Hi everyone,
Ok I'm making some adjustments to my routine mid cycle after reading a lot of the stuff at Dan's site (dkm1987) and discussing it with him. I was doing a HST cycle 6x a week, single set per bodypart up to 5s and then was intending to do 2 sets in the 5s followed by pulse reps. I was also extending the 5s and post 5s to make a 11 week cycle overall (I wanted to increase the length of the cycle and I had 11 weeks before going on holiday so made sense).
However, I have now changed it to 3x a week as the benefits of 6x a week do not seem to be supported by studies.
The other 2 changes I have made are:
1) Increased the number of reps per set to just below failure as opposed to just doing the prescribed 10/5 etc.
2) Adjusted the overall number of reps per bodypart to ensure work remains constant or increasing over the cycle. As I've just started my 5s I have worked out roughly how many reps I would be doing on the first session of my tens (e.g. for dips it's 1 set of 15 and 1 set of 12 = 27) and therefore I need to do about 27 reps for my chest. For the first session of my '5's I can do about 8, 6, 4 with my workout weight so I then do another set of 9 with a lighter weight but one which I could only do about 11 reps with. This doesn't mean I use my 11rm as obviously fatigue has had an effect by then.
I'm alternating my workouts between these two set ups
1
deadlifts
dips
pull ups
arnold presses
incline curl
one arm db extensions
2
sl deadlifts
leg press
incline db press
seated row
wide grip upright rows (to just above belly button)
incline hammer curls
push downs
For shoulders I will use less sets/overall reps and for my arms I am going to use about 20 reps in 1 drop set (although with a little rest between drops).
Just done my first properly adjusted workout and it felt great. I supersetted my dips and chins so my the upper half of my torso felt like it was about to explode. I also did giant sets of upright rows and arnold presses as I didn't have time to do upright rows in my last session (hadn't taken into account how much longer this workout would take so the gym was closing before I'd finished!
- made my shoulders fee huge but slightly concerned about having done more overall work for shoulders then chest!
First time I've done my arms as described above, felt a nice pump (I know that doesn't tell us much! and was a nice way to finish the arms off without spending too much time on them, expecting most of the growth to come from the compounds etc.
I think that's about it! If anyone is interested and/or got any questions then fire away...
BTW I weighed 200lbs this morning...intend to keep an eye on my weight by weighing myself first thing in the mornings...mind you I was 198lbs yesterday so not sure how reliable that is!!!
Ok I'm making some adjustments to my routine mid cycle after reading a lot of the stuff at Dan's site (dkm1987) and discussing it with him. I was doing a HST cycle 6x a week, single set per bodypart up to 5s and then was intending to do 2 sets in the 5s followed by pulse reps. I was also extending the 5s and post 5s to make a 11 week cycle overall (I wanted to increase the length of the cycle and I had 11 weeks before going on holiday so made sense).
However, I have now changed it to 3x a week as the benefits of 6x a week do not seem to be supported by studies.
The other 2 changes I have made are:
1) Increased the number of reps per set to just below failure as opposed to just doing the prescribed 10/5 etc.
2) Adjusted the overall number of reps per bodypart to ensure work remains constant or increasing over the cycle. As I've just started my 5s I have worked out roughly how many reps I would be doing on the first session of my tens (e.g. for dips it's 1 set of 15 and 1 set of 12 = 27) and therefore I need to do about 27 reps for my chest. For the first session of my '5's I can do about 8, 6, 4 with my workout weight so I then do another set of 9 with a lighter weight but one which I could only do about 11 reps with. This doesn't mean I use my 11rm as obviously fatigue has had an effect by then.
I'm alternating my workouts between these two set ups
1
deadlifts
dips
pull ups
arnold presses
incline curl
one arm db extensions
2
sl deadlifts
leg press
incline db press
seated row
wide grip upright rows (to just above belly button)
incline hammer curls
push downs
For shoulders I will use less sets/overall reps and for my arms I am going to use about 20 reps in 1 drop set (although with a little rest between drops).
Just done my first properly adjusted workout and it felt great. I supersetted my dips and chins so my the upper half of my torso felt like it was about to explode. I also did giant sets of upright rows and arnold presses as I didn't have time to do upright rows in my last session (hadn't taken into account how much longer this workout would take so the gym was closing before I'd finished!
- made my shoulders fee huge but slightly concerned about having done more overall work for shoulders then chest!First time I've done my arms as described above, felt a nice pump (I know that doesn't tell us much!
and was a nice way to finish the arms off without spending too much time on them, expecting most of the growth to come from the compounds etc.I think that's about it! If anyone is interested and/or got any questions then fire away...
BTW I weighed 200lbs this morning...intend to keep an eye on my weight by weighing myself first thing in the mornings...mind you I was 198lbs yesterday so not sure how reliable that is!!!
