Does anyone have any experience with ,or views on the concept of ‘undulating periodization for athletes’,as outlined by Alwyn Cosgrove?
Thanks.
I would go with alwyn cosgrove on that one. You should be able to contact him (either through t-nation or the q&a at www.elitefts.com). What are you wondering?
I belive that his “undulating” periodization is the switching of rep bracket every week and keeping the same exercises (and changing them after couple of weeks). If this is it, then I have done this for a long period of time…
Week #1
Bench 3x10reps
Week #2
Bench 4x5 reps
Week #3
Bench 5x3 reps
Week #4
Change exercise (narrow bench, incline etc)
This is very (read VERY) simmilar with Chris T’s pendulum method!
Contact Cosgrove, and let us know what did he replyed!
I believe the undulating model is more traditionally along these lines:
Stage 1:
4 x 6-8
Stage 2:
3 x 12-15
Stage 3:
4-5 x 3-5 or 4-6
Stage 4:
3-4 x 10-12
Obviously the term itself is flexible, but I believe Cosgrove’s objective is to address the primary training objectives [in most program design, up to 3] weekly and to rotate the loading parameters bi-weekly. I’d have to re-read the article but that was how I summarized it internally (or maybe those were my own thoughts, who knows?).
Matter of fact, I think this is the article originally referenced:
Guys
For what it’s worth, Plisk, among others, wrote a 2 part article discussing “undulating” periodization in some detail. The details for it are below…
Also, If memory serves me, I find that this training ends up being very similar to the conjugate method as Verkhoshanski describes it in his translated texts…Programming organized blocks of training, etc.
Hope this helps
G. Gregory Haff PhD, CSCS, William J. Kraemer PhD, Harold O’Bryant PhD, Glenn Pendlay MS, Steven Plisk MS, CSCS, *D and Michael H. Stone PhD. 2004: Roundtable Discussion: Periodization of Training—Part 2. Strength and Conditioning Journal: Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 56–70.
I just read the article on bb.com.
Looks like pretty cool stuff if you are a bodybuilder, or a recreational athlete/ lifter looking to put on some strength and size. I think I may try it with some of my clients at a health club where I do some parttime work. I think I would go right to phase 2 since I train most of them 3x per week and would like to do different exercises each day although I would like to see how the body would respond to the same exercise selection 2x per week for both upper and lower. I aint trying this on myself. That is for damn sure. All I care about is strength and improving my times.
Here is the link to Comparasion between linear and undulating models of periodizations
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&ct=res&cd=10&url=http%3A//etd-submit.etsu.edu/etd/theses/available/etd-1108104-110150/unrestricted/CaldwellA120604f.pdf&ei=ricwRLLgBJSOiAKkja2mCg&sig2=9fmUruPNW3DtoW0WQYoWBQ