Did I blow my 1st HST cycle!

S

sandmanss

New Member
I thought I had a grasp of the HST theory. But after checking in with the board after some time it seems I might be doing things wrong!!

1st week of 15's 2 sets

Squat
Leg Curls
Bench
Rows
Military
Machine pullovers
Shrugs
Calf raises
Barbel curl
tri ext
abs

Into the 10's . same but 1st week 2 sets, 2nd week 1 set
Into the 5's . Same but 1st week 2 sets, 2nd week 1 set.

Please give me some feedback on if I am on the right track :confused:
 
You might want to just do 2 sets for the second week as well for the 10s and 5s.
Dont get flustered, its really not that big of a deal if you only did 1 set in one of the second weeks of a rep block, you didnt blow anything.

Joe G
 
Thanks. There is alot of contradictory info I read. I Read in one FAQ section that 15's 2 sets, 10's 1st wk 2 sets then 2nd week 1 set, same for the 5's. Last night I read about guys doing 3 sets of 5's? Confusing
 
true.. same i read about the "2 sets of 5s for both wks" then the "2set then 1set of 5s" and the "3 sets of 5s for both" and the answer i got was that its a matter of how you feel it!
 
i would recommend this... 15x1 10x2 5x3 i had good results with that my first couple of cycles. it keeps the volume at a good level
 
1set 15s
2sets 10s
3sets 5s
is the recomendation but if you have been training for a few years this might not be enough for you..i do same as above but 2sets on 15s..give the one above a go if its not enough do more if its to hard do less..good luck :D
 
Hey :)

In the basic HST article, it says "1st week [of 10's and 5's] do 2 sets, then on the 2nd week do 1 set".

Why?

Simple. As the weights get heavier, you really can't expect yourself to be able to do the same amount of volume as a lighter weight.

Understand that when Bryan set up the "vanilla" HST routine, it was a compromise of a lot of factors as I understand - so that beginners won't get lost, do too much, or feel they failed to accomplish something. In the same way, even "advanced" bodybuilders would still get benefits from following it.

So as the weights get heavier in a specific rep scheme, it was advised to do just one set - simply reflecting the fact that you are dealing with a heavier weight now and probably can not do as much volume as before. Simple rule, really: as the load increases, the volume decreases. Not because we want that to happen, but simply because it does.

Now, some people choose to do more. It can be for a variety of reasons - they've been training for so long they need more to stimulate hypertrophy, or they've been used to an unusually high number of reps/sets thanks to HIT or whatever, or they just "feel" they have to do it.

Is that bad? Not necessarily.

Again, we go back to the volume rule: Do as much as you can. This is of course always in the context of doing as much as you can without sacrificing your ability to train more frequently - which of course means closely monitoring your fatigue levels, avoiding training to failure regularly, etc.

This is actually pretty hard to apply. Some would tend to overestimate what they can do, and as a result they end up getting fried, then complain "HST is no good!". Really now.

That's why Bryan outlined in the first place to do 2 sets in the 1st week, then 1 in the 2nd week - as you approach your rep max, it obviously becomes the case you won't be able to do as much as you did in the previous week. By the time you are in your actual 10RM/5RM, you most probably can only get one good set out, and most probably that's really all you need to do anyway.

Regards,
-JV
 
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