Compounds only

J

Joe.Muscle

Active Member
Well guys I just finished my first week of the upper body only compound routine. I started out with:

5 sets of 10 degree incline dumbell press
5 sets of rows
3 sets of dumbell press
1 set of side raises for the burn.
2 sets of shrugs.

Thats it except for 2 sets of abs. Obviously is not a recommend routine b/c I am leaving out legs...but so far its been very fun. Anyway just wanted to give the guys who helped me with the setup some updates.

Thanks Joe
 
joe,

you are doing an awful lot of sets for an hst program...I'm curious, whats the deal?

I found that my arms grow better in the 5's w/ compounds only doing 2 sets per exercise.
 
Jwbond. I agree it is an a lot of sets for HST.

See I am just expierementing this time. You have to understand I have about 11 years of lifting expierence so I am more conditioned than say the average guy.

However this higher volume routine may lead to overtraining but there is only one way to tell and that is try it. I have been doing standard HST with great results for over year.

So I decided with my conditioning lets see if I can handle more sets...at least for a cycle. So far strength is increasing and I feel great.

Understand I am doing compounds only and no isolation exercises the only iso I do is a side raise for delts...and the shrugs are more optional than anything. Shrugs dont bother me b/c they are know were as draining on CNS as the other lifts.

Anyway that why I am doing this. I will post my results at the end of cycle.

Thanks Joe
 
This is a 3x a week routine yeh?

I don't think that more sets is necessarily required for a compounds only routine. If I was going to handle that much volume, I'd at least look at making it an AM/PM 3x a week, so I could alternate exercises.
 
Good point Jester.

I dont have the time to handle am pm routine. But anyway it fun right now and more an expierement. I feel like you do though if I can get by with just 3 sets why do 5:confused:

But I figured I would try this until I feel my CNS getting killed and if thats the case you can always SD and get back to regular HST.

One thing is for sure Rome wasn't built in a day and 6 to 8 weeks of this want make me loose muscle...so I am going to try it out!

I will let you guys know how it goes!

Joe
 
I'd approach it this way:

I think I'd prefer it clustering than setting the sets up.

Just doesn't quite seem ideal to push determinedly and until the CNS gives out...
 
Jester I like the idea of clustering!

However I think I have confused you on my strategy.
The strategy is not to hammer away until I am overtrained.
In my opinion with my years of training I can normally tell within a week or two if my body can keep it up. So far so good.

Its only 14 sets a day over 3 days. Which if you do the math on a standard 5 rep hst workout with 3 sets of chest 3 of back 3 for shoulders 3 for squats those being your big 4 lifts with compounds it equals 12 sets. So I dont think the extra 2 sets is going to make a difference to CNS.

Issentually what I am doing is taking away lower body lift and dispersing those sets across my upper body muscles.

I dont advocate this routine especially for balance symetry and beginners. However if ones upperbody needs improvement 6 weeks out of the year want hurt!

Does this help claify??

Thanks

Joe :D
 
I get the concept, I'm just not sure that increasing the number of sets is preferrable to negatives, loaded stretches etc...
 
I agree. I personally dont like higher volume either. It just not praticall for everyday lifting. So we will see how this cycle goes. HST does say though to use as many sets as possible without overtraining???

Anyway PM me in about month and I will tell you if I am still digging it or not. Its just been a week so by the end of 2nd week I could be dead..lol.

Joe!
 
I'm glad to hear that you are trying new combinations of sets...

How are we going to find out what works best if no one tries it? Keep us posted joe!
 
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