8 weeks of 5s

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imported_hannesburk

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hey guys.

just wondering what you are thinking about this concearning joint / health

I started my 7th hst-cycle almost 4month ago..
2 weeks of 15s
4 weeks of 10s (had some holidays between)
and now i am in week 9 of 5s / beyond 5s

I was planning on doing a regular 8 week hst cycle,but now I experienced gains I never made before because of prolonging the cycle to the extrem..I am now performing only clustered sets, partials reps and negatives, so that I still can raise the weights. I am working out far beyond my maxes before this cycle.

this is really good news and I love it,but I am worrying about my joints (lower back,shoulder etc) because I never worked out with loads like this and my joints indeed hurt from time to time but not in a way that I would think about stopping this glorious cycle

Is this a bad mistake and I am killing my joints because my head doesn't admit that I should stop?

when comes the point where I must say it's time for SD
I never had this problem,because before I always felt when to stop and gains weren't that good,but now I just can't. I am still growing with these loads when I am stuck for 3-4 workouts in some excercises,but after that I am able to up the load for 5 more pounds and off I go...

I am working out just 3 times a week so regeneration isn't really an issue

thx for your advises

greetings
Hannes
 
If you aren't feeling chronic pains then you are probably fine. I'd milk it for all it is worth. Just keep going until you can't increase the weights anymore.
 
I agree, the only thing I would say is that if you are worried about it but you don't want to stop the cycle you might want to reduce the frequency slightly to allow for the increased intensity.

And if I were you I definitely wouldn't want to stop the cycle!
 
i agree with the above.
youll def. know when your joints are screaming for a break, right now it sounds like they are a little grumpy (occasionally) b/c of the higher loads for longer then normal. like robefc mentioned if begins to become more chronic (but still not a real problem) drop the freq a little.

im usually an "err on the side of caution" type of guy due to occasional overuse injuries and a relative quick burnout rate (6 1/2weeks of 5s is my tops) but life, training and diet always throw curve balls so who knows when youll be back in this type of situation again...........make the most of it now......tomorrow is a whole different day.

good luck and congrats on the gains
 
Guys, I'm just about to finish up my 8th week of my 4th HST interation.  Hypertrophy is my goal; not strength.

I would love to continue doing 5s for as long as I can, but had previously assumed hypertrophy tapers off after 8 weeks (otherwise, why would HST stop at week 8? joint/ligament/tendon health?)

This post got me thinking...can I continue to expect size gains by extending my HST cycle?  If so, in week 9, do I drop my weights down to those similar to week 5 (plus 10% or so) and continue to ramp the weights up to week 12?

So my routine would look like (for example):
Week 5: Bench press 100, 105, 110 lbs @ 5 reps
...
Week 8:  Bench press 145, 150, 155 @ 5 reps
NEW -- Week 9:  Bench press 110, 115, 120 lbs @ 5 reps (week 5 + 10%)
...
Week 12:  Bench press 160, 165, 170 @ 5 reps (week 8 + 10%)


Thoughts?  Quick responses preferred...I finish my last day of week 8 tomorrow and start SD @ maint calories OR continue with HST week 9 @ maint + 500 calories.

Hope this makes sense...thanks!

Tom
 
If I was you I would do the following -

Keep total reps per exercise the same (so if you're doing 3 sets of 5 that's 15 reps).

Keep increasing the weight but only do it once a week so you can extend the cycle. Alternatively increase the weight in 1 set at a time. E.g. from 3x 100kg, go 1x105kg, 3x100kg next session, then 2x105kg, 1 x 100kg and so on.

Cluster - which means use however many sets you need to get to the number of reps required.

Alternatively use max stim reps.

Once either weight progression stops and/or you feel completely burned out stop your cycle (maybe after another week!)

Cheers

Rob
 
Rob, thanks for the response.  However, I'm confused about what you're suggesting.  Since I'm a KISS kind of guy, let's go with this approach:

Keep increasing the weight but only do it once a week so you can extend the cycle
OK, so applying this to my example:
week 8: M- 145, W- 150, F- 155 (normal HST)
week 9: M- 165, W- 165, F- 165
week 10:  M- 175, W- 175, F- 175
...
etc.

Did I understand you correctly?  Also, should I expect to continue hypertrophy, or have I already passed the point of diminishing returns?  Thanks again

Tom
 
Yep, although I'm not sure why you've started going up by 10 rather than 5!

If you're continuing to increase the load and eating enough why wouldn't you keep growing?
 
Rob, I went up by 10 instead of 5 to "make up" for the lack of progression within each week.  So, for example, in week 9, instead of 160/165/170, I just did 165/165/165 (the average).  Can I really expect to see gains just by adding 5 lbs to my lifts and sustaining that for a week at a time?  I guess I'm just used to the HST way (intra-week progression).  I just figured I needed to add more load than 5 lbs.

If you're continuing to increase the load and eating enough why wouldn't you keep growing?
I dunno.  RBE?  CNS fatigue?  [insert acronym I don't fully understand here]? Vernal equinox?  Because God will spite me if I extend HST to a ninth week or beyond?  
biggrin.gif


Thanks for furthering my understanding yet again

Tom
 
The reason I said to only increase the weight once a week is that you probably won't have that many increases left. By only increasing it once a week you can continue the cycle for longer...you can still grow lifting the same weight for 2 or 3 sessions, it's about progressive load over time, doesn't have to be strictly every work out.

Obviously increasing the amount you're increasing the weights by would defeat the object of reducing the frequency of increases...hmmm, I wonder if there is any way i could increase the number of times I've said increase in this sentence?!).
 
Cool, thanks Rob. I'll start increasing my increases by an increase of 5 so I don't increase my increases too quickly, to avoid, as you said, increasing my increases too much, thus limiting the increased number of increased progression I can increase to over an increased period of time.
biggrin.gif


Now, back to increasing my caloric intake for the day...

Tom
 
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