Questions for Someone knowledgeable about HST

G

GiNormousMonstertobe

New Member
I am fairly new to weight lifting, about 6 months. Usual, 3 times a week thing. I have gained about 13 pounds so far and am still what I would consider very lean at 5'9", 170. I am 40 so, so far, so good even though I see other people grow much faster at this stage. About to split my routine but after reading about HST thinking of giving it a try instead.

At the beginning of the rep range when the weights are lower, it seems not to be a maximal effort(In other sports, "champions work hard every day , blah, blah, blah"). why would you not use more sets for lactic acid preparing the joints or whatever ?

Could you comment on what I keep reading that for weight gain, squats, deadlift, bench, shrug, with heavy weights ? Is there any research which shows this is best ?

I apologize in advance if these are already covered, please direct me, I could not find them.


Thanks in advance

GiNorm
 
Welcome GiNorm,
Let me give this a shot but others should chime in too.
1) At 40 you can grow like a weed -- so don't worry
2)  The work harder ethic is true to a degree --but miss applied it can hurt you through overtraining, burn out, injury etc. Or it is often the excuse for a bad program not working.  Believe me if you do HST right you will be working hard.
3) You do not do more sets/rep in the 15s so that your subsequent micro cycles are progressive.  So you can do one set of 15 in your fifteenss,  two sets of 10 in your tens, and three sets of 5 in your fives (still 15 reps)   If you did 2 sets in your 15s that is 30 reps and you would be doing many fewer reps in your following cycles -- so that is not progression.

Think of total reps -- don't think of sets. The idea is to keep your total reps about the same through out the marco cycle so that the incrimental increase in weight has its desired effect on your muscles.

4) In deads, squats, bench, dips  you are using much more weight than you would in other execrises.  You are also using multipal muscles -- the hairy weight hitting multipal muscle groups is the reason these add mass.
Bob
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Bob Evans @ May 17 2005,7:10)]Think of total reps -- don't think of sets. The idea is to keep your total reps about the same through out the marco cycle so that the incrimental increase in weight has its desired effect on your muscles.
Click to expand...
Going to start my first cycle too in a few weeks...

My scheme I put up until now keeps the amount of sets the same, regardless of doing the 15s 10s or 5s...

Should I subsequently make them add up when doing 10s and 5s, as to keep the total amount of reps as constant as possible?

could anybody acknowledge this?
 
Yup,

You want to keep the rep count "about" the same -- it does not have to exact-- just not out of wack. So 1 set for 15s, 2 sets for 10s, 3 sets for 5s (pluss a burn set) that seems to work.

And when focusing on reps not sets -- you can cut sets short if need be. This is the "clustering" technique. So if it gets tuff at the end of your 5's --- just do 5 sets of 3, instead of 3 sets of 5. You still get to the 15 rep count. And there is no gold star for comleating a 5 rep set. Rather you want good heavy lifts, it is all about TUT (time under tension)

Bob
 
An alternative to adding sets that I like is to slow my tempo down as I progress in weight. For instance, I typically do 1 second concentrics on all lifts but do 2 second eccentrics (lowering of the weight) on the 15's, 3 seconds on the 10's and 4 seconds or more on the 5's. The advantage to that method that I have found is that it adds to the total time under tension during the hypertrophy portion of the lift (eccentric) while minimizing that portion of the lift that impacts the nervous system the most (concentric) which can lead to overtraining.

I also do not believe that doing multiple sets of the same exercise is the most efficient use of energy to build muscle. I prefer to use multiple exercises of one set each. Of course, I am referring here to hypertrophy only and not strength or any sport specific improvement program.
 
Under the FAQ it talks of doing:

2 sets in the 15's
2 sets of 10's for the first half then dropping to 1 set of 10's in the second half
then
2 sets of 5's in the first half and then dropping to 1 set of 5's in the second half.

What are we to believe around here? This is so confusing. I am getting results but I want to make them the best they can be.

Thanks

Mike
 
Cappy, believe no one! Take the general principles of HST and experiment and see what works best for your unique combination of actual age, testosterone levels, level of conditioning, training age, diet, sleep habits, etc. etc.
 
Thanks OG! I am finding that the more I read on this site the more I find what you say make the most sense. "No rules only options" as the customizing thread cries out. Following the principles of HST and making them work for the individual is in the long run going to be best for each of us.

Thanks again.

Mike
 
Bob,

Thanks, but I don't think I made myself clear in the first question. Let me try again. During the first part of the 2 weeks of 15 reps.(or any rep. #), when the weight is lower than a 15 rep. max., should more sets be used as opposed to the end of 2 week period of 15 reps. when the weight is close to a 15 rep. max. ?

or is that progression is the whole thing and a light effort is all that is necessary in the beginning of the 2 weeks ?


thanks again,

GiNorm
 
Yes and no,

As the load becomes heavier you can do less sets and will not see much of a difference, as the load will compensate for TUT.

In your case, I would go with the prescribed method, 2 sets for 15's, 2 sets for week 1 of 10's and 5's, reduce to one set during the 2nd week of 10's and 5's. See how it goes and increase if more TUT is needed as your get more conditioned.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (GiNormousMonstertobe @ May 17 2005,11:45)]or is that progression is the whole thing and a light effort is all that is necessary in the beginning of the 2 weeks ?
Click to expand...
Yup, because of SD. And what dkm said.
 
I'm currently doing a straight non-stop get all the reps for the first working set, then as I only do the big 4, I'll get in some lower rep sets within a 15 min time frame say 1x10 1x6 1x4 & 1x2 (this keeps the workout to around 1hr) using the same weight. Seeing as though I've got the "banker" already in, the "instinctive" sets seem less stressful & more satisfying...
 
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