when to stop a set

R

ROCCOdoesDubai

New Member
Howdy

Just trying to get a better understanding of how much to push with HST, because sometimes I feel the weight is too light and I could do at least 2 more reps, with correct form and not slowing down or speeding up. If this occurs, should we increse the weight lifted next workout, even if its not planned to increse the weight until say the following workout after the next workout. And if we find we could do another rep, its ok to perform the extra rep?

Doing this may necessitate increasing the final DAY 6 workout poundage, as the training sessions add up with the increase poundage, we may already reach DAY 6 weights by DAY 4 or 5, but I figure this would be ok and then we just increase the final DAY 6 pounds to the new level.

I mean, there's no sense in just blinding following your nice schedule on paper if you find in the gym that its a bit too easy.

Each set should be difficult to complete but not too hard. In the 10s' for example, number 10 rep should have the same speed and form as the 1st rep...and we would be able to tell if it was the correct number of reps because to do the 11th rep this would mean cursing and shouting to move the bar, which would mean a change in speed...we want to stop at the rep before this, right? - to avoid draining the CNS?

thanks for the feedback
ROCCO
 
you are correct stop one short of faliure,and yes if you can go heavier then do it your schedule is just a guide.
if your last workout on your tens you can do more then just do it and use that as your max for the next cycle.
 
The other side of the coin is to do more reps, mindful of failure though!
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But as Faz says, add mor eweight and stay in the rep range also works!
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Rocco: my approach is this:

If I know that my RMs are fairly accurate at the start of my cycle then I work with my calculated figures. If I can do 25 reps during 15s I do (usually for the first week). Second week I might do 20 reps where possible and finish up with 15 (or a few more if I can). Same applies to 10s and 5s but I always stop short of failure (except for my 5RM w/os and during post-5s where I do hit failure sometimes).

The main thing is continued weight progression throughout the cycle. Don't worry about altering the poundages during your cycle. Just make a note of whether your RM loads were easy or not and by how much you reckon you should increase them (or not) next cycle. You can find your new 5RMs during post-5s as you can then push up your poundages above what you calculated at the start of your cycle.

Hope that helps.
 
yes i forgot to say do more reps if you feel like it
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i do the same as lol exept i always go to faliure after each 2wk cycle,15s,10s,5s,that way i know exactly what my max is next cycle,plus the next workout or two after that will be lighter so time for cns to recover.
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Just to clarify my comment above: I do go to failure on my RM workouts if that's what it takes to get the reps. It's just that often times I get all the reps before failure, although I'm close to it, so I stop. A bit of failure now and again can be a good thing (for strength) as long as you have time to recover from it before your next w/o. I do tend to find that I reach failure mainly during post-5s when I am establishing new 5RMs and before I go on to do negs where possible.

Second or third sets are often problematic during 5RMs. I find that if I have to go to failure on my first set I'll probably have to cluster the rest of my reps in 3s, 2s and singles.

It is interesting to note that since I started HST some 9 months ago I have been cold free whereas before that doing HIT I had a cold every other week! It's also interesting that my training partner who likes to push to failure more than me has been struck by several bugs which have spoiled his cycles. I'm not saying that he wouldn't have got them had he avoided failure but it is interesting!
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Lol

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">It is interesting to note that since I started HST some 9 months ago I have been cold free whereas before that doing HIT I had a cold every other week! It's also interesting that my training partner who likes to push to failure more than me has been struck by several bugs which have spoiled his cycles. I'm not saying that he wouldn't have got them had he avoided failure but it is interesting!</div>

I can share the feeling, no flu in a very long time, some starting colds but they go away like in a day or so, I just dose up on vitamin C when I feel them coming!

But you may be right there Lol, frying one's CNS would be detrimental to your immune system, no 2 ways about it. Keeping things the HST way definitely helps build a strong immune system, although I cannot prove it scientifically I am pretty usre that HST and the way I train is very much the reason I am &quot;flu free&quot;.
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(faz @ Aug. 16 2006,09:21)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">lol your not spreading the word good enough
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get your freind on HST
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Ha! He is doing HST (well, he's following my routine) but he keeps pushing sets to failure even though I offer various words to encourage him to stop, like &quot;That'll do!&quot;
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I keep pointing it out but old habits seem to die hard in some folks. It's interesting that it usually mucks up his second and third sets if he does two or three more reps to failure the first time even if it is not an RM session.
 
you know that happened to mee too..the owner of the gym i go to wanted to train me with his style which is loading enormous weight on the bar as opposed to the progression of HST...i think i hurt his feelings..
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''I'm not saying that he wouldn't have got them had he avoided failure''

That seemed to be exactly what you were saying
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Personally I stop when my concentric rep speed slows way down
 
Thank guys. All good stuff here. I've just been increasing my weight if it feels too easy; i'll try increasing the reps instead. Gotta try these things!

On the comments about people being less sick, I can say that I still suffer from hayfever [any sure cures for that and you can have my left one!] about 1 once a month, and 'normal' regular sickness, BUT i have found that since abadonning HIT type workouts that I can do with 30m less extra sleep. 8.5-9 hours was my normal, now its about 8hours.

thanks

ROCCO!
 
I used to get some pretty bad symptoms from heavy training, like sneezing, nose running, and the like. I think this indicates lack of work capacity - build it up with things like sled dragging, farmers work , cardio up hills etc. get fit. I found eating properly was also a major factor. Avoid overtraining.

I think it may well be one of those inevitable stages you go through, eventually you toughen up and you can train more and harder without adverse effects. But it took me a long time.
 
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(bosbik @ Aug. 19 2006,07:48)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">you know that happened to mee too..the owner of the gym i go to wanted to train me with his style which is loading enormous weight on the bar as opposed to the progression of HST...i think i hurt his feelings..
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at least you stuck to your guns,ive got two friends converted to hst and they love it ,one friend refuses to learn anything and lets his ego do all the lifting nedless to say hes quit already after seeing nothing substantial.i mean what do you expect,he trained years ago and wants to lift the same heavy weights to failure every time,he just wont listen.so be it.

failure on rep maxs works well for me as i have 2 days(weekend) to recover.
 
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