Working with a Ph.D. in D.U.P.

For the last several months, I have been working with Dr. Mike Zourdos on my weekly workout split. I met Dr. Zourdos at Layne Norton's natural bodybuilding camp last year and was impressed with not only his research on optimal training programs but also the fact that he practices exactly what he preaches (here is a video of Mike with a competition squat of over 500 lbs at a bodyweight of 178). Mike is an expert on Daily Undulating Periodization (D.U.P.) which he explains very well here. Prior to working with Mike, I trained for over 15 years in a manner that most bodybuilders do: pushing myself to failure (or close to it) on just about every set. Mike's presentation made me re-think things a bit, and after experimenting with D.U.P. on my own during my contest prep last year (see my post in this blog dated 8.14.12), I wanted a bit more guidance and insight.

I don't want to discuss the details of the split out of respect to Mike (he typically charges a nominal fee to design a program), but suffice it to say that I am squatting 3x per week and have seen significant increases in strength over just the past 2-3 months. I am no longer pushing myself to failure on every set, instead working through power / hypertrophy / strength days for the "big lifts:" squat, deadlift, and bench. Each day is still challenging, as the remaining lifts are structured to push you to perform (the supersets are particularly brutal). I have not touched a machine during this entire period - the whole system is focused on compound lifts. After training for 15+ years (and suffering through some extremely tough leg workouts), I didn't think I would see a sizable jump in my squat after just 2-3 months on the program...but I did. I have also switched to pulling traditional (vs. sumo) in an attempt to improve my back thickness. Here is a 545-lb pull before I started working with Dr. Zourdos, and also a 425-lb squat for which Mike called me out for not going low enough. These were taken just a few weeks after WNBF Worlds last year. My form on both lifts has improved dramatically. A few weeks ago I squatted 405 x 7 - all at "good" depth.

545 lb Conventional Deadlift (12-14-12)

425 lb Squat - not to depth (12-14-12)

I am not a powerlifter, so I will reserve final judgement on this program until I diet down again. At this point in my natural bodybuilding "career" I certainly don't expect to be adding pounds of muscle between contests. However, I am proud of the fact that I have continually made improvements to my physique over time, and hope that this latest change will help me continue that trend. Thanks Dr. Z for helping me to think outside the box and continue pushing for improvement!