HST + Clustering routine & an SD question

[iwealth]

I love the HST principles, and I am going to try a cycle using clustering. My plan was the following:

1) Use approximately 10 exercises (primarily compound minus arms) split up amongst the body parts
2) Frequency 3 days/week (possibly AM/PM splits when the weights get heavy)
3) Start all exercises with approximately 50% of 5rm
4) No prescribed rep max/set scheme (i.e. no 15/10/5/neg)
5) Linear progression of weights, increase every workout, no zigzagging
6) Consistent volume throughout cycle (20 reps per exercise per session)
7) Clustering sets when necessary to assure volume is achieved, all sets (initial and clusters) stop a rep or 2 short of failure
8) Increase weights until 5-reps for a first set can no longer be achieved (or 3 or 4, not sure if there is an opinion on this)
9) Decondition
10) Start over

Here is what I foresee happening...

I easily hit 20 reps with just one set early on with the exercises. As I increase the weight each workout, my first set reps will drop accordingly and I will need to use clusters to reach the 20 rep goal. I'm not sure how this will work when I get closer to my 5rm...I may have to do drop sets to reach that 20 rep goal, but hopefully with long enough breaks, and possibly doing AM/PM sessions I can still pull it off.

Here's my big question:

Can you decondition different muscle groups at different times? For instance, if my chest exercises reach that 5rm faster than my back or my legs, can I start a 9-day rest period for chest while continuing back/legs? Assume my back maxes next, but legs are still rolling along, so I start deconditioning back, keep doing legs. Chest decondition is over, legs decondition starts, 3 more days of back deconditioning, etc...

Sounds like it could get confusing, but it would assure that the muscle groups are worked to their capacity with HST principles and only deconditioning when necessary rather than deconditioning everything at once.

 

[_tim]

To your big question... I have two thoughts on the matter.

1. Strategic Deconditioning is as much a mental break as it is a physical one; as such, I don't believe you could truly achieve a successful SD unless you stopped all activity.
2. One of the biggest benefits to SD is that of allowing your CNS to have a break; if you continue training an muscle group while resting an opposing muscle group, you won't get that benefit. This in turn furthers the possibility of an early exit to the cycle that follows the first.

This is an interesting approach - the static 20-rep idea. I think you'll likely see very nice results, but you'll need to rest for sure to prevent excessive CNS strain.

 

[iwealth]

Thanks for taking the time to respond, Tim. I can't take credit for the 20-rep idea, the clustering approach w/ constant rep volume was something I found in my searches.

If anyone is reading this and confused by what I mean, let's take one exercise for now, like the bench press. Assuming my 5rm is 150 pounds, I'd work the progression like this:

75 lbs - 1x20
80 lbs - 1x20
..
..
assuming as the weights get heavier I can no longer do 20 reps in that first set
110 lbs - 1x15+5 (cluster set)
115 lbs - 1x14+6
120 lbs - 1x13+7
..
..
weights get heavier, so I need to do more cluster sets
135 lbs - 1x10+7+3
140 lbs - 1x8+6+5+1
..
..
until I reach a weight that I can no longer do for 5 reps that first set
150 lbs - 1x5+4+3+2+2+2+2
155 lbs - 1x4 (stop and start deconditioning phase)

My concern is that some body parts will lag others. Some will still be able to increase weights when others are peaked. If it were pheasible to decondition different muscle groups whenever they were ready to be deconditioned, you'd have a continuous totally auto-regulated workout.

However, I didn't realize the importance of SD was to also decondition the CNS (and the mental state for that matter). I was under the impression that SD was there to decondition the muscles only. I figured by not going to failure via use of this method, the CNS was already being taken care of.

 

[_tim]

My concern is that some body parts will lag others. Some will still be able to increase weights when others are peaked. If it were pheasible to decondition different muscle groups whenever they were ready to be deconditioned, you'd have a continuous totally auto-regulated workout.

This talks to endurance, iwealth. Your smaller muscle groups will lag for sure - and this is where you post your greatest gains. It's when you continue to push through with clustering that inevitably your strength and endurance both benefit tremendously. You really have two choices in this scenario - stop progressing loads when you hit a wall, but continue to work through the volume, or cut the volume and continue to progress the loads. Given what I believe you are trying to achieve here, the choice would be the first option - stop progressing until you have the stamina to bump the load.

Doing this will yield amazing gains - but will incur noticeable CNS strain. Listen to what your body tells you throughout and you'll know when it's time to deload and rest.

 

[iwealth]

Tim, interesting approach.

As long as the body tells me I can keep going, perhaps I can just do some extreme micro-load increases on exercises that have "hit the wall" while waiting for others to stop progressing. Increasing a bench load w/ 5/8lb magnetic plates on each end would at least accomplish something. And that way, once everything is ready to be deconditioned, I can stop and do the full standard SD period giving the CNS a needed rest.

Thanks for the advice!

 

[_tim]

Do me a favor and log your work in the Training Logs area of the site, iwealth. I'd like to see how the cycle goes.

Good luck!

 

[iwealth]

Will do. I'm SD'ing now and starting Monday.

I'm 5'10" and about 6 months ago, I was at 167 lbs and terribly skinny-fat. I've been lifting and doing HIITcardio religiously since November and have managed to cut down to 148 and 9% bodyfat. I'm looking more muscular, I'm much stronger, and I went from being able to run 2 miles in 30 minutes (and nearly dying) to 5 miles in 43 minutes.

So now instead of being skinny-fat, I'm just really skinny ha. Definitely looking forward to using a program geared toward hypertrophy by applying HST principles. I absolutely love cluster training which is why I decided to modify the original program.

I will be eating an extremely rigid diet and won't be missing workouts. 2500 clean daily calories. I had been eating between 1800-2000/day over the course of this cut. One cheat day per week to reset the metabolism (this has worked wonders for breaking through plateaus).