Training Question

M

Mule86

Member
I've begun my second week of 15's and am really enjoying the program so far. My original thought was to go (2) weeks of 15's, (2) weeks of 10's (2) weeks of 5's and then finish up with (2) more weeks of 5's since I don't have access to partners to do negatives, etc...

Question #1
With using this cycle above, when I get to 5's, should I increase the set's to 3 instead of 2? Or would this be doing more damage than good?

Question #2
Since my main goal is not to really bulk up/put on a lot of weight/mass I've thought about varying my reps like this: (2) weeks of 15's, (2) weeks of 12's, (2) weeks of 10's, and (2) weeks of 6's. Keeping with the same principals of HST in these different rep ranges, Progressive Overload, etc... Finally, in the above would it be beneficial to go to (3) set's on the 6's?

Thank you for any feedback!
 
Increase the sets to 3.

It won't make any difference if you do 5 reps or 6 reps...15 reps or 12 reps, etc, etc. Just curious, why are you doing HST if you do not want to grow?
 
Bryan Haycock said:
Increase the sets to 3.

It won't make any difference if you do 5 reps or 6 reps...15 reps or 12 reps, etc, etc. Just curious, why are you doing HST if you do not want to grow?
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I should have explained it better. I'm not saying that I don't ''want'' to grow or that I don't want to make gains b/c I do, but I'm not looking to bulk up and put on 20+ pounds of mass. I wouldn't mind putting on a few pounds of lean muscle. I like my physiqe as it is and am really wanting to stay around the size that I am but drop some bodyfat. I know that the main way to do this is through diet but I hope this program will also help out in that regard. I'm also doing it b/c I've never done a full body routine before and had never really even considered it until I came upon HST.
 
I like my physiqe as it is and am really wanting to stay around the size that I am but drop some bodyfat. I know that the main way to do this is through diet but I hope this program will also help out in that regard.
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What you want to accomplish seems like a cutting cycle to me. You've already nailed it in the head that it is mainly about diet. That's about the main difference between a bulking and cutting cycle anyway - eating in excess of maintenance, and eating less than maintenance.

Cutting cycles are definitely better than just plain diet, but I cannot say if HST will significantly improve your cutting cycle more than your usual routine. It won't hurt though.


Question #2
Since my main goal is not to really bulk up/put on a lot of weight/mass I've thought about varying my reps like this: (2) weeks of 15's, (2) weeks of 12's, (2) weeks of 10's, and (2) weeks of 6's. Keeping with the same principals of HST in these different rep ranges, Progressive Overload, etc... Finally, in the above would it be beneficial to go to (3) set's on the 6's?
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That's not a bad idea. And whether 3 sets on the 6's are beneficial or not really depends on how conditioned you are. They may or may not be, depending on the actual loads. It's another "listening to your body" thing. If 2 sets are enough, great. If you feel it was too easy and can definitely go for another set, then 3 it is.

Did you SD before starting the cycle? Just curious. It's not necessary, since you look like you are after a cutting cycle.
 
jvroig said:
What you want to accomplish seems like a cutting cycle to me. You've already nailed it in the head that it is mainly about diet. That's about the main difference between a bulking and cutting cycle anyway - eating in excess of maintenance, and eating less than maintenance.

Cutting cycles are definitely better than just plain diet, but I cannot say if HST will significantly improve your cutting cycle more than your usual routine. It won't hurt though.



That's not a bad idea. And whether 3 sets on the 6's are beneficial or not really depends on how conditioned you are. They may or may not be, depending on the actual loads. It's another "listening to your body" thing. If 2 sets are enough, great. If you feel it was too easy and can definitely go for another set, then 3 it is.

Did you SD before starting the cycle? Just curious. It's not necessary, since you look like you are after a cutting cycle.
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I took about a week off before starting this cycle. I feel good after all of the workouts and I know at least with the 15's that my weight's are right with the lifts. I'll adjust with the 12's, 10's and so on. I'll have to play it by ear on the (3) set's like you said. I may try it and see how my body feels. I can tell you that after a 45 minute workout of 15's my body feels good. Feel like I got a really good workout but not like I used to after hitting chest only for an hour with several different lifts.
 
Good to know it's been working out great so far.

By the way, if you are determined to just have a cutting cycle, you can stay in the 15's as long as you like. You don't have to go through the 12's, 10's and so on.

Of course, that's for your later cutting cycles. Right now, since this is your first cycle, you should go ahead. Not that it will make your cutting more effective. It's just so you can experience an entire HST cycle and judge for yourself if you like it.

Don't expect miracles to happen here, though, like gaining much lean mass. It may still happen, but if you are constraining your diet to lose weight, that plus a very short time off (which will probably result in not significant enough of a deconditioning for your muscles) may likely result in not gaining lean mass. I don't think this will be a problem for you since you clearly stated you aren't quite in there for lean mass development. Just throwing it out there in the open to clear up any misconceptions you may have or any out of line expectations. (In other words, I just don't want you to end up judging HST too harshly :) )

Good luck!
 
I'm not expecting HST to provide me with any miracles. I know why I am doing it and I'm not looking to gain a ton of mass so I'm not expecting it. I really like the fact that I can get in a great workout in 45 minutes and not have to be in the gym 4-5 times a week for an hour at a time focusing on one bodypart. Was really getting burnt out on that.

If I can maintain or gain anything on HST I'll be a junkie for life. I like where I'm at now in size and strength so if this program will keep me where I'm at, or even give me some gains, I'll continue to do it forever.
 
I really like the fact that I can get in a great workout in 45 minutes and not have to be in the gym 4-5 times a week for an hour at a time focusing on one bodypart
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Also one of my favorite "perks" with HST! Long (and very frequent) gym sessions are just hard to maintain over time, and it gets old pretty fast, so to speak.

I like where I'm at now in size and strength
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That's amazing. I wish I could say the same for myself. I honestly don't know when I'll be that satisfied. Like you, though, I just don't worry about my training. I don't dislike my body, and just try to train as often as my schedule allows (not much) and control my diet to not "let go" of myself. I'd always wish for more mass, but I'm not bummed about it, I still think I'm doing ok.
 
jvroig said:
Also one of my favorite "perks" with HST! Long (and very frequent) gym sessions are just hard to maintain over time, and it gets old pretty fast, so to speak.


That's amazing. I wish I could say the same for myself. I honestly don't know when I'll be that satisfied. Like you, though, I just don't worry about my training. I don't dislike my body, and just try to train as often as my schedule allows (not much) and control my diet to not "let go" of myself. I'd always wish for more mass, but I'm not bummed about it, I still think I'm doing ok.
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I used to play college football and was 30+ pounds heavier and much, much stronger 10 years ago. People who haven't seen me in a long time always comment on how skinny I've gotten. But then, I was training to gain as much mass as I could and eating that way too. Now, I'm 6'3 about 195-198 and I like where I'm at. I've got good definition and would like to keep it. That's where I'm hoping that HST will help (along with better diet). I'd love to be able to stay with this program, and keep steady or continue to gain a little bit more over time. I just don't need/want to be 225 again. I'd like to stay where I'm at, keep training to stay in shape so I'm not one of those Dad's that doesn't ever take his shirt off b/c he's out of shape.
 
I'd like to stay where I'm at, keep training to stay in shape so I'm not one of those Dad's that doesn't ever take his shirt off b/c he's out of shape.
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Hehe, I'm not a dad myself, but that (being able to take my shirt off and be proud) is certainly something we both agree on. Looking good with or without a shirt is one of my highest priority goals that got me into weight training in the first place.
 
jvroig said:
Hehe, I'm not a dad myself, but that (being able to take my shirt off and be proud) is certainly something we both agree on. Looking good with or without a shirt is one of my highest priority goals that got me into weight training in the first place.
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So I'm nearing the end of my 2nd week of 12's. I'm throwing in an extra set of fly's for chest each workout, as well as an extra set of curls/tri's each day. Nothing major, just one extra set each.

When I get down to 10's, 8's, and 6's as I am planning, should I up the set's to 3? I was planning to do this on the 6's for sure, but am now considering maybe on the 8's? What about the 10's, would that be too much? I'd be at 30 reps per excersice, which I was at doing the 15's for 2 sets.
 
The number of sets really depends on how much you can do overall without overtraining or affecting your ability to train for an extended period more.

Basically, this is another "listen to your body" thing. There are studies that prove more sets = better, which really is just "more volume = better", which in turn is really just "higher load and higher TUT = better". Where to draw the line, then, is something you have to "feel", within reason of course.

Generally, if your exercises are fewer than most (let's say, you only have six compared to an average of 9 or 10), then you can more or less expect to be able to do more volume while still not being in danger of overtraining.

If you wish to push the 10's to 3 sets, try i if it's possible. If it works great, you don't feel more tired and it doesn't affect your performance on your next sessions, it's ok most likely.

Also, you don't have to increase sets to 3 for all exercises. You can let everything else remain at 2 sets, then just have a few core exercises at 3 sets (preferrably, the heaviest/biggest compounds you have in your routine)
 
jvroig said:
The number of sets really depends on how much you can do overall without overtraining or affecting your ability to train for an extended period more.

Basically, this is another "listen to your body" thing. There are studies that prove more sets = better, which really is just "more volume = better", which in turn is really just "higher load and higher TUT = better". Where to draw the line, then, is something you have to "feel", within reason of course.

Generally, if your exercises are fewer than most (let's say, you only have six compared to an average of 9 or 10), then you can more or less expect to be able to do more volume while still not being in danger of overtraining.

If you wish to push the 10's to 3 sets, try i if it's possible. If it works great, you don't feel more tired and it doesn't affect your performance on your next sessions, it's ok most likely.

Also, you don't have to increase sets to 3 for all exercises. You can let everything else remain at 2 sets, then just have a few core exercises at 3 sets (preferrably, the heaviest/biggest compounds you have in your routine)
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That's what I was thinking. Maybe doing 2-3 of the exercises for 3 sets and keeping the other at 2 sets. Squat, Bench, Barbell Row for 3 and everything else for 2.
 
Ah, in that case, perfect. Should work great. And if in any session you just can't finish the third set, don't get too hung up on having to finish it. You can just stop.

When you finish those reps with 3 sets, come back here and let us know how it went, your experience would definitely be useful for other members as well.
 
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