
The answer – switch up how often you work in the hypertrophy rep range.
This can be done using any of the above templates, but here’s an idea of what it might look like using a 3‐day and 4‐day structure:
4-Days Per Week
Week Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 Day 4
1 Power Hypertrophy Strength Hypertrophy
2 Power Hypertrophy Strength Hypertrophy
3 Power Hypertrophy Strength Hypertrophy
4 Power Hypertrophy Strength Hypertrophy
3-Days Per Week
Week Day 1 Day 2 Day 3
1 Power Hypertrophy Strength
2 Hypertrophy Power Hypertrophy
3 Strength Hypertrophy Power
4 Hypertrophy Strength Hypertrophy
The above could be applied to a single exercise, or to every exercise.
For instance, if you wanted to perform your squats, deadlifts and bench presses all in the same rep ranges every session, this would be easy to plan.
Using the 4‐day set up, you’d simple make Day 1 your power day for squats, deadlifts and bench presses, Day 2 your hypertrophy day for all three, Day 3 your strength day for all three, and so on.
However, if you wanted to get really fancy, you could train each exercise for a different rep range every day.
This is not recommended if you already struggle to keep tabs on what you’re supposed to be doing every day, but if you’re organised and find that some
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Another, potentially more “interesting” way to increase hypertrophy is to add more fluff work.
What do we mean by “fluff work”?
Essentially it’s hitting those bodybuilder muscles – the ones that powerlifters mock, but secretly love – the biceps, traps, calves and so forth.
A super‐simple way to do this is to add an extra accessory session each week.
When doing this, a great way to go about it is to change the exercises and/or the sets and reps for each accessory session.
So you could have:
Session 1
Exercise Sets Reps
Chin‐ups/ Pull‐downs 5 6‐8
Row variation 5 6‐8
Lateral Raise 4 8‐10
Calf Raise variation 4 6‐8
Curls 4 8‐10
Pushdowns 4 8‐10
Session 2
Exercise Sets Reps
Chin‐ups/ Pull‐downs 4 10‐12
Row variation 4 10‐12
Lateral Raise 3 12‐15
Calf Raise variation 3 12‐15
Curls 3 12‐15
Pushdowns 3 12‐15
These numbers are not set in stone, they just demonstrate how you could vary the loads and rep ranges each session.
Day 1 could be 4 sets of 5 on everything, or 6 sets of 10, while Day 2 could be 2 sets of 15 or 3 sets of 20. In reality, it doesn’t matter too much, it’s simply a way of working through different ranges.
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45 DUP for Beat-Up Lifters
So your knees aren’t what they used to be?
Your shoulders don’t like bench pressing, your hips creak from time to time, and deadlifts are out due to a old lower‐back injury?
Don’t worry, DUP doesn’t discriminate.
All you need to do is tweak your exercise selection to suit what you can and can’t do.
As far as exercise rotation goes, here are the best substitutes for those who live with typical injuries and can’t perform regular squats, deadlifts and bench presses:
Squat Substitutions
● Safety bar or cambered bar squats –
These are your best bet if an upper‐body injury keeps you from holding the bar when back squatting.
● High bar Olympic squats –
Make these your go‐to if you can squat, but can’t assume a low bar position.
● Box squats or pin squats –
These work if you can’t achieve full depth on a back squat.
● Front Squats –
Lots of lifters find their lower back takes over when back squatting. If this happens for you, go with front squats instead, as they keep you in a much more upright position.
Deadlift Substitutions
● Sumo Deadlifts –
These are still a competition‐legal form of deadlifting, and you may already use a sumo stance anyway. If not, give it a go – you get less lower‐back involvement and more from your glutes and hamstrings.
● Block Pulls –
Can’t pull from the floor? Go with blocks or do them with the barbell on pins, anywhere from 2 to 6 inches off the floor.
● Paused Deadlifts –
If you’re worried about going too heavy and risking your back, do paused deadlifts where you make the initial pull, then pause with the bar at mid‐shin level for 1 to 2 seconds, then finish the movement.
● Deficit Deadlifts –
Performed standing on a 1 to 3 inch platform and used for the same reasons as paused deadlifts.
● Trap Bar Deadlifts –
This is the deadlift equivalent of front squats. This is a much more quad‐dominant movement – using the trap bar keeps you in a more upright position and allows you to keep a neutral spine easier.
Bench Substitutions
● Swiss Bar Presses –
The Swiss bar (often called a football bar) has neutral handles, which can often be a more comfortable position for your shoulders.
● Board Presses –
Need to reduce the range of motion on your bench presses, perhaps due to a previous pec or shoulder injury? Go with board presses. Get a 1, 2 or 3‐inch board and have a partner hold it on your chest when you bench, or secure it around your torso with a resistance band if you train on your own.
● Incline or Decline Presses –
There’s no particular reason why these might benefit you or prevent the reoccurrence of an injury, but some lifters just fare better with them.
● Dumbbell Bench Presses –
These work okay, but there are two issues: working out your one rep max is difficult and if you train on your own, getting the dumbbells into position on your heavier days will be a struggle.
● Weighted Pushups –
I’ve had these recommended to me before and they certainly can work, but like dumbbell presses, they probably aren’t the best alternative. You need to factor your body weight into the equation every time you train, and loading can be problematic.
Sample Program for Beat-Up Lifters
This really is as simple as taking any of the previous templates and altering them to fit your needs.
Let’s look at the busy guy’s template as an example:
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Day 1
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Front
Squat 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
3” Block
Pull 4 4 80% +10 lbs +10 lbs Strength
Swiss Bar
Press 4 8 70% + 5 lbs + 5 lbs Hypertrophy
Overhead
Press 4 6‐8 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Chin‐ups/
Pull‐ups 4 6‐8 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Day 2
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
Swiss Bar
Press 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Front
Squat 4 4 80% +10 lbs +10 lbs Strength
3” Block
Pull 4 8 70% + 10 lbs + 10 lbs Hypertrophy
Barbell
Rows 4 8‐12 RPE 8 RPE 8 RPE 8 Accessory
Lateral
Raises 4 12‐15 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
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Day 3
Weight
Exercise Sets Reps Week 1 Week 2 Week 3 Category
3” Block
Pull 5 3 80% 80% 80% Power
Swiss Bar
Press 4 4 80% +5 lbs +5 lbs Strength
Front
Squat 4 8 70% + 10 lbs + 10 lbs Hypertrophy
Curls 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Pushdowns 4 10‐12 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Calf Raises 4 12‐15 RPE 9 RPE 9 RPE 9 Accessory
Progressing and Moving from Cycle to Cycle
I’ll level with you here – there’s no precise reason why each routine is set up for three weeks. Scientifically, this doesn’t come across as any better than a 2‐week, 4‐week or 6‐week cycle.
Anecdotally, however, three weeks works tremendously well.
Why?
Over the course of three weeks, you’ll be able to add weight to the bar (as seen in the 5‐lb jumps for the bench press and the 10‐lb jumps for the deadlift) without your sets and reps dropping.
However, Week 4 is where you can start to feel a little beat up.
Your technique may be slightly off, you feel more sore and fatigued than you’d like, you have the odd session that just doesn’t go as planned, and if worst comes to the worst, you start missing reps.
Some folks will find they can train for more than three weeks, but the longer you train, the heavier your maxes will be, the more volume you’ll perform in your workouts, and the more you’ll need a break after three weeks.
Thing is though, we’re not going to take a break.
We’re going to deload.
Deloading
Aside from over‐reaching or getting injured, taking a whole week off from lifting is one of the worst things you can do for your size and strength gains.
Your body likes consistency and it gets into a rhythm by lifting frequently.
The trouble is, you just can’t maintain an extremely high level of performance
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If you were also lucky enough to get your hands on the DUP Accelerator Manual, you’ll see how deloads are built in to enable you to keep progressing while giving yourself some much‐needed recovery.
Too many guys completely screw up their progress and take huge steps backwards by taking a whole week off or not structuring a deload correctly.
Here’s where you learn the ins and outs of deloading.
The principle is to lift light enough that your nervous system, your muscles and your joints get a break, but not so light that your body “forgets” how to lift.
Depending on what DUP template you’ve been following, you won’t be lifting quite as frequently during a deload and it’s recommended that you just rest on your non‐lifting days.
Don’t try to throw in any wacky cardio.
Don’t experiment with new exercises.
Just stick to the plan.
Oh, and keep your nutrition on point, too – you might be taking training a little easier, but you need good nutrition to aid recovery, so treat it as you would a regular training week.
Deloading is remarkably simple.
Here’s what you’ll do:
Day 1:
If you can only make it to the gym twice, that’s cool. You’re probably better off doing two sessions of the big three and skipping the accessory workout, or adding a few accessory exercises into your two main workouts.
When deloading, it’s vital you leave your ego at the door.
Think long‐term progress, not short‐term training effects.
The only reason to skip a deload week is if you absolutely aced your last three weeks of training, so much so that it almost felt too easy. In that case, you just need to continue following the program as detailed below.
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Moving from Cycle to Cycle
Ever heard that phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”?
Ever heard that phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”?