20's/15's/10's

B

belly

New Member
I've just come back to HST after about 5 years away and have just finished 6 weeks of 15's/10/ 5's, I'm pleased with the results.
I
have a question I'm looking for help with. I've had a few aches and pains on the 5's, nothing dramatic but at 38 and after 21 yrs of training I'm trying to be careful with this and am wondering whether it would be reasonable to do the rep ranges of 20/15 /10 after SD? I felt fuller with the 15's and 10's than I did on the 5's despite adding an extra set on the 5's.

Opinions/thoughts appreciated.
 
why not try 15s,10s,8s, if you want to do 20s thats
cool.gif
but it might be a little to light.
 
I'm running 16/12/8 for the same reason this time around. Both 16's and 12's were great for hardness/fullness that you described. I sort of feel "flat" when I get to 5's.

I'm debating on whether or not to go to 4's... so it would be 16/12/8/4. It'll be a gametime decision I suppose.
 
I assume you are taking glucosamine (+chondroitin) and Omega 3 oils. I had knee problems due to sports, aside from the pain after a game if I stood up all day or went clubbing my knees would swell up. I started taking the above after reading that Dennis Lillee (Aussie fast bowler) used it to cure his knee problems. My knees are now fine despite being another 10yrs older (I'm 43).

Also I now actively "eat like a poor man" by which I mean I now try to eat things we commonly don't eat any longer in the modern western diet. I always eat the cartilage off bones now (just like I did naturally as a kid) and order things like ox tendon, cows lung or any connective tissue especially at Chinese restaurants! I think this has helped as well.

I have a slight problem with my left elbow at present (caused by not warming up before a max-stim pull up, I think) and am trying to cure it by doing 20-30 bi-curls and skulls each evening with a light weight (2kg) in the hope the "lactic acid" effect will aid the healing process. {will change reps/weight if no improvement soon} All other joints are fine, though admittedly I've not really trained below 8RM weights in the past.

See this if you haven't already
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/willbrink1.htm
 
Thanks for the input all. I think the 16/12/8 idea appeals most, my only concern is that afater re reading the FAQ I see that Bryan says that to maximize growth you want to get the maximum difference between the starting weight for your 15's and the finishing weight for your 5's. 16-8 reps will obviously reduce this slightly but I think I could keep a bigger range with 20/15/10.
Biggets problem with the 20's to me is an ego thing as I'm going to be using baby weights.
 
During my first 6 week cycle of HST, I ran into the same problem when I got to the 5-rep portion. To remedy this, I've changed my reps to 12/10/8. Most will agree that hypertrophy occurs best in these rep ranges - so I figured that it made too much sense not to try.
 
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(dctex777 @ Sep. 15 2008,12:03)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">During my first 6 week cycle of HST, I ran into the same problem when I got to the 5-rep portion. To remedy this, I've changed my reps to 12/10/8. Most will agree that hypertrophy occurs best in these rep ranges - so I figured that it made too much sense not to try.</div>
It is a common misconception that certain rep ranges are ideal for hypertrophy. In reality, a higher load will always be better for hypertrophy, assuming you can do enough work with that load. Obviously doing a max single isn't going to do much for growth. Unless, of course, you can somehow do it 20 times.

There is nothing really different about 10 reps versus 5 reps, the only difference is how much weight you can use.
 
<div>
(Totentanz @ Sep. 16 2008,12:00)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> Obviously doing a max single isn't going to do much for growth.  Unless, of course, you can somehow do it 20 times.</div>
Which is exactly why I appreciate Max-Stim...! I don't do 20 max singles, but I do reach 20x5RM. It's helped put a little beef on.
 
Why not a 15 - 12 - 8 layout? Maybe something like this.

1 X 15, 1 X 10 during the 15s

2 X 12 during the 12s

3 X 8 during the 8s.

There is enough room between the three ranges to make a good progression I would think given a 2 - 2.5% increase in weight per rep.

This might just work without resulting in a lot of zigzag while keeping you out of the 5s and away from the 20s. I really dont think the 20s will give you as much hypertrophy as the lower ranges.
 
Thought I'd already replied to this but must have forgotten to hit the 'Post' button!

I think the feeling 'fuller' experience with higher reps ranges is more to do with the depletion of muscle glycogen during the higher rep workouts and then its replacement when you eat carbs afterwards.

Like Totz said, there seems to be no ideal rep range for hypertrophy because the load that will best stimulate a PS response is going to depend on your conditioning to the exercise at that time. A heavier load is more likely to trigger a hypertrophic response under any circumstance, as long as you are able to meet some minimum TUT requirement. That's the tricky bit with a heavy weight! So, lifting a true 1RM load is not going to allow you to put the muscle tissue under tension for long enough to trigger a maximal response.

Although lifting a heavy weight usually means performing fewer reps, each of those reps is likely to be performed more slowly than would be possible with a lighter load, so your set of 5 with your 5RM load might take a good deal longer than a set of 5 with your 10 RM load. This idea fits in quite nicely with a cycle where you might do 20 total reps during 10s (2 x 10) and then drop to 15 total reps during 5s (3 x 5) (or doing something like Wildman suggested above). Your actual TUT might be quite similar in both cases - certainly, your TUT for 3x5 would be longer than 75% of your TUT for 2x10.
 
Thanks again for the input, I've managed 7 days SD and hope to manage at least 3 more, I hate time off!

I think I'm going to try the 8's as my low rep range and see how I go. I think some of the loss of fullness may have been due to my carbs being a bit low, I started quickly gaining weight on the 15's and 10's and I'm a bit paranoid about this as a reformed fatboy.
 
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