5s are kicking my ass!

K

KungFuJoe

New Member
I don't know what else to say...and I'm not really complaining (much
smile.gif
), but the 15s and 10s were absolute cakewalks compared to the latter part of the 5s and now the last 2 weeks (where I continue to do my 5RM). Every workout is a backbreaking effort and I'm absolutely spent when I'm done. One thing I'm wondering about...when I was on my 15RM and 10RM days, I was able to do my RM and I knew I could have done a few more (which means I'm progressing). But, on my 5RM, I feel like I can only do a few more on certain exercises. For instance, on squat, deadlifts, flat bench, I now feel I can my 5RM 6 or 7 times. But on bb curls, shoulder press, bb row, tricep pulldown and lat pulldown I am absolutely stuck on 5RM. And a couple times, I couldn't even do the 5 reps.

Is it "normal" to NOT be able to do more than your 5RM during the final 2 weeks of your cycle? Does that mean I will be doing exactly the same weights on my 2nd cycle? DOes that mean i calculated my 5RM too high to begin with? What do you guys think?
 
5s are tough, no doubt about it. if the weight for a given exercise is too tough then repeat it for that specific exercise next time. you can repeat a weight amount up to 3 times.


im exhausted during the second half of the 5s too, which is another reason why i often cut out isos during the 5s.
 
Well...I was able to progress all the way through my 5s so on the 6th workout of the 5s, I was doing my 5RM. My question is...where do I go after I'm done with my 7th and 8th weeks (I am just continuuing to do the 5RM for EVERY workout in those last 2 weeks)? Most people seem to say to use the last 2 weeks to find out your new 5RM and use that to calculate your 10 and 15RM, but it doesn't look like my 5RM is going to move anywhere for most of my exercises. Does that indicate that I calculated wrong in the beginning? I mean, I know HST is not for strength, but there should be SOME strength gains, right?
 
<div>
(KungFuJoe @ May 23 2006,18:49)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Does that indicate that I calculated wrong in the beginning?  </div>
Did you test your maxes to start with?

How many sets are you doing? How often? What about nutrtion? Sleep?

Here's the thing, if you estimated (:angry:) then it's possible the weights are too heavy. If you actually tested then your strength is suffering for some reason and you need to figure out what it's cause is.
 
You should be doing neg's where possible in the post 5's. I would not think you were overtraining because you said the weights have remained constant. I would eat a little more and start doing neg's. The neg's really help with mass and strength gains. Neg weighted chins and dips are great. If you're doing OH presses, you can push press the weight to lockout and then do neg's.
 
Don't forget that if you are training your whole body with 3 sets per exercise during 5s then by the time you get to things like isos for bis and tris you will have hammered your arms already with back and chest work. Did you do that when you originally found your RMs? I doubt it. So it's no big deal.

If your main lifts are improving as you say they are then that's great. Do as Liege says and do negs where possible so you can add more weight. On the final w/o of the post-5s try adding some weight to your previous 5RMs and see if you can get 5 reps out. If you think you could make 7 reps with what was your previous 5RM weight then that is a lot of extra work. In this case adding 5 or 10lbs to the bar and getting your 5 reps should be possible. Go for it!
biggrin.gif


HST will increase your strength. No doubt about it. It may be that strength and hypertrophy are not directly proportional but they are related.
smile.gif
 
We all agree that the fives are tough!

Check what Dan &amp; Liege said, up your eating a little specially before training, ensure you consume enough protein the day after training too (uptake is increased to over 100%).

Other factors may be sleep (minium 7 hours, optimum about 8 or 9), are you low on carbs? That could also be a slight problem as the glycogen stores would be depleted.

Last two weeks, negatives where possible if you have no partner, else negs full on! Dips and Chins, and push presses are easy alone, bench is a bumber as you need a partner.

Hang in there, mate!
biggrin.gif
 
for negatives in the last two weeks.

Do you progress the weight?

Do you use your 5 rep max weight or your 1 rep max weight?

Do you still do 3 sets of 5's?
 
<div>
(Maximuscrates @ May 24 2006,06:49)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">for negatives in the last two weeks.

Do you progress the weight?

Do you use your 5 rep max weight or your 1 rep max weight?

Do you still do 3 sets of 5's?</div>
FAQ regarding negs/eccentrics
 
Thanks for the suggestions...I think it probably is my eating and sleeping which has been on the decline lately. I'm in sort of a vicious cycle where I have a hectic job and a hyperactive one year old daughter so most of my time when I get home from work is chasing her around...so I barely have time to eat, by the time I put her to sleep it's 11:30 or midnight, so I take care of my stuff and my work starts at 1AM. By then I'm exhausted so I pop an EC stack which gives me a little boost. But then I don't sleep all night, am exhausted in the morning, take another EC stack to wake me up plus caffeine all day which kills my appetite...

It didn't used to be so bad in the 15s and first part of the 10s when I could finish a workout in 30 to 45 minutes, but now that my workouts are an hour and a half (and requiring an EC stack), it's killing my sleep.

Oh well...today and friday and I am officially done with my first HST cycle. Happily, I can say it works great...I have made very good improvements and as someone who has worked out on and off for over 10 years, I know improvement when I see it. I'm sure I can make some adjustments and make even better gains the 2nd time around.

I'll probably use today and friday to calculate new 5RMs.

Once I get my 5RM, how do I use that to calculate my 10 and 15RM?
 
Kung, if you don't have some type of good cage with properly set safety bars so that you always have an escape route, you should not do negs on things like bench presses and squats working out alone. An extra 2 weeks at your 5RM will be almost as effective anyway so why risk injury?
biggrin.gif
 
<div>
(KungFuJoe @ May 24 2006,18:12)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">How do you do negs on the big stuff without a spotter...which is my problem because I workout at home.</div>
With chins, dips and OH presses you don't need a spotter.
 
Other suggestion:

One year old daughter: review her routine (sleeping patterns), introduce rooibos tea (it has absolutely no caffeine and works great with kids), you can even add milk if need be, it has a great calming effect, I used it on all three of my kids and it definitely helped.

You have to get your sleep right mate, or it will start chewing into your gains, serious! Aim for 8 hours, 7 is not too bad!

Slow down with the coffee too, too much will kill your apetite and that will also affect your gains, if you are gaining now it is because you changed recently, but if you carry on like this you will &quot;hit the wall&quot; pretty soon.

Oh...O &amp; G's advice is solid, &quot;no cage = no negatives (safety very important), extend the five's for 2 more weeks, increase weight after 2 - 3 workouts if you can.
cool.gif
 
Got to agree with O&amp;G, safety is paramount. Never risk injury, no matter what. It's really not worth it. Solid advice from the other guys about extending the 5's, another option is clustering. Let's say that you want to up the weights a bit, but you can't do negatives. You could add a bit more weight on the bar and cluster until you reach your target number of reps. For example, if you are currently doing e.g. 2 sets of 5, you can try maybe 3 sets with your 3-4RM or something along these lines.

Try this only if your joints are healthy. If your joints are already bothering you, upping the weight can only aggravate your problem.

Cheers,
Dimitris
 
So do a lot of people eliminate ISOs from their 5RM workouts?

Right now, I'm doing 3 sets each of my 5RM for every single workout. I'm able to do every set completely and I get through it in about an hour and 45 minutes...it's tough as hell...but I push myself. My arm and shoulder joints have been bothering me a bit lately, though...I have one last workout before I start SD again so I'm going to push it for that last workout then use the time off to rest.

The ISOs that I do currently are biceps (bb curl) and triceps (tri pulldown). That would take away 2 workouts from my routine and would make it go a bit faster/easier.

What do you think?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top