Couple of questions..

S

superclock

New Member
Just finished week two of the classic HST program. I found that I had to lower the weight of three of the exercises. I don't think that the time spent figuring out rep maxes takes into account the use of the muscle groups by other movements, and this causes a slight over-estimation of rep maxes. After the adjustments during the last two weeks, I actually wound up at what I feel was the perfect 15 rep max weights. Is lowering the weights during the cycle a bad thing? I know that it goes against the rule of progression. This is my first attempt at HST, by the way.

Also, today I was shaking after the workout. I mean, it was a killer workout, but doesn't shaking imply CNS overload? I've read here that HST is designed to avoid that. Today was the 15 rep max day, so maybe that's what caused the shaking.

Otherwise, I have been eating extra calories with no gain in body fat. It is obvious that my muscles are getting more dense, which is great. I'm looking forward to the two weeks of 10's!
 
superclock: if you find your RMs (for the exercises you want to use) in the same order that you plan on performing them during your cycle then you should find that they are doable come RM workout day - pre-fatigue of muscle groups will have been taken into account. Eg. if you are doing bench and presses in the same workout (and want to get 15 reps for both with your 15RM loads) you will either have to do them in the order that you tested them or not expect to perform as well in the latter of the two exercises; your delts will be fatigued from whichever one you do first.

You may find that once you get to 5s this becomes less of a problem because metabolic fatigue plays less of a roll with lower reps. However, heavy bench will likely still impact on your pressing performance to some degree.

HST is set up so that you shouldn't be hitting failure during a workout more than once every two weeks. This will help you to reduce the amount of CNS fatigue build-up over the course of a cycle. If you have some zig-zag between mesocycles that will allow for a bit of CNS recovery too.

A 15RM workout is darn hard so well done for getting through it and now enjoy the 10s and 5s.

Oh, I found that creatine really helped me perform well with the higher rep stuff.
 
Lol pretty much covered your question, but I thought I would say a little something as well.

Weight loads, volume and frequency are variables without absolute quantities. They are ranges. As long as you are in the right "range" for weight, volume and frequency, you will be successful.

We know that a certain number of reps puts people in the desired range for load, hence, HST specifies a specific number of reps. Nevertheless, if you feel it is too heavy (i.e. hit failure too soon) correcting the weight to put you in the right range does not go against the principle of progressive load.

About the shaking, that is simply a matter of conditioning. The type of CNS load that HST manages is more long term...the type that leads to over training. Within 2 or 3 workouts, all the shaking will be gone.

I hope that helps,

-bryan
 
During my very first cycle I had to increase weights as they were way too light. I think my body was so deconditioned at the point when I tested and set all my RMs that even just doing the 15s caused a big strength increase for me.

Don't worry if your first cycle isn't absolutely perfect. I've done several cycles and can tell you they just get better and better.

Congrats on beginning to use the best BB program in the world (in my opinion).
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Cool, thanks for all the replies. During the first two weeks, on just a few of the exercises, I adjusted the weight downward because I was definitely feeling as though I was getting very close to, or going to failure. When I was determining the rep maxes I allowed a lot more time in between exercises, so that's probably where the issue was. Also, I was only shaking after the 15 rep max workout (I mean SHAKING). That's a killer.
The sense of accomplishment at having gotten through the first two weeks and really feeling the effect of this program is great. My weight has gone up by almost two lbs as well. I tried to do light cardio on the off days, but it just didn't feel good at all. So no cardio for now. I'll keep an eye on the bf%, but my diet is totally in check.
 
You know you have had a good leg workout when, while backing out of the parking lot at the gym, your shaking leg slips off the brake and pins the accelorator even though your mind is shouting "NO!".
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(Old and Grey @ Oct. 18 2008,2:05)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">You know you have had a good leg workout when, while backing out of the parking lot at the gym, your shaking leg slips off the brake and pins the accelorator even though your mind is shouting &quot;NO!&quot;.  
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It's stories like this that make me realize how lucky I am to have a home gym.  Of course, climbing basement steps with shaking legs has its slippage issues as well.
 
Yeah, I have a home gym too and I love it. I can jam my tunes, grunt and scream, etc, without feeling weird. My wife makes fun of me, though.
 
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