An essay on strength-training

Tot, you should gain muscle back very quick. I was sick and hurt through the winter, but ended up eating too much. I still think I lost some muscle since I wasn't working out for over three months, but I have been gaining it back into my 2nd cycle back. Remember I was cutting? Bodyfat% has gone down, but my weight hasn't. There is a telling factor of muscle memory.
 
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(Totentanz @ Mar. 27 2007,20:21)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"><div>
(colby2152 @ Mar. 27 2007,11:13)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I forgot about Mike's Dual Factor HST. I may have to give that a try...</div>
I'm planning on doing a variation of that soon here. I've been sick all winter and have lost about 20 lbs overall... I was deadlifting just over 400 lbs for 5 reps before winter and the other day, I could only get 385 about two inches off the ground. Heh. So needless to say, I think a lot of that 20 lbs was muscle.

Hopefully Mikey's Dual Factor HST will help me get my strength back fast!</div>
I also got sick and was off from lifting since January, I'll start again April 1. I have lost about 16 pounds already. I will not be surprised if my last 10RM is now almost my 5RM!
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Well, nothing a little HST and strength training won't cure
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I supposed I'll throw my sick story into the ring too

Last November, I had severe tonsilitus, was in hospital for a week due to my throat almost closing up, anyway after losing almost 10kg and after weeks of penicillin I'm back to the same weight now, yet my strength on all my lifts is probably about 40kg's more

So to sum up my anecdote, strength came back faster than size
 
Good to see you back JV, you're certainly an asset here - hey, you could do a log...and with MM factor blowing you up, anyone who didn't know you were sick would think you're juicing!
 
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(colby2152 @ Mar. 27 2007,11:13)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I forgot about Mike's Dual Factor HST.  I may have to give that a try...</div>
Could you guys post a link to Mikeynov's program...?
I have read it before a long time ago, can't remember.
 
Thanks...interesting idea. Not sure how sound it is, reducing volume as you go along, but very interesting. Mikeynov is definitely at the top of my list when it comes to good training ideas!
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I re-read that thread, and the program, and still think of it as a great alternative for a changeup. As a believer in working a program until gains stop, then changing it or doing another entirely for a break, I see this as pretty progressive. For someone like JV, returning after a very long layoff, vanilla HST would be the ticket, at first.

I didn't like the idea of a 9 day deload in the middle of a cycle, so looking at his alternative, I got fairly confused:
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Another is to assume that 5 sets of 5 is approximately your 8 rep max, which it is. So, use weights that will have you using about your 8 rep max at the end of a two week block. This will cause noticable zig zag with the previous loads you were using, since the previous loads were approaching 10 RM, providing a form of deloading by temporarily using lighter weight. I'd guess that first week in the shift of one set of 10 to 5 sets of 5 will largely call for loads lighter than the previous week.</div>
If he's talking about the first 2 wk block, was I not doing 10's? If the second, how is that a zigzag? I think he just needed to leave the second sentence off. Anyway, it's just the standard zigzag of vanilla HST anyway, which is basically saying, no deload period needed. IMO, you'd just finish the tens, and take a few days off at the most for full recovery, since normally you'd just be blasting into the fives anyway.
 
The way I am doing it is starting off with 80% of my 5x5RM, which is my 8 RM basically, build up to my 5x5 RM, then keep pushing the weights up until I can't. At which point, I am dropping down to 3x5 starting with 80% of my 5 RM, then pushing the load until I can't increase it, at which point I'll drop down to 1x5 and keep going until I find my new 5 RM.
After that, I may either start over with regular HST, or maybe I'll drop down to 3x3 and 80% of my 3 RM, then keep pushing that until I set a new 3 RM. I don't know for sure yet, since that's going to be like 16 weeks away at the very least anyway.
 
I see the beauty in that Tot, as instead of being locked in to a set weight/rep scheme, you let your body advance within it's own curve, as I did with the linear progression. I like the way you end that all the way down to the 3rm.
 
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