Originally Posted by mikeynov

And old, new approach to HST, Doing all the rep ranges every week

Disclaimer: if you are not already experienced with HST and have many successful conventional cycles under your belt, please do not fool around with variants like what I'm about to describe. Start simple, always.

This is an old idea, and while, strictly speaking, it violates the 'start light and wind up heavy later' principle of HST, I think the overall pattern of progressive overload will still hold just fine. I call it an old idea because this came up years back in discussion amongst the regulars of this board.

In case nobody has seen this method, it would basically go something like this:

Determine 80% of your best effort for your 15, 10, and 5 rep maxes. This will be your starting weights for each. Your increments will be whatever lands you at a target RM on the 6th session, as per usual.

Then, it will go something like this:

Monday - 15s
Wednesday - 10s
Friday - 5s

As you can see, you would be performing every rep range every single week, varying the rep range used each day.

You would use your starting weights for each category the first week, then, the next week, add weight to each lift, incrementing every week thereafter towards your projected RM in each category.

Each week would represent a 'day' in the normal HST progression for each zone. And there are 6 total days in a 2 week block, so you will have 6 weeks total for the whole cycle.

I will again disclaimer that this does, strictly speaking, violate the principle of starting light and raming up weights for a true, tension progressive overload, but what few anecdotal reports I've heard for this variants have been good. Lyle Mcdonald, at one point, said something like this setup was one of the most successful HST runs he's ever had.

There's also research which may imply that this daily undulating pattern of rep variance may actually be superior for performance gains over time vs. a conventional, linear approach (of which HST's two weeks of 15s, 10s, and 5s would fall under).

If you want to take it one step further and are already experienced with HST (I'll reiterate that I wouldn't even consider this version or what I'm about to say otherwise), you could also use some sort of fatigue management or clustering method to squeeze in a decent chunk of volume per lift.

Anyways, I'm just surprised more people haven't tried this approach. If or when I try HST again, I'd probably give it a shot, as it's an interesting variant that I never got around to trying.

Originally Posted by mikeynov

Another variant using the exact same logic above for increments (i.e. see previous posts concerning how to progress over the 6 week cycle)...

First, I'll pick three rep ranges slightly more conducive to hypertrophy than the default 15/10/5.

So, I'll go with 12, 8, and 5. This will make our RM's for 5 and 8 closer than it normally would be for 10 and 5, but, whatever. Technically, my most successful HST run ever was:

1 week 15s
2 weeks 12s
2 weeks 8s
2 weeks 5s

Anyways, so we'll do 12s, 8s, and 5s, but we're going to do something interesting. We're going to stuff the lightest loads between the two heavier loads.

Monday - 8s
Wednesday - 12s
Friday - 5s

And, even further screwing with things, we're going to adopt two sets of exercises. The first set of exercises will be performed twice per week, Monday (8s) and Friday (5s). The second will be a 'lighter' set, lighter in terms of spinal loading in particular.

I'll illustrate with an example

Main exercises:
Squat
Standing Shoulder Press
Chins (weighted)
Bench
Chest Supported Rows
Deadlifts (see below) / Back extensions (WITHOUT hyperextending!)

Light exercises:
Leg Press
Seated Shoulder Press
Lat Pulldowns
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Machine Rows
Abs

Notes on the above:

* This exercise selection is a bit arbitrary, but I think it would be a good start for many

* Deadlifts are only to be performed once a week (Fridays). Imho, deadlifts multiple times a week + lots of other stuff = problematic for most people, at least in the long run. So, make a lighter substitution on one of the days. Weighted back extensions (e.g. 45 degree back extensions holding dumbbells) would be a good fit. Even something like leg curls for a little more hamstring emphasis would work

So, 8s on Monday (medium), 12s on Wednesday (light), 5s on Friday (heavy). Look like a 5 x 5 style split? This isn't a coincidence - practical experience by many indicates this works quite well.

A rep target of 20-25 total reps per exercise would be a good place to start. Something closer to 20 (e.g. 6 sets of 3 reps) would probably be advisable on the 5s day (hi scientific muscle!).

I would suggest doing this with a little fatigue management AND antagonist pairing. I have already set up the exercises to accomodate this. ~1 minute rest between paired antogonists is a good rule of thumb Alwyn Cosgrove uses that will probably be helpful here. This would be the functional equivalent of taking about 1 minute rest between all sets, which will make the days go by pretty zippily. The only downside is that you will be a little more winded - life is tough!

Now, putting it all together for what this would look like:

Monday (8 rep day, ~25 total reps)
Squats
Standing Shoulder Press
Chins (weighted)
Bench
Chest Supported Rows
Back extensions (45 degree) or Leg Curls

Wednesday (12 rep day, ~25 total reps)
Leg Press
Seated Shoulder Press
Lat Pulldowns
Incline Dumbbell Bench
Machine Rows
Abs

Friday (5 rep day, ~20 total reps)
Squats
Standing Shoulder Press
Deadlifts
Chins (weighted)
Bench
Chest Supported Rows


Feel free to add a little direct arm and (particularly) calf work where you see fit.

Originally Posted by mikeynov

Disclaimer: what you are about to read below are forms of clustering, these imply nothing about the loading. The loading for the different days are STILL based on 8, 12, and 5 RM's. Clusters represent "mini sets" that one can choose to employ to avoid training too close to failure, a method that can be useful for squeezing in a fair amount of total reps.

So, if you prefer a conventional set/reps approach, PLEASE feel free to do so. Examples:

Three sets of 8 for the 8's
Two sets of 12's for the 12's
Three to four sets of 5's for the 5's

Now, some default rep/set schemes with fatigue management in mind (bearing in mind the above):

8s - 5 sets of 5 reps, 6 sets of 4 reps if things start getting grindy

12s - 3 sets of 8 reps, 4 sets of 6 reps if things start getting grindy

5s - 6 sets of 3 reps, maybe 9-10 x 2 if you're really fatiguable


Obviously, anything in between or adjusting on the fly is totally kosher. Remember, the main advantage (the way I see it) to fatigue management is simply guaranteeing that you get in your rep target. If you can do this just fine and prefer a traditional set/rep scheme (e.g. hitting the rep target on the first set, then playing the rest by ear), knock yourself out.

To help counteract the potential increased length of time it would take to complete these rep schemes (if you would choose to employ them), I suggest:

* Antagonist pairing
* Consider fairly short rest intervals, that ~60 second rule may work well. Possibly less, particularly at first.