ADVANCED DUMBBELLS-ONLY TRAINING
Introduction
So, you’ve got your dumbbell-only program built — solid movement patterns, well-structured volume, and proper recovery. You’ve squeezed every drop of progress out of traditional programming. Now what?
You level up your training.
This fourth instalment is about going beyond the basics. It’s time to introduce cycling or periodization.
It would be fun if we could progress linearly on our lifts forever. Even adding a measly 5lbs per week to our deadlift would mean that we would all be deadlifting 1000lbs within 2-3 years!
Of course, it doesn’t work like that. At one point our body becomes adapted to the stress we are imposing to it via training but we can’t increase the workload because it can lead to overtraining and regression.
That’s when cycling or periodization become useful strategies. Let’s see what is the difference between both…
Cycling refers to a planned change (up or down) in the loading of your exercises (sets, reps per set, weight, rest periods). Typically the exercises and the nature of the program doesn’t change during a “cycle”.
Periodization is typically a more drastic change in programming. We normally changes not only the loading schemes, but the exercises, methods and means of training as well as the physical capacities we are targeting.
In this article we will talk about cycling. We will cover periodization in the next article.
CYCLING
The three main variables I like to target when cycling are: sets, reps and weight.
And you progress them in that order: first you add sets, then you add reps per set and finally you add weight.
A simple cycle could look like this:
*Assuming 3 sessions per week (same exercises)
Session 1: 2 x 5
Session 2: 3 x 5
Session 3: 4 x 5
Session 4: 2 x 6
Session 5: 3 x 6
Session 6: 4 x 6
Session 7: 2 x 7
Session 8: 3 x 7
Session 9: 4 x 7
*Same weight for sessions 1-9
Session 11: 2 x 5 (more weight)
Session 12: 3 x 5
Session 13: 4 x 5
Session 14: 2 x 6
Session 15: 3 x 6
Session 16: 4 x 6
Session 17: 2 x 7
Session 18: 3 x 7
Session 19: 4 x 7
*Same weight for sessions 11-19
Session 20: 2 x 5 (more weight)
Session 21: 3 x 5
Session 22: 4 x 5
Session 23: 2 x 6
Session 24: 3 x 6
Session 25: 4 x 6
Session 26: 2 x 7
Session 27: 3 x 7
Session 28: 4 x 7
*Same weight for sessions 20-28
IMPORTANT: A cycle is typically best done for 20 to 30 sessions.
After the cycle is done you would take 1-2 weeks of easier training then start a new cycle.
Here’s another cycle example, this time more linear in nature:
Session 1: 2 x 10
Session 2: 3 x 10
Session 3: 4 x 10
*Sessions 1-3 use the same weight
Session 4: 2 x 8 (more weight)
Session 5: 3 x 8
Session 6: 4 x 8
*Sessions 4-6 use the same weight
Session 7: 2 x 6 (more weight)
Session 8: 3 x 6
Session 9: 4 x 6
*Sessions 7-9 use the same weight
Session 10: 2 x 5 (more weight)
Session 11: 3 x 5
Session 12: 4 x 5
*Sessions 10-12 use the same weight
Session 13: 2 x 3 (more weight)
Session 14: 3 x 3
Session 15: 4 x 3
*Sessions 13-15 use the same weight
Session 16: 1 x 3, 1 x 2, 1 x 1 (each set is heavier than the preceding one)
Session 17: 1 x 2, 1 x 1, 1 x 1 (adding weight on each set)
Session 18: 3 x 1 (imagine 3 attempts to max out)
You can also use a more wave-like approach. Again assuming 3 workouts per week (same exercises for each session)
Session 1: 2 x 5
Session 2: 4 x 5
Session 3: 3 x 5
Session 4: 2 x 6
Session 5: 4 x 6
Session 6: 3 x 6
Session 7: 2 x 7
Session 8: 4 x 7
Session 9: 3 x 7
*Sessions 1-9 use the same weight
Session 10: 2 x 5 (more weight)
Session 11: 4 x 5
Session 12: 3 x 5
Session 13: 2 x 6
Session 14: 4 x 6
Session 15: 3 x 6
Session 16: 2 x 7
Session 17: 4 x 7
Session 18: 3 x 7
*Sessions 10-18 use the same weight
Session 19: 2 x 5 (more weight)
Session 20: 4 x 5
Session 21: 3 x 5
Session 22: 2 x 6
Session 23: 4 x 6
Session 24: 3 x 6
Session 25: 2 x 7
Session 26: 4 x 7
Session 27: 3 x 7
*Sessions 19-27 use the same weight
WHY IT WORKS
- Sustainable rate of progression: One of the main reasons why people fail to reach their goal is that they are too eager to reach them! Trying to add weight to the bar too soon, before the body has gained enough strength to justify the increase in load, will lead to stagnation or even injury and regression. Depending on your experience level and exercise you can gain 0.5 to 2% strength on a lift in a week, with more experienced lifters closer to 0.5 - 1.0% and beginners closer to 2%. Take for example a 315lbs squat. If you are an advanced lifter you can hope to get 1.5 to 3lbs stronger in a week. Which is less than the smallest increment by which you can increase the weight on the bar (5lbs). Let’s say that you do try to add 5lbs per week on your squat, that is a deficit of 2-3.5lbs per week. Which means that every week you’ll have to get closer to failure to do your sets and after a few weeks you can’t keep up. In fact, you might sustain that for 2-3 weeks before form goes to crap. By using the logic of “add sets before reps, reps before weight and weight last” you will spend longer with a certain weight, still getting gains by increasing the other variables, and you move on to a heavier weight when the body is prepared for it. This means that you will progress for a lot longer.
- Not training “on the nerve”: The closer you get to failure, the more central fatigue you create. Central fatigue refers to a decrease in the strength of the neural activation signal sent to the muscles. When that happens, it becomes increasingly difficult to recruit the growth-prone fast-twitch fibers, making your sets less effective at stimulating both strength gains and muscle growth. Training close to failure also leads to more muscle damage, which is not a good thing. Muscle damage is not a stimulus for growth and too much of it can impair progress. If you do train to failure you thus have to greatly diminish training volume to be able to progress. A better option is to keep a few reps in reserve (especially on multi-joint exercises) which will allow you to do handle more volume and frequency. By using a more gradual load progression (increase volume, then reps then weight) you more easily keep your sets in the proper effort-level zone. If you add weight too soon or too fast, you get gradually closer to failure and the training becomes more likely to lead to burning out or, at least, stagnation.
- Technical mastery: Again, when you keep a few (e.g. 2) reps in reserve, you are better able to focus on using solid technique. Ideally your last rep should be the same technically as the first one. The execution might be slower, but the technique itself should be the same. The closer you get to failure, the more likely you are to use compensations, momentum and cheating. Reducing the effectiveness of the exercise and increasing the risk of injury. By using a more gradual load progression you also can train your lifts more often, which leads to faster improvements.
SPECIAL METHODS
Another way to keep making gains when you are more advanced is to use special methods. With a smart approach, you can manipulate tension, fatigue, and stimulus to match (or even exceed) what you get in regular sets.
Mechanical Drop Sets
Instead of reducing weight, you switch to easier mechanical versions of a lift as you fatigue. Basically you use 3 variations of the same exercise and you do all 3 with the same weight and very little rest in-between (10-15 sec). You start by the “weakest” variations and finish with the “strongest”.
Example: High Incline Press → Incline Press → Flat Press (no rest between changes)
1½ Reps
Great for hypertrophy or to bias a specific muscle in a lift. For example, in curls: curl up, lower halfway, curl back up, then lower fully. One brutal rep. If you do squats and want to emphasize the quads you can: go halfway down, stand back up, go all the way down, stand up… this is ONE rep. This is a good method to use with dumbbells if you are too strong for the weights that you have.
Rest-Pause Sets
Perform a heavy set to near-failure, rest 15–30 sec, repeat for mini-sets using same weight.
Post-Exhaust Supersets
Start with a compound move then immediately do an isolation exercise for a muscle involved in the compound. Ex: DB clean & press → Lateral raise.
Iso-Dynamic Combos
Hold an isometric contraction before performing reps. Ex: 20-sec split squat hold + 8 dynamic reps.
Typically these methods are done for the last set of an exercise, not on all the sets as it would be too stressful to recover from.
So you could do the first 2-3 work sets as “normal sets” then do the last using one of the these methods.
I personally prefer to use cycling to get out of a rut before trying out special methods and I certainly do not recommend using special methods too often.
CONCLUSION
We now know the best exercises to do in a dumbbells-only program, how to create a basic plan/routine and how to spice it up with cycling and special methods. In the last instalment of this series I will address the more complex (but more fun) subjects of periodization. Then you’ll be all set to become a monster!
