TangoDown's Vanilla HST Run

BW: just under 167lb at 5'8"

Sumo Deadlift: 135lb x 5, 225lb x 3, 275lb x 3, 300lb x 2, 315lb x 1, 5x1 330lb

Bench: 185lb x 10 (Cycle PR + 10lb)

Weighted Pullups: Belt + 40lb x 10 (cycle PR + 2.5lb + 3lbish BW = 5lb total PR)
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Dunno what was up with sumo deadlift today. 315lb, no bar rolling forward, flew up. The 5 singles of 330lb also went up relatively well but there was bar rolling. Might have not been squeezing lats as hard as I could have on the work sets, though there was only a tiny bit of rolling on single 1. Single 6 wouldn't even budge off the floor. This was essentially the first day in a week that I've slept okay so I'll call it a fluke. Will repeat this weight next singles day.

Bench, easy 10 reps with 185lb. This was my 5RM at the end of 2 cycles ago and it felt like I might have had at least another rep me. I should be able to put up at least 225lb x 1 now.

PR with weighted pullups. Didn't do a quick set because I have to avoid the weights on the chain slamming into the wall right in front of me but it's 10 reps so I'll count it.
 
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Leg Press (non-plate loaded): 345 4x3

Bench: 185 2x5, 1x3 - woke up w a crink in my right pec so I was sort of cautious. Will do 4 sets next time.

Sumo DL (speed day): 255 5x3

Weighted Pullups: Belt + 35lb 4x5
 
Sumo DL: 135lb x 3, 225lb x 3, 275lb x 3, 300lb x 2, 315lb 5x2

Bench: 130lb x 3, 155lb x 3, 185lb 4x5

Weighted Pullups: BW x 5, Belt + 40lb 3x5
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Worked out on 4.5-5 hours of sleep. I'd have worked out tomorrow or even Thurs but I have no time until Friday so I didn't want to have 5 days between sessions. Regardless, everything went alright thanks to a second cup of coffee.
 
weight at 167ish

Sumo DL 365lb x 1 (PR)

Bench 200 x 4 (PR)

Puups belt + 45lb 4x5 (not trying to max here)

Sumo, didnt get to film. Think my hips shot up a tiny bit. Also went up by 10-15lb increments after 315. May have more in me tho the break off the floor was insane. Lockout no issue but very hard rep.

Might have 200 X 5 bench in me cus i did do 190 x 5 before i drcided to try to max. Might repeat next session.

Probably gonna deload and convert wholly to a strength protocal
 
I kinda feel like your training is going well, don't mess it up now. You're posting 'PR' a lot these past 2-3 weeks. Ride the wave until it stops, not just until it breaks.
 
By strength protocol I meant start clustering bench. Everything else would stay the same as it is now programming-wise. But I suppose I can just ride the HST wave for bench.
 
Weight: 167lb @ 5'8"

Bench: 200lb x 5 (PR + 10lb), 200lb x 1

Weighted Pullups: Belt + 50lb 3x5

Leg Press (non-plate loaded): 350lb 4x3
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Lost a bit of tightness on the unracking but I still got the 5 reps. Next set felt way slower so I didn't progress past 1 rep. I just wanted the 5 reps and I got it. Now I guess I'll go back down to 190lb and start doing multiple sets and stretch the cycle out to see if I can't aim for 205lb x 5 or at least 3 sets of 200lb.

With that, I at least should be able to bench 225lb. 200lb is about 87% of 230lb so I may have 230lb in me too but I'm not planning on doing a 1RM right now.
 
Sumo DL 6x2 315lb

Bench 190lb 4x5 - Moderately challenging. Increased grip width slightly and gonna try to squeeze the shit out of the bar.

Weighted Pullups 2x5, 1x4 Belt + 55lb - Probably could have gotten the last rep but I felt pooped.

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Jester, never got to finish out the 5s. I wanna at least do 1 session of 3-4x5 @ 195lb and then I'll spend as much time as I can at 200lb and see if I can't punch out a set of 5 at 205lb in a couple of weeks.
 
168lb (+1 lb) @ 5'8"

Bench: 135lb x 5, 160lb x 4, 185lb x 2, 200lb x 5, 205lb x 4

Sumo DL: 135lb x 5, 225lb x 3, 275lb x 2, 315lb x 1, 10x1 @ 335lb

Weighted Pullups: BW x 5, Belt + 60lb x 5
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200lb x 5 felt unbelievably easy so I tried for 205lb and got 4 and had to do the roll of shame on rep 5 because no spot. I feel like I have 5 reps if I'm fresh and I feel like my setup was better on the set of 200lb. I'll try 205lb x 5 again on Sunday.

Did 10 sets of singles at 335lb which felt pretty challenging but I etched out a good foot angle by the end. Foot angle was maybe 30-35 degrees on single 5 I think and it felt like a 1RM. Considering that I'm mildly duckfooted, that would probably correspond to a x<25 foot angle on a normal person. So I adjusted to an angle around 45<x<60 degree angle and felt stronger. Really worked on getting into a position where the bar would start by dragging up the shin and I think I've got a good idea of how to do that now without needing to really cue the lats strongly. Need to film myself.

Will start doing my doubles with 320lb.
 
Eaked out 4 reps of 205lb again. I may still have 5 in me but I'd like to work with this weight for the next couple of weeks maybe. I was thinking I'd do clusters of 2 up to 10-12 reps total. Don't know how much rest I'd need between clusters. Maybe 2 minutes?
 
Alternatively, I can do real clusters. 1 rep at 205, rest 10-15 seconds, do 10 times.

Or, 210lb 1 rep, 10-15 seconds, 5 reps total. Rest 3 minutes. Repeat for another set of 5 clusters.
 
Are you intending rest-pause, or clusters? Clusters are simply sets without defined numbers - it's auto-regulation in the purest sense. There's not any prescribed timing for reps; they're as normal.
 
I've seen clusters defined as rest-pause on other parts of the net, though I did how the HST guys define clusters per your instructions eons ago when I wasn't eating enough and was benching like 165lb x 5.

I sort of want to do rest-pause for the next couple of weeks and see how it goes because I don't want to make stuff too grindy with auto regulation at this point. Maybe I'll do that down the line after a deload.

So I'm thinking 4 reps max is about 90% 1RM so I suppose 205lb's the weight I'll use. How do you think I should handle it? 1 rep, rack, 10-15 second pause, repeat for 5-6 reps total. Rest 3 minutes. Do another set of 5-6.
 
Everything felt really weak today and a callus completely ripped off my hand so I think I'm going to have to call it a cycle and SD. I'm really bogged down with course work at the moment too so an SD will give me some more time to get it done.

Anyway, cycle went like this:

Weight: 164lb ---> 168lb

Bench: 190lb x 5 ---> 200lb x 5 (205lb x 4 :()

90% 1RM Sumo Deadlift: 10x1 325lb ---> 10x1 335lb, 365lb x 1 (tested 2 weeks ago and probably had 370lb-375lb in me if I didn't increment up by like 10lb)

Weighted Pullups: Belt + 60lb x 5 @ 164lb ---> Belt + 60lb x 5 @ 168lb

85% 1RM non-plate loaded leg press (set up almost like a horizontal hack squat): 340lb @ 4x3 ---> 350lb @ 4x3
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I tested out Pendlay Rows for kicks and got 195lb x 3. Body english was better than expected upon watching video and that was one of the reasons why I stopped midset so I know I have at least 195lb x 5. Last year when I did 'em I think my best was 165lb x 4 or something like that so back strength has obviously shot up since then.

So now I need to plan for next cycle. I'll keep lower body stuff the same. As for upper body, I'd like to transition from vanilla HST to strength specific stuff similar to what I'm doing on lower body and sort of auto-regulate rather than plan increments. I like the notion of rest-pause on bench since it shouldn't require a spot. As for weighted pullups, I could do clusters or rest-pause. Since I have pendlay rows tested too, I can throw those in as well and alternate A/B for pullups or just do pullups.

So what say you? How should I handle rep/volume scheme for bench and back? I was thinking 85% rest-pause 3 reps, 90% 1RM rest-pause 1 rep, 5-6 reps total. Rest 2-3 minutes. Another set.
 
I find bench only needs 2 or 3 workouts a week. If you start to stall, swap one out for an OHP. Pyramid up/go heavy, use max-stim or max-stim like protocols (this exercise feels tailor made for that style of lifting - CNS fatigue is barely existent for such a tiny movement).

For back, I like pendlays. I'm in love with snatch-grip back work right now; shrugs, rows, pulls, whatever. I max out at about 30 heavy reps for bench per week and realistically it's often a lot more like 25. Once your grip width and technique are sorted, it just doesn't require a lot of attention IMO; the muscles are tiny (I mean anterior delts - smaller than a biceps FFS).

I think every workout should be auto-regulated. There's a reason that 'life happens' is a saying ;).
 
Very good.

Say I want to bench heavy 2 times a week and want to focus primarily on rest-pause using max-stim. From the quick google I did on max-stim, I'd take a weight, do a rep, rack, wait a certain amount of time, repeat for a few reps, and then keep going for another few reps with slightly higher rest period. So say I take 205lb (a weight I can do for 4 reps).

Sunday: Rep, 10 seconds, Rep, 10 seconds, Rep, 15 Seconds, Rep, 15 seconds: aim for 10-15 reps total.

Tues: dunno

Fri: Repeat same shit as Sunday

Is that how it works?
 
Bench Tues and Fri then.

Working weight 90% of 1RM (about 4 rep max, so 205lb),

1 rep - 10 sec
2 rep - 10 sec
3 rep - 15 sec
4 rep - 15 sec

... and so on and so forth. Rep 10 would be after a 30 second break. Rep 15, if it happens, would be after a 40 second break. Let me know if rest needs to be altered.

Weighted pullups are affected by weight gain so clustering would be a little hard to gauge from day to day. I can cluster Pendlays. 2 minute break, 10-12 reps with 5RM. Frequency, don't know. Pullups, I'd like to keep as well...
 
Something like that. I wouldn't do more than 8 - 10 reps at 90% unless your connective tissue is pretty robust. The muscular response will almost certainly not increase above that total rep count at that load.
 
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