A little about me, I've been lurking here for a couple of months. I'm in my early-mid
40's, have been training off and on for about 25 years. Mostly off, unfortunately. Was
an HIT devotee for many early years, and I never quite abandonded some of its ideas, so
I usually trained heavy and to near failure. Later, I periodized somewhat, realized the
joke that pure HIT was, and got some good gains. I'm a short guy, so I dont need alot
of mass to "look big", but I've never been ripped, at best about 10%BF, currently at
about 20%
I've been on a long layoff, a few years, but having been a decent size, muscle memory
has always been my friend. Usually withing 3-6 months, I'd be back to 85-90%. At my
age, however, I wanted to be careful and go at it slowly.
HST seemed the way to go. 2 weeks (6 workouts) at 15 reps? Sounded crazy, but in a good
"makes sense" sort of way, especially for older joints and tendons. Training 3x per
week? Wow, I was killing myself 1x per week (per muscle group), and enduring horrible
DOMS for several days each week. So this was going to be something totally new, the
biggest training change for me in a decade..
I used a vanilla routine, set up before I totally read everything, including "Pimp my
HST", and alot of the posts here. So I ended up with more sets than most (15 exercises
total each workout) . But hey, I kept growing, didn't seem to be overtraining, so what
the heck? As you can see, I like keeping the total reps about 15-25. I know, alot, but it was working great!
Sets at reps
15,10,5 Exercize
1,2,3 Incline Dumbell Press
1,2,2 Dips
1,2,3 Squats
1,2,3 Leg Curl
1,2,2 Leg Ext
1,2,3 Pull Down
1,2,2 Row
1,2,3 Dumbell Mil Press
1,2,2 Dumbell Lat. Raises
1,2,3 EZ Curl or Incline Dumbell Curls
1,2,3 Tricep Extension or Overhead Extensions
1,2,2 Calf Raises
1,2,3 Shrugs
I ate alot for the first 12-20 hours after the workouts, the remainder, I ate like a bird. Why? I was afraid of getting fatter, and I was already about 25% at the time.
I also used Creatine, starting with the 10's. Only 5mg per day, a slow loading.
Anyways, in 6 weeks, I gained as much as I usually do in 3-6 months of my usual training after a layoff. Yes it was muscle memory and Creatine, but heck, it was great! I didn't make careful measurements, and my body weight didnt increase alot, maybe 5lbs, but alot of that might be creatine. My body fat dropped about 5%, and even though I am still a fat f*ck at 20% (mostly around the abdominal area, upper body looks good) or so, I look better than I have in about 7 years, in only SIX WEEKS!
Ok, now for the bad news... as you can see, I was doing too many sets, especially at 5 reps. Although to be honest, if I didnt superset them, I did them almost like clustered reps. I'd do 5, rest 30 seconds, another 5, 30 seconds, and then 5. But still, by the 4th workout at 5 reps, with the weights getting pretty heavy, my shoulders cried uncle!
Nothing sudden, just a gradual onset of soreness that I ignored, until after the 4th workout, I realized, stupidly, that I was having joint problems. My shoulders have been that way for me for many, many years.. the weak link, joint wise. So I quit after the 4th workout, am doing my SD now. This type of soreness usually lasts a few weeks, then I'm good to go.
I'll be much smarter with my next HST cycle. Less exercises for sure.
A quick question, is pain a good indicator as to what exercises I can do? I hate to screwup a recovering shoulder. I think its the overhead pressing that messed them up.
40's, have been training off and on for about 25 years. Mostly off, unfortunately. Was
an HIT devotee for many early years, and I never quite abandonded some of its ideas, so
I usually trained heavy and to near failure. Later, I periodized somewhat, realized the
joke that pure HIT was, and got some good gains. I'm a short guy, so I dont need alot
of mass to "look big", but I've never been ripped, at best about 10%BF, currently at
about 20%
I've been on a long layoff, a few years, but having been a decent size, muscle memory
has always been my friend. Usually withing 3-6 months, I'd be back to 85-90%. At my
age, however, I wanted to be careful and go at it slowly.
HST seemed the way to go. 2 weeks (6 workouts) at 15 reps? Sounded crazy, but in a good
"makes sense" sort of way, especially for older joints and tendons. Training 3x per
week? Wow, I was killing myself 1x per week (per muscle group), and enduring horrible
DOMS for several days each week. So this was going to be something totally new, the
biggest training change for me in a decade..
I used a vanilla routine, set up before I totally read everything, including "Pimp my
HST", and alot of the posts here. So I ended up with more sets than most (15 exercises
total each workout) . But hey, I kept growing, didn't seem to be overtraining, so what
the heck? As you can see, I like keeping the total reps about 15-25. I know, alot, but it was working great!
Sets at reps
15,10,5 Exercize
1,2,3 Incline Dumbell Press
1,2,2 Dips
1,2,3 Squats
1,2,3 Leg Curl
1,2,2 Leg Ext
1,2,3 Pull Down
1,2,2 Row
1,2,3 Dumbell Mil Press
1,2,2 Dumbell Lat. Raises
1,2,3 EZ Curl or Incline Dumbell Curls
1,2,3 Tricep Extension or Overhead Extensions
1,2,2 Calf Raises
1,2,3 Shrugs
I ate alot for the first 12-20 hours after the workouts, the remainder, I ate like a bird. Why? I was afraid of getting fatter, and I was already about 25% at the time.
I also used Creatine, starting with the 10's. Only 5mg per day, a slow loading.
Anyways, in 6 weeks, I gained as much as I usually do in 3-6 months of my usual training after a layoff. Yes it was muscle memory and Creatine, but heck, it was great! I didn't make careful measurements, and my body weight didnt increase alot, maybe 5lbs, but alot of that might be creatine. My body fat dropped about 5%, and even though I am still a fat f*ck at 20% (mostly around the abdominal area, upper body looks good) or so, I look better than I have in about 7 years, in only SIX WEEKS!
Ok, now for the bad news... as you can see, I was doing too many sets, especially at 5 reps. Although to be honest, if I didnt superset them, I did them almost like clustered reps. I'd do 5, rest 30 seconds, another 5, 30 seconds, and then 5. But still, by the 4th workout at 5 reps, with the weights getting pretty heavy, my shoulders cried uncle!
Nothing sudden, just a gradual onset of soreness that I ignored, until after the 4th workout, I realized, stupidly, that I was having joint problems. My shoulders have been that way for me for many, many years.. the weak link, joint wise. So I quit after the 4th workout, am doing my SD now. This type of soreness usually lasts a few weeks, then I'm good to go.
I'll be much smarter with my next HST cycle. Less exercises for sure.
A quick question, is pain a good indicator as to what exercises I can do? I hate to screwup a recovering shoulder. I think its the overhead pressing that messed them up.
