Started with 10s instead of 15s. Now am sad

B

beboppin

New Member
For a few cycles, I'd been doing cycles of 10-8-5 instead of 15-10-5 or 12-8-5 and it has been working, but because my maxes for 10s and 8s are so close together, I realized that I am limiting myself and I'd be doing an incredible amount of zigzagging. I just finished up 2 weeks of 10 reps and was about to move on to 8s, but, for example, my bench max would have moved up only 10 pounds. This basically means for the next two weeks, I'd basically be doing the same weights but with 2 fewer reps.

My question is, should I simply jump to 5 reps now? I'm willing to do this but am confused as to what I would do after the next 2 weeks. Should I simply do a 4 week HST cycle, take a tiny SD, and restart with 12s or 15s? Thanks for any input.
 
Welcome bebopping

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My question is, should I simply jump to 5 reps now? I'm willing to do this but am confused as to what I would do after the next 2 weeks. Should I simply do a 4 week HST cycle, take a tiny SD, and restart with 12s or 15s? Thanks for any input. </div>

That is most likely the best you can do for now.

Tiny SD's do not help, really! Take at least a 9 day SD, but if you are a conditioned lifter, you should go for 14-16 days at least.

You see SD is going to decondition you to the point of making the 15's quite hard to get thorugh and therefore efficient, some guys even start showing some progress (growth at this phase although it is not built for that).

If it is your first HST cycle, you should have started by figuring out your maxes take a nice SD, then start.

Close rep sets do not allow enough progression (load wise) IMO, so the 15/10/5 scheme seems to work best, 12/8/4 will also work but it is really a matter of numbers. The higher rep sets are good to get your tendons and muscles primed for later lifts.

Hope this helps.
 
Food for thought.

On the basic 15/10/5 or vanilla routine, its commonly accepted that you can skip the 15's altogether, by your going directly to 5's from 10's, this is what you would be doing, dont sweat it.
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Dont forget, after the 5's, you can either do negatives for two weeks or keep going with the 5's until good lifting form can no longer be maintained.
 
I finished my 15's last week, I did two sets per exercise for the 6 workouts and I saw some growth.

I'm not sure if for my next cycle I will drop down to 1 set. I enjoyed the punishment of 2 sets, and I slept better than I have in a while.
 
You can periodically skip the 15's IF you have no joint or connective tissue problems. However, if you continually skip the 15's, you will likely develop those problems. It ain't worth it!      
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Skipping the 15's makes no more sense than skipping the 5's. Some muscle types respond to high reps better and some respond better to low reps. Do 'em all and make all your muscles and joints happy.
 
<div>
(need2eat @ Feb. 21 2007,09:23)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Food for thought.

On the basic 15/10/5 or vanilla routine, its commonly accepted that you can skip the 15's altogether, by your going directly to 5's from 10's, this is what you would be doing, dont sweat it.
biggrin.gif


Dont forget, after the 5's, you can either do negatives for two weeks or keep going with the 5's until good lifting form can no longer be maintained.</div>
Thanks for everyone's replies. I will probably go into the gym and begin 2 weeks of 5 reps. Afterwards, however, should I actually take a full SD? I had already taken a very long break before my recent workouts, and if I'm going to do SD again after just 4 weeks of exercise, I'm hesitant to do a full ~10 day rest since I barely even worked out.
 
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(Peak_Power @ Feb. 21 2007,15:49)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I don't see why people are so insistant on reinventing the wheel...</div>
I'm actually trying to hop back on the original wheel and am just wondering if it's advisable to rest for 2 weeks after lifting for just 4 weeks.
 
If you're still feeling fresh after you complete this cycle and have no aches or pains, I would go with a short SD.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">If you're still feeling fresh after you complete this cycle and have no aches or pains, I would go with a short SD. </div>

Or else stretch the 5's for a few more weeks
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(beboppin @ Feb. 21 2007,15:58)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(Peak_Power @ Feb. 21 2007,15:49)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I don't see why people are so insistant on reinventing the wheel...</div>
I'm actually trying to hop back on the original wheel and am just wondering if it's advisable to rest for 2 weeks after lifting for just 4 weeks.</div>
You've done the 10's, your doing the 5's and per HST you either continue the 5's or do negatives for two weeks, thats 6 weeks.  
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Yes, SD, I dunno about you but when it comes to my second block of 5's (I dont do negatives), Im having a blast and pushing my limits, whether you have or have not done the 15's makes no difference, you push your limits at the end, not the beginning.
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You still need ample rest at the end of the cycle.

Dont get so focused on this routine and what you perceive to be errors, if you will, as its just one of many cycles to come, you will perfect it as you go.

Have fun
 
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