Question...

[TheHurt]

Hello !
I'm considering starting HST but had a few questions.

I'm not sure if I understand these two points....


• There is an obligatory increase in weight (from 5-20 lbs.) each workout. This means that at times you may be working with less than your maximum weight for any given rep scheme. This is by design. You will reach max poundages for a given rep range on the last workout of each two week block.

• Determining weights for each workout: Assign your max weights to the final workout of each 2 week block. Then, in 5-10 pound increments, assign weights in decreasing fashion starting from the last workout working backward to the first. So, for example, if your 10 rep max is 200 pounds, assign 200 pounds for the last workout of the 10 rep block, then assign weights that build up to your max in 6 workouts. For our example, using 5 pound increments, the weights for the whole 2 week block would be 175,180,185,190,195, and 200. Do this for each exercise for each rep scheme.


Can anyone just clarify what these points are saying?

Thank you!

 

[Lol]

Because I can't know what exercises you are intending to use, using %ages of RMs to calculate your load increments works well in most cases.

1) Take a week to find your 15RM, 10RM and 5RM for each exercise you intend to do in your cycle. Do this over three sessions. Each session should be a good workout in itself.

2) Take a week off from training (this is SD), during which time: calculate 75%, 80%, 85%, 90%, 95% of each of the RM loads you recorded in 1). This will give you six figures for loads from 75% of the RM to the RM itself. You will then have six load increments for each exercise, for each rep range.

3) Start your cycle with 75% of your 15RM loads. Next session use the 80% loads; rinse & repeat until your are at your 15RM loads—if you w/o 3 x weekly, that'll have taken 2 weeks. That's the end of the 15s. Then you'll move onto the 10s: as before, for your first session of 10s use 75% of your 10RMs; next session use the 80% loads; rinse & repeat until your are at your 10RM loads. Do the same for the 5s.

Hope that helps a bit. There's a bunch more stuff you should have figured out before you start, eg. training volume.

 

[Coscto]

So is Strategic Deconditioning (taking off 7-12 days of training) supposed to be done after every HST program of 8 weeks?

...and should you also not do any cardio activity during SD?

 

[CDB]

So is Strategic Deconditioning (taking off 7-12 days of training) supposed to be done after every HST program of 8 weeks?

...and should you also not do any cardio activity during SD?

SD is supposed to be done after your gains plateau, not necessarily after each 8 weeks. If you can keep lifting in the 5s and are seeing gains and/or able to increase the weights relatively frequently due to strength gains, by all means keep doing so. When you plateau in terms of gains, then SD.

What Lol wrote sum up the weight increases, just remember the principle behind it is what counts. Don't get all bound up in reps and ranges so much that you forget that the point is to try and keep a steady increase in weight lifted over time to produce results over time. Worrying about the weights for any given individual workout relative to others isn't the point. The point is to progress weight in a chronic sense, over a long period of time, as opposed to getting too wound up about what's happening acutely, which would be the weights for this or that particular workout in the over HST cycle. Some weights may repeat, there may be some zig zagging, etc. Don't worry about it. Keep an eye on the overall trend of weight you're lifting.

 

[Lol]

So is Strategic Deconditioning (taking off 7-12 days of training) supposed to be done after every HST program of 8 weeks?

...and should you also not do any cardio activity during SD?

For me, as more of a vet, I'm not going to be making great gains anymore so SD becomes a pleasant way to keep minor injuries from becoming more troublesome and generally speaking just allows for a whole bunch of overall healing to take place—5s can really beat an older body up!

If you are a youngun, with plenty of scope for gains and strength increases, then I'd do what CDB says—keep the 5s going a bit longer if the gains are still coming thick and fast. However, if you do this, I'd still suggest having a week off every 10 weeks. It's a good way to recharge and set new goals for the following cycle. It's good for the mind too.

 

[TheHurt]

Thank you for the insights, everyone!
As for the workout program itself, I see a lot of people tailoring it to fit their needs. Is there something wrong with the default HST workout that's on the site?

 

[Lol]

Nothing wrong with the template. Always remember that HST is a set of principles you can apply to any weight training exercises. The template is pretty balanced but if you know what you're doing and want to use different exercises, go ahead!

 

[Coscto]

5's or 5RM (going to failure)?

 

[CDB]

Thank you for the insights, everyone!
As for the workout program itself, I see a lot of people tailoring it to fit their needs. Is there something wrong with the default HST workout that's on the site?

Nothing wrong with it, it's just more of a one size fits all solution. Customization is always better when done right. For example, I seem to respond and/or feel better with heavier weights, so I've modified my template to suit that. Other people seem to want to get some depletion type workouts in, so they work those in at the appropriate weights and times, etc. training for growth and traing for strength aren't two seperate things, they're more of a continuum of factors, the weight assigned to each changing depending on your goals and what you respond to.

 

[TheHurt]

So after my first cycle, do I find new maxes for each of my RM's? And rinse and repeat? Will I know my new RM's while doing the first cycle?

 

[CDB]

So after my first cycle, do I find new maxes for each of my RM's? And rinse and repeat? Will I know my new RM's while doing the first cycle?

Once you plateau on your current cycle, take a week to find your max for each range again, then SD and start over with the new weights in the template. Or if you want you can simply add 10lbs to the big lifts and 5lbs to the smaller ones and hope that you can lift that much when the time comes.

 

[Toolman]

So after my first cycle, do I find new maxes for each of my RM's? And rinse and repeat? Will I know my new RM's while doing the first cycle?

I shoot for my max on the last workout of each two week block, so this happens automatically. I use a log book and record every set which makes this easier. For most exercises, I increase weights every workout by 5 lbs (~5%), but if a given weight was too easy on Monday, I'll bump it up by 10 lbs for Wednesday. I'll do this not only workout to workout, but cycle to cycle as well. At the end of each two week block, I'll note what I think the goal for the next cycle should be. My goal is to reach near-failure on a given exercise on the 15th, 10th, or 5th rep on the last workout of each two week block. Depending on which rep I actually hit that point determines by how much I bump up my goal for that rep range in the next cycle. For example, on my last workout of the 5's, I benched 165 for 5 reps failing on the 6th, so I'll add 5% to that and set 175 as my goal. Working backwards from that by 5 lbs per workout, I'll start the two weeks of 5's in the next cycle at 150. Had I reached failure before or after the 5th rep, I'd modify this accordingly. No need to spend any time testing my max's after that.

In your case, you will probably be changing exercises for the second cycle, so you may need to do some testing on the new exercises, but after a few HST cycles you'll zero in on what your max's are pretty easily. IMO, however, keeping a log of every workout is essential to this entire process.