Peak_Power
New Member
This is partly in response to Matty19's post, "How Am I Supposed To Feel?", but I've also been thinking about this for my own workouts so I thought I'd post it more generally for everyone to read and comment on.
A lot of people, including myself, came from 3 or 4 day split programs, believing failure is necessary for growth etc. I used to do a 4 day split, and on a bodypart I'd do 3 exercises of 3x10, each set to voluntary strength failure (loss of form, HST style failure), then I'd do several drop sets to absolute failure (HIT style failure), believing you had to "fatigue" the muscle to get it to grow. Man I was sore for at least 3 days afterwards.
Now when I do 15 reps per bodypart 3x per week, its hard when I'm doing it, but afterwards I feel great, and spend the rest of the day not sore. I've noticed on most days I lift, I could do more if I wanted to do. Psychologically, I feel I should do more, just like matty19 said in his post, but there are some very good reasons why you should leave some in the tank:
Fatigue is cumulative. Over a period of 8-10 weeks, with ever increasing weights, the fatigue builds up, and you really start to notice it. You leave some in the tank, and you can extend your cycle, which will result in more growth.
But more importantly, imo:
Why do we lift to get strong if we walk around weak and sore all day?? I remember when I was on the 4 day split, for 3-4 days out of the week I was either too sore to lift anything heavy in real life, or I didn't want to lift anything heavy cause I was "recovering" for the workout. Lets say your friend asks you to help move furniture. Goddamn its painful with DOMs, and do you really want to say to him "sorry, I did a heavy chest set yesterday, so I don't want to ruin my recovery".
I've said this before.
I find with HST, I always have enough strength on off days to be able to do things, even lift weights again since I'm a fitness instructor and need to demonstrate an exercise by lifting weights. I still grow, I still get stronger, but without the DOMs and need for recovery that high volume programs require.
*I'm talking about when I'm bulking, obviously now I'm cutting and its taking its toll on my physically.
A lot of people, including myself, came from 3 or 4 day split programs, believing failure is necessary for growth etc. I used to do a 4 day split, and on a bodypart I'd do 3 exercises of 3x10, each set to voluntary strength failure (loss of form, HST style failure), then I'd do several drop sets to absolute failure (HIT style failure), believing you had to "fatigue" the muscle to get it to grow. Man I was sore for at least 3 days afterwards.
Now when I do 15 reps per bodypart 3x per week, its hard when I'm doing it, but afterwards I feel great, and spend the rest of the day not sore. I've noticed on most days I lift, I could do more if I wanted to do. Psychologically, I feel I should do more, just like matty19 said in his post, but there are some very good reasons why you should leave some in the tank:
Fatigue is cumulative. Over a period of 8-10 weeks, with ever increasing weights, the fatigue builds up, and you really start to notice it. You leave some in the tank, and you can extend your cycle, which will result in more growth.
But more importantly, imo:
Why do we lift to get strong if we walk around weak and sore all day?? I remember when I was on the 4 day split, for 3-4 days out of the week I was either too sore to lift anything heavy in real life, or I didn't want to lift anything heavy cause I was "recovering" for the workout. Lets say your friend asks you to help move furniture. Goddamn its painful with DOMs, and do you really want to say to him "sorry, I did a heavy chest set yesterday, so I don't want to ruin my recovery".
I've said this before.
I find with HST, I always have enough strength on off days to be able to do things, even lift weights again since I'm a fitness instructor and need to demonstrate an exercise by lifting weights. I still grow, I still get stronger, but without the DOMs and need for recovery that high volume programs require.
*I'm talking about when I'm bulking, obviously now I'm cutting and its taking its toll on my physically.
