Workout frequency

W

wwazza

New Member
I understand that each muscle group must be 3 times a week to adhere to the frequency principle, however I work shifts and have had to scrutinise my shift pattern to calculate when I can get my training in.

Unfortunately to get the workouts within 48hrs of one another I will sometimes have to train before 12 hour nights which will mean no sleep til at least 14 hours after my workout. Also I will have to sometimes train upon waking after a day sleep following a 12 hour night shift, which can leave you feeling a bit groggy.

However it does mean my two week training blocks will look like this:

Week 1-2 ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, OFF
Week 3-4 ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, OFF
Week 5-6 ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, OFF
Week 7-8 ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, ON, OFF, OFF, OFF

It will be OK to have the 3 day break between blocks wont it? its the best I could come up with other wise I would end up sometimes having two days rest between workouts and each block could be up to 17 days long instead of 2 weeks.

As for working around shifts without sleep, I'll just have to make sure I eat and drink enough to keep my going.
 
Just train when it works around your schedule. Workouts do not have to be exactly 48 hours apart. Just 3 times a week whenever works is ok. The important thing is for you to be able to stick to it.
 
There's no problem there mate. I'm going to stick to it alright, I am well comitted to this and want to get the best results possible hence all the questions flying around at the moment.

I must say I am very pleased with everyones responses to my questions.

I aim to stick around and be an active member of this forum as I progress through my training and hopefully help other people out as I learn more and more.

So would it be beneficial to have more than one day rest between workouts, or would my original plan of every other day be better?
 
To add a couple things to what Tot said. 14 hours between working out and sleeping shouldn’t be a problem unless you just need to get your body use to it. I work out in the morning around 8:30 AM go to work at 2:00 PM and don’t get to bed until after Midnight usually. About the only problem I have is dragging ass by the end of my shift when the Deadlifts start getting heavy, but I’d rather be fresh for my workout than for work.

Also, keep in mind you don’t have to wait 48 hours to work out again. Check out the threads on customizing HST and you will find a few people who have scheduled there session 36 hours apart.

Another thing is that two week cycles are not mandatory so your idea of going 17 days is perfectly fine.
 
I'm glad to hear the program is so flexible as I will undoubtedly have to be flexible with having a young family.

I've done my 15RMs today and got some good results doing a warm up set then going for the max. I got through it all in an hour and it was a good and different workout compared to splits. I think I would like to do two full working sets on some exercises, that shouldn't be a problem should it.

Maybe leg exercises, bench and rows.
 
I think I would like to do two full working sets on some exercises, that shouldn't be a problem should it.
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Probably not! The things to consider are how much time you want to spend doing your routine and your recovery ability. As you noted HST principles are actually very flexible which is both good and bad. The good is that as long as you adhere to the principles you will get good results. The bad is that it’s not a simple cookie-cutter “do exactly this routine or you are wrong” system which causes a lot of confusion to those used to such direction.

Note that I’m not bashing the programs that say you must do exactly as I say, since many people respond best to that sort of direction. On the other hand some people (those with the self-awareness and self-discipline) get the best results by customizing a program to their specific needs since no one-size-fits-all program can be “best” for everyone.
 
Thanks for that, I think the main thing to note is the progression of the mechanical load of which I will work out once i've figured all my maxes.

I like to spend at least an hour in the gym so a few extra sets will suit me fine for the 15's and I recover pretty well, but I can judge this as I go through my first cycle.

I may have a problem with the increase in load of pull ups and dips.

I started pull ups with a 10kg weight between my feet, but only managed 6 reps before struggling so I dropped it and continued with bodyweight alone to 15 reps which was to failure. In situations like this how I can I increase mechanical load effectively over my first two weeks. Note: they were wide grip pull ups which I find harder, so I will try close grip pull ups tomorrow to see if I can manage any better, plus I'll go and buy a proper dipping belt.

Similarly with dips I did manage the full 15 with the 10 kg weight, so I'm expecting my progression over the 6 sessions will be something like.

Bodyweight--->BW + 2.5kg--->BW + 5kg--->BW + 7.5--->BW + 10kg--->BW + 12.kg
 
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