How can I skip the 15's?

[rzieba]

Alright here is my story. I started an HST cycle and I got through two weeks of 15's and one week of 10's. Due to some events in my life I was not able to train for about a week so my HST cycle got messed up. I didn't properly test my rep maxes anyway so I guess its for the best that my cycle got thrown off. I want to test my maxes again and then I will take 9 days off. I wan't to start another cycle after my SD, but I don't want to go throught the 15's again. How can I set up my reps over the 8 week cycle? I would like to start at 10 reps for my first two weeks, but I don't know where to take it from there. I was thinking 10,8,5 and then 5 rep maxes for the last two weeks. What do you think?

 

[imported_froggone]

i was wondering the same thing..... except i was thinking of doing one week of 15's to prepare my body for the heavier weights.... would be interested in what people thought on your idea of 10, 8, 5

 

[SDMuscle]

I would not skip the 15's. I'd just start the whole program over. Each 2 week macro cycle has an important role in the program, so as long as you're doing a 9 day SD cycle, you should start back with 2 weeks of 15's.

 

[rzieba]

Quote[/b] (SDMuscle @ Oct. 06 2005,5:43)]I would not skip the 15's. I'd just start the whole program over. Each 2 week macro cycle has an important role in the program, so as long as you're doing a 9 day SD cycle, you should start back with 2 weeks of 15's.

The reason I want to skip the 15's is because I did not see any growth in that two week cycle. I also read that the 15's are not necessary. Any other comments on changing up the reps?

 

[chiefhog]

No need to do the 15s if you dont want to. Just do 2wks of 12s, 10s, or whatever you want instead of 15s. I personally use 12s with great success.

 

[rzieba]

Quote[/b] (chiefhog @ Oct. 06 2005,9:54)]No need to do the 15s if you dont want to. Just do 2wks of 12s, 10s, or whatever you want instead of 15s. I personally use 12s with great success.

Since the difference between 12 reps and 10 reps is small did you find that your 12 rep maxes were really close to your 10 rep? Like 5-10 pounds maybe? Did this cause a problem for you since there was a lot of zig zagging?

 

[Fausto]

rzieba

If you have read the HST literature, tehn you would know that the real purpose of 15's in not hypertrophy but rather preparation for the same, although not essential if you are feeling strains from previous routines or some injury then the 15's will do you good!

Some of us have skipped the 15's or used slifhtly less like 12's, because yep

you guessed it! They are tough, and many of us don't like it because of that, but they have a real good purpose!

In fact some of the guys grow on the 15's in spite of the fact that it is not really mean't for growth but as a preparatory phase for serious growth!

Setting up your reps is up to you:

I have tried 15/12/10/10/8/8/5/5 to some success but the variety is endless, you decide

Hope this helps

 

[jvroig]

Hello rzieba

How much growth you get (which may be as little as none or as much as surprisingly significant) during the 15's depends greatly on your SD (how great you deconditioned), and of course the starting weights themselves.

Don't want to do the 15's this time because you just did them on a previous cycle that didn't even become heavy due to some circumstances? Sure, skip them. Start at the 10's. Forget about your 15 rep phase, and simply start off at the first workout of you 10's, then go on as you usually do. It doesn't have to be as long as 8 weeks, neither does it have to be limited to only 8 weeks.

Quote[/b] ]the variety is endless, you decide

Yes, that's pretty much the case as Fausto put it. The variety is endless simply because as long as the principles of HST are properly applied, you'll get hypertrophy. The rep phases, weeks, sets, all these aren't HST, but merely some ways to apply the principles.

Quote[/b] ]Since the difference between 12 reps and 10 reps is small did you find that your 12 rep maxes were really close to your 10 rep? Like 5-10 pounds maybe? Did this cause a problem for you since there was a lot of zig zagging?

Zigzagging is not a problem at all, there wouldn't be much of a difference if your cycle has zigzag or not. And if you do want to eliminate or minimize it, it is simply a matter of repeating weights.

Regards,
-JV

 

[Chthonian]

If it's your first run through, do the 15's coupled with everything else just to see what it's all about. After that, if you have no joint pain, then skip them. They're there to prep you for heavier loads. There are people who don't go about eight reps all year round, mainly sticking between 3-5 reps, and don't find their joints sore for months on end. This basically suggests you could do without the 15's every cycle, only implementing them every third or fourth cycle.

Of course, you'd then do 10's, 5's, and post-5's/negs which would give you a six week long cycle for hypertrophy. This should be more than adequate, as it's comparable to Max-OT and DC hypertrophic periods. This is what Vicious has said, anyway. Minimum of four weeks of progressive loading, but shoot for six. More could be good, but there's only so much you can do to add weight in a short time span.

Speaking of Vicious - where the hell did he go?

 

[Joe.Muscle]

How to skip the 15's?

Find a dumbell rack pick one dumbell with # 15 on it.

lay on ground with sufficient room to jump (precisley 2 or 3 feet) start with right foot in front of left and then jump over dumbell!

There ya go skipping 15's!!!

Sorry for the humour but I couldn't resist!

 

[rzieba]

Thanks for all the replies. I don't have any problems with my joints and I've done 15's once before so I will do a 6 week cycle starting with 10's. I'm looking forward to actually finishing this cycle. I wanna see if HST is as good as you guys say it is.