Yes, that was a play on words.
4 weeks ago Mike and I started the lifting program DTP. DTP stands for Dramatic Training Principle and was created by Kris Gethin. You can find this program and many others by Kris on bodybuilding.com. I choose to try this particular program for a couple of reasons. First, it only required 4 weeks of dedication. Second, it was unlike other lifting programs I'd tried in the past because he focuses on a higher repetition range unlike the usual 6-12 for strength and hypertrophy. Third, it was more in line with what I want to achieve in the gym currently which is strength and muscle growth.
Basically, it breaks down your lift week into a 4 day lifting split. Because our schedules couldn't follow exactly how Kris lines up the split, we had to switch around the days. We performed Chest/Back on day 1, Legs on day 2, Shoulders on day 3, Arms on day 4. 2 other days of the week were cardio days. Mike performed cardio on the treadmill while I opted to tackle a class of Power Yoga (believe it or not power yoga is very cardiovascular!). Each lifting day you have 1 or 2 supersets. The entire workout is only 10 sets but each set can range from 5-50 repetitions. Mike and I never go above 12-15 repetitions per set regardless of what body part we are training, so to go up to 50 repetitions on leg press we were a little out of our comfort zone. I'll write out the leg day as an example. It is compromised of only one superset, Leg Press with Calf Raises.
Set 1 Leg Press 50 repetitions superset with Calf Raise 40 repetitions
Set 2 LP 40 reps superset with CR 30 reps
Set 3 LP 30 reps superset with CR 20 reps
Set 4 LP 20 reps superset with CR 10 reps
Set 5 LP 10 reps superset with CR 10 reps
Set 6 LP 10 reps superset with CR 10 reps
Set 7 LP 20 reps superset with CR 10 reps
Set 8 LP 30 reps superset with CR 20 reps
Set 9 LP 40 reps superset with CR 30 reps
Set 10 LP 50 reps superset with CR 40 reps
By the 10th set our legs were toast and pretty well exhausted. Kris stresses going to failure each set. All training days resemble this type of workout with 1 or 2 supersets totaling out at 10 sets for the entire day. Sometimes the repetition range changed, but only slightly.
Now onto my assessment of DTP. I liked that DTP was different in a sense that you had a higher rep range and we were challenging the muscle out of the traditional 6-12 rep range we use. I did see noticeable improvements in my strength. For example, on leg press day at 10 reps I maxed out the first week at 220lbs (not including sled weight). The final week I maxed out on the same set at 270lbs. That's a huge improvement! I didn't see an improvement on chest/back but I did see a small improvement on shoulder day of 10lbs on my max 10 rep range. While I did see some improvements, I was ready for the program to be over. It is because all 4 weeks you use the same 7 supersets. For me, this was extremely monotonous. I'm used to a variety of up to 5 different exercises each day, 4 days a week, totaling up to 20 different exercises in a weeks time. Each week is also different for me so in a given month I could be choosing 80 different exercises a month. This program was 7 exercises for that same month time frame. So for me, I was getting bored by the final week. I would recommend this program for someone who usually performs reps in the low range, needs a new challenge and doesn't mind performing the same routine for 4 weeks.
I will be starting a hybrid exercise regime next week and will go into more detail in the following post.
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