2 Truths of Advanced Programming

I recently heard an insight on programming that I think bears repeating. The statement (and I’m paraphrasing here) was that as a lifter becomes increasingly advanced, he or she inevitably ends up training in the style of block or daily undulating periodization (DUP) in some way, shape or form.

After thinking on this notion for some time, I believe it to be absolutely true, at least when you really start to boil things down. To see this, I think you have to throw out the highly-specific or dogmatic elements of certain programs and look at their basic, underlying components.

I think what most will come to find is that any “advanced” program worth doing can be classified as some kind of block and/or DUP layout, even if it is labeled as something separate. The main principle at work here is that advanced lifters require a much longer stress/recovery/adaptation cycle to occur in order to make progress, which I would argue requires two main programming truths:

1. Volume and intensity must undulate across microcycles and mesocycles so that recovery is managed while completing necessary work.
2. Sequential training that builds upon itself must be planned over relatively longer amounts of time, allowing for progress to be made via larger chunks of training stress.

It’s my belief that adhering to these two main factors alone will lead to results for most advanced trainees, and following them will likely put you in some kind of block or DUP structure by default, no matter which way you choose to slice the details.

You can run a conjugate-style program that uses sequential 3-week blocks. You can do a block-style program that changes certain exercises each microcycle. Usually any change in exercise variation through the microcycle warrants an undulation in volume and/or intensity for that exercise anyway.

The larger point here being that there are many different possible combinations to get stronger, but most of them all lead down the same two roads in the grand scheme of things. Arguing over what small details do or don’t work is not likely to be that important. What is important is finding a way to train sustainably that allows you to add weight to the bar over time.