Increase Your Strength With The DUP Method
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  • Clem Duranseaud
    • Jan 10, 2018
    • 2 min read

Increase Your Strength With The DUP Method

Updated: Mar 17, 2022



The DUP (Daily Undulating Periodization) is one of the best methods to increase your strength. Offering ample variety in programming, it is one of the few methods I personally like doing for extended periods.

In a DUP program, you repeat the same workout two to three times per week, only changing the reps, sets and rest. For a two day DUP, you could do a light day and a heavy day.

Example:

Light upper body day

Military press 4x12

Dumbbell bench press 4x12

Bent over rows 4x12

Chin ups 4x12

Preacher curls 3x15

Cable tricep extensions 3x15

Heavy upper body day

Military press 4x5

Dumbbell bench press 4x5

Bent over rows 4x5

Chin ups 4x5 (weighted)

Preacher curls 3x8

Cable tricep extensions 3x8

This allows you to do a couple things. First off, it keeps the workouts a little more interesting and fun. Second, it gives your muscles more challenge, delaying any form of plateauing caused by doing the same thing over and over again. Thirdly, it has been proven to show quicker increases in strength.

The best part of this method is the weekly progress it yields. You do your first light workout, and then you do the heavy workout a few days later. Then you notice that when you do the light workout again, you can add a bit of weight! Both workouts go hand in hand to improve your performance.

With the 3 day split, you can even be more creative. You can do a workout focused on mass, then on strength and then on power. The typical reps for each day would be:

Mass: 8 reps or more

Strength: 3-5 reps

Power: 2 reps with very long rest periods (2min or more)

Assuming you go to the gym 3-5 times a week, I recommend either of the following splits to increase strength and muscle size:

3 day split full body

Day 1: Endurance, 12-15 reps

Day 2: Mass, 6-10 reps

Day 3: Strength, 2-4 reps

To ensure a full body workout, make sure to include a press movement, a squat, a pull and a deadlift. Check out this article if you need any ideas.

Lower/Upper split

Day 1: Light lower body 8-12 reps

Day2: Light upper body 8-12 reps

Day 3: Heavy lower body 3-6 reps

Day 4: Heavy upper body 3-6 reps

Quick note on training volume

Your training volume (total sets x reps) should go down for the heavy days. I typically do a few auxiliary exercises on the light days and then just focus on lifting heavy for the main lifts on the strength/power days.

Conclusion

You can play around with how you want to organize your split, you need to do the same exercises a minimum of twice per week so you can alternate the reps. If you need help with your split, schedule a free assessment with me so I can help you out.

This method is great for busting out of plateaus and just keeping things fun.

Enjoy the gains,

Clem

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