TangoDown's Vanilla HST Run

Discussion in 'Training Logs' started by TangoDown, Mar 31, 2014.

  1. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    I'm back.

    Spent the last few months cutting. Went from 180lb to 150lb (I'm 5'8") in about 3.5 months and lost some strength on all my lifts, which I guess is to be expected.

    I haven't seen the strength gains that I've wanted over the past year, and I think that was partially due to not eating enough food. So I figured this cut would give me room to do a nice slow bulk for the rest of this year. And I decided that I'd focus on putting some quality size on. Since I'm only 21, I think I should take advantage of the few years of raging testosterone I have left, so a year of straight HST will do me good.

    These are the lifts I'm going to do:

    Low Bar Squat, Sumo Deadlift, Flat Bench, Weighted Pullups, E-Z Bar Concentration Curls. No direct shoulder work so we'll see if I can't get in 2 sets of bench throughout the 15s and 10s. If I see some good gains during this first cycle, I'll add in some sort of shoulder movement.

    In terms of strength loss due to the 30lb cut:

    Sumo Deadlift down 35lb (not worried. I wasn't deadlifting heavy at all during most of this cut so I think I'll get this back fairly quickly).

    Wasn't squatting recently before cut, but my best was 235lb x 5. Felt like I was good morning the weight up so I have squat shoes now. Much better form but less weight. 220lb is 5RM.

    Bench down 5lb. Currently 175lb x 5.

    Weighted pullups from Belt + 50lb x 4-5 to Belt + 65lb x 5

    Cardio endurance went way up, which is good.

    ____________________________________________________

    Some of my maxes are unfortunately estimated from getting less than x number of reps on test days. For example, I squatted 200lb x 9, so I'm considering 195lb my 10RM. Deadlifted 285lb x 3, so I'm considering 270lb my 5RM.

    Currently on day one of SD. Planning on 9 days even though I haven't taken a day off in 6 months. Guess 9 days is fine.

    Anyway, wish me luck folks.
     
    Last edited: Mar 31, 2014
  2. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    double post. sorry
     
  3. Sci

    Sci Well-Known Member

    Your load progression looks fine.

    As far as diet, I tend to take in less calories naturally on more sedentary days, and take in a lot of calories immediately following a training session.
    If you are 12 hours sedentary, you will not need as much calories generally, unless you just did a big workout right before that.
     
  4. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    http://thinkmuscle.com/forum/showth...ld-re-write-hst-in-2014-what-would-he-change/

    I read through this thread and now I'm a bit worried. 30 reps per session per body part for upper body and 60 reps per lower body? I don't even have close to that. I've got 15-30 reps planned depending on rep range and thus amount of sets achievable for both lower and upper. So that's 30 reps for 15s, 20 reps for 10s, and 10-15 reps for 5s, per body part, per session.

    Didn't think I needed a second movement for each body part, and I don't think it'd be a good idea to sumo deadlift and squat 3 times a week.

    What do you all think? Any ways to remedy this?

    EDIT: Here's a thread I made on the issue. http://thinkmuscle.com/forum/showth...eps-with-my-planned-cycle&p=244478#post244478
     
    Last edited: Apr 5, 2014
  5. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Alright. Think I'm ready to rock. Deleted the post above because I updated my plan. Noticed that bench started with numbers a bit too high for my liking (80%+ of x RMs as opposed to 70-75% of each rep max) and went up by a smaller interval than I liked (sub 5%). Same goes for pullups. So there will be times when a weight will be repeated in two consecutive sessions, but that's fine.

    Sumo DL/Squat were also modified as well. Everything is roughly based on % intervals as opposed to set drops in weight. Gleamed that from Totz E-book.

    Hope I get a good night sleep tonight. Cycle starts tomorrow.
     
  6. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    It begins.

    Stats: 5'8", 150lb

    Squat: 2x15 @ 130lb

    Sumo Deadlift: 1x15 @ 170lb

    Bench Press: 2x15 @ 105lb

    Weighted Pullups: 1x15 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x10 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x4 @ Belt +17.5lb after about 10-20 seconds of rest. Didn't push to 5th rep in fear of failure.

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 2x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 25lb

    Treadmill: 1 Mile, progressively faster until last .15 mile was ran at 9mph.
    ___________________________________________________
    Second sets were done after 2-3 minutes of rest.

    Good to be back in the gym. Squat felt decent. Feet were pointed out a bit more than I like to achieve the depth I like. Gotta get back into the mobility drills I was doing. Did some PNF stretching last night before bed, primarily on the adductors and hip flexors. Bar slowed a bit toward last few reps but that's to be expected. Nice quad pump I haven't noticed in a while after the second set.

    Sumo Deadlift felt easy.

    First set of bench was nothing since it's so light. Second set, fatigue crept in a bit toward the later reps. Mostly felt like lactic acid build up in the triceps, which slowed bar speed a bit.

    Weighted Pullups...this is supposed to be about 70% of my 15 rep max (a 15 rep max I did test, mind you) and I had to cluster my second set because it felt like I would have gone to failure on rep 12 or 13 had I just pushed through. Didn't gain any weight on SD...weird. Hopefully it's just conditioning since even though there's a significant percentage difference between 17.5lb and 25lb, the actual difference in weight isn't much. I'm wondering if it might also be fatigue from the sumo deadlifts too. Since I'm not deadlifting next session and repeating the pullup weight, I might be able to see if that's the case.

    Regardless, I can feel the lat soreness coming in only an hour after finishing up.

    Considering that biceps get hit during pullups (even though they're overhand pullups so I'm guessing brachialis is the primary synergist on the arms), I might stick to 1 set of 15s from now on for the E-Z bar concentration curls.

    1000 calories into 3000 and already 90 grams of protein in. Upping the calories definitely makes it easier to deal with.
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2014
  7. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 150lb

    Squat: 2x15 @ 140lb

    Bench Press: 2x15 @ 105lb

    Weighted Pullups: 1x15 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x11 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x4 @ Belt +17.5lb after about 10-20 seconds of rest.

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 25lb, 1x9 (not to failure, just didn't feel like continuing).

    Elliptical: 10 minutes at a moderate resistance.
    _____________________________________________

    Everything felt even easier save for pullups. Feels like I only have 1 more rep left in the tank on the first set, and I still can't complete the second set without clustering. I think I'm going drop the weight down to Belt + 15lb for the next couple sessions, and then jump up to Belt + 20lb on the 5th session and see how that feels. Don't really want to have to cluster so early into the cycle.

    Curls, though the current weight isn't that heavy, I feel like with weighted pullups, I'm already hitting biceps enough so that I don't need a second set.

    My spinal erectors felt like they might have been in spasm after squats. They feel fine now but I might do some deep tissue massage on 'em later.

    Hamstrings feel trashed.
     
  8. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 151.5lb (+ 1.5lb)

    Squat: 2x15 @ 150lb

    Sumo Deadlift: 1x15 @ 200lb

    Bench Press: 2x15 @ 115lb

    Weighted Pullups: 1x15 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x9 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x1 @ Belt +17.5lb after about 10-20 seconds of rest.

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 30lb, 1x10 @ Bar + 30lb.

    Treadmill: Progressively faster until last .15 mile was ran at 9mph. Ran until 100 calories burned, which is a bit less than a mile.
    ___________________________________________________

    Quads were super pumped after squatting, which carried over to sumo deadlift. By rep 10 of sumo DL I had to pause for 5-10 seconds due to lactic acid buildup and being out of breath, but bar speed didn't really slow down much throughout the set.

    Bench felt fine. Notice that though I always maintain an arch in my lower back, I lose some of it a few reps in. Seems I press out of it. I've never been too good at getting a real high chest and feeling all that stable and machine-like throughout a set of bench press like I see a lot of people capable of doing. Really have to work on keeping the feet pressed hard into the ground throughout the set. I have to bench with toes up because I don't feel like I can effectively press into the floor with heels down.

    Pullups, I decided to stick with the same weight. Not really worried about not moving the load up because the spread between my 15RM and 10RM is such that I'm not going to be repeating any of the 15 rep mesocycle weights. Considering that I'll be gaining weight throughout the cycle, I have to take that into account, so I'll probably have to drop my numbers a bit to compensate. I can't imagine I'll still have a, say belt + 45lb 10 rep max when I'm 4-6lb heavier than I was when I originally tested it.

    Having to cluster again, and this time getting even less reps before saying "fuck it" (probably due to progressively heavier deadlift/squat fatiguing my back muscles), I'm gonna spend the rest of the 15 rep mesocycle doing only 1 set of weighted pullups. Same goes for curls as well. At this point I feel like my 15RM for curls should be the same that it was, but I'm not going to get 2 sets of it. Pullups, I feel like my 15RM will be Belt + 20lb, which is 5lb less than what it was when I tested it. Whatever. Hopefully it catches up and if it doesn't, my is back by far my strongest asset.
     
  9. Jester

    Jester Well-Known Member

    Drop the curls, they're useless when you're doing chins/pulls. All you'll do is fatigue one of the smallest muscles you're training, and probably make your elbows a bit grumpy.
     
  10. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    But I like curls :(.
     
    Browner likes this.
  11. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 151.5lb

    Squat: 2x15 @ 160lb

    Bench Press: 2x15 @ 125lb

    Weighted Pullups: 1x15 @ Belt + 17.5lb , 1x12 @ Belt + 17.5lb

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown)

    Treadmill: Progressively faster until last .15 mile was ran at 9mph. Ran until 100 calories burned, which is a bit less than a mile.
    ___________________________________________________

    Had to bench first since the squat rack was taken when I got there by a typical half squatter. Bench felt fine, though I'm starting to wish I just dropped it in favor of incline due to stability issues.

    First set of squat felt kind of slow, so I decided to use the crappy "bodybuilder" belt the gym has that I was using throughout my cut just to see if it'd make a difference and bar speed was way faster the second set. Don't know if it actually provided improved proprioception because it's not a regular powerlifting belt which is uniform in width but one of those cheap ones with the fat back. Could be purely psychological. I should probably buy a good belt.

    and lol, now that I think about it, I might have squatted 165lb instead of 160lb. Whatever. Next session is 170lb.

    Decided to be dumb and do a second set of pullups despite having to cluster this weight throughout the 15s. Got more reps but the final rep was questionable. Stupid me.

    At least I only did 1 set of curls.

    Next session I'll be doing my 15RM of sumo DL.
     
  12. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 151.5lb

    Squat: 1x15 @ 170lb

    Sumo Deadlift: 1x15 @ 230lb

    Bench Press: 1x15, 1x14 @ 135lb

    Weighted Pullups: 1x15 @ Belt + 20lb

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 35lb

    Treadmill: Ran 1 mile, progressively faster until last .10 mile was ran at 9mph.
    ___________________________________________________

    Only did a set of squats because I didn't want to fatigue the lower body too much before 15rm of deadlift.

    Sumo deadlift was done with the crappy body building belt simply because it helps me feel my shit get tight before I pull. I didn't pound out the reps since 15RM of deadlift is hard, so instead, after about 8-10 reps, I had to rest in the bottom position to catch my breath and stomach the lactic acid pains in my quads. Rest time between reps (obviously without letting go of the bar) was 5-10 seconds by the end.

    Think I had maybe 2-3 reps left in the tank until quads would have exploded.

    First set of bench went fine. Second set I didn't get 15 because the guy standing off to the side just in case I failed swooped in and racked the bar after a slow rep 14. That's fine. Better one rep less than failure.

    Speaking of which, decided to up the weight by 2.5lb for pullups. 15th rep was questionable but that might have been due to 15RM Sumo DL. Will repeat next time. So I guess this is my 15RM, as opposed to the Belt + 25lb I had tested previously. Could be due to weight gain.

    Concentration curl 15RM completed successfully.

    My gym is closed on Sunday, so I'm thinking of making it over another gym far away, paying the guest fee, and using their power rack for my 15RM squat. Either that, or I can wait until Monday and ask someone to spot me. When I tested 180lb x 15 before SDing, it felt like I had at least another rep in me, so I might be fine, but we'll see.
     
  13. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 152lb (+0.5lb)

    Squat: 1x15, 1x13 (not to failure) @ 180lb

    Bench Press: 1x15, 1x10 (not to failure) @ 145lb

    Weighted Pullups: 1x15 @ Belt + 20lb

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 35lb

    Treadmill: 1 mile, progressively faster until last .15 mile was ran at 9mph.
    ___________________________________________________

    Squat was done with crappy bodybuilder belt. First set was amazingly easy. Felt like I could have done at least another 3-5 reps. Second set was slower, so I didn't take it to 15 reps because no spot and no safety pins/power rack. Not trying to die lol.

    Bench, 145lb x 15 felt good. Didn't actually get to test this max to fruition before SD (bar hit the rack during the set), so it seems my estimation was correct. Second set was a lot slower, and it felt like I would have only gotten 13 reps or so, and my spotter wasn't the greatest, so I just called it a day at 10 reps.

    Pullups, again, 15th rep was questionable in terms of the chin clearing the bar, but I'll count it.

    Concentration Curls, final rep was insanely slow but it got done.

    Gym scale said I only gained 0.5lb since last week, which doesn't make any sense. Besides the gym, long days at campus cause me to be pretty sedentary and I'm eating 3000 calories on workout days at 2500 on rest days (I work out in the morning so that "24 hour anabolic protein synthesis" window has dissipated by the morning of my rest day). On the other hand, my home scale says I'm 153lb-154lb. Don't know what to trust.

    I guess I can up my calories this week and see where I'm at when I weigh in next week. If I've gained too much, I'll adjust accordingly.
     
  14. Jester

    Jester Well-Known Member

    I don't think you should be belting up for squats at this stage, and definitely eat more.
     
  15. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Only been doing it on rep max days. Will drop the belt at post 5s and do the continuation of 5RM without it. That way, I'll know how strong I am without a belt and can adjust new numbers accordingly for next cycle and then think about dropping the belt completely.

    Yeah, I'm going to have to. But more food is fine with me.
     
  16. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Oh lawd doms galore
     
  17. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 152lb

    Squat: 3x10 @ 150lb

    Sumo Deadlift: Warmup 1x8 @ 135lb, 2x10 @ 180lb

    Bench Press: Warmup 1x5 @ 85lb, 3x10 @ 120lb

    Weighted Pullups: Warmup BW x 5, 2x10 @ Belt + 27.5lb

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 25lb

    Treadmill: Ran 1 mile, progressively faster until last .25 mile was ran at 9mph.
    ___________________________________________________

    Don't particularly know if I need to warm up with such light weight. Will probably drop it next time.

    You guys think I should keep deadlift volume at 2x10 or lower it to 1x10?
     
  18. gbglifter

    gbglifter Member

    I know you like the bicurls but have you tried chins (supinated grip) instead? My biceps have grown more with heavy chins rhan anything else IVe ever done.

    See how 2x10 feels. I generally only did one set of deads, when I did them.
     
  19. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    I purely do pullups. The bar at my gym is fat so chins feel really awkward.
     
  20. TangoDown

    TangoDown Member

    Stats: 5'8", 152lb

    Squat: 3x10 @ 160lb

    Bench Press: 3x10 @ 130lb

    Weighted Pullups: 2x10 @ Belt + 30lb

    E-Z Bar Concentration Curls: 1x15 @ Bar (weight unknown) + 25lb

    Treadmill: Ran 1 mile, progressively faster until last .10 mile was ran at 9mph.
    __________________________________

    Noticed my gym bought a couple 5lb plastic bumper plates. They also purchased a TRX a while back, and changed out all the cardio and weight machines.

    Yet it takes them 4 weeks to replace one broken dumbbell and they can't be bothered to put down $300-$400 on a fucking power rack because "not enough people will use it."

    San Francisco's exercise scene has always been for the 120lb techies and yuppies that dominate this city. I can only name a couple of decent gyms (that are too far away from me to work for my schedule) outside of the national clubs like 24 Hour (which use hex plates and bans chalk and deadlifting at many of the locations), Planet Fitness (which everyone knows is more like Curves with free pizza), and Crossfit.

    One of these days, when I'm a lot stronger and set in my career, if I make the salary, I'll be investing in a real gym. Bumper plates, power racks, and deadlift platforms. Make as much noise as you like and bury yourself in chalk.
     
    Last edited: Apr 25, 2014

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