The principles...

[Arhnold]

Beeing a dane, I've read lots af both danish and american articles about the principles of HST. To me there seems to be two points were the articles differ:
first of all - during fx the 10 rep period (or the other periods), some say that you should do as many reps as possible (staying away from failure of course), other says that you should only do 10 - even though you have much more left - WHAT IS THE TRUTH?
second: in the cycle calculator at this site, if you put your max's in the 6th coloumn, then you end up lifting the same weight as when you started - aren't one supposed to lift heavier???

Hope you can answer these questions

 

[chiefhog]

When a certain poundage is overlapped in another rep range, it is called zig-zag. It's ok to do this. As long as your weights are in an upward trend overall. However, most people around here limit how deep their zig-zagging goes. For example, you could start at a higher weight and repeat it.

 

[liegelord]

In my experience this past cycle not stopping at 10, I've had better strength gains.  I didn't do it with every exercise though.  My last cycle I maxed my deadlift at 405x6.  I have a few weeks left of my current cycle and hit 405x10. I gained 7 pounds on the last cycle and I should get about 10 for this one.

 

[Fausto]

Arhnold

Here is what I do, you'll see I work from a 1RM.

 

[Arhnold]

Quote[/b] (Fausto @ Oct. 13 2005,6:22)]Arhnold
Here is what I do, you'll see I work from a 1RM.

In your program it says "repetition scheme" - does that mean that you only do that number of reps, or do you do as many as you can (staying away from failure???) - sorry my english isn't sufficient

I see you are alternating between two different exercises for some muscles - why is that?? And why is it that you only start alternating in the 5 rep scheme?

 

[Arhnold]

Quote[/b] (chiefhog @ Oct. 12 2005,4:15)]When a certain poundage is overlapped in another rep range, it is called zig-zag. It's ok to do this. As long as your weights are in an upward trend overall. However, most people around here limit how deep their zig-zagging goes. For example, you could start at a higher weight and repeat it.

With poundage, do you then mean the amount of pounds lifted in total (ex 3 sets of 10 reps of 10 pounds = 3x10x10=300 pounds) or is it simply the weight that you lift??? Right now my approach is, that I raise the weight by some certain amount each or every other workout, and then I do as many reps as possible (staying one or two from failure...) - is that stupid?

 

[Fausto]

Arhnold

Rep scheme = the number of repetitions for that 2 week block, the standartd HST recommends 15/15/10/10/5/5/5/5.
I only do that number of reps, what I might do to get TUT or TUL is do more than one set, depending on the rep scheme I use.

Quote[/b] ]sorry my english isn't sufficient

Your english is just dandy, I am not englishg either so don't feel bad!

Quote[/b] ]I see you are alternating between two different exercises for some muscles - why is that?? And why is it that you only start alternating in the 5 rep scheme?

Yep, so that I don't overdo it (in terms of too much volume), or because I feel like I want to do more than one exercise per muscle group, with exception of the squats and deadlifts, that is just too much for my back in one single day.

I only start on the 5's - I am trying a recommendation of vicious's pimp my HST e-book (download it it's worth it), where specialization comes at the end, and pulsing etc right at the very end.

Poundage = amount loaded in a bar at a single time (eg: 100 Kg for 5 reps), not total poundage.

Hope this helps.

Fausto

 

[Arhnold]

Quote[/b] (Fausto @ Oct. 13 2005,4:04)]Arhnold
Rep scheme = the number of repetitions for that 2 week block, the standartd HST recommends 15/15/10/10/5/5/5/5.
I only do that number of reps, what I might do to get TUT or TUL is do more than one set, depending on the rep scheme I use.

Quote[/b] ]sorry my english isn't sufficient

Your english is just dandy, I am not englishg either so don't feel bad!

Quote[/b] ]I see you are alternating between two different exercises for some muscles - why is that?? And why is it that you only start alternating in the 5 rep scheme?

Yep, so that I don't overdo it (in terms of too much volume), or because I feel like I want to do more than one exercise per muscle group, with exception of the squats and deadlifts, that is just too much for my back in one single day.
I only start on the 5's - I am trying a recommendation of vicious's pimp my HST e-book (download it it's worth it), where specialization comes at the end, and pulsing etc right at the very end.
Poundage = amount loaded in a bar at a single time (eg: 100 Kg for 5 reps), not total poundage.
Hope this helps.
Fausto

Let me get it completely straight just to be sure: the HST principles should be interpreted this way: if your 15/10/5 RM are 100/150/200 kg (I wish) and the increment about 5 pounds, then for the first two weeks, you should be doing 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 and finally, again(???), 100 - and all the while you're doing 15 reps even though you could do more without hitting failure? And the next two weeks you do 125,130,...,150 (again???) only 10 reps, even though you could do more etcetera etcetera???

My two main questions are:
are you supposed to end up in workout 6 in each minicycle lifting the same weight as used to be your max at that rep scheme, or should you lift heavier?
Should I only do ex 10 reps even though I can do much more in the first couple of workouts in the 10 rep scheme (and the same for the other schemes...)?


Thank you so much for your help

 

[Heavy Duty dude]

You simply go to failure on the 6th workout of each microcycle. For instance during a microcycle, you do 1 workout with 75% of the max, 1 with 80%, 1 with 85%, 1 with 90%, 1 with 95%, and the last with 100%.

The goal of course is to increase the load all the time. Going to failure is not required in itself. It's just a simple way to implement the load progression during the cycle. You could implement the load progression differently if you'd like.

 

[chiefhog]

You got the idea right.

 

[Fausto]

Arhnold

Quote[/b] ]and the increment about 5 pounds, then for the first two weeks, you should be doing 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 and finally, again(???), 100 - and all the while you're doing 15 reps even though you could do more without hitting failure?

The idea is not to do more than 15 reps, but the recommended 15 reps, however you could decide to do say one week of 20 reps at say 50% of 1 RM intensity and then switch to 15 RM for the next week at 60 - 65% of 1RM etc.

But if you have your "motor running" and honestly feel you can do more try another set of 15 and another after that, if you have worked out your maximums right your body will tell you "that is enough" by itself

Quote[/b] ]are you supposed to end up in workout 6 in each minicycle lifting the same weight as used to be your max at that rep scheme, or should you lift heavier?

That was the max you tested, so if you can do it well, then you are on track, believe me the weights will catch up to you soon enough so don't worry about "beating them to it" just yet, by the 5's and negs you should be lifting as much as you can bear, if you have tested things right that is.

Famous last words STICK TO THE WORKOUT PROGRAM