Poliquin's Accumulation/Intensification

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few confusions regarding Poliquin’s undulated periodization (alternating accumulation and intensification).
Firstly, I have seen examples where each phase decreases in reps such as:

A:10 I:6 A:8 I:5

Now even if the weight is increased, is the training load actually increasing at all since the reps are also decreasing? How is progression made?
I am actually more concerned with relative strength so would it be ok on the accumulation phases to do 3-5 reps but an EASY 3-5 reps where more sets are focused on to stress through volume?

My idea is to do it like this (accumulation is easy reps with more sets):

A:4 I:3 A:5 I:4

The weight is kept the same but one rep is added to each phase. When I reach 5 reps on Intensification I progress to a harder exercise variation/ add weight.

Lastly, I have modern trends in strength training and where Poliquin writes those programs such as cluster training or wave loading etc are they supposed to be used for one intensification phase each or used for as long as you want?

Sorry that this is a bit long.
Many thanks!

[quote]gymrob wrote:
Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone could help me out with a few confusions regarding Poliquins undulated periodization (alternating accumulation and intensification).
Firstly, I have seen examples where each phase decreases in reps such as:

A:10 I:6 A:8 I:5

Now even if the weight is increased, is the training load actually increasing at all since the reps are also decreasing? How is progression made?
I am actually more concerned with relative strength so would it be ok on the accumulation phases to do 3-5 reps but an EASY 3-5 reps where more sets are focused on to stress through volume?

My idea is to do it like this (accumulation is easy reps with more sets):

A:4 I:3 A:5 I:4

The weight is kept the same but one rep is added to each phase. When I reach 5 reps on Intensification I progress to a harder exercise variation/ add weight.

Lastly, I have modern trends in strength training and where Poliquin writes those programs such as cluster training or wave loading etc are they supposed to be used for one intensification phase each or used for as long as you want?

Sorry that this is a bit long.
Many thanks![/quote]

The idea in general is to use:

  • higher volume and lower intensity during the accumulation
  • higher intensity and lower volume during the intensification

You can’t in general combine high volume with high intensity or plan to increase both volume and intensity.

However you can and should still progress during all periods for example:

Accumulation (increasing volume with constant load)
week 1 3x10 @ 60%
week 2 4x10 @ 60%
week 3 5x10 @ 60%
week 4 deload

Intensification (increasing load with constant volume)
week 1 5x5 @ 70%
week 2 5x5 @ 75%
week 3 5x5 @ 80%
week 4 deload

This was obviously just one example…there are many ways to progress (weights, sets, reps,…).

RenaissanceMan,

Thankyou for your reply I appreciate it. I have a better understanding now but one thing i still wonder:
Shouldn’t the reps be kept constant for 6 consecutive workouts of the same kind until the nervous system has adapted? Poliquin has said to change the reps every 3-4 weeks before (each phase) which is around 6 workouts of the same.

On another forum, a well respected trainer wrote this: “Alternate frequent (daily) training with low volume and less-frequent training with higher volume, change back and fourth between them, each 2-4 weeks. You want to avoid stagnation.”

Is this another form of undulated accumulation/ intensification training or something else?

Thanks to anyone that can help.

The method you are talking about is very old and is time proven. A lot of people call this by all sorts of different names, but there is TONS of information on the subject.

It stems from a theory called dual factor theory, and there are a million ways to apply it. Accumulation/intensification or loading/peaking is just one, but it is simple and very effective.

Any successful program makes use of dual factor theory, from westside to sheiko, passing by linear periodization with a detour through Starr. Many other, non-strength sports arrange their training with the dual factor theory in mind as well.

Anyway, to answer your question, the concencus is that this type of cycle should be kept pretty short, with blocks lasting 3 or 4 weeks. Renaissance’s example is that of a weekly workout, if in the way you do things there are 6 workouts of the same during that time period, then there’s no problem. Don’t worry too much about detail…

I don’t see the need to screw around with the frequency of your workouts like your friend said, but I guess it can be done if you want to. And yes, he’s talking about the same thing, save for the frequency twist.

Daraz,

Thankyou for your reply. Excellent explanation.

The main problem implementing this is that I am training mainly for relative strength and so with accumulatiuon I want to minimise hypertrophy.

Would it be feasable to increase by a rep each phase and when reach 5 reps on intensification phase: up the intensity/ move to a harder exercise progression. Is this feasable on a continual basis?
Is unloading voume every third week essential aswell?

With the alternating frequency, is lowering the intensity still essential if on an accumlation type phase? I was thinking of doing 4-6 reps on accumulation but easy reps and more sets.

Thanks.

[quote]gymrob wrote:
RenaissanceMan,

Thankyou for your reply I appreciate it. I have a better understanding now but one thing i still wonder:
Shouldn’t the reps be kept constant for 6 consecutive workouts of the same kind until the nervous system has adapted? Poliquin has said to change the reps every 3-4 weeks before (each phase) which is around 6 workouts of the same. [/quote]

I wouldn’t really train all movements using the same reps. So if I did say bench press one time per week using 10 reps I might do narrow grip bench (or some other related movement) using for example 8 reps. Or you could do different reps in different sessions for the same movement. And you can really use a variety of reps even in the accumulation/intensification period. Thibaudeau has written examples about this in his articles.

And you don’t have to always progress from workout to workout…how you progress in the long run is what matters in the end. So when you start your next accumulation period with the same reps (after say 4 months) you should be stronger and add something to your previous weights.

[quote]
On another forum, a well respected trainer wrote this: “Alternate frequent (daily) training with low volume and less-frequent training with higher volume, change back and fourth between them, each 2-4 weeks. You want to avoid stagnation.”

Is this another form of undulated accumulation/ intensification training or something else?

Thanks to anyone that can help.[/quote]

Everything really comes down to just working hard and towards your goals. Many different systems can work for you. I know many lifters doing the kind of frequent alternations that you were talking about.

I personally don’t like to use too frequent changes but rather working at least 4 weeks for each period (but with some variations in the sets/reps/weights during each period). I find it hard to make any progress with anything shorter than that.

So what I basically employ is block training with each 4-8 week block having a specific goal. Also 3-4 blocks form a sequence towards a “final” goal. So the length of my long cycle is anywhere from 12-22 weeks. Again Thibaudeau has written many articles about this.

[quote]gymrob wrote:

The main problem implementing this is that I am training mainly for relative strength and so with accumulatiuon I want to minimise hypertrophy.

Would it be feasable to increase by a rep each phase and when reach 5 reps on intensification phase: up the intensity/ move to a harder exercise progression. Is this feasable on a continual basis?
Is unloading voume every third week essential aswell?

With the alternating frequency, is lowering the intensity still essential if on an accumlation type phase? I was thinking of doing 4-6 reps on accumulation but easy reps and more sets.

Thanks.
[/quote]

If relative strength is your goal you could do something like 4-6 sets of 4-6 reps in the accumulation period (or even 5-8 sets of 2-4 reps). You can also do more assistance work in the accumulation period and hence increasing the volume.

Then in the intensification you could go to 3-6 sets of 1-3 reps (or 4-7 sets of 1-2 reps). And you should cut back on your assistance work and really focus on the main lifts.

You can experiment with deloading after 2-5 weeks. It’s very much personal choice when and how you deload…you can deload both volume and intensity or either one or just work your assistance etc…

Usually you can work 3-4 weeks (progressively) and deload after that in the accumulation period. During the intensification it’s more likely to be a bit less…say 2-3 weeks and deload after that.

I think you’re overthinking this stuff man. Do a full cycle of training with whatever parameters make sense to you, test your new maxes, THEN decide what you want to change in your program.

Throw the changing frequency and increased reps cycle-to-cycle and deloads and other complicated fluff out the window for now. This shit plagued me for a long time, don’t make the same mistake :slight_smile:

The cycles can be 2 weeks long or up to 4 weeks long, don’t sweat the small stuff, just different ways to set things up. If you are only training high volume for 2 weeks, it should only take a couple weeks to recover from it during intensification, and vice versa.

I personally rotate volume and intensity every 2-3 weeks. The important thing is that when I bring my volume up I cut the intensity, and vice versa. I’ve been doing this now for close to a year and can start to feel when I need the change, so I don’t follow any set parameters anymore and I’m still seeing results without burning out.

I still train relatively heavy (85%+ on main lifts) all the time for gym lifts and decently heavy on strongman event training, but even something as small as a difference of 85%*5 sets of 3 vs. 95% for 3 singles is enough for me. Its lower volume all around, so it’s not like I’m bodybuilding for 3 weeks and then training mostly oly lifts and deadlifts, but at the same time the CONTRAST is enough that I recover from the higher volume during intensification, and recover from higher intensity during accumulation.

Remember, contrast is key.