Re-starting cycle

[iron511]

Hey, I started an HST cycle 3x a week about 3 weeks ago. Unfortunatly becuase of moving to school, gym closing and other things that came up i would ocassionally miss a workout and just push it back a day, and then this week i got sick for about 3 days with a fever so i missed a workout there too. I went to the gym today and after about 2 sets i realized that it might make sense for me to restart the whole cycle since ive been so inconsistent and left. Should i add a few pounds to my last cycle  - wait 48 hours and start over or just finish this one out from where i left off?

My other question is.. after a cycle do you really need to take the 9 days of SD off? is just a few days suffecient if you have no signs of overtraining?

 

[bluejacket]

if your 1st impulse was to start over (only been 3 weeks) then you should probably do that. make sure you have a plan in mind before you begin again (both wgt progression and diet) and try to stick with it as much as possible. most dont appreciate the undermining effects of just a couple missed w/o but i think you do.

as for the wgts. as long as you didnt think you were way off from the w/o you were able to do i wouldnt change it. sounds like its your 1st cycle and at this point its more important to get thru the whole thing rather then hit the wgts just right. there will be plenty youll want to adjust for cycle 2,3 and beyond.

sd is important. opinions vary on its length and the length of a cycle before you sd. my recommendation....

do the 2 weeks each of 15s, 10s, 5s and 5/neg combo. if at this point you feel burnt out mentally or physically or your joints ache then its time for sd.
if your wgts are still improving and you feel fine continue with the 5/negs until one of those two changes.
sd generally is between 7-15 days for most. use that time to craft your next cycles wgt prog. and diet goals. as you know getting off to a good start is important. usually somewhere between 7-10 days is when the itch to get back to the gym really hits and thats just the attitude you need to get going again.

good luck

 

[Lol]

You could just go back to the start of 10s again or just do a single week of 15s first. I think I would go straight back to the start of the 10s as the 15s are to help prep you for the heavy stuff and you haven't done any yet.

Do as Bluejacket says before you decide to SD. Length of SD is down to you and what you are wanting to accomplish with a cycle. SD can be skipped if you are going to do a cutting cycle. If you are going back into a bulking cycle then SD is a good idea. The more conditioned to training you are the longer you would need for SD to have the same effect but, as Bluejacket says, after about 10 days you can't wait to get back to it. That's one effect of SD that can't be disputed!