my next hst cycle

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Nemesis7884

New Member
for the next cycle i will try the following: instead of keeping fix rep shemes - 10 5 negs

i will just start with 70 % of my 10 rm max and always when i hit my rm, i will just drop 1 repetition and increase weight until i hit again maximum with the first set (others are clustered)

for benchpress for example this might look like

200 lbs x 10rm, 205 lbs x9, 210 lbs x 9rm, 215 lbs x8, 220 lbs x 8rm, etc... you get it

its a more gradual increasing in weight and the training is more flexible

the big drawback of course is, that i will always stay very close to failure (i try not to hit it, therefore not really training with rm weights)

but i will go down with volume and frequency and see how it works for me...
 
I've been thinking of doing almost exactly the same thing.

I was going to figure out a weight progression for each exercise, so that each day I'd have both a weight and a number of reps scheduled. I'd do one set at the scheduled number of reps, then the same or one of two more on the second set. Obviously maintaining good form, so not strictly until failure. If I go over the scheduled number of reps, I'd increase the reps for the following days.

i.e., if the plan was:
80x10, 85x9, 90x8, 95x7, 100x6, 105x5

if might turn out like:
80x10, 85x9, 90x9, 95x8, 100x7, 105x7

I wouldn't do fewer than 5 reps - once it gets past my 5RM I'd do as many reps as possible concentrically, then the remainder eccentrically.

Chris.
 
I sort of went a similar route with the cycle I'm doing right now, except I abandoned rep schemes altogether. I'm clustering when I need to, always working up to 20 reps. It seems to be working pretty well so far...
 
nem you might be better starting with your 15 rep max to help out because you will be close to faliure most of the time,also it will make for a longer cycle.good luck :D
 
instead of keeping a certain rep sheme for a certain period i always increase weight simply every session by 5 %...if weight gets to heavy i simply will have to drop a rep down... this means i will always stay close to failure what might be the big draw back with this idea... but i try to keep volume low and frequency to 3x muscle per week...

as an example - start with your 15rm (thats where i usually start my cycles anyway)

example for squats

15rm x 190 lbs
increase by 5 % or so, then you do
200 lbs - your no longer able to do 15 reps, but 14
the 3rd workout, increase again to 210 lbs, you now can do 13 reps
220 you now can doy maybe 11 reps
230 maybe your down to 9
.
.
.
300 lbs 5rm

you simply increase weight every session and do as many reps as possible staying close but away from failure
 
I've thought about doing that type of cycle in the future, yet I am still working with some of the standard cycles and over-tweaking. It's perfect linear progression, and what will most likely be a shorter cycle. When are you starting?

-Colby
 
interesting idea, i've thought about trying similar cycles also, but i have yet to acctualy try it. in theory it should work very well, although theres a higher chance of getting burnt out from being right below your rm all the time. good luck with it though and make sure you post up the results.
 
What's the rep quota? 20?

Looks interesting. I'm thinking I might try this actually. Except that I don't like the lower rep ranges
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i like your idea,i like to increment very close to my maxs i find this works for me instead of doing say
mon-bench 180lb
wed-bench 190lb
fri-bench   200lb
and so on till i reach my 230lb rm at the end of the second week, i do 210-220-230 staying close to my rms the first week,then the second week i do dumbells and stay close to my rms again cos dbs are alot different to bb although i do deadlifts with bb all the way through my entire cycle,the figures are not exact but you get the idea.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]What's the rep quota? 20?

Looks interesting. I'm thinking I might try this actually. Except that I don't like the lower rep ranges
Click to expand...

total reps probably 20...maybe 15 when i hit the lower reps / higher weights

whats wrong with low rep sets? i love em!! 5-8 reps are my favorite sets
 
I did something very similar in my last cycle, though it was a killer with deadlifts.

Instead of stopping at 15 reps, I go 1-2 reps short of failure.  For example, I hit 360x20 last week and thought I was going to die.
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Weight gain for the last cycle was 6-7 pounds and my 5 RM for my deadlift went from 410 to 435.
 
so will start today...haven't really set up the cycle perfectly...dang it...very busy these days...supps order still not here WHERE IS MY GLUCOPHASE
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nevertheless will start today with my 15rm... this will be pretty tough after sd...i know...just doing 1 set for 6 exercises...shouldn't be that horrible...done in less then 30 mins probably...

still wondering about frequency... don't know if i should cut down from full body 5x week to upper/lower splitt - therefore full body 3x week and 6x training (also increaseing volume per session logically).... because i am working close to failure always... i start with full body workouts and see how it works...

i prefer working with heavier weights...(therefore closer to failure) - i don't need to hit it, i will control myself to stop 1 rep short...but i need the feeling of "doing" something...

@totentanz
how frequently are you working full body in your actual cluster-cycle?

i will probably just cluster the second + ? set... but not the first one
 
just a little update after 6 weeks cycle so fat (2-4 more to go)

weight 83kg (+3kg) /// (height is 178 cm)
body fat 10 % (-1 %)
arms 40cm (+1cm)
chest 108cm (+2cm)
tights 59cm (+ 1cm)
waist 80cm (=)

its working well so far although i was not always that strict with my diet (regarding holdiays
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)

however, i am now closer to my 5rm with most exercises and seem not to be able to train 5x full body per week - burns me out quickly...
 
That is basically how I've constructed my workouts for a while now. The basic 15/10/5 set up is to help people construct a cycle. However doing what you are suggesting follows the HST principles to the letter - as much volume as possible without reaching failure & increase the load. I don't think there's any need to have pre-set rep targets.

The only thing is sometimes it's nice to have a couple of light workouts (e.g. start of the 10s or the 5s) and that is obviously what this routine lacks...altho you can just finish your sets a bit earler if feeling tired!
 
Pretty good results thus far - 6.6lbs gained and 1% bf dropped. Actually, that is really impressive. What is your diet like? How much are you eating over maintenance?
 
just around 300-400 kcals above maintenance (i add and drop weight very easily so i must be very carefull about exact kcal intake)

its around 40% carbs, 40 % protein, 20 % fat

only meals where i get carbs are morning (50-60g), pre workout (20-30g), post workout (70-90g), and post post workout (50-60g)

other meals i try staying away from carbs

eating around 30g protein every 3hours or so (therefore with every meal)

fat comes mostly from fishoil, sesamine, olive oil, nuts (and sometimes meat and eggs)

i get exceptional results if i really stick to my diet for a couple of weeks (what i hardly every do), but sometimes i am just weak
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I really like the idea of this. It sounds like there is a little less planning involved than on the standard HST routine, and it adjusts itself as you progress. So let me get this straight, you start at 70% RM. Then, you do your first set to 15 reps, increasing the weight by 5% everytime until you reach failure, then you simply drop down to 14 reps and repeat? On the second, third, etc sets, you just cluster until you reach 20 reps total? Sounds like it would be very difficult around the 5-8 range, especially at 6x a week.
 
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