HST with Clustering Log (goal: 148 to 160lbs)

Tim,

I made it a point to warmup and stretch quite a bit before my deadlift yesterday and I feel much much better the day after than I had previously. Thanks for the tip!

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On a negative note, I injured my neck/back yesterday mostly because I'm an idiot. Slowly lost grip on a 55 lb dumbell I was supporting behind my neck doing a sitting skullcrusher exercise. I had forgot to put my gloves on of all things. I ended up having no choice but to slightly support the weight on my neck between my traps for just a moment as I tried to prevent a total disaster.

Unfortunately, I think I found the softest spot on my neck and definitely aggravated something. I have limited range of motion now trying to turn my head from side to side and some general upper back muscle pain.

That said, it didn't hurt till later on. I was able to finish the reps.

I'm pretty sure it's nothing serious, so I'm going to use this opportunity to take a mini-SD and hopefully resume workouts next week. I'm going to take a least one step back and repeat the same weights from my previous workout. If I miss Monday's workout, I'll take another step back. If I miss Wednesday's workout, I'll take 2 steps back, etc.

Last time I'll be doing that exercise. I was able to complete the following yesteday:

Workout 11.5

AM:
Flat bench 125x10+4+3+3
Deadlift 130x14+6
Military press 70x12+5+3
One arm rows 62.5x12+8
Dumbell curl 32.5x10+5+5
Skullcrusher 55x11+9 (issue occured on that 11th rep in the first set)
 
Thank ZAK I appreciate it. Still in quite a bit of pain today so unless it's gone by Monday I'll be headed to the doc to get it checked out :(

Stupid, stupid, stupid...
 
Try some very light stretching, iwealth. Move your head enough to induce a stretch (not to a point of pain) and hold it for 30 seconds. I have a chronically injured neck from a car accident a few years ago - I can very much relate to your pain.

Take care, man. I think you should see the doc regardless. Stretching in the interim will help start the healing process.
 
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Hey tim, thanks for the suggestion. I have been doing some light stretching over the past 2 days. This morning the neck was still stiff and sore when I woke up, but throughout the day the pain is 90% gone and my flexibility/range of motion has increased tremendously from 48 hours ago.

Also, the remaining pain seems to have centralized in my right trap. So, I'm thinking this is a muscle injury and not a spinal problem. If I'm having serious issues tomorrow I'll be heading to the doc, but based on today I'm expecting a full recovery by early next week.
 
OK, I'm sort of back from that neck injury. I'd say it's 95%, just a little residual tightness in the morning. Phew.

On Sunday I caught a bit of a stomach thing and I had bloodwork scheduled for Monday morning that required a 14-hour fast. Great, I wasn't all that starved anyway I thought.

Woke up yesterday morning at 146.4 pounds! That's 1.4 pounds lighter than when I started this thing. *sigh* I then proceeded to pass out cold after my blood was taken. Not totally abnormal for me though after having blood taken after a long fast. My vagal nerve is a wuss I guess. I've decided to take it somewhat easy this week and do a 6-day split versus 3. I'm recovering from the injury, an illness, and just a lousy past week.

Also, I'm making a slight adjustment to the routine and removing 2 sets of exercises. No more skullcrushers and no more front dumbbell raises. Feedback I've gotten tells me this is redundant and adding more volume than I probably need.

Also, I repeated weights from my most recent workout due to the time off.

Flat bench 125x9+4+4+3
Deadlift 130x10+5+5
Military press 70x12+6+2
One arm rows 62.5x13+7
Dumbell curl 32.5x9+4+3+2+2

Tomorrow I will do:

Squats
Pullups
Dips
Shrugs
Calf raises
Lateral raises
 
Yesterday's workout:

Squat 145x7+5+5+3
Pullups 167.5x7+4+4+4+1
Dips 172.5x10+4+4+2
Shrugs 190x14+6
Calf 210x15+5
Side Laterals 20x8+6+6

Today (Thursday) is the first day I feel DOMS from this workout, and it's in my biceps and my traps. Unfortunately, my neck was definitely not ready for the shrugs and probably the squats and so I'm sure what I'm feeling isn't 100% DOMS. Definitely a little aggravation of that injury last week. Today I took off.

So, from this point forward I'm doing a 2on/1off schedule. AB off AB off AB off, etc.. I don't mind the scattered days off. Maybe I'll come to appreciate the variety. I'll do light cardio on off days.

A workout is:
Bench
Deadlift
Military press
One arm rows
Dumbell curl

B workout is:
Squats
Pullups
Dips
Shrugs
Calf raise
Laterals

I'm going to continue with 20 reps and my weight progression. I'll just be working each body part 2.3 times per 7 days instead of 3 times. It's going to be easier on me mentally and physically. Besides, I'm in for the long haul.
 
Workout Friday June 25

Bench 130x8+4+3+2+2
Deadlift 135x12+8
Military 72.5x10+6+4
One arm row 65x11+7+2
Curl 33.75x9+5+3+3

Workout Saturday June 26

Pullups 175x6+3+3+3+3+2
Dips 175x13+7, 180x5

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Did a few extra dips there because I had far too much energy and the progressive weight just felt far too light.

Schedule is so screwed up lately and I couldn't get to the gym today for squats. I'll be going tomorrow to fit in squats, shrugs, calf raises, and lateral raises. I'll then hopefully get full workouts in Monday and Tuesday. Probably going to need to workout Wednesday and Thursday as I'll be headed to the beach on Friday.

I weighed in this morning at 144.6 lbs. That's down about 3 pounds since starting this workout. I was up till 4am last night working so maybe I was a bit dehydrated, but even after a few meals today I'm still far lighter than usual. For cutting at least, I'm sold on low-carb, high-fat, high-protein. And particularly with keeping the carbs grouped around workouts. I've been focusing on doing that for a few days now and I've lost pounds (literally). Losing a lot of bodyfat according to the calipers. Down to around 6-7% if they were accurate. They probably aren't so I'd say closer to 8-9%. Still a big improvement over whatever it was.

Plans as of today:
1) up daily calorie intake to 3000
2) order power rack so I don't need the gym for anything
 
Workout Monday June 28

Bench 135x7+4+3+2+2
Deadlift 145x10+6+4
Military 75x10+6+4
One arm row 67.5x10+6+4

Had to take a B day off because the squats and shrugs were wreaking havoc on my neck. I'll be doing that workout tomorrow.

Also didn't do dumbell curls because my left bicep is quite sore. Feels like I threw a baseball way too hard for way too long without the proper warmup. Not comfortable, but I know it'll go away soon. Won't stop me from doing compound exercises that target the bicep.

Added 10 pounds to the deadlift instead of 5 because w/ the lessened range of motion that comes with using the large plates, my form has improved dramatically. I feel like I can probably progress pretty far w/ the deadlift at this point.

My chest is going to start showing its incredible weakness now. I will probably be microloading from this point forward rather than doing 5 pound increases. 137.5 next workout, then 140, etc.
 
If your neck is still bothering you, I really think you should see a doc, iwealth.
 
I know...

I think the pain is akin to aggravating a bruise at this point. Did shrugs today with no pain at all. But laying that barbell over my traps isn't cool with me right now.

Did leg press for the first time today instead. Sort of enjoyed that.

Workout June 29

Pullups/chinups 176.25x6+4+3+3+2+2+3
Dips 176.25x12+7+4
Shrugs 195x15+14
Side laterals 20x10+5+5
Leg press 180x15+7

Also deviated from my 20 rep max a bit. I went as far as I could in last cluster set before quitting while making sure I hit the 20 reps. Probably the last time I do that but I had a ton of energy today and wanted to test myself.

The increased energy is strange...probably due to the increased calories and my focusing the majority of my carbs pre/post workout. Holding steady at 3000 daily. And my weight is responding favorably too.
 
Workout June 30
Bench 140x8+4+3+2+2+1
Deadlift 155x10+6+4
Military 77.5x10+4+4+3
One arm row 68.75x10+6+4
D. Curl 35x6+4+3

Workout July 1
Pullup 180x6+4+3+2+2+3
Dip 180x13+8

Left for vacation July 1 and came back July 4.

Workout July 5
Bench 142.5x6+3+3+3+2+2+1
Deadlift 160x8+6+6
Military 80x9+5+3+3
One arm row 70x10+6+4
Curl 35x8+4+4

Workout July 7
Pullups 175x7+5+4+3+3
Dips 175x13+6+4
Shrug 205x14+14+8 (just have so much in the tank here since this is on the smith and my grip isnt being destroyed)
Leg press 200x10+8+4
Calf raise 210x15+11

I took a slight progression step back with pullups and dips because my diet has been a bit off the past few days. I ate decent but not great over the weekend, gained about 3-4 pounds actually. But I felt horrible (too many wheat-based carbs and my system just hates that). Monday and Tuesday I took an opportunity to "fast" which meant dropping my daily intake from 3000 calories to 2300 and only eating 100g carbs each day. I lost all of the weight and then some and I feel 100% better.

I'm back on track now and feeling great. Neck is 100% healed.

That 140x8 on the bench was a PR for reps. Best I'd ever done was 140x4. The 142.5 is the most I've ever benched for reps. Most I've ever 1rm'd is 150. So my chest is slowly but surely getting stronger which is so satisfying for me. And the fact that I'm strapping 25+ pounds to my waist and doing pullups for reps is downright miraculous. On February 1st I was doing 2 pullups at bodyweight which was probably 160 at the time.

And I hate to say it but I'm really loving the deep leg press. I'm debating sticking with it for awhile versus squats. A lot of what I'm doing is trying to build a base of strength so I can more easily handle the big lifts w/ my next cycle. We'll see, maybe I'll give squats another go next B day.
 
iwealth said:
I'm back on track now and feeling great. Neck is 100% healed.

That 140x8 on the bench was a PR for reps. Best I'd ever done was 140x4. The 142.5 is the most I've ever benched for reps. Most I've ever 1rm'd is 150. So my chest is slowly but surely getting stronger which is so satisfying for me. And the fact that I'm strapping 25+ pounds to my waist and doing pullups for reps is downright miraculous. On February 1st I was doing 2 pullups at bodyweight which was probably 160 at the time.

And I hate to say it but I'm really loving the deep leg press. I'm debating sticking with it for awhile versus squats. A lot of what I'm doing is trying to build a base of strength so I can more easily handle the big lifts w/ my next cycle. We'll see, maybe I'll give squats another go next B day.
Click to expand...

I'm so glad to see that the neck is feeling better! You progress across the board is great, iwealth. Congratulations! One comment about the leg press...

The squat movement isn't just about your legs - it's about your core too. Just be aware that a very strong leg press won't exactly transfer that well to squats. Something to think about...
 
Tim, thanks for the kind words! You've been a big help in this process.

I hear you loud and clear on the squats vs. leg press argument. Maybe I'll keep them both - follow up the squats with a slightly less intense session of leg press to top off the quads.

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Workout July 8

Bench 145x6+2+2+2+2+2+1 135x3
Deadlift 165x9+6+5
Military 82.5x10+6+4
One arm row 72.5x10+6+4
Curl 35x8+5+4+3

My first cluster set on the bench today was disappointing - somehow the plates made contact with the bar support on my first rep on the way up which threw me off totally. Recovered and got a second rep in but killed my chances of getting 3 reps in that cluster. It was heavy for me anyway though and I had to drop to 135 to finish the last 3 reps. No complaints though, 17 reps at 145 is big time for me.
 
Workout July 10
Pullups 180x5+4+3+4+3+3+!
Dips 180x13+9+4

Workout July 12
Bench 147.5x5+3+2+2+2+2+2+2
Deadlift 185x7+5+5+3
Military 85x12+7+3

Workout July 13
Pullups 182.5x6+3+4+3+3+2
Dips 182.5x12+5+4
Pullups BW(150)x10
Dips BW(150)x13
One arm rows 70x10+6+4
Shrugs 205x13+9+8
Leg press 210x9+6+5

----------------

I'm going to be ending this workout cycle this week. I'm going on vacation next week and will use it as an opportunity to SD.

So I'm taking a few liberties in my workouts now to see what I'm capable of - notably I increased the weight on my deadlifts quite a bit and found that I was much stronger than I expected to be. Also, I did bodyweight drop sets of pullups and dips today and was shocked at how many pullups I was able to do. Without question my back has progressed above and beyond everything else.

I still only weigh 146-147 pounds in the morning, so I definitely did not see tremendous growth over the past 6 weeks. But I attribute that 100% to diet and not the workout. Even 3000 calories is obviously not enough when doing it moderate-carb style. But my bodyfat % according to the calipers is between 6.5-7% which is down 1.5-2% from when I started.

When I get back from vacation I plan on doing a pure Myo-reps style workout w/ HST weight progression principles. I'll write out my plans when I'm done finalizing the details.

Thanks everyone for the support :)
 
I have found it interesting following your log. have a good vacation. I look forward to following your new log on your return. would you be able to sum up what your thoughts on max stim / myo reps are now that you've done a cycle of them? What did you like/dislike, anything you'd do differently?
 
ZAK,

I am definitely going to stick with this type of workout in the future. As it relates to this cycle, I'd have done the following differently:

1) Added about 200 more calories per day from the start - about 8400 more calories over 6 weeks which would have been at least 2 more pounds of bodyweight

2) Not been as rigid about 20 reps - depending on how light the weights are when I start, I may use a higher rep range, say 35-40 reps on an exercise in a 20-25+5+5+5 style where I reach near failure after those initial 20-25 reps. This way, I'll be going to near exhaustion every exercise.

3) Switched to a 4-day A/B split earlier - I'll have to look back in the logs to see how long I stuck with the full-body 3x/week, but I think 3x/week frequency for more than 2 weeks worth of weight increases is a bit overkill for me.

4) Reduce frequency even more later - perhaps go to a 3-day ABA/BAB type split when the weights get heavy - for instance, I'm absolutely wiped out from my Monday/Tuesday workouts right now and I'm fairly certain I have no business deadlifting again until this weekend at the earliest. I have to think about how I will approach frequency reduction, because it may only need to affect certain exercises.

5) Add a drop set when I start working with my 5-7RM maxes. For instance, my last workout I did Pullups 182.5x6+3+4+3+3+2. I then removed the 32.5 pounds from my waist and did bodyweight pullups for reps. I'm not 100% sure if it will lead to overtraining or not, but I wouldn't be doing it until the end of the cycle anyway so at most for 2-3 weeks.

I'm thinking about a bunch of other things right now as well and I'll outline it all when I'm finished.

I loved everything about the method though. I don't feel that I overtrained at all during this cycle and I'm a 30-year old guy - so while I'm not old, I'm not exactly playing with 18-year old hormone levels. I see awesome results in the mirror and measure awesome results with the calipers and my waist. I have a great idea now what my rep maxes are and I will use all of that data to construct a great cycle that should take me through to the beginning of September.

And I plan on gaining weight this time ;)
 
Hello again!

I'm back from my vacation and feeling pretty refreshed. This coming week I'll be re-starting a workout cycle. I am thrilled with my progress from the last cycle, and ended up benching 150 lbs for 3 reps on my last workout. Doesn't sound like much, but it is a huge step for me to be benching more than my bodyweight.

I plan on taking real body measurements this time around beyond just my bodyweight and the bodyfat caliper readings. I can say that my bodyweight dropped since I started this 6-7 weeks ago from approximately 148 pounds to 146. I lost a lot of bodyfat and gained a lot of strength though in the process. My body composition also improved quite a bit. So I'm happy overall.

I've decided to try a program called HCT-12 found at another forum (wannabebig.com). I will maintain a log here detailing my progress. I will go at this for another 6 weeks before re-assessing. I was very close to using a modified HST/Myo-reps program but I'm going to give this HCT-12 a shot. I will be using or attempting to use max weights every single workout which goes against HST principles. That is actually why I chose that workout. I'd like to see how my body responds to that sort of training.

Obviously my calorie intake even at 3k/day was not enough although I finally started to see some strength gains at that level. Mass gains did not really seem to follow...so I'm bumping up to 3250/day. I am also going to increase my carb intake from about 150-175g/day to 200-225g/day while keeping my fat/protein content high.

I'll be doing a 4-day split using the following exercises:

Day A
pullups
one-arm row
incline bench press
standing barbell press
dips

Day B
squat
deadlift
calf raises
smith shrugs
dumbell curl
various ab exercises

Hopefully I can handle the squat/deadlift same day...if not, I'll have to split them up.

The plan calls for waming up each exercises until you reach your 6RM then doing three sets of 2 rep clusters with 30-45 second breaks between. So for example bench press:

45x6, 80x6, 100x6, 120x6, 130x6, 140x6+2+2+2 (assuming I've established 140 as my 6rm for this session)

The number of warmup sets is arbitrary and dependent on how long it takes one to feel warmed up.

So that's that! We'll see how it goes!
 
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