advices on total numbers of series, and rests for each cycle

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koolmatt

New Member
Hi all;

Let me present myself, HST beginner from France, trying this method for past 6 months (about 4 cycles), just coming back to musculation after 10 years (got 30 now). Got some basic konwledge on musculation since i trained when I was young for a couple of year with under some french bodybuilders champions advices.

So, here's my case, after reading and reading again FAQ, Vicious HST ebook, and more and more threads, got a tricky interrogation:

I choose to do about 20 series on 15s, as i'm feeling a little bit light on endurance, 20 series on 10s and about 30 series on 5s (to keep number of reps pretty constant).

Could you tell me if i'm wrong with this strategy?

Moreover, on 15s, it's really hard to go under 1min of rest, even in the first reps. But on other hand don't really need more than 2 min of rest on 5s.
So my rest time are pretty constant also.

Does it traduce that i'm not using HST principles in the right way ? Even if i pretty well calculate my 5rms, I don't feel so much tired on 5s cycle in comparison of 15s & 10s. Is it normal?

Thank you all for your time and your help; much appreciated by advance.

BR;
Matthieu
 
Matthieu,

Assuming by "series" you mean "set", and by "20" you mean 20 sets per week (not workout), I am still not clear what your actual question is. If you are referring to fatigue, ie how tired you are after a workout, that is not an HST principle. If you are systemically fatigued all week long you are over training. If you are tired immediately after your workout, but feel ok before the next workout, your volume is ok. If you are never tired immediately after ALL your workouts, you are not using enough weight as you approach your RM at the end of each 2 week block.

15s are more metabolic and mechanical work. The goal is glycogen depletion, repairing tendons, etc. Of course you will be more tired from those workouts. By the time you get to 5s, each set is only 15 to 20 seconds, so the metabolic effect will not be as great. The goal of 5s and negatives is to maximize Load. All your cycles will start out more metabolic and end with more load, that is the whole point. If you feel you want or need more metabolic work during the 5s, read the FAQ on drop sets.

Again, I am not certain what your question is; if you could clarify, someone might be able to help.
Dean
 
koolmatt said:
I choose to do about 20 series on 15s, as i'm feeling a little bit light on endurance, 20 series on 10s and about 30 series on 5s (to keep number of reps pretty constant).

Could you tell me if i'm wrong with this strategy?
Click to expand...
I am not sure what you mean by "series" (total sets per workout?). Taking a cue from your "number of reps pretty constant", however, I am inclined to say that whatever you are doing is acceptable, since a lot of us here try to keep the total rep count constant throughout the cycle.


koolmatt said:
Does it traduce that i'm not using HST principles in the right way ? Even if i pretty well calculate my 5rms, I don't feel so much tired on 5s cycle in comparison of 15s & 10s. Is it normal?
Click to expand...
It's normal. Nothing you have really said so far (barring any communication barriers we may have) leads me to believe that you are doing something terribly wrong.
 
Dear Dean, Jvroig, and others readers;

thank you for your replies, as i'm reading your answers, I realize that my questions were not very clear, really sorry for this. So let me give more explanations, and hopes better translation of my thoughts ;-)

So, yes series= sets in my mind, writed too fast.
I'm doing a lot of sets because, i'm not doing big coupound exercices such as military press, deadlift, or squat, as i'm not sure enough of doing them correctly to avoid injury. But i've understood and using principle of starting with core / compound exercices rather than isoltation ones.

I'm training 3 times each week full body, 2 weeks for each blocks for 15s, 10s, 5s, Neg, deconditionning.
for 15s, i'm doing 20 sets, so, 300 total reps per workout.
for 10s, 20 sets, for 200 total reps per workout.
for 5s, 30 set, for 150 total reps per workout.

from your answer Jvroig, it seems to be in line with keeping the total reps constant. Thank you.

From your reply Dean, you confirms to me that metabolic fatigue is not really present in 5s block. I read about drop sets, thanks for remind them to me. In fact i was just speaking about fatigue during the workout. I feel fine with overall fatigue.

But! but but but, my last point, is the rest in the 5s block.
My error is the following: I was wondering why i didn't need as between 3 & 5 minutes of rest between each set, cause didn't got so much metabolic fatigue... I'm only using max 2 min of rest for 5s between sets. (trying to work antagonisitc to win some precious seconds on my training).

So last question is:
From your experience guys, to reach your 5RM correctly, do you really need 3 or more minutes between sets into your workouts or less?
Perhaps if i'm under estimating rest at this 5s block, i'll be too far of my 5rm for each exercice? Not sure on my little experience using 2min of rest between sets for 5s it will make a big difference.


Thanks again for your time.
Have a nice end of week-end guys!
 
Last edited:
koolmatt said:
From your experience guys, to reach your 5RM correctly, do you really need 3 or more minutes between sets into your workouts or less?
Click to expand...
With the exception of deadlifts, I only usually rest for a minute or two. I can't recall regularly need >3 minutes of rest between sets, except for very heavy deadlifts.


koolmatt said:
I'm doing a lot of sets because, i'm not doing big coupound exercices such as military press, deadlift, or squat, as i'm not sure enough of doing them correctly to avoid injury. But i've understood and using principle of starting with core / compound exercices rather than isoltation ones.
Click to expand...
Do you mean to say 20 sets per exercise? Or 20 sets per workout (meaning, for example, 5 exercises @ 4 sets each)?
20 sets per exercise is definitely too much, but 20 sets per workout is nothing strange. I'm pretty sure you mean 20 sets for the entire workout, but just to be safe, you should clarify this some more. It also will help a lot to tell us the exercises you do.

Regards,
-JV
 
Hi Jvroig;


good to see your answers :)
As i'm not using a lot the conpound ex, i think that's also a clue indicating why i don't need so much time. Even if leg press defintively cut my breathe for more than 2 min ;-)

And yes 20 sets for the entire workout ;-)
About the exercices i'm using, please notice that i got some injury to shoulders so (not able to work on shoulders,dips, incline bench, lat raises etc etc....), it explains the following:
my exercices for 10s are the following:

Bench X3
Leg press X2
back shoulders on incline bench X1
Chin up wide X1
Chin up narrow X1
DB behind head for Tri X1
weighted crunches X1
ishios extension X1
traps with DB X1
rowing with DB x2
DB behind head for Tri X1
leg raise for abs X1
sitted calves X1
db curl biceps X1
sitted calves X1
db curl biceps X1

I listed this way to explain also the ordering i'm using it & explicit my antagonistic approach.
 
Looks ok from what you have to work with, considering your injury.

My answer to your initial questions then remain:

1) No, you are not wrong with your strategy: You are fine with making the reps constant throughout the cycle.
2.) It is just normal to not need more than 2-3 minutes rest per set/exercise.

Everything seems to be in order, as far as the information you have presented is correct. Of course, when your injury fully heals and you become strong enough to add in some more heavy compounds, you should do so. But don't rush it, it's more important to stay safe and not aggravate existing injuries than it is to go into heavy exercises and risk long-term injury that may prevent you from working out at all.

Regards,
-JV
 
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