DOS
DOS is the sequel to UNO, a minimalist barbell-based training program for beginners who want to get stronger and increase their muscle-building potential.
PRE
UNO is easy. You add weight to every exercise rather predictably. And since you start light, the first month or two doesn’t involve ball-busting labor. You’ll have to fight the urge to do more. Eventually, the weights will get heavy. And if you extrapolate the program ad infintium, you’ll eventually fail to complete the scheduled number of sets and reps with a certain weight. This is known as stalling.
I recommend transitioning to DOS before you sniff the stall. Defining a precise moment to make the move isn’t an exact science. On one hand, if your UNO sessions feel easy, then you’re too early. On the other hand, if you’ve slammed headfirst into the stall, then you’re too late. Somewhere in the middle is a good time to think about DOS, when the reps become more sticky than springy.
Keep in mind, transitioning to DOS should happen lift by lift. Transition individual exercises to DOS when they start to feel more sticky than springy. For instance, your presses might be at the UNO level, whereas your deadlifts might be at the DOS level.
There’s no need to adopt
If your squats feel easy, they should stay at UNO,
1. The program
DOS has more variability than UNO. The look DOS ultimately takes depends on your specific situation. My vanilla DOS program looks like this:
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bodyweight row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Whip clean (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
2. The precedents
Every exercise in UNO was built atop a progression precedent.
- Squat, deadlift
- +15 pounds every week
- Incline, overhead, barbell row
- +15 every two weeks
- Bridge row
- +15 every four weeks
DOS makes the program more palatable by decreasing these progression precedents (without uprooting the program’s foundation), giving the body more time to recover and adapt. There are two ways to accomplish this
First, add less weight to the bar.
Instead of adding the weight defined by UNO, add less. This is where fractional plates come in handy. You might scoff at adding less than five pounds to the bar. A long-term outlook helps put things into perspective. Doing an exercise with two additional pounds every week means adding 500 pounds to a lift in 5 years.
Even though decreasing the weight jumps is a useful tool, there will come a time when every session feels heavy. And handling heavy weights every session will wear you down. This is where complementary exercises shine.
Second, add complementary exercises.
Complementary exercises are similar yet ever-so-slightly different from the exercises in UNO. They’re usually lighter on the body as a whole, although they may tax certain structures and muscles more than the initial UNO exercises.
Complementary exercises are approached identically to the initial UNO exercise: Find a starting weight and add weight every session in a slow incremental fashion. Adding them into the rotation unlocks more time for recovery and adaptation because an exercise’s progression pace is tied to its session frequency within the confines of this program.
3. The deadlifts
Doing heavy squats and heavy deadlifts three times per week is overkill once you start handling heavier weights. Alternating between deadlifts and a complementary exercise will help your body recover.
3a. Add whip cleans
Whip cleans are a perfect complement to conventional deadlifts. You’ll always be able to conventional deadlift more than you can whip clean, which means power cleans are an inherently “lighter” exercise. During whip cleans, you need to pull the bar higher and faster. This helps you build more power than you otherwise would. This power can benefit the conventional deadlift.
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
You can add 5 pounds to whip cleans per session initially, but because of the speed component, you might be forced to switch to a lower rate of progress sooner rather than later. Conventional deadlifts have a high adaptation threshold and can stay at {+5} for now.
4. The squats
Giving the deadlift a complementary exercise will automatically help you recover from back squats because there’s a lot of crossover between conventional deadlifts and back squats. Eventually, however, back squats will benefit from their own complementary exercise.
4a. Front squats
Front squats are an obvious complement to back squats. For biomechanical reasons, you’ll always be able back squat more than you can front squat, so you’ll always handle lighter loads. Granted, front squats shift more stress to the quads and the thoracic spine, so expect some soreness in different places.
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
You can add 5 pounds to front squats. Back squats have a high adaptation threshold and can stay at {+5} for now.
5. The presses.
Both presses in the UNO program already complement each other, which is why, for DOS, I prefer decreasing their rate of progression. Instead of adding 5 pounds to the bar, only add 1-2 pounds to the bar.
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
5a. Parallel-bar dips.
P-Bar dips are a good complement to the incline press and the overhead press. FOR LOWER CHEST.
If you can do more than 10 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can
If you can currently do more than 5 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can begin to load them. The standard (3×5) works well, as does adding 2.5 pounds per session.
6. The pulls
In an ideal world, you would have done weighted chin-ups from day one in the UNO program. The pull-up is the king upper-body exercise for an x-physique. Alas, I realize not many beginners can do unweighted chin-ups, let alone weighted chin-ups. And so, the program starts with the bridge row to build strength in a way that would transition to chin-ups. Where go from here depends on your abilities.
6a. Barbell rows
Much like the presses, simply adjust
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1-2}
C) Whip cleans (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+1-2}
6b. Weighted chin-ups
If you can do (3×6) sets of chin-ups or pull-ups, you can begin doing weighted pull-ups instead of bridge rows.
Session 1
D) Weighted chin-ups (3×6){+1}
Session 2
D) Barbell row (3×6){+1-2}
6c. Bodyweight rows
If you can’t yet do weighted chin-ups, you should transition bridge rows into bodyweight rows.
6d. Feet-elevated chin-ups
6b. Inverted row
6c. Bench pull
bench pulls are also a great back exercise. unfortunately, most gyms don’t have proper equipment for them. if you can do bench pulls, you should consider doing them. the standard (3×5) works, as does adding 5 pounds per session (initially).
6d. ALTERED CHIN-UPS (FEET ON BOX)
3b. Snatch-grip deadlifts
Snatch-grip deadlifts are another noteworthy complement. You’ll always be able to conventional deadlift more than you can power clean, which means snatch-grip deadlifts are a “lighter” exercise. The wider grip puts more stress on your upper back, which is good if you want to build an x-physique. It also forces a lower hip position, so your glutes and hamstrings work through a larger range of motion.
Because of the wide grip, you will need to use weightlifting straps. (3×5) works, as does adding 5 pounds per session.
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Snatch-grip deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
3b. Romanian deadlifts
Romanian deadlifts are another noteworthy complement. They’re a more joint-friendly exercise. They strengthen the glutes and the hamstrings through a much fuller range of motion. I like them for this reason. (3×5) works, as does adding 5 pounds per session.
(EMPHASIZE USING A FULL RANGE OF MOTION?)
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
split squats SQUATS, NO. TOO DIFFERENT.
5. The presses.
The presses are unique, partly b/c complementary exercises are vast, but depend on mobility. Pick one biases toward growth or strength, but…
OR DON’T.
Presses will need to jump down progress, too!
5a. Parallel-bar dips.
P-Bar dips are an obvious complement to the incline press and the overhead press. FOR LOWER CHEST.
If you can do more than 10 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can
If you can currently do more than 5 reps of parallel bar dips in one set (unweighted), you can begin to load them. The standard (3×5) works well, as does adding 2.5 pounds per session.
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
Session 3
B) Dips
5b. Weighted push-ups
5c. Behind-the-neck press
the behind-the-neck press is a good exercise for your shoulders if and only if you have the mobility to perform them correctly. the standard (3×5) and adding 2 pounds per session works.
7. The options
This is broad overview of how to tackle w/ friendliest options. Say friendliest b/c similar enough and also have similar loading patters. Ie; just add more weight. easy for beginner. This does not encompass all options, just gives you a hint. at same time, not “anything goes.” some complementary might be a little rough. for instance, bulgian well-known exercise great for legs.
adding into program as complement might be tricky though b/c groin.
art of picking complementary is similar so as to not be a complete curveball, stress-wise. This art of programming, in a sense, and something can’t quite explain on paper.
dding a complementary exercise into the rotation lessens the adaptation demand (among other things). for instance, take a look at the initial program. the back squat is done three times per week, adding 5 pounds to the bar each session. this means you’re gonna add 720 pounds to your squat in one year. this won’t happen. you’ll stall way before this. nevertheless, this number anchors the adaptation expectation.
now take a look at the incline press and the overhead press. these two exercises are complementary. you rotate between these two exercises every session during Phase 1. adding 5 pounds to each exercise every session, you’d only add 360 pounds to each press in one year.
when you rotate between two different exercises within the confines of this program, you automatically lower the progression pace, as the progression pace is tied to the frequency at which the lift is trained.
- squat expectation: 720 pounds / year
- presses expectation: 360 pounds / year
there’s less adaptation expectation for both the incline press and the overhead press built into the program… and for good reason. remember, your upper body has less load potential than your lower body. if you trained inclines or overheads with the same frequency as squats, you’d stall early. your body wouldn’t be able to adapt and recover. inclines are rotated with overheads to (hopefully) prolong linear progress on each exercise… but that’s not all. rotating between two complementary exercises also:
keeps volume up.
in theory, you could rotate between two non-complementary exercises. the impact on the progression precedent would remain… but the volume wouldn’t.
inclines hit (primarily) the chest, the anterior (front) shoulders, and the triceps. overheads hit (primarily) the shoulders (as a whole) and the triceps. in other words, some areas are getting stimulated both days, which makes their base volume across the week (9×5) — (3×5) multiplied by three.
if you rotated between inclines and squats, you wouldn’t have cross-stimulation, which would change the fabric of the program.
train different parts.
by rotating between complementary exercises, you stress more structures, which has an aesthetic benefit. for instance if you did just inclines, your shoulders probably wouldn’t grow as much as compared to rotating between inclines and overheads.
this spread of stress is another reason complementary exercises help with recovery. on your overhead press days, your chest has a chance to recover (chest isn’t hit very hard during overheads). on your incline press days, your rear-delts have a chance to recover (rear-delts aren’t hit very hard during inclines)…
people train their entire lives and still can’t press their body’s weight overhead, let alone 320 pounds.
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×6){+5}
Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Snatch-grip deadlift (2×5){+5}
D) Barbell row (3×6){+5}
to make most sense, look at individually.
less wt
compliment
to make most sense, look at individually.
complement choices.
choosing a complementary exercise isn’t an exact science, but here are a few things to consider…
bottleneck.
consider bottlenecks. the bottleneck is an exercise’s limiting factor, which may not be the muscles you intend on taxing. take a look at the overhead squat. the overhead squat is a squat. duh. squatting taxes the legs, of course. but, during an overhead squat, your bottleneck is your ability to support weight overhead. in other words, if you can’t support a lot of weight overhead, you won’t tax your legs much during an overhead squat.
effect.
consider filling voids (if they exist). for instance, if you want a bigger chest, then your complementary pressing exercise should tax your chest more than your shoulders. in other words, you’d be much better off doing parallel bar dips, as compared to behind-the-neck presses.
load potential.
consider load potential. remember, we’re in this predicament because we’re struggling to adapt and recover. you don’t want your complementary exercises to be more taxing than the exercises currently in your program. thankfully, this isn’t that big of a concern right now, as almost every complementary exercise will be light… at first.
choo choo.
once you pick a complementary exercise, treat it as you treated the initial exercises in the program: find your starting weight and add weight slowly, in an incremental and predictable fashion. starting light will automatically facilitate more time for recovery and adaptation.
here are some examples…
PULL –
example.
let’s take a look at how these changes will look within the program. here’s the base:
Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×8){+2.5}
Session 2
A) Back squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+5}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Biceps curl (3×8){+1}
now let’s assume things are starting to get heavy and you’re going to make some of the changes. you deload back squats and decrease their progression, and also add front squats. you alternate conventional deadlifts with Romanian deadlifts and power cleans (because you’re cool). you decrease your pressing progression and add parallel bar dips. you’re able to do pull-ups now, so you add them into the program.
WEEK 1 MONDAY: Session 1
A) Back squat (3×5){+2}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×8){+2.5}
WEEK 1 WEDNEDAY: Session 2
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1}
C) Power cleans (5×3){+5}
D) Biceps curl (3×8){+1}
WEEK 1 FRIDAY: Session 3
A) Back squat (3×5){+2}
B) Parallel bar dips {+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Weighted pull-ups (3×5){+2}
WEEK 2 MONDAY: Session 1
A) Front squat (3×5){+5}
B) 30° Incline press (3×5){+2}
C) Conventional deadlift (1×5){+5}
D) Bridge row (3×8){+2.5}
WEEK 2 WEDNEDAY: Session 2
A) Back squat (3×5){+2}
B) Overhead press (3×5){+1}
C) Power cleans (5×3){+5}
D) Biceps curl (3×8){+1}
WEEK 2 FRIDAY: Session 3
A) Front squat (3×5){+2}
B) Parallel bar dips {+5}
C) Romanian deadlift (3×5){+5}
D) Weighted pull-ups (3×5){+2}
hopefully this gives you a good idea on ways you can twist and turn this program into the futre.
infinite options?
above is a very limited look at how you can modify this program as you get stronger. there are HUNDREDS of exercises out there. good mornings are a great hinge exercise. floor presses are a great press exercise. many dumbbell exercises and calisthenics can also complement the upper body. i could go on…
my hope is that, by explaining the programming principles behind the program, you’ll be able to modify things to best suit your needs.
pattern overload.
sprinkling complementary exercises into the program is a nice way to add variety and spice things up, but there’s a point of diminishing returns. rotating between too many complementary exercises gets messy. i’d be wary about rotating between more than three exercises per pattern.
premature.
you can sustain progress for a looonnnggg time if you’re smart and you use the strategies outlined above. add small amounts of weight regularly. add reps here and there. deload when things get too heavy. rinse and repeat.
few people that can
squat 2x bodyweight
chin-up 0.5x bodyweight
incline press 1x bodyweight
will be upset with their physique.
boring is boring.
even though you can sustain progress for a long time on this simple program, you’ll probably get bored doing so. after you finish Phase 1 and experiment with Phase 2, you’ve “graduated” and you have a world of options ahead of you. you owe it to yourself to explore whatever interests you. you might be tired of full-body routines. you might want to try a split routine. you might be sick of 5’s and ready to experiment with higher rep ranges. you might want to become a powerlifter. you might…
options are aplenty.
you’re months into the program. you do (3×5)@265 for back squats on Monday. it was heavy. you barely got the reps. just about every session the past few weeks has worn you down; your joints are starting to ache.
you plan for (3×5)@270 on Wednesday, but you don’t get all three sets of five. you nail your first set for five reps. on your second set, you fail on your fourth rep. on your third set, you only get two reps. you’ve officially missed your first scheduled workload, but you didn’t stall… yet. after you miss a scheduled workload, you have a few options.
first, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim for the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270, so you’d try (3×5)@270 again. if you hit all sets and reps, continue on with the normally scheduled increase next session. if you miss the workload two sessions in a row, then you can assume you’re swimming near a stall… especially if your performance has decreased (example: you go 5, 5, 3 on Monday and 5, 3, 2 on Wednesday).
second, you can repeat the workload next training session and aim to add one additional rep to your failed volume until you build into the original volume. in the example above, you failed (3×5)@270 like this:
5@270
4@270
2@270
and so, your next training session, you’d do
5@270
5@270
2@270
and then the following session you’d do
5@270
5@270
3@270
and you’d keep adding one rep until you reached (3×5), at which point you’d add weight and continue on.
chances are, you’ll be able to sustain progress for quite some time adding one rep to your workload every session. at some point, however, you’ll have to recognize when you’re too far removed from the roots of the program. for instance, if you aren’t even hitting 5 reps on your first set, you’ve stalled (for all intents and purposes). you should think about deloading.
deloading.
once you stall, you should “deload.” deloading is temporarily reducing the weight you’re lifting in an attempt to dissipate residual fatigue and give your body extra time to recover and adapt.
there are many ways to deload. for this program, subtract 10-15% from your work set weight and then redo the linear progression using the lesser (deload) weight as your starting weight.
say you stall on squats at 225 pounds. 10% of 225 pounds is around 20 pounds. so you go into the gym, throw 200 pounds on the bar, complete the workload, and then add 5 pounds next session.
Monday: (3×5)@200
Wednesday: (3×5)@205
Friday: (3×5)@210
deload don’ts.
deloads aren’t global. only deload the lifts that stall. if your bench press stalls, but you’re still making linear progress on your squat, then only deload your bench press.
second stall.
the first stall is a byproduct of months and months of accumulated fatigue. after the deload, you’ll be able to surpass your stall point because you won’t be as fatigued as you were the first time around. if your squat initially stalled at 225, you should be able to sustain linear progress past 225 after the deload.
nevertheless, you will stall again. after your second stall, you should deload once again… but you shouldn’t redo the progression. you should move onto Phase 2.