Wildmans log of HST trial cycle one...

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(electric @ Oct. 01 2008,11:39)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Wildman, thanks for the extensive information on your training routine. With RP you mean your repetition max at the time or you created a weight goal for the lift and used it as an indicator?</div>
Yeah, single repitition max is what I was driving at. It is not a hard rule either but a general rule of thumb. Just make the first phase weights heavy enough to make an 8 - 10 rep set difficult and it is ok to ramp the weights. Same with the second phase, make it hard to get 4 - 6 reps and ramp up the weight in your sets to your peak working set. You are trying to build some hypertrophy in the first phase and shifting to a strength focus during the second. The taper lets you recover prior to the meet and possibly even set new PRs.
 
Wednesday - Week Six

Bench Press  315# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Barbell Row  245# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Squat  380# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 5 - Felt good and heavy. Had slight pain in right hip so didnt push all I had in me.
Military Press  180# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - Good deal! I need more shoulder power to reach my goals. On the road I think.
Barbell Shrug  395# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Barbell Calf Raise  395# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - I can do more for these but have been SS these with shrugs out of convenience.
Lying Tricep Extension  130# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - I need to be doing more!
Barbell Curl  120# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - I need to be doing more!
Weighted Situp  BW + 35# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 8 - These are getting easier for my big butt now. Good.

Notes: Was pleased to meet all the expected weights. I think that we could have used a 12% calculation and hit our weights right on. Several of these I had another one or two left in me except squats and rows. Stretched real well last night and have no hip pain today.

Arm work is below what I want to see. I have been doing these very strict and slow, 2/3 cadence. Thinking about letting out the stops on these and going to a 1/1 cadence and ramping up the weight a little more.
 
Bench Press  315# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6

Dag, Wildman, I'd be pleased to deadlift that much...!

Squat  380# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 5 - Felt good and heavy. Had slight pain in right hip so didnt push all I had in me.

I get that hip pain as well. Mine seems to come from a sore gluteus medius.

Barbell Shrug  395# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Barbell Calf Raise  395# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - I can do more for these but have been SS these with shrugs out of convenience.

I've begun using the same weight for shrugs and calf raises, too. I do both in the power rack, and it saves having to reload the bar.

Notes: ... Stretched real well last night and have no hip pain today.

I may have to try some stretching. When the weights start getting heavy, my hips (muscle, not joints) begin to hurt.
 
Thursday - Week Six

Fast walk for three miles

Notes: Decorated the house for Halloween after my walk. It looks pretty good. We beat the neighbors to the decorating punch so Wildwoman was pleased.
 
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(TunnelRat @ Oct. 02 2008,3:51)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Bench Press  315# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6

Dag, Wildman, I'd be pleased to deadlift that much...!

Squat  380# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 5 - Felt good and heavy. Had slight pain in right hip so didnt push all I had in me.

I get that hip pain as well. Mine seems to come from a sore gluteus medius.

Barbell Shrug  395# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Barbell Calf Raise  395# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - I can do more for these but have been SS these with shrugs out of convenience.

I've begun using the same weight for shrugs and calf raises, too. I do both in the power rack, and it saves having to reload the bar.

Notes: ... Stretched real well last night and have no hip pain today.

I may have to try some stretching. When the weights start getting heavy, my hips (muscle, not joints) begin to hurt.</div>
I have not been stretching as much as I like to. I miss having a Roman Chair available as I did when I used a gym. Sometimes adding a bit of hyper extension work helps prevent this for me. I think the damage comes from deadlifts and no so much the squat. I am going to do some Cat Cows and Swims tonight to warm up.
 
Friday - Week Six

Dumbell Bench Press 95# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6 - These had felt light so I went up
Lat Pull 270# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Deadlift 380# 10 singles, 305# 1 X 8
Dumbell Shoulder Press 75# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6
Close Grip Bench Press 270# 1 X 5, 1 X 5, 1 X 6
Seated Dumbell Curl 45# 1 X 5, 1 X 6, 1 X 6

Notes: Abbreviated workout today. My partner had to lift early so I did my work in my home gym. I left my straps at my partners house, which sucked. I had to settle for single attempts in deadlift. I just cant hold the thick bar I have at home long enough for reps. Overall good workout still.
 
Monday - Week Seven

Bench Press 325# 1 X 3 + 2 Neg., 1 X 2 + 3 Neg., 1 X 1 + 4 Neg.
Barbell Row 260# 1 X 5, 1 X 5, 1 X 4, 1 X 1
Squat 400# 1 X 3 + 2 Partial, 1 X 3 + 2 Partial, 1 X 2 + 3 Partial
Military Press 195# 1 X 3 + 2 Neg., 1 X 2 + 3 Neg., 1 X 2 + 3 Neg.
Barbell Shrug 415# 1 X 5, 1 X 5, 1 X 4, 1 X 1
Lying Tricep Extension 140# 1 X 5, 1 X 5, 1 X 4, 1 X 1
Barbell Curl 130# 1 X 5, 1 X 5, 1 X 5 - Last rep was a slight cheat but I earned that puppy!

Notes: As expected the intensity increase netted longer rest periods. We dropped the calf and ab work to keep us in the 90 minute window. It all felt nice and heavy. We will only make small progressions now as we go.

Will be out Wednesday for root canal and extraction work.
 
Wildman, that's a nice lot of work there.

I hope you decide to try Max-stim for bb curls; that's the way I first tried out the technique. It was a great way to test it out and get to grips with changing M-time between reps. The temptation is to do more continuous reps at the start but it's best to stick to the plan (ie. M-time between each rep, even the first ones) and get all the reps without hitting failure along the way. I got an incredible deep feeling of strain in my bis after the 20 reps were done. Starting out with a set of 15-20 reps @ 130lb would be a good place to start and then build up from there.

Hope your hips hold out.
 
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(Lol @ Oct. 07 2008,1:32)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Wildman, that's a nice lot of work there.

I hope you decide to try Max-stim for bb curls; that's the way I first tried out the technique. It was a great way to test it out and get to grips with changing M-time between reps. The temptation is to do more continuous reps at the start but it's best to stick to the plan (ie. M-time between each rep, even the first ones) and get all the reps without hitting failure along the way. I got an incredible deep feeling of strain in my bis after the 20 reps were done. Starting out with a set of 15-20 reps @ 130lb would be a good place to start and then build up from there.

Hope your hips hold out.</div>
My partner is not hip to the idea. I had him do milk squats with me for a couple sessions and he puked. Poor guy. That was for squats only. We may try the Max-Stim on those isolations and maybe pulls and presses. We planned to try out all the techniques for extending the 5s with an eye towards negatives where possible.

I like the idea of the Max-Stim and may try a full cycle of the technique in the future. With such a short time left it will be hard to nail the M-Time I imagine. You are right about the tendency to go all out in the early reps. Milk squats have the same pitfall since it is instinctive and we didnt unload from the bar for the entire set.

I told him all this and still couldnt sell him on the idea. The big wuss, heh.
 
Trying it for curls is absolutely the best way to have a go at Max-stim. It's very different to trying milk squats; fatigue build up is minimal and there's no real metcon effect by comparison, so no pukey feeling - just a nice, deep muscle strain!  
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Judging M-time is fairly instinctive as long as you're not new to training (which you are not). You just have to watch that you don't go too quickly for the first five reps as you would obviously be able to do them consecutively (assuming you are using your 5RM). Just leave about 10 seconds between reps for the first five and then work from there; you'll know when you can get the next rep. Be sure to fully deload between each rep. (If you can use a rack - without bugging anybody else - it's ideal for MS bb curls as you can easily put the bar down and quickly pick it up again without any fuss.) Gradually increase the M-time as necessary; you should find you can stay below 30 secs or less even for the last reps.

Personally, I would never want to use Max-Stim for squats but I think it lends itself very well to machines as these usually allow you to fully deload easily between reps.
 
Wednesday - Week Seven

Had my three and a half hour marathon of pain at the dentist. Well it wasnt that bad. They gave me a Ukrainian dentist and she was very cute. Her assistant was even more cute. Having two pretty girls douting over me made it very tolerable. The dentist pulled out the drill mis procedure and forgot to release the trigger. Shot me square in the face with the water jet. I told her later that next visit I am bringing a squirt gun for some payback.

I assisted my partner in his lifts this evening as I was told not to lift for a few days. He set some new PRs and has really made great progress this cycle. I am anxious to see the results but am still waiting to take new measurements until the SD.

Rest time for my partner went through the roof on the deadlifts. It took him nearly twenty minutes to get through all three sets. He made all the lifts which is good. As noted for Monday the abdominal and calf work was removed so that we could finish within 90 minutes.

My partner was able to make the jump I had planned for dumbell bench press to 115#. I had felt this was light all along and was correct. He hit all three sets with some difficulty. I expect to be able to do the same. We are very close on most lifts.

Looking forward to getting back at it on Friday. Two days should be enough to knit up I think.
 
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(Wildman @ Oct. 09 2008,9:36)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Looking forward to getting back at it on Friday. Two days should be enough to knit up I think.</div>
Yup, good luck with that. Root canals are not nearly as much fun as they are cracked up to be...
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(BAX67 @ Oct. 12 2008,1:53)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Hey Wildman, have you done a full Squats and Milk cycle and if you have, was the gain worth the pain?  
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Yes and it was worth it. When I was being trained for PL in my early twenties I was introduced to the milk squat routine in my third year of training. I was started on the 5 X 5 during the first couple of years and then used both 5 X 5 and a periodized program for hypertrophy mixed in.

The fella that was training me had me do milk squat sessions at this point. These were not so much a regimine to increase my 1 PR weight directly but more a technique to spark some new growth. The idea is that the long duration heavy work loads would release more hormones. I believe this to be the case as well.

We would run these between strength cycles for 4 - 8 weeks with an eye on hypertrophy work for all the other muscles. When I would go back to power training I would always set new PRs.

Once you reach your maximum strength levels for your size then you have to increase your size (muscle cross section size) to continue increasing your strength. I believe that the milk squats routine did just that. We applied the milk squats technique to deadlifts and cleans as well. I didnt do too much oly lifting but cleans was a great tool for improving deadlifting and exploding upwards for squating power as well.
 
Friday - Week Seven

Bench Press 335# 1 X 2 + 3 Neg., 1 X 2 + 3 Neg., 1 X 1 + 4 Neg.
Barbell Row 270# 1 X 4, 1 X 4, 1 X 3, 1 X 3, 1 X 2
Squat 410# 1 X 3 + 2 Partial, 1 X 2 + 3 Partial, 1 X 2 + 3 Partial
Military Press 205# 1 X 2 + 3 Neg., 1 X 2 + 3 Neg., 1 X 1 + 4 Neg.
Barbell Shrug 425# 1 X 5, 1 X 5, 1 X 4, 1 X 1

Notes: Very heavy work now. It has been so sweet doing negatives again. It has been years since I had a partner and could do these. The joints are holding up fine.

Had to cut out the arm isolation work do to other plans made by Wildwoman for me this night but my arms worked pretty damn hard in the core lifts. Ill be back to the arm work for the last week.
 
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(Wildman @ Oct. 13 2008,9:15)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(BAX67 @ Oct. 12 2008,1:53)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Hey Wildman, have you done a full Squats and Milk cycle and if you have, was the gain worth the pain?  
rock.gif
</div>
Yes and it was worth it. When I was being trained for PL in my early twenties I was introduced to the milk squat routine in my third year of training. I was started on the 5 X 5 during the first couple of years and then used both 5 X 5 and a periodized program for hypertrophy mixed in.

The fella that was training me had me do milk squat sessions at this point. These were not so much a regimine to increase my 1 PR weight directly but more a technique to spark some new growth. The idea is that the long duration heavy work loads would release more hormones. I believe this to be the case as well.

We would run these between strength cycles for 4 - 8 weeks with an eye on hypertrophy work for all the other muscles. When I would go back to power training I would always set new PRs.

Once you reach your maximum strength levels for your size then you have to increase your size (muscle cross section size) to continue increasing your strength. I believe that the milk squats routine did just that. We applied the milk squats technique to deadlifts and cleans as well. I didnt do too much oly lifting but cleans was a great tool for improving deadlifting and exploding upwards for squating power as well.</div>
Thanks Wildman, that's what I was looking for.
 
Well my partner is out for the week. His job pulled him away and he is going out of town on Friday. This means a good time for SD. I still lifted last night but no way to get the negatives in without him. I took measurements yesterday afternoon before the workout to see the results.


My results cold flexed measurements...


Starting measurements:

Neck - 20&quot;
Upper Arm - 19.5&quot;
Forearm - 14.5&quot; (I think that is too thin and will work on that I think)
Chest - 58&quot;
Waist - 46.75&quot; (Yuck! but it will be a while before I cut. I did it to myself.)
Upper Thigh - 29.5&quot;
Calf - 20.5&quot;

Ending measurements:

Neck - 20.25&quot;
Upper Arm - 20.25&quot; Nice!
Forearm - 15&quot; A pleasant surprise for me.
Chest - 60&quot; That is huge! I had to stop wearing some shirts after the tens so I knew it was working.
Waist - 47&quot; No surprise on a bulk...
Upper Thigh - 30.5&quot; Very nice
Calf - 21&quot;
 
Yeah I was very pleased. I cant expect that for every cycle. The volume type work I was doing before was not giving me hyper-trophy like this. I did get seperation of muscle heads and some vascularity from that kind of work. I believe that it actually made my measurements smaller than what I was doing the 5 X 5 to be honest. So these gains were a recovery of the lost size IMO.

Thanks for the support guys. That is one the most valuable things about this site to me. The people all pull for one another and that is a tremendous boost. There are other sites I frequent but do not post much on. A lot of trollers and such there.
 
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