failure?

lcars

New Member
my old routine was the 3-day split,before i found hst.in those days we used to hammer it to failure(either through burning or just inability to lift the weight)but now im on the hst program we have dropped from 3-4 sets per exersise to usually 2(my cns breaths a sigh of relief),but im finding it difficult not to train to failure ie in my 15s i lift my max weight for max reps(15) which i thought was the point,why call it 15rm when really you could do more? what i mean is when do i decide to put the weights down, any advice would be appreciated.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]but im finding it difficult not to train to failure ie in my 15s i lift my max weight for max reps(15) which i thought was the point,why call it 15rm when really you could do more?

Its only your 15rm at the end of the 2 week block. From their you work backwords incrementing either 5 or 10 lbs each workout, you can repeat some if you desire.(that will tell you when to put the weight down.) If you are finding it difficult not training to failure you are either not incrementing properly or overestimated your 15 rm max.

Example: Someone who has a 300lb 15rm Bench Press.
Monday:250 Wednesday:260 Friday:270
Monday:280 Wednesday: 290 Friday: 300

Thats if you desire to train mon,wed,fri

Hope that helps
thehamma
 
thanks for the posts i guess i gotta get it in to my head to do it that way,building up to your max weight ill give it ago,im in sd mode at the moment.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Train to failure every two weeks on the end of each of your rep max blocks.

Correction, just short of failure, you should be able to do the RM for each section without getting to failure, as that will definitely influence you rest period and then the next section of the program.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ] From the HST FAQ-EBook 28.2. Simple technique to avoid failure

Why not just do as many reps as possible (A.K.A. train at “100% intensity”, or “train to failure”) for every increment/workout instead of changing it only every 2 weeks?

Because when using sufficient frequency to stimulate rapid hypertrophy, you tend to get CNS burn out.

Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to train at “100% intensity” to grow quickly. This is a very unpopular statement to experienced lifters who have prided themselves on torturous workouts.

They take pride in their toughness and in their willingness to self inflict nauseating exhaustion workout after workout. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS. As long as it is not taught as the correct way to train for “growth”.

HST incorporates ever increasing loads in order to stay ahead of the adaptive curve. This curve is set by the tissues level of conditioning at the time the load is applied. This is as much an art as a science.

Because we can't do a biopsy of the muscles every time we train, we have to guess how much, how hard, and how often, based on the available research an the "feeling" of the tissue at the time.

Why use submax weights? Because using max weights eventually stops working, and simply increases the risk of injury.
 
Hey :)

Well, whether you train to failure at the end of the week or not depends on a lot of other things.

For one thing, training to failure won't get you to CNS fatigue immediately. So going for it at the end of the week is a lot less riskier than, say, training to failure regularly.

Of course, that's not saying it definitely won't get you to CNS fatigue. It still can, and thanks to regular training, it probably would, no surprise. But since it is the end of the two-week block (assuming you follow the suggested setup), there often is a little zigzag that will then happen, which gives the CNS a a little break. So not much harm done - but that would again depend on how far you actually trained. If you went crazy and went ot failure over and over on that last workout, that little zigzag might not be enough.

It's hard to say a definite rule, because these things are difficult (if not practically impossible) to measure. But at least knowing what to consider can help.

Hope that helps. Regards and good luck!
-JV
 
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