HST compliance

S

Sruleg

New Member
Hi everybody,
I'm new on the board and new to HST (but not to weight training). I'm curious of a number of things - is biggest one is how my current training is compliant with HST, but also of some theoretical stuff.
Could you please help me with your answers?

a) Is HST compatible with DUP setup (e.g. x5 - x8 - x10) ? Keeping in mind that weekly weight progression, SD and frequent training are there...
The experienced / older lifter could benefit more from doing heavier stuff often (e.g. x5 every week) and going for more volume (DUP is suitable for more volume). Supposedly RBE would be negated by hitting the heaviest weight just one time a week and progressing the load. Right?

b) What physiological mechanism is RBE based on? What particular structure is becoming robust? Is it cytoskeleton? Are there any other ways of muscle cell remodeling in response to loaded stretching? Why not adding a serial sarcomere? How does the tension trigger the remodeling (is there a threshold? - since some degree of stretch / tension is always present)

Best regards
 
Daily Undulating Periodization is certainly compatible with HST and is what I use. Some studies suggest it may be superior to to weekly or bi-monthly periodization. And yes it should help with RBE but not by hitting the heavier weights less per week as you suggest but by hitting the higher reps (10-15) less times in a row. You can likely go at least 6 weeks at 5 reps without hitting serious RBE.

Your second question needs to be answered by someone with more knowledge than me. :confused:
 
Great to get an answer that fast :)
I've meant almost the same thing, but haven't brought it up good enough: what I've meant was "hitting heavier weight at least once a week every week"

What do you think - would it affect / influence the size of weight increments? Could the weight increments be somewhat smaller to make the difference between (multi-rep)-RM and the corresponding starting weight also smaller?

What I've seen is the weight increments are rather big (7,5 - 10 kilo for 100-200 5 RM), which makes starting weights relatively low: for 125kg 5RM the starting weight for x5 should be 87,5 kg (which is appr 60% 1 RM (145 kg) - way too low!). The starting weight for x15 should be at 65 kg, which is my first warm-up weight (well, not 65 - but 60).
Even when accounting for SD, the 1 RM wouldn't drop below 132,5 which makes the first x5 weight equal to 65%.

Is it OK in terms of MU recruitment?
Btw, I haven't seen any stuff concerning recruiting in HST documentation. How it is addressed?
 
I start a new cycle at about 65%-70% of RM. I usually use 6 week cycles and increment about 5% per week. I work out 5 times per week the first two weeks, 4 times per week the second two weeks and 3 times per week the last two week when I am approaching RM. Muscle fiber recruitment depends to a large extent on how advanced a lifter you are. Not in terms of years lifting but in terms of results and how near to your genetic potential you are. There are many tools available to help with muscle recruitment but they are merely tools to use within the framework of HST principles as you progress. Have you read Totz's E-book? I would not worry too much about advanced techniques until you have gotten to the point of where you have stalled after exhausting all his ideas.
 
Totz like Totentanz? Sure I have...
When speaking about recruitment I mean the recruitment of high-threshold MUs from the first reps of a set as opposed to asynch recruitment - when the full engagement of the fibers is reached when approaching failure. Just because we are far from failure most of the time within the framework of HST... Theoretically it (full recruitment from the beginning of the set) should happen at appr 75% of 1 RM assuming we do the rep explosively. Which makes weights from 70-72% of 1 RM up (should be appr 12 RM - which in order translates into x10 @RPE8) more productive than lighter weights... Do you agree on this?

Do you start a new cycle at 65%-70% of 1 RM or at the same percentage of multi-rep RM for each particular rep step?

What I've also seen is starting a cycle a bit heavier in weight, keeping the increment at 5% and repeating weights (the heavier weight for each rep step - so 15 RM, 10 RM and 5 RM) to have 6 training units for each rep step. Do you find it better than using the smaller weight increments?

And is it really so that HST places a great special emphasis on keeping the weight increments big (5%+)?
 
I start at 70% of my max RM for that rep cycle, not my 1 RM.

Since I only do 12 and 8 rep cycles now and repeat them during the week, I increase weight each week and not from one day to the next. If I did that, I would hit my max too early.

I have read that you should increase weights big time, every time. However, that is not possible for me the way I structure my workouts. I think what really matters is that you have a big swing from your first set at light weights to your last set at heavy weights.
 
<<I think what really matters is that you have a big swing from your first set at light weights to your last set at heavy weights.<<
But does it matter in what timeframe should "a big swing" happen?

Just another idea... It looks like it isn't necessary to "fight RBE" every workout, but doing it e.g. once a week could be enough, there is a suggestion for DUP setup (3 rep ranges, e.g. 10-8-6): keeping weights for higher ranges almost constant (using autoregulation?), ramping weight for the 6-es. Thus we (a) provide a weekly source for microtrauma (should be enough to counter RBE) and (b) manage to keep the weights for all the sessions from the very beginning of a cycle high enough to engage high-threshold MUs. What do you think?
 
why? having high-rep work done near corresponding rep RM places more tension directly on high-threshold MUs (hypertrophy-responsive MUs) than sub-maximal work. As for low-rep work, even if working sub-maximally you have enough weight to create tension to engage high-threshold MUs from the beginning of a set - so you start low rep work sub-maximally and keep adding weight from week to week (to over-run RBE). The effect of low-rep work if it really manages to make muscle cells leaky should last for a week and than you repeat the low-rep session with added weight... Not sure if it works in practice that logical, but for me it has at least some sense...

And could you please comment on the timeframe (previous post)? Is it a normal 6-weeks cycle?
 
Think progression if you are a believer in HST. You also had not mentioned near RM in your original post although it may have been implied in your penultimate sentence, Not clear. That would change my answer to a "maybe" but why work harder than you have to to achieve the same results? Try it and report back your results.

Yes, until you hit your 5 RM.
 
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