I modified ny HST routine: thoughts please?

[skywalk]

Hi folks,

I recently started HST and I found that the first 3 or 4 workouts within the 2-week cycle is too light. e.g. if I'm doing 15's with 75's for dumbbell bench press, I start the cycle with 50's for 15reps....and I don't really feel like I'm getting a workout with that weight.

so I thought of modifying the workout to start out with more reps, and decrease the reps as the weights increase. EG:

instead of doing 10 reps for all 6 workouts, I'll start out with 15 reps, and drop by 1 rep per workout, as I increase by 10lbs each workout.
so my 10 rep week might look like this:

dumbell bench press
mon: 15reps with 65's
wed 14reps with 70's
fri 13reps with 75's
mon 12reps with 80s
wed 11reps with 85's
fri 10reps with 90's

instead of 10 reps starting with 65's and increasing to the 90's. 10 reps with 65's doesn't even get me a pump.

the 5 rep 2weeks will look like this

mon: 10reps with 80s
wed 9 reps with 85s
fri 8 reps with 90s
mon 7 reps with 95s
wed 6 reps with 100s
fri 5 reps with 105s

what do you guys think of this?

 

[Oregongearhead]

Wrong - Are you trying to do your program or the HST program ? Find the weight that you can just barely get 15 reps with and go from there . Stop trying to modify a proven program . Yes the first week seems light , but if you did your calculations right the 2nd week gets tough .

15 reps the first 2 weeks , 10 reps the next 2 weeks & 5 reps the last 2 weeks . Simple . If its too easy increase the weight until you find your "sticking weight" , then increase as needed . Some exercises I kept the same weight for 2 weeks simply because I never was able to complete that weight . Thats what the program asks for .......~Ogh

 

[skywalk]

Wrong - Are you trying to do your program or the HST program ? Find the weight that you can just barely get 15 reps with and go from there . Stop trying to modify a proven program . Yes the first week seems light , but if you did your calculations right the 2nd week gets tough .

15 reps the first 2 weeks , 10 reps the next 2 weeks & 5 reps the last 2 weeks . Simple . If its too easy increase the weight until you find your "sticking weight" , then increase as needed . Some exercises I kept the same weight for 2 weeks simply because I never was able to complete that weight . Thats what the program asks for .......~Ogh

thank you for the reply. yes indeed the 2nd week does get tough, but the first week is too easy. I am trying to hit my 15, 10 and 5 RM by workout 6 of the 2 week cycle. the first exercise in the 1st week is typically 60lbs under my max (i increase by 5-10lbs each workout) therefore it feels way too light. hence I wanted to do higher reps. by the time the 2nd week comes around, i'm close to my max, and also close to the required number of reps. do you follow what im sayin?

eg my 5RM is 105lb dumbells which is done on the final workout out of 6. the very first workout, however, requires that I use 80's, and doing that for 5 reps is just too easy. therefore I thought about starting with higher reps and lower weights, then drop the reps as the weights increased, just to feel like im working out hard enough, especially in the first week.

by week 2, my reps have dropped already, and the weight is heavy enough to feel like im getting a good workout.

 

[Oregongearhead]

I think that the first week is easy by design . Bryan Haycock talks about the conditioning of the first week of every cycle . So the first week of every 2 weeks is a warm-up and conditioning phase to get you ready for the next harder week , I think this is what they are saying .

There were times when I first started out that I thought this is too easy , so I bumped the weight up just a tad . The goal , I feel , is to find your own personal max for every exercise . I found my max , several times .
My 2nd run of HST , I was better able to calculate my weights because I was already maxed out on most exercises. It gets better the 2nd time you do it . Trust me . lol. ~Ogh

 

[BIGMESC]

Skywalk I can see where you are coming from. This is my first time HST only 4 wo in.
First couple days on individual exercises seemed "light" but in total I feel the workout. I am only dropping 25 pounds from my 5,10,15 RM and minimizing rest periods.

One thing I have found helpful is to move the easy exercises to the end of my workout and that has made them more difficult.
For example weighted chins first when I am fresh because they are hard for me and Bench at the end after back and shoulder.

 

[skywalk]

thanks all for the replies!

I cut and paste this from HST website and it kinda explains and validates my reasoning behind the set/rep alterations.

Progressively Adjusting reps to accommodate Progressive Load
HST suggests that you use 2 week blocks for each rep range. Why? It has nothing to do with adaptation. It is simply a way to accommodate the ever increasing load. Of course, you could adjust your reps every week (e.g. 15,12,10,8,5,etc), but this is more complicated and people might not understand. Often times, in order to communicate an idea you must simplify things, even at the expense of perfection. If people can't understand it, they won't do it. What good would that do or anybody? Then, over time, people figure out for themselves the other possibilities that exist within the principles of hypertrophy.

enjoying the dialog guys, please keep em comin!

 

[skywalk]

This is so weird! There are a few posts missing here!
anyway, i'll repost:

I do HST with a partner and it takes us close to 2h to complete the workout, due in part to waiting for equipment, but mostly due to doing warmup sets.
my question is: how long do your HST workouts take? if it's an hour or so, how do you do it? I do 2-3 warmup sets before every compound exercise, and will likely do more warmups when im doing my 2 weeks of 5reps, making the workout even longer! there's no way im jumping in to my 350lb shrugs without warming up first with a couple of lighter sets!

 

[BIGMESC]

About 1.5 hrs I am smelling what your sellin, I made the mistake of jumping right in on squats because the weight seemed light compared to normal and my knee joints let me know about it.

My prior 5x5 took me about an hour. I was reading about splitting the HST into 2 work outs which may work for me since I just about have my home gym set up.

I am thinking upper body in the am and lower with abs and arms in the pm

 

[skywalk]

man that would be ideal! am and pm workouts...but alas, i don't have the time for that
1.5hours and you work out alone? yeah prob sounds about right, cus when you're with a partner you gotta change the weights and that takes time. wish i chould squeeze this HST into an hour though

 

[raysugar1234]

This is so weird! There are a few posts missing here!
anyway, i'll repost:

I do HST with a partner and it takes us close to 2h to complete the workout, due in part to waiting for equipment, but mostly due to doing warmup sets.
my question is: how long do your HST workouts take? if it's an hour or so, how do you do it? I do 2-3 warmup sets before every compound exercise, and will likely do more warmups when im doing my 2 weeks of 5reps, making the workout even longer! there's no way im jumping in to my 350lb shrugs without warming up first with a couple of lighter sets!

Yah, whats up with that? All my posts on this thread are missing, wtf...

 

[raysugar1234]

I'm not real crazy about how they changed the whole site.... Maybe I just need to get used to it I dunno

 

[raysugar1234]

This is so weird! There are a few posts missing here!
anyway, i'll repost:

I do HST with a partner and it takes us close to 2h to complete the workout, due in part to waiting for equipment, but mostly due to doing warmup sets.
my question is: how long do your HST workouts take? if it's an hour or so, how do you do it? I do 2-3 warmup sets before every compound exercise, and will likely do more warmups when im doing my 2 weeks of 5reps, making the workout even longer! there's no way im jumping in to my 350lb shrugs without warming up first with a couple of lighter sets!

So anyway sky, I was saying that it takes me about an hour and fifteen minutest to complete the routine.. But I work out at home and I time resting periods with a stopwatch....

 

[skywalk]

So anyway sky, I was saying that it takes me about an hour and fifteen minutest to complete the routine.. But I work out at home and I time resting periods with a stopwatch....

you have enough weights to workout at home? what about heavy squat/deadlift/shrug weeks? and you have heavy enough dumbells?
if you do...wow man. envious!

 

[raysugar1234]

you have enough weights to workout at home? what about heavy squat/deadlift/shrug weeks? and you have heavy enough dumbells?
if you do...wow man. envious!

I have enough weights for everything at this point, I have 5 sets of 45 pound plates as well as 2 sets of the 35's.. As far as dumbbells go my set is not complete yet. I only have up to the 60's, I plan on getting the 70's 80's and 90's next. For now I'm going to skip the 75's, 85's etc .... I want to get one more set of the 45 plates, I also have two Olympic 7 foot bars and two curl bars.

 

[raysugar1234]

One of my bars is a black oxide by York.. It's really nice..

 

[skywalk]

damn...you suck!! lol

 

[raysugar1234]

damn...you suck!! lol

I love it, I have a lot of money invested in it but it's worth every penny to me...

 

[skywalk]

i'm so jealous man
anyway, i'm into workout 5 of 10's, and it's getting heavy!!!