5rm

Has anyone gone over their 5rm? It feel that when i am on workout 6 for my 5rm, i will should be able to handle more weight than what i have recorded. Should i stick to the weight that i have recorded or go for it if i can handle more weight?

 

Yes, most have gone over their 5rm.

For instance i'm in the middle of a HST cycle right now that went like this: 2 weeks 5's, 4 weeks negs/increasing weights with clusters.

For your last 5's workout, stick with you 5rm. Then for the next couple weeks you're supposed to (don't HAVE to) move onto negs/stick with your 5rm, or increase weight, etc. Basically keep progressing the weight to milk more hypertrophy.

 

Lance:

How do you increment? Size, frequency?

 

Kaaj,

I'm incrementing like so. My 2 weeks of 5's are the same as normal, just as if you used the calculator, 6 increments until your 5rm.

The 4 weeks thereafter what i did was increase from my 5rm HALF of the normal increments i was doing. So whereas i was incrementing 20lbs on squats, i'm only doing 10lbs now. Also, i'm only incrementing weekly. So i ended the 5's with 305x5 for squats, and now i'm doing 315 for this WHOLE week. Next week 325 ... and so on.

I'm working on Mon - Fri, so 5 full body workouts per week. This week and the week prior i did take off a day during the week when i was feeling a little burnt out, and just made up for it on the weekend.

 

Lance;

How have your gains been doing this kind of cycle compared with a more standard HST cycle?

 

So far very well.

I'm also bulking, which i havn't done in about a year.

I started bodybuilding by losing about 20 lbs and ever since have been very sensitive to any body fat gain. Thus i'm allways trying to foolishly find a way to lean gain.

Thus far, it seems i just basically cut or mantain all the time. My first bulk ever last year was my first HST cycle as well, and things went very well.

Now that i'm bulking again, once again, things are going very well. I think bulking is just the way to go when you want to put on muscle. I don't have any numbers or anything to give you, but basically, it's going very well and most importantly i'm enjoying it alot. I just like to lift heavy. =)

I'm emphasizing my arms and chest, by the way. Utilizing loaded stretches and pulses are new to me, and they are really cool. First time i had soreness in my chest and arms in a long time, those loaded stretches on DB fly's are out of control!

 

I've done two cycles and exceeded the 5RM's each time, except with curls in this last cycle. I made my 5RM and the next workout increased by 5 pounds and only got 4. I was shooting for 435x5 squat and hit 465x5 at the end of the cycle. Deadlifted 360x6, exceeding my max by 5RM by 35 pounds.

 

My RMs usually increase, all of them. But especially 5rm. Instead of negatives I usually just keep increasing weight and working to failure.