I
imported_domineaux
Guest
I've started making a small change in my HST workouts.
When I start an exercise I've taken to doing one warmup set at about 10-20% less of the weight I believe I'm competent to workout with. I do as many reps as I can stopping before failure. This gives me a better idea of just how many reps I can expect to attain at the rep range I'm training.
Example:
Incline DB presses and I'm in my 5s.
I select a weight just lower than my last workout of the exercise in the 5s. I do as many reps without failure at this weight as I can. If I feel the last rep means altering my position or involving other muscle groups I immediately stop.
When I start my 5 set I'm well tuned in to know what weight I can manage 5 reps. I then do a set at this weight.
I found that by immediately incrementing the weight higher on the first set determined from my last workout I was often not competent enough with the increased weight. I guess I don't have a textbook body response. LOL
Sometimes I may actually repeat the same weight for several workouts by doing this, but I've not experienced any injuries since doing it this way and my progress seems very good.
The reason I started doing this is because I was having so much difficulty maintaining a steady workout schedule required by HST. This way I've been able to keep the progressively highter loads required in HST, but allowing for the times I am not physically competent to carry on per strict HST training.
I don't follow this on every exercise of course, because I do have a pretty good feel for my competence level for loading most of time.
This has worked well also when I transition from the 15s to the 10s to the 5s.
This may sound funny, but I know it's not unique. Many times when I go to a higher weight level I am competent to do more reps than the training cycle I'm currently working. Example, I may be in the 10s...when I do the warmup set at 10% less weight than I planned I'm strong enough to get off 16 reps. I know then that I need to go higher on my actual workout set than I had originally planned.
Interestingly, I don't have to do a lot of planning and tracking of my training progress, because I'm really flowing so much better with my current strength at each exercise.
Don't get me wrong as you read this. I do diligently strive to maintain the number of reps per HST cycle and continually increase the loading.
I'd be very interested to hear from others about training this way and/or how it could possible affect progress.
When I start an exercise I've taken to doing one warmup set at about 10-20% less of the weight I believe I'm competent to workout with. I do as many reps as I can stopping before failure. This gives me a better idea of just how many reps I can expect to attain at the rep range I'm training.
Example:
Incline DB presses and I'm in my 5s.
I select a weight just lower than my last workout of the exercise in the 5s. I do as many reps without failure at this weight as I can. If I feel the last rep means altering my position or involving other muscle groups I immediately stop.
When I start my 5 set I'm well tuned in to know what weight I can manage 5 reps. I then do a set at this weight.
I found that by immediately incrementing the weight higher on the first set determined from my last workout I was often not competent enough with the increased weight. I guess I don't have a textbook body response. LOL
Sometimes I may actually repeat the same weight for several workouts by doing this, but I've not experienced any injuries since doing it this way and my progress seems very good.
The reason I started doing this is because I was having so much difficulty maintaining a steady workout schedule required by HST. This way I've been able to keep the progressively highter loads required in HST, but allowing for the times I am not physically competent to carry on per strict HST training.
I don't follow this on every exercise of course, because I do have a pretty good feel for my competence level for loading most of time.
This has worked well also when I transition from the 15s to the 10s to the 5s.
This may sound funny, but I know it's not unique. Many times when I go to a higher weight level I am competent to do more reps than the training cycle I'm currently working. Example, I may be in the 10s...when I do the warmup set at 10% less weight than I planned I'm strong enough to get off 16 reps. I know then that I need to go higher on my actual workout set than I had originally planned.
Interestingly, I don't have to do a lot of planning and tracking of my training progress, because I'm really flowing so much better with my current strength at each exercise.
Don't get me wrong as you read this. I do diligently strive to maintain the number of reps per HST cycle and continually increase the loading.
I'd be very interested to hear from others about training this way and/or how it could possible affect progress.
