Need help with cycling training volume and intensity

[RottenWillow]

Guys I need some specific advice on how to plan my new training program. I will be finishing my HST cycle in two weeks and I have some ideas on how I want to train afterwards.

I would like to alternate between hard and moderate intensity workouts. I was thinking maybe workout #1 each week would be in the 12-15 reps per set range and would fall short of failure, then workout #2 in the 4-6 range to muscular failure.

What do you guys think? Does this sound effective? Any advice on how I should implement this?

thanks

 

[Backlash]

Look at westside training - that is sort of what they do. That is, alll workouts are high intensity, but half are maximal effort and the other half are dedicated to more volume and speed.

 

[casualbb]

What are you trying to do, ie. goals?

 

[RottenWillow]

BB, Blacklash: what I noticed on my HST cycle is that I gained muscle size only in the 15RM phase but strength began to increase in the 10RM and later 5RM phases. HST has helped me discover how my body reacts to different loads and rep ranges and now I want to develop a program that will maximize both size and strength increases.

My principle goal is size but gaining strength is also important. Based on what I know from HST I'm thinking that alternating between a higher rep moderate intensity workout and a low rep high intensity workout would keep my body from ever fully adapting to the changing loads and encourage continual size and strength gains.

Am I full of crap?

 

[slobberknocker]

You don't have to have high rep workouts and low rep workouts. Just do both in the same day. That's sort of like what I do. I start out with singles and triples, and by the end I'm doing 10's.

 

[casualbb]

alternating between a higher rep moderate intensity workout and a low rep high intensity workout would keep my body from ever fully adapting to the changing loads and encourage continual size and strength gains.

Growth is a result not just of "changing loads" but of increasing loads... a subtle distinction. HST's growth stems not so much from the fact that that loads change, but that they get heavier over time.

what I noticed on my HST cycle is that I gained muscle size only in the 15RM phase but strength began to increase in the 10RM and later 5RM phases.

I remember you saying on your training journal that you were reducing your carbs mid-cycle to prevent fat gain, right? If that was the case that's the reason you only grew during the 15's; it's the only time when you were overeating.

I'm very partial to alternating growth and strength phases... right now I'm doing an HST cycle and slingshotting into a WSB-ish strength routine. I'll go back to HST after 1-2 months of that.

 

[RottenWillow]

OH OH OH! Alternating growth and strength phases sounds like exactly what I'd like to do. Could you go into some detail regarding how you are planning to implement this?


I didnt reduce carbs until after I had finished my 10RMs and as it turns out I didnt reduce them very much at all. Too much good homestyle spanish cooking around my house! So I dont think a deficit of "labor" was to blame. I wonder why I didnt continue to grow throughout my HST cycle? Am I right in surmising that it just happens to be that the higher reps are what do it for me? The amount of fast twitch and slow twitch fibers maybe?

 

[casualbb]

No... the whole fiber type thing is a myth. Hmm... were you gaining weight during that time period and it was only fat? Or were you not gaining anything?

 

[RottenWillow]

My total weight gain was about 6 pounds through the first three RMs. At first it appeared to be almost all muscle gain then gradually less and less muscle gain and more fat. At this point I am guessing I've gained about 2.5-3lbs of LBM and about the same amount of fat.

 

[Debaser]

No... the whole fiber type thing is a myth.

Praise jesus. Someone agrees with me.

 

[casualbb]

That's a problem a lot of people have. One main issue with the default program is that, as you go from 15 to 10 to 5 reps, total volume decreases a lot. Say you're doing 2 sets... it goes from 30 reps to 20 reps to 10... that's a big decrease.

I experienced the same thing; most of my growth seems to occur during the 10's. To make the 5's more productive I'm increasing the number of sets. This cycle I have a goal of number of reps, and I'll break the sets up as I need to to hit that. It's a way of making sure volume is more constant.

You might respond better to higher volume.

OH OH OH! Alternating growth and strength phases sounds like exactly what I'd like to do. Could you go into some detail regarding how you are planning to implement this?

I'd love to... but later. Right now I have class

 

[RottenWillow]

Personally I always have class ....but that's just me.


Thanks for the help.