Becoming a BELIEVER

R

Runjor

New Member
Well, last night was my second day of 5 's. I am doing a pretty much "vanilla" version of HST as this is my first cycle. But I have got to say that the 15's were a little rough, mostly because after had moved on to the 10's I realized that I hosed it up, and was doing 2 sets of 15's instead of the recommended 1 set. The 10's were good.

But HOLY CRAP!!!, the 5's are killers. Both lifting sessions of 5's have absolutely zapped my energy. I am absolutely exhausted afterwards. And I am sleeping like a rock. I literally feel like I close my eyes, fall asleep, and the next moment it is 5am, the alarm is going off, and it is time to start the day. I feel a huge sense of accomplishment, but the next 3 weeks seems like it will be rough. I do not have a lifting partner, so i will not be able to do the negs, and will repeat 5's again.

One question on that note... Do I spead my weight increases over 4 weeks? Or do I spread over 2 weeks, then repeat?

But as I say in the title, I am definitely becoming a believer in HST. I am already seeing changes, and feeling stronger. ** I am a total Newbie, so I am sure that is to be expected **

Thanks for all of the advice and information from all of you in the HST Forums...


Runjor
 
do 2wks of 5s when you get to your max weight carry on with that weight for 2wks if you can lift more then do it if not dont worry,in the heavy lifts RBE is slower so you can do heavy stuff for a longer period.
 
Yeah, and if you hit a bad day and can't get your reps or goal weight, just repeat that weight next workout.
If you're into week 4,5,6 or whatever of the fives, and still progressing but feel exhausted but don't want to quit just yet, you can either SD at this point or start just taking two days off between workouts or just do two workouts a week. (I wouldn't feel right with that one).
You are an example of the 15's x 2...it's not so hard as some new guys make it to be. I always do 2.
 
Runjor: If you are doing a lot of exercises the 5s will beat the **** out of you. If you start to find that you can't reach your top poundages or that you are taking too long to finish your workout then it might be smart to cut back on any isos you are doing.

If your w/o is taking you over 1.5 hours and you are only used to an hour or less then you are going to feel pretty wasted. Better to build up more gradually until you can tolerate more work. I tried 11 exercises for my first HST cycle and the 5s nearly killed me!
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Next cycle I cut it down to 7 and now I've settled on doing 4 or 5.

If you can allow a bit more time between sets of the same exercise that might help to reduce fatigue. Supersetting can be a good idea too. If you supersetted say, rows and shoulder presses you can take a minute's total rest between each exercise but still allow more time between sets of the same exercise (about 2 or 3 minutes).
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Runjor: If you are doing a lot of exercises the 5s will beat the **** out of you. If you start to find that you can't reach your top poundages or that you are taking too long to finish your workout then it might be smart to cut back on any isos you are doing. </div>

I completely agree; I have a lot of exercises this cycle (9 to be exact) and it has been quite taxing during the 5's.
 
I have 9 in my cycle also.

I think part of what is going on with me is that i have not lifted on a regular basis in quite a while, to be more accurate about 10 years. So i think partially, my body simply has some serious adapting to do. Although i am exhaused at the end of the workout, it feels great! Between the gratification of working and the pump i feel in my body, I am really enjoying it. And the sleep is welcomed. I usually have trouble getting to sleep at night, but since I started HST, no such problem. And this week... I have been out like a light.

I will be aware though of what my ability to get to and complete my max poundages as per Lol's suggestion. And depending on how things go over the next 3+ weeks, if necessary, i may end up cutting back my 5's to just a core set of 4 or 5 exercises in the next cycle.

Thanks guys.
 
I only have 4 exercises per workout, only do 1 work set throughout and the 5's still beat the sh*t out of me.
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Probably don't help that I cutting either, lol. Keystone
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Try clustering your reps/sets as well. </div>
In general, when things become heavy, I use clustering and Max-Stim to get the target number of reps in. An added bonus of such practices (fatigue management) is that they make training a bit safer, imho. Injuries often occur during an &quot;all out effort&quot; to get &quot;that last rep&quot;, when the targeted muscle is so fatigued that other, smaller muscles have to take over, but the load is too much for them. Applies especially to deadlifts and squats.

Stay safe,
Dimitris
 
can you guys provide some links to Clustering / MaxStim readings, so that i can get an idea of what it is that are talking about... i did a few searches in the forums, but have not found anything of substance yet...

thanks.
 
thanks Lol.

I started to read it, and realized that i am gonna have to read it when i can get some peace and quiet. Then i think i will take your advice and maybe even read it again...
 
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