Maybe I'm missing something but if my 10RM on Bench is 200lbs, why am I working up to that over two weeks? I can already do it... Why start lower than 200 just to work up to it when I can already do it? Isn't it just spinning wheels if I'm working up to something I already can do?
Confusion
- Thread starter hah2110
- Start date
You don't have to go to maximal effort in order to stimulate hypertrophy. I don't remember the exact percentages that Bryan quotes somewhere in one of his articles (there are several articles if you didn't find them, let me know and I will post links to the articles page...) but through collective experience on this forum, many of us have found that a good starting point is 70-80% of your max. 70% of your max will stimulate hypertrophy quite readily. Since you are starting out at 70%, you have two weeks that you can keep adding on to the load - you will be building strength this whole time, assuming diet is spot on - and by the time you hit your max, you will probably be stronger, and you will still be able to keep progressing because you haven't burnt yourself out. Whereas if you started with your max the first session and kept lifting your max until you are finally able to add on weight, you will be putting a lot more stress on your nervous system and your body this way and will wear out faster and plateau faster.
So starting out with a certain percentage of your max allows you more room to progress and allows you to progress for longer before you plateau. Remember that one of the main drivers of growth is adding weight to the bar over time. Any way to maximize your ability to continue adding weight to the bar over time will be optimal over something that does not do this or something that does this less efficiently.
One caveat is that there is a minimum load required for growth. And as I said, most of us have found through collective experience that anything below 70% of your rep max seems to not be effective.
So starting out with a certain percentage of your max allows you more room to progress and allows you to progress for longer before you plateau. Remember that one of the main drivers of growth is adding weight to the bar over time. Any way to maximize your ability to continue adding weight to the bar over time will be optimal over something that does not do this or something that does this less efficiently.
One caveat is that there is a minimum load required for growth. And as I said, most of us have found through collective experience that anything below 70% of your rep max seems to not be effective.
I just go for total reps and don't really do sets. This might be more stressful for your body the way I do it, but it is easier in my opinion and saves more time. Typically what I will have people do is 30-50 total reps during 15s, 20-30 reps during 10s and then 15-20 reps during the 5s. Most of the people I train with seem to really like this setup but I have noticed that it can wreck your immune system if you do not get adequate nutrition or sleep, but lifting in general can do that if you aren't eating/sleeping enough, so...
Anyway, since it might not be immediately obvious how you would do this unless you've ever done DC or Myoreps, I will explain. Usually it takes the people I work with a session or two to wrap their minds around how this works.
During 15s, doing flat bench - rep goal is between 30 and 50 reps. John Doe does his warmups then gets ready to do his working set, which is using 185 lbs. He gets set up and begins, doing 17 reps his first shot - I always have them stop 1-2 reps away from failure. You can tell when they are getting close to failure because the bar slows down quite a bit. So anyway, he racks the bar, I have him take 15 deep breaths - usually this is 30-45 seconds - then once he is ready, he begins again. This time he gets 10 reps before he stops - rests for another 15 deep breaths then starts again - gets 6 more reps. I have him stop and I note it like this: 185 lbs x 17, 10, 6
I only ever have them do it in three separate attempts.
This might be something you might like to try out. You do get through your sets a lot faster than you would using conventional sets. I will warn you though that during the 5s, you will definitely need longer than 30-45 seconds between attempts. I let them do 20-25 deep breaths during the 5s instead of 15 deep breaths. Yes, this keeps them closer to failure than using standard sets x reps.
Why not keep volume constant? Well I ask instead, why keep volume constant? There isn't a lot of reason to keep volume constant. We are trying to continually add weight to the bar and become stronger over time. It is very difficult to keep adding weight to the bar if you are obsessed with keeping the total number of reps the same. Besides which, as your load goes up, so does the workload, so even if you drop volume your workload is still going up.
Anyway, since it might not be immediately obvious how you would do this unless you've ever done DC or Myoreps, I will explain. Usually it takes the people I work with a session or two to wrap their minds around how this works.
During 15s, doing flat bench - rep goal is between 30 and 50 reps. John Doe does his warmups then gets ready to do his working set, which is using 185 lbs. He gets set up and begins, doing 17 reps his first shot - I always have them stop 1-2 reps away from failure. You can tell when they are getting close to failure because the bar slows down quite a bit. So anyway, he racks the bar, I have him take 15 deep breaths - usually this is 30-45 seconds - then once he is ready, he begins again. This time he gets 10 reps before he stops - rests for another 15 deep breaths then starts again - gets 6 more reps. I have him stop and I note it like this: 185 lbs x 17, 10, 6
I only ever have them do it in three separate attempts.
This might be something you might like to try out. You do get through your sets a lot faster than you would using conventional sets. I will warn you though that during the 5s, you will definitely need longer than 30-45 seconds between attempts. I let them do 20-25 deep breaths during the 5s instead of 15 deep breaths. Yes, this keeps them closer to failure than using standard sets x reps.
Why not keep volume constant? Well I ask instead, why keep volume constant? There isn't a lot of reason to keep volume constant. We are trying to continually add weight to the bar and become stronger over time. It is very difficult to keep adding weight to the bar if you are obsessed with keeping the total number of reps the same. Besides which, as your load goes up, so does the workload, so even if you drop volume your workload is still going up.
This definitely sounds fascinating and something I would try. Is that standard for HST though? What is "stock-HST"? I want to run it as clean as possible to gauge how my body responds. What you are suggesting is opposite though what I thought most do on HST, keeping volume the same through # of sets.
What do you consider going against conventional wisdom with that diet? It sounds fine to me. I might bump protein up a little higher once you hit the 5s. I prefer to get closer to 2g/lb of protein during 5s. Or if getting that much protein is difficult (it can be hard to consume 400+ grams of protein if you are a larger person) then 2g per lb of lean mass.
Also, what I recommend rather than figuring maintenance is to instead take your bodyweight and multiply it by 18 - 20, and use that as total number of calories. If you gain fat easier then stick to 18-19, if you struggle to gain weight then 19-20 and if you are using AAS then definitely a minimum of 20, and preferrably closer to 22 x bodyweight. But that formula is probably pretty close to 700 over maintenance for you depending on which value you use.
What about carbs? A lot of people fear carbs because of fat gain, but carbs are pretty damn important for building strength and mass. You should keep carbs at a higher level during the 5s to promote strength gains...
Sorry - I didn't mean my diet wasn't conventional, I meant that not working to increase weight on the bar was against conventional wisdom. My bad! I am not doing AAS, not my thing!
Greenlantern11B
New Member
you are working to increase weight on the bar...
It should be increasing nearly every workout. And at the end you'll be lifting more than you were before.
It should be increasing nearly every workout. And at the end you'll be lifting more than you were before.
http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=121703981
- The holy grail of calculating macros
- The holy grail of calculating macros
Maybe its early and I'm missing something, but what does that have to do with the thread?
Set your RMs at 5-10% above what you tested or calculated them to be assuming you will be getting stronger. Otherwise just keep progressing the weight in that rep range until you reach your new RM. This may mean you do 7 or 8 sessions in that rep range instead of 6.
6 training sessions in each rep range over 2 weeks is just an example not gospel. HST is a set of principles not a workout program. The basic vanilla HST template is just a sample of one way, not even necessarily the best one, to apply the principles.
6 training sessions in each rep range over 2 weeks is just an example not gospel. HST is a set of principles not a workout program. The basic vanilla HST template is just a sample of one way, not even necessarily the best one, to apply the principles.
What exactly is wrong with only working up to your current max?
Exactly that. If it is my current max, how am I going to gain strength to exceed it if I never work over it? Green Lantern said that at the end, I would be lifting more than when I started. How is that possible?
If the only way to gain strength was to work over your max then people, especially power lifters, would prioritize forced reps. However, you almost never see power lifters doing forced reps because as long as you can keep progressing the load your maxes will increase even if you don’t work over them.
Perfect example is that I hadn’t done a max Bench Press in over a month working submaximal only. Yet last week I effortlessly increased my max 1RM by 15 lbs. and could have done reps with it.