undulated rep scheme vs straight periodization

C

chansen

New Member
any advantage of straight periodization vs undulated rep scheme...thinking for the next 3 weeks of running an undulated scheme- Mon- 12 x myoreps to 20 Wed- 8 x myo to 16 Fri 5 x myo to 10is this worth the experiment? idea courtesy of old and grey btw
 
Frankly, my thoughts are that you're nowhere near advanced to require this sort of adjustment to your training. I wouldn't consider myself at that level, nor most lifters on this (or other) boards. If you're determined, then make it three months, not three weeks. You won't be able to reach any reliable conclusion from nine workouts.
 
k screw the myo reps idea...i guess my real question is- is there any advantage to undulated training i.e. 12 rep monday 8 rep wed 5 rep fri
 
A bit back I thought a lot about doing this and decided not to and here was my reasoning. High reps (12-15) are most effective after an SD, I am not sure how effective they are at stimulating the muscles later into the cycle. The higher reps are also there to support any longer term healing you needed from your last cycle. Doing higher reps later in the cycle seems to only serve conditioning purposes (since I'm not competing conditioning is fairly low on my priorities). I also questioned how well my muscles would respond to lifting heavy only once a week rather than for two (or more) weeks continually in a cycle. Now I am not throwing out studies so maybe I'm wrong but to me it didn't seem to offer any benefits.
 
You really have to avoid getting into the trap of messing too much with things that aren't broken. If something is working, why not just keep doing it? Switching things up is not a good thing, it leads to lack of progress.

A little anecdote here. I know a guy, we both started lifting around the same time which was appx ten years ago. He was 180 lbs and around 18% bodyfat, I was 140 lbs and about 8% bodyfat. He did two cycles, quit midway through his second cycle to try HIT or something because he was bored, continued switching programs and is now into crossfit. Currently, he is around 180 lbs and probably about 18% bodyfat. He looks exactly the same as ten years ago, just a little older. Training ADD is a terrible thing if you want to make actual progress.
Meanwhile, I've done HST for years and peaked at 100 lbs heavier than when I started lifting, currently only 80 lbs heavier than when I first started lifting.
 
Undulating the loads works great for peak strength training. Bill Starr, Glenn Pendlay and other strength coaches have been doing it for decades. I am not sure if it is as effective for hypertrophy though. I tried it for awhile, but I am currently on a more regular HST loading cycle, as my main focus is muscle size and not necessarily peak strength.
 
Undulating reps falls within the parameters of HST and I am on my second 6 week cycle of it now. Quite frankly, I have not seen any advantage over HST's normal two week periodization scheme other than it is more entertaining and I look forward to my workouts with more enthusiasm. Whichever way you choose to go, do what Totz suggested and stick with it. Constantly changing routines and even exercises is a prescription for failure. If you don't build the base first, you will never have anything to tweak.

Also, I agree that you should scrape the myo rep idea. It is designed for fairly advanced lifters who want to get more effective volume in but do not have the time to do umpteen million sets or want to increase their frequency without living in the gym.
 
I hear sumo wrestlers can reach almost 3 times their original bodyweight! That's where true methods of progression lie...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top