Podcast | Programming Ep 454 – How (Not) to Write Your Our Training Program

Author / John

25 Min Listen

In this episode the Crew dials the voicemail to answer a question from a loyal Power Athlete Radio listener:

What’s up guys, I had a question about daily undulating periodization as written about by Pavel. I’ve been implementing it in my training by treating intensity and volume as independent variables that oscillate randomly within a range every training day. I still follow a linear progression but I’m going to up or down adjust volume and or the load intensity and sometimes neither within a range based on a randomized schedule. So far it seems to be working on making progress and it seems to keep me and my training fresh off of having some really hard easy and modern-day sprinkled in. What’s your guy’s take on daily undulating periodization? Is it a useful tool or my heading way too far into Super Secret Squirrel territory? Oh, by the way quick movie rec: Stallone. Cobra. I did was his magnum opus, thanks guys.

Agent triple-zero, Secret Squirrel, reporting for duty

People new to lifting weights often hop around trying different workouts before settling on a program they enjoy that aligns with their goals. People new to writing programs fall into the same trap: hop around, pull different pieces from programs they enjoyed, grasp on to big names, and duct tape it all together for training that, “seems to be making progress.” Here’s a tip for new folks writing programs, EVERYTHING WORKS… until it doesn’t.

John and Tex get excited for a caller that is questioning whether the undulating periodization linear progression program he wrote for himself is really the reason his lifts are improving. Get your notepads ready as The Crew takes this Secret Squirrel to programming school.

Read Now: Redefining Weakness Training: Programming by Tex McQuilkin

Empower Your Performance

Have you been squatting on questions for John, Luke and Tex? Maybe you have asked around, and just can’t land on a straight answer. Take a breather, give us a call, and let us do the leg work.

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The Power Athlete Radio hotline is OPEN! Dial (929) ING – ING0, leave us a detailed message, and we’ll get to work on finding you answers!

That’s (929) 464 – 4640

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Tagged: Linear Progression / Pavel / Periodization / Programming / Secret Squirrel / Strength Training / Undulating Periodization

AUTHOR

John

John Welbourn is CEO of Power Athlete and host of Power Athlete Radio. He is a 9 year starter and veteran of the NFL. John was drafted with the 97th pick in 1999 NFL Draft and went on to be a starter for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1999-2003, appearing in 3 NFC Championship games, and for starter for the Kansas City Chiefs from 2004-2007. In 2008, he played with the New England Patriots until an injury ended his season early with him retiring in 2009. Over the course of his career, John has started over 100 games and has 10 play-off appearances. He was a four year lettermen while playing football at the University of California at Berkeley. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Rhetoric in 1998. John has worked with the MLB, NFL, NHL, Olympic athletes and Military. He travels the world lecturing on performance and nutrition and records his podcast, Power Athlete Radio, every week with over 800 episodes spanning 13 years. You can catch up with John as his personal blog, Talk To Me Johnnie, on social media @johnwelbourn or at Power Athlete Radio.