questions on load, volume and zigzaging

[olegi]

I am planning out now my first HST cycle and would
appreciate clarification on few issues:

1) What is the difference between the load and the volume?
As i understand the volume is basically the overall num of reps
and it should be kept constant throughout the cycle.
However, it may also depend on the weights, and I think as the weights go up, the overall reps may go down a bit.
So how to determine optimal volume/num of reps?
What is the max number of reps in workout for the HST to be still effective?

2) Is zigzaging a bad thing? Should I begin the 10's with the 15's RM and 5's with 10's RM to prevent zigzaging?

3) The last one is, i got dumbbels in only 2.5 kg increments in my gym. So for a pair it goes in 5 kilos incerments. This somwhat inconviniet. I figure, i can interleave db's with bb every other workout, to tweak the increments, but how i overcome this in such basic exercises like lateral raises or flyes?

Appreciate any comments

 

[Al and Hammer]

You could start at 70% of the RM ... if its lower than the previous RM then you could start on that weight (ie repeat it) or go to an increment above that and repeat from there.

So if you had like 1-2-3-4-5-6 on the first microcycle you could do 6-7-7-8-8-9 or 7-7-8-8-9-9 on the next microcycle if you get what I'm sayin.

If I'm right, load is the weight and volume is the weight over time. So you could do large volume (like 15s) or low volume (like the 5s). There is supposed to be a balance between the 2. You shouldn't lower the volume without increasing the load. If anything you could add sets as the load increases and volume decreases.

Check the FAQs...they have detailed explainations of what you can do.