Volume

[mickc1965]

I am relatively new to HST (well near completion of 1[SUP]st[/SUP] cycle – 2 days of 5’s left) and wondered if my volume is too high (particularly in the 5RM, muscles are OK but feeling exhausted the following day), I am 48 years old and have been training regularly for two years and weigh in the region of 187lbs. My current workload is based on an ‘A’ and ‘B’ routine as follows

Routine A - Front Squats, Barbell Flat Bench, Barbell Upright Row, Wide Lat pull downs, Front Shoulder Press (Smith Machine), Leg Press, Calf Raise, Leg Extensions, Close Grip Smith Machine (Triceps) and Concentration Curls.

Routine B – Dead Lifts, Barbell Incline Bench, Shrugs, Seated Row, Rear Shoulder Press (Smith Machine), Back extensions, Leg Curls, Single leg calf raise, Tricep Kickbacks and High Cable Curls

Each Rep range is based on 3 days per week over 2 weeks – two sets per exercise on 15’s and 10’s and 4 sets on 5’s with anywhere between 20 seconds and 1 minutes rest between sets with the weight increments of 80% / 90% / 100% of the projected 5, 10 and 15RM. I can confirm that all the RM ranges were tested before I started the routine and I have generally added 2.5kgs to the new projected RM and currently the 5RM routine is taking between 60 and 70 minutes to complete depending on how busy the gym is.

Currently consuming between 2500 and 3000 calories daily - 50% carbs, 30 – 35% protein and 15 to 20% fat.

 

[Totentanz]

Why are you only resting for 20-60 seconds between sets during the 5s? That's just crazy. 5s require 2-3 minutes rest between sets minimum.

Also, you don't need to be doing 4 sets for all those exercises. That is definitely overkill. I get that you are trying to maintain the overall number of reps, but that's not actually the way you should be going about it. Volume per exercise is not what you need to be looking at, volume per muscle group is. Routine A you have three different lifts hitting your quads, that's 60 total reps in the 5s for just your quads. You are only doing 20 reps for the lats in routine A but piling 40 total reps of volume onto the triceps. You need to balance out the volume between muscle groups. There is no reason a muscle group should need more than 20 total reps during the heavier 5s. You could probably get away with only 15 total reps per upper body muscle group and 20 per lower body.

Some of your exercise choices aren't very appropriate. I would increase rest times to something sensible starting next working and would drop all the sets as follows immediately:

Front Squats - 2 sets
Barbell Flat Bench - 3 sets
Barbell Upright Row - 2 sets
Wide Lat pull downs - 3 sets
Front Shoulder Press (Smith Machine) - 2 sets
Leg Press - 1-2 sets
Calf Raise - 3-4 sets
Leg Extensions - 1 set or ditch completely, no reason to do leg extensions after squats and leg press. Quads do not need that much overlap.
Close Grip Smith Machine (Triceps) - 2 sets
Concentration Curls - 1 set

Dead Lifts - 2 sets
Barbell Incline Bench - 3 sets
Shrugs - 2 sets
Seated Row - 2 sets
Rear Shoulder Press (Smith Machine) - 2 sets
Back extensions - who cares? These should not be part of an HST routine, they should be used after your routine to get some metabolic work in for lower back
Leg Curls - 2 sets
Single leg calf raise - 4 sets
Tricep Kickbacks - you realize this exercise is useless, right? Drop it. Replace with close grip bench, seated dips or tricep extensions
High Cable Curls - replace with something useful like BB Curls, you can't maintain tension properly throughout the movement using a cable

This is still a lot of work overall but much more appropriate. You can drop the volume further if need be.

 

[mickc1965]

Totentanz,

Thanks for your prompt reply, think the short rest periods are a leftover from Myo Rep training. I will start tomorrow on the advice you have given, would you advise the number of sets you have stated for all 3 rep ranges?

 

[Old and Grey]

I am not sure what a rear shoulder raise on a Smith machine is that you refer to but if you are referring to a behind the neck press, drop it in favor of a front press before you cause a shoulder or neck injury that can take months to heal. Personally, I prefer dumbell presses with a neutral grip (palms facing each other) as it causes less strain on the wrist, elbows and shoulders.