Questions about Cluster HST 6x/week

[jww13]

For this cycle, I decided to the following things:

1. full body 6x/week
2. cluster reps w/ lightweight "metabolic set" of 10-15 reps
3. use loads from 65% to 90% of my 1RM (6 total loads, +5% increments)
4. count calories! (never done this before)

I have a few questions about these things...

1. 6x/week is better than 3x/week if volume remains equal, correct?

2. how many total load reps should I aim for per muscle? Is 10 enough, 15, 20?

3. since I'm doing 6x a week but only have 6 total increments, how many days should I do each load? Obviously this cycle will be pretty short, probably only 4 weeks. Is it okay to do each load 4 days in a row, then increase?

4. i'm at 2800/day right now, how much weight/week should I aim for?


thanks

 

[jww13]

bump.

vicious? dkm? anyone?

 

[kfd]

I'm definitely not as knowledgeable as they, but I'll try to help you.

Quote[/b] ]4. count calories! (never done this before)

Correct! Providing sufficient amount of calories and macronutrients seems to be especially important with 6x/week. If only you eat enough you'll probably obtain pretty decent gains.

1 - yes, frequency is extremely important factor.

2 - there's no clear answer, it's quite complex, but I'd say 20 is fine. At least for me.

3 - I think repeating the same load 4 times is not very effective. I'd say do it every other workout.

4 - not sure what you mean

 

[Totentanz]

I'm not totally convinced that higher frequency is always better than 3 times a week. Especially if you are trying to bulk, doing more frequent could hinder your gains because you will have a hard time getting enough calories. I like doing it more than 3 times a week though, and I think you should give it a shot.

2800 calories may not be enough for that kind of frequency. Keep a close eye on your calories and your weight gain. I try to shoot for 1 to 2 pounds of gain each week, aside from the daily fluctuations from water and such. If your weight is staying the same or worse, going down, bump up your calories pronto. Especially since you are going to do 6 times a week, I think you can afford to overestimate your calories and then compensate later, rather than underestimate.

When doing very high frequency, I sometimes repeat a weight for three days in a row. I would try to avoid going longer than that, but that's just a personal preference.

Anyway, I'm interested to see how this works for you. I think the deciding factor in this is going to be your diet, so just keep a really close eye on those calories and don't be afraid to increase them.

 

[noobie]

It worked pretty well for me toten. I guess it's because I'm a funky endomorph with a decent bit of fat on me. I think it's helped quite a bit with nutrition partitioning. I guess the higher frequency helps with us guys that can't really keep track of the exact macro ratios and everything we eat because of school and crap so it's a good way for us not to gain too much fat also. I guess it's up to the person?


pzhang

 

[imported_dkm1987]

Quote[/b] (jww13 @ June 24 2005,9:41)]bump.
vicious? dkm? anyone?

I already spilled my guts out to ya

Quote[/b] (kfd Posted on June 25 2005 @ 10:31 )]3 - I think repeating the same load 4 times is not very effective. I'd say do it every other workout.

Well this all depends on how heavy it is, when in the heavier weights the anabolic potential is still pretty prevelant for up to a few weeks, granted with each successive loading it's not as potent as the previous but it's still there. This is why you can extend your 5RM phase for a couple more weeks.

 

[Totentanz]

Quote[/b] (noobie @ June 25 2005,6:20)]I guess it's up to the person?
pzhang

I agree. I really like higher frequency and I had some pretty good strength gains with it myself. I've made decent weight gains too, all I really meant is that it's harder for some people (like me) to consume enough calories to still gain weight while on higher frequency. I think everyone who is interested in it should try it out though, and when I finally do a cutting routine, I will definitely be using higher frequency myself.