Rest periods towards the end of a HST cycle .

F

Ferg

New Member
Just wondering if anyone can give me an opinion on this . I'm currently following a 15-12-10-8-5-5 HST cycle ( I just prefer the variation ) which is working fine , but I find that when I get to my final week of 5s ( going to failure ) I'm not able to complete my final set ( and for some exercises my final two sets ) . I'll always get the 5 reps for the initial set done , but sometimes I'll only be able to crank out 4 for the second set and 3 for the last . I work antagonistic muscle groups as Blade outlined in the HST FAQs section ( that is I'll do , say , bench press , then rest , bent over rows , rest again , and then head back to bench press etc... ) . For the 5s I rest 2 minutes in between each set , so using the method outlined above the rest period between each set of bench presses would be about 4 minutes 20 seconds . I was thinking I should either :

a.) Extend the rest periods so that I have about 5 minutes between each set of a particular exercise

or

b.) Use splits and do two sets of the exercise in the morning and the final one in the evening

Would either of these options alter the effectiveness of the HST program ?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated !
 
Personally I would do neither of those. The most important issues you are dealing with are not an arbitrary number of sets/reps but rather the load on the muscle and the time under tension. Sets/reps is just one way of accounting for those.

First if you are working in your 5RM or over range then the load is sufficient to cause full muscle fiber activation on every rep. In other words each rep pretty much counts equally rather than only the last few reps being the most effective when the weight are lighter. This opens up the option of clustering to get the desired number of reps for each set or your entire session.

So what I would do is rather than keep extending the time between sets just continue what you are doing but if you only get say 4 reps on the second set wait a small amount of time, say 10-30 seconds and do another rep to get your 5. You can also do combinations of 2, 3 or any number you are capable of clusters of reps to reach your target reps for the set or the session.

In a case like that I would be looking for a target of around 20 reps (15 minimum) to generate enough time under tension to be effective.
 
I'd entirely forgotten about clustering , thanks for the reminder . I just finished reading through some threads on the topic and think I'll incorporate it into my next cycle . As I'm relatively new to HST I guess I still haven't hammered home that load/time under tension is more important than set/reps :)

If you could help me clear up one more matter I'd be very grateful . It's with regard to volume . The outline for my next cycle is as follows :

12s - 2 sets per muscle group
10s - 3 sets per muscle group
8s - 3 sets per muscle group
5s - 4 sets per muscle group for the first week and 3 sets for the second week ( when the load is heaviest )


From reading the material posted by Brian , Blade and others it appears to me that progressive load/frequency are more important factors than volume , and that diminishing volume during a HST cycle is not detrimental to gains . For example Brian advocates doing 2 sets during the first week of each phase and dropping to 1 for the second :


"I suggest you do 2 sets per exercise during the 15s. Then do 2 sets during the first week of 10s,
and 1 set during the second week of 10s. Then do 2 sets during the first week of 5s, and finish
doing one set (after warm ups of course) during the last week of 5 . "

I'm just looking for confirmation of this . Given that from the 10s forward in my proposed cycle mentioned above the volume will be falling , will this in any way impede my gains or should I keep the volume constant throughout ?
 
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As I understand it when it comes to volume (in general) the key is to ensure you are getting sufficient volume to give you enough Time-Under-Tension (TUT) to stimulate growth. Since the rep speed usually goes down somewhat as the load goes up most people can cut the volume some and still have enough TUT. However, remember that doing a metabolic set, after your working sets, with less weight but higher reps (to get a burn) will also help if your reps start dropping because of the increasing load. Also, note that nothing says you have to lower the volume as the load goes up. If your body can recover from a higher volume with heavier loads then there is nothing wrong with doing that. It’s just that most people either can’t handle it or can’t handle is for very long so that they are to burned out to move into the post 5s.
 
Thanks for clearing that up , I had been wondering about the volume aspect of HST for quite some time . As I'm 23 and live what I consider to be a very healthy lifestyle increased volume ( to a certain limit of course ) doesn't seem to impede my gains and/or lead to CNS fatigue . Thanks for the all the help , this message board is fantastic for answering queries . Hopefully in the future my grasp of HST principles will be such that I'll be able to assist others looking for answers :)
 
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