Weight advancement

J

jonesboy

New Member
I have a couple of questions. One is weight advancement. To give an example. I'm just finishing up my 10's at my 5th workout i'm doing 75 lbs. dumbell presses for 2 sets. On my second set i was only able to do 8 reps. Should i continue to 80 lbs for my 10RM or do 75 lbs again until i can do it for 2 sets? ( i was able to do 80 lbs for 10 but not for 2 sets)
How are you suppose to advance in 5's when doing 3 sets if having trouble at the second set? (same question as above... just making sure )

The second question is weight selection. Is it more important to stay within the 80 - 90% of RM. An example of my question would be squats:

135 155 175 195 205 225
or
175 185 195 205 215 225

not inclucing warmup
 
Hello jonesboy :)

Actually, you don't really have anything to worry about! :) In fact, congratulate yourself. From what you said, you are doing HST right!

You see, the basic recommendation is to simply do 2 sets for all 15's workout, 2 sets for the first week of 10's and the first week of 5's, and just 1 set for the 2nd week of 10's and second week of 5's. This is because if you are doing HST right, then on the second week of the heavier weights, you are close enough to your max that you really can't dictate how many sets you want to do. So no worries, just do one set and that's fine.

So you don't have to do 3 sets for the 5's if you can't. Just do two sets, and that's enough. And you don't have to reduce your maxes as long as you got them by testing them beforehand, not just by guessing.

As for the increment question, either way will work with very little difference. The personal consideration there would be what is better for you. If you'd rather start with a much lighter weight, then do so. But if you'd rather increment smaller so you can immediately start a little heavier, go ahead. Not much difference there, since in your example the max weight is large enough to accomodate both big and small increments.

Hope that helps! :)
-JV
 
No problem, jonesboy :)

I'm sure you'll agree, this is a far greater and nicer forum than other supposed bodybuilding forums. There are a ton of people here ready to give support and encouragement to anybody at all who needs it. So if you need anything or just feel confused, down, or disappointed... people here will fix you right up. :D

Good luck, happy lifting, and tell us your results when you finish your cycle!
-JV
 
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