When should I fin my maxes?

M

mciarlo1287

New Member
Well, I am in the middle of an HST cycle. I used 15, 12, 10, 8, and 6 as my reps and will finish this cycle 2 weeks before I leave for school. My question is, becasue I'm leaving and will have a whole new gym with new equipment to find my maxes for, is it okay for me to SD and then find them when I get to school---it looks like thats the way the weeks are going to fall. Also, what would be the prefered rep scheme for building mass using rep schemes from 15-2? I have been using 15, 12, 10, 8, and 6 but I want to make sure I'm getting the most of my workouts. Has anyone had success with other schemes?
 
There's no need to find your RMs over again. Simply bump the weights up 5-10 lbs. from the previous cycle. If you extended the end of your cycle in an attempt to add strength, you may want to use slightly larger jumps from the last run through HST.
 
The only reason I ask this is becasue I'm going from a Bowflex to freeweights, and they are NOT the same. I'm just concerned that the switch will throw my weights off and working out will become counterproductive with all time I'll be losing to fix my maxes. As for the reps, I'm not quite sure what you mean....
 
mciarlo,
I too will be returning to college and will go from using a home gym (free weights) to an advanced collegiate level gym--I will need to find new maxes for things like pulldowns, plus some of the rep maxes I found during this cycle were a little too high/or low. In another words, I too will be finding various new rep maxes when I return to college.
I recommend you extend your cycle up the the time you leave for school. Upon your arrival, find your new rep maxes THEN SD.
If you SD first and then find your rep maxes, your body will start the cycle adapting to these heavy lifts, which will reduce the effectiveness of your starting workouts. Good luck.
 
I agree I would fine new maxes as the change in equipment could change the RM.

Also as far as schemes, it really doesn't matter that much whether you do the 15-10-5 or the 15-12-8-5, either way is fine and the differences in results would be miniscule.

Some people have shortened the cyles by not doing 15's, my favorite is to get the most from the highest loading by extending the last RM as far as possible, even weeks.
Dan
 
If I extend my current cycle 2 more weeks, I will have done a 10 week cycle PLUS a week of finding my maxes for a total of 11 weeks. This wont hurt me will it?
 
Longer cycles are generally superior to shorter cycles and no it should not hurt your gains--if anything it will ensure you did the most work your muscles could handle before they SD. I know dkm feels that extending your 5 rep MAX and any negatives for many weeks are very useful--you're making the most out of your heaviest lifts!
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (mciarlo1287 @ Aug. 15 2005,2:21)]This wont hurt me will it?
Click to expand...
Hurt you? Heck no..... ;)

Extending the heaviest portion of the cycle is very beneficial. This can be extended for some time. Go with it until you no longer see any growth or strength increases or until you are just too fried or are feeling overuse strain coming on. For most the 5 RMs/negs can be extended for at least another week and for some much longer.
 
Read this
Negatives, it's not that I do not wish to answer but the more familiar you become with the wealth of information that is already here within this site the easier it will become to answer many questions yourself without elliciting help from others, but even then we are primarily a helpful lot and if you need help just ask. ;)

Dan
 
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