training to failure

[osudukies21]

Tomro is my last day of my 2 week block of 10s. I have felt myself getting stronger and i believe my 10 rep max is higher than originally set. SHud i lift the weight i have planned and go to failure? or just do 10 reps?

or shud i increase the amt i was going to lift by 5 lbs so its close to my new 10 rep max

 

[Lol]

Save your CNS for the 5s.

Don't forget that unless you are only doing single sets during 10s, you will be using the same load for sets across. If you can manage your old 10RM load without hitting failure on your first set, you may well get there on your second (or third, depending on how many sets you are doing). It's a good idea to curtail a set when you know you won't make a further rep or when your rep speed slows markedly. On a RM workout, your form will invariably start to drop off as you get closer to your limit but don't let it get so bad that you put yourself at risk of injury.

You can always make a note of how much extra you think you could lift for your 10RM and add that to your 10RM for next cycle.

 

[MaFi0s0]

I thought we are suppose to hit failure once every 2 weeks(15,10,5) or even once each week(15,12,8,6,3 with zigzaging).

I extended my 15s by 1 workout to hit the new 15RM and train to failure, and carried it over through the 10s so my 10s are heavier than planned, now my next workout is my 6th one in the 10s (ie: my old 10RM plus 5% because of the 15s increase). But due to systematic fatigue(I dont take weekends off I just train every 2nd day) I hit failure on my 4th AND 5th(repeated weight) day which was my old 10RM, so now I am taking 2 days off instead of 1 and gonna try hit my new 10RM.

 

[Lol]

I thought we are suppose to hit failure once every 2 weeks(15,10,5) or even once each week(15,12,8,6,3 with zigzaging).

These quotes from the FAQs might be helpful:

Understand that it is not necessary to train at 100% voluntary strength levels to stimulate "growth". This is one fundamental difference between Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) and HIT. HST is designed only to stimulate growth. Strength of course will increase as well during HST training but this is not the primary goal of the method. It isn't necessary to push against a weight that won't move (due to load or fatigue) to induce the necessary strain to muscle that leads to growth.

...

HIT training takes this "deconditioning" too far. They think the muscle is "recovering" when it is actually past recovery and beginning to decondition thus allowing the stimulus to work the next time the muscle is trained. Unfortunately, the rate of growth is greatly dependant on the frequency of the stimulus. So with HST you hit a muscle at least 3 times as often as with HIT, and growth is greatly accelerated.

Why not just do as many reps as possible (A.K.A. train at “100% intensity”, or “train to failure”) for every increment/workout instead of changing it only every 2 weeks? Because when using sufficient frequency to stimulate rapid hypertrophy, you tend to get CNS burn out. Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to train at “100% intensity” to grow quickly. This is a very unpopular statement to experienced lifters who have prided themselves on torturous workouts. They take pride in their toughness and in their willingness to self inflict nauseating exhaustion workout after workout. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS. As long as it is not taught as the correct way to train for “growth”.

Fatigue is not the muscle’s way of indicating that a stimulus for growth has occurred. A growth stimulus can be created without taking a set to failure, and at other times, even taking a set to failure fails to produce an adequate growth stimulus. We have no direct way of knowing how successful we have been at creating a growth stimulus from workout to workout. Direct measurements require a laboratory setting and painful biopsies. The only way to really gauge is to look at what has previously been done to the tissue (i.e. how much weight, how much volume, what level of conditioning are we working with). By continuing to increase the duration and/or amplitude of tension/stretch/load, we can be reasonably sure we are creating an adequate growth stimulus (assuming diet is in order). “Within reason”, it is the total number of reps performed of a given movement during a single exercise bout that is important, not how many are performed each set. You can blame two prominent exercise researchers and their infatuation with minuscule fluctuations in hormone levels for any confusion on this point.

Simple technique to avoid failure

Since rep speed deteriorates before technical breakdown, end a set when a rep is noticeably slower than the first. So - if you slow down, you STOP. This ensures that you stay at a safe rep number short of failure. The reps decrease as the load increases and fatigue accumulates - you never lower the weight to reach a rep target or to get more sets.

Short summary of HST:

In order of importance:

1) Satellite cells must be activated, differentiated, and fuse with existing fibers, donating their nuclei.

2) Mechanical stress must be transmitted to the sarcolemma (mechanotransduction) and contractile protein structures within the sarcomeres. This will trigger focal adhesion kinases (FAK) that in turn initiate the downstream signaling events leading to an increase in the contractile and cytoskeletal protein expression/synthesis.

3) pH and oxidative stress must be acutely increased within the muscle fiber.

Focusing just on the workout, this pretty much sums it up. If #1 doesn’t happen, you will not grow…ever. If number two doesn’t happen, you will grow a little, but you will soon reach the limits of the sarcoplasmic/nuclear ratio and growth will stop. If #3 doesn’t happen, you will still grow quite significantly, but the rate of growth might be enhanced or facilitated if #3 is achieved.

#1 is achieved when a certain level of microtrauma is experienced by the fibers. This is brought about by load, eccentric contractions, and to a much lesser extent, hypoxia (A.K.A. #3) When load, eccentric contractions and #3 occur, each fiber will produce and release muscle specific-IGF-1 (sometimes called mechano-growth factor) The IGF-1 in turn seeps out of leaky sarcolemmas and acts on nescient satellite cells to initiate #1. Microtrauma is rapidly reduced from workout to workout (Repeated bout effect) thereby limiting the effectiveness of any given load to induce further hypertrophy.

#2 is achieved by loading a muscle that is actively contracting.

#3 is achieved by contracting a muscle (doing reps) until you create an oxygen deficit and subsequent hypoxic byproducts (e.g. lactate and oxygen radicals).

The afore mentioned physiological principles of muscle growth are what we follow in order to ensure that 1,2 and 3 happen.

At the end of the day, failure is not important for muscle growth. There is no real need to hit failure at all during an HST cycle but, for a lot of lifters using the typical15/10/5 HST set-up, pushing for new RMs every couple of weeks makes for a challenge that is difficult to forgo, particularly if you want to 'see' progress in your xRM.

There are loads more goodies to be had in the HST FAQs. Enjoy!