Increasing Weights?

C

cwrigh5

New Member
Ive been lifting for some time now, 7 years, and Ive tired various routines and after checking out HST I think its time to try it out.

I just got one question, Whats the deal with the weight?

I mean I understand that before you start the cycle you find your find your 15PR, 10PR, and your 5PR. Then according to what Ive been reading, correct me if Im wrong, for each two week cycle you set your 15PR/10PR/5PR for the last workout of the two week cycle. Then decrease the weight, at a set interval, and assign it to the rest of the workout. I understand the beneficts of increasing your weights every workout but how can you increase in strenght and lift more when you simply dont lift more weight.


help me out please
 
you have the theory just right. this is my 1st cycle & I've enjoyed it & I believe gained some mass, but I'm not gaining strength. I'm heading into the 5s now & am planning on extending them into an intermediate 5 X 5 ala madcow.
 
Have you read the HST article? It explains pretty much everything, and after that, check out the FAQ for whatever else you have questions about.
 
Its really hard to explain the benefits of HST to someone who hasn't tried it yet. You really have to do at least 1 full complete cycle (8 weeks) before it all fits together and makes sense.

Read the FAQ section, its all good stuff, but basically I think your question amounts to "how can I gain when I'm lifting sub-maximal weights?"

That's just old-school mentality, its your perseption of what works rather than what actually works.
 
So your saying I will not lift anything heavier than my 15PR/10PR/5PR in 8 weeks?

How do I know if Im getting stronger? Or just simply, how do I know if the routine is working?


sorry for the newbie questions.
 
I found that I was gaining a lot of strength went I went into week 7 and 8.

I don't have a workout partner so I simply continued with the 5's for the final two weeks.

For example...each workout I'd go up another 5-10 pounds on my bench. For my first cycle I was bench pressing 185 for a max on my 5's. By the end of the 8th weeks I was putting up 215.

I also during my 2 weeks off had to go and take a physical agility test. I went from doing about 30 pushups in a minute to 55.

Good Luck
 
<div>
(cwrigh5 @ Jan. 29 2007,04:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So your saying I will not lift anything heavier than my 15PR/10PR/5PR in 8 weeks?

How do I know if Im getting stronger? Or just simply, how do I know if the routine is working?


sorry for the newbie questions.</div>
when you get to the 8wk 5s you will find out that your 5rm has probably gone up so yes you will gain strength.
 
What Faz said. The deload is absolutely critical as it is the key to making gains from submax weights. And since you're not going to be taxing your CNS, your joints will be thriving on the lesser weights, you're still sort of &quot;resting&quot; as compared to failure training, and you get stronger in the long run.
It's only hard to believe until you've done it.
 
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(cwrigh5 @ Jan. 28 2007,23:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Or just simply, how do I know if the routine is working?</div>
You will be getting bigger, assuming you are eating enough. Remember, this is HST, not SST. Yes, you will get stronger, but strength is not the measuring stick here, however muscle size IS. So keep an eye on the mirror, the scale and the measuring tape - that will tell you if HST is working.

This is all assuming, as I said, that you are eating enough. No routine is going to pack size on you if you are not hypercaloric.
 
What happens to me, and I think most guys is that when you get into the post 5's, or the negatives, you find that you can add weight a time or two, higher than what your 5 RM was. In a couple weeks, if you retest your RMs, you will find that they all went up!
 
You do lift more weight, though. You find your 1-set 5RM before you start, and at the end of week 6 you lift that for three sets of five. It's not heavier, but it's more weight overall than previously.

Weeks seven and eight are where you eventually lift heavier. Negatives are ideal for this period if you have a partner. I think most guys end up just pushing on with 5s, increasing the weights to find their new maxes, which works well too.
 
Thanks guys I really appreciate it, this makes alot more sense now. I completely forgot about weeks 7 and 8.

One last question, would you recommend doing only compound movements or compound with some isolations?
 
compounds should make up the bulk of your program. if you were completely new to lifting i would say just go with the compounds (squat, deadl, bench or db press, OH press, sldl, chins) and as long as all your measurements were going up your fine. only when you see a particular body part begin to lag is it time to pay it special attention with iso's on occasion.

if youve been lifting for 7 yrs then you should have a good idea what areas grow nicely with just compounds and which ones need more &quot;help&quot;. as long as your hitting your w/o (mostly compounds) hard HST style then no need to do extra iso's &quot;just because&quot;

good luck
 
<div>
(cwrigh5 @ Jan. 28 2007,23:19)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So your saying I will not lift anything heavier than my 15PR/10PR/5PR in 8 weeks?

How do I know if Im getting stronger? Or just simply, how do I know if the routine is working?</div>
You got it.

And how will you know it's working? Cuz you are going to be so much bigger. Then when you add 5-10lbs or so to everything and do it again (after you SD of course) you'll see that you got stronger to go with the bigger muscles.
 
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