The Easiest Progression Scheme

By Owen Isenhart on 7/7/2025

What is Progressive Overload?

Progressive overload is the gradual increase in stress placed upon your body in pursuit of strength and/or hypertrophy. Progressive overload is necessary for continuous growth in the gym, since as time passes, the body requires greater demands to achieve the same stimulus. There are many ways of achieving progressive overload, with the main ones being increased reps with the same load and increased load with the same reps. There are other methods, but these are really all you should care about. Can you do the same weight you did last week for an extra rep, or can you do 5 pounds more than you did last week for the same reps.

Daily Undulating Periodization (DUP)

What is it?

A training method in which intensity and volume vary day to day. For example, let’s say you bench on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. An example of DUP would be having a speed day Monday (a dynamic effort day if you’re familiar with the Conjugate method) where you’re focused solely on moving the load as fast as you can without getting close to failure, a high-intensity low-volume day Wednesday (max effort with high weights), and then a low-intensity high-volume day Friday (keeping reps in reserve, more hypertrophy focused).

Why do we need it?

Well, there are many reasons it’s superior to a linear progression style program, but here’s just a few. DUP is better for autoregulation and avoiding fatigue, increased practice with heavier loads (one rep maxes are as much of a skill as they are about having enough muscle), and it provides a greater variety of volume and intensity adaptations.

So what’s the Scheme?

We combine DUP with two methods of progressive overload: increasing reps and load. For each lift you’re focusing on progressing, you need 2 training days for it a week MINIMUM. If you’re really focusing on it you should be doing it 3 days a week.

It’s very straightforward; you operate in blocks of 4-5 weeks. Within these blocks you have a hig- intensity low-volume day, a moderate-intensity high-volume day, and an optional speed day each week. Here’s how I structure each day and how it changes week to week (to avoid confusion, I’m just going to use example weights to show the increases in load instead of basing things on RPE):

Heavy Days (~RPE 9):

Week 1: 4x4 @245 → Week 2: 4x5 @245 → Week 3: 4x4 @255 → Week 4: 4x3 @265

Moderate Days (~RPE 7):

Week 1: 4x7 @205 → Week 2: 4x8 @205 → Week 3: 4x7 @215 → Week 4: 4x6 @225

(Optional) Speed Days (~RPE 5):

Week 1: 6x3 @215→ Week 2: 6x4 @215→ Week 3: 6x3 @220→ Week 4: 6x2 @225

As you can see, weeks 1 and 2 use the same loads and progress through increased reps. In my experience, the heavy days of week 2 can be extremely rough, and you shouldn’t be surprised if you fail to meet target reps in the last set. Then, week 3 goes back to the reps from week 1 but with 10 added pounds. For compounds like squat and deadlift, this is doable and good, but for others like bench and OHP, you may only want to add 5 pounds. Then, week 4 is one rep less than week 3 with another 10 added pounds. After you complete the 4 week block, you should have a deload week where you repeat week 1 but with 85% of the load. Then, you can repeat the block starting with the weight that you did in the last week 3, and then do that over and over.

Does it Work?

Yes. In my experience it works better for compounds (squat, bench, deadlift, etc.) than isolation movements, simply because isolation movements are much slower to progress, but will work regardless. I began using this method of progression when I first started powerlifting and have added over 100 pounds to each lift in roughly 10 months. Just try it if you’re looking for something new. Maybe it’s not right for you, but you’ll never know unless you try!