Who here trains to failure and who does not?

[tbombz]

oh wow i was expecting you to say you did lower volume training more frequently. what do you think of that style of training, for example, full body workouts 3 times per week with just one or two sets to failure per body part? (or a more moderate 2X per week with 2-4 sets per body part ?? )) have you tried this style of training, and how do you compare it to high volume training? are you going to failure on all those sets, if not, how many are to fialure? 

thanks

[Fatpanda]

panda- were you going to failure on those high rep sets, or anywhere close? i think that your just supposed to do a few light sets and squeeze to get the blood pumping in there, not exhuast the muscle.




goudy/ursus- how many work sets do you usually do for each muscle, and how frequently do you train each muscle? 

the way hst works is you build up every workout till you reach your 15rm then 10rm then 5rm - te reps decrease as the weight increases.

you start the routine by working out your maxes i.e. 15rm, 10rm, and 5rm then reduce the weight by roughly 30+lbs - so say my 15rm was 100lbs, i would take 25lbs off that number and my first workout would be 75lbs for 15reps, the next workout 48 hours later would be 80lbs, and so on adding 5lbs each workout till you reach 105lbs - this would be your new rm at 15. then you change to your low 10rm weight. so if my old 10rm was 120lbs i would drop the weight to 95lbs, then 100, etc etc so that when i reach workout number 6 in that rep range i'd have added 5lbs to it i.e. 125lbs, and then drop to the 5rm weight etc etc

the thing was it workout really really well, you do get bigger, even on low calories, but when you took the strategic deconditioning you would lose any strength gains you made and your cycle would start back at the same weights. also by the the of the cycle you feel like death. Overtraining seriously kicked in with me, i found i was getting weaker over time, colds and flus hit me far far too often. i couldn't even have a few beers without being ill for days.

saying that, it is a very very impressive system.

i also did more sets than 1 for each exercise i.e.

i used to do 1 set for 15's as they killed me.
i did 2 sets of 10's.
i did 2 sets of 5's

i also found it was better to rotate the 15, 10 and 5 weights every day of the week i.e. instead of lifting 15rm weights for 6 workouts in a row, i would do my lightest 15rm workout on monday, on wed i would do my lightest 10 rm, and fri my lightest 5rm, then mon back to the workout 2 of the 15rm weight, etc etc this helped a great deal, and is much better for recovery and strength as you are lifting heavier weight on the fri of every week. however the catch was at the end of the cycle you are hitting failure in all rep ranges all in the same week, and in fact normally hit it the week before often too ( that happened with my modified system and the original).

if you are interested i would certainly try it - it does work, and works well.

if you take gear i imagine it is very very effective  

i was my biggest when on that routine, i had 19" arms and hadn't touched gear.

i do plan on going back as my current routine is very similar, only very much focused on the basic compound movements.

also the amount of studies that show no difference between 2 and 3 workout a week made me stick to 2 days a week rather than 3. i do wonder though if proper pre/post workout nutrition would make 3 a week more effective than twice a week. the studies weren't taking pre/post workout nutrition.

just some food for thought.

the hst site is:

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html

it has a good explanation of the system and the science behind its creation if you look.

[Ursus]

oh wow i was expecting you to say you did lower volume training more frequently. what do you think of that style of training, for example, full body workouts 3 times per week with just one or two sets to failure per body part? (or a more moderate 2X per week with 2-4 sets per body part ?? )) have you tried this style of training, and how do you compare it to high volume training? are you going to failure on all those sets, if not, how many are to fialure? 

thanks

I used to train 6x week or hit a bodypart 3x in 2 weeks it worked out as. I found that if I felt tired or weak my day in the gym suffered. It sucked. I also found Itgot niggly injuries more etc and never really gave my body a break. Also my gym is only open 6x week so if I took a day off it really threw me and I couldn't afford to miss a day as back when I done this I was younger and a bit of a gym obsessed fag.

I have never done fb workouts that way. TBH I do not think that 1-2 sets to failure would stimulate muscle growth for me. I have no experience of this so I may sopund silly when I say this but I just dont think ity would.

I have however done full body workouts before. Basically i done about 7 exercises maybe 8 and just done 2 sets every day I had recovered and felt like I could do so. This was very structured though and I only did maybe an extra rep or so per day so that the gains lasted for a long while. E.g say I standing pressed 180lbs for 2x5. The next day i did this exercise I was doing 2x6, then the following day I done it 2x7 etc etc.

On days I squatted I simply done the 2 sets of bench and a few sets of single deadlifts. for squats I done higher volume. Maybe 3-5 setsoverall. Sometimes more but as a general rule 3-5.

The way I explained the shoulder press was done on exercuises such as weighted dips, chins, standing press, t bar ropws. Deadlifts were done everyday i felt good in a single roputine. e.g 3 reps one day, then 5 the next day i recovered then 7 etc etc until I done 15x1. When i done 15x1 I then added 5kg and dropped back to 3 reps. The bench press I wave cycled starting very low. basically a 2 step forward 1 step back approach in 2.5kg jumps. E.g 110kg, 112.5kg 115kg then back to 112.5 then 115 then 117.5 etc. This worked very well though 2 sets a day of 5 reps was all I don, I found that as it got heavier it was easy to over train.

On pretty much everything apart form squats and deads I performed each exercise 2-4x a week. Maybe evn 5.

I got a lot stronger in a reasonably short space of time though did not get much bigger. I felt dense though. Does this make sense?

[tbombz]

ya thanks dude. so you like a high volume of work once weekly, making sure to keep gradual progress with the weights, and every once in a while you throw in a day where you try lifting some weights that are way too heavy, and also everyonce in a while you throw in a day with lighter weights and chase the pump.  does that sum it up, or is there something else missing?

[Ursus]

I would say that is pretty accurate. I also focus on big compounds. Thats about it.

[Howard]

Nope.
No pic, I'm still fat.

Ok, I'll post mine first and you will look leaner by default.

[Primemuscle]

Someone said they train for success. That is a great statement.

The objective should be to do more than you did the time (week) before. It's called progressive weight training. I alternate adding reps then adding weight. For example if your doing a low volume workout and your last set you do four reps, do five and the next time six. The workout after that increase the weight and drop back to four reps working your way back up to six or eight.

You can only add so much weight over time. For example, let's say you do seated one arm curls with 45 lbs and added only 5 lbs a month, in a year you'd be doing these curls with 105 lbs....not very likely right? So you increase sets and every so often change up your exercise routine so you don't go stale on any one exercise and you keep your body guessing and responding. That's progressive weight training.

In my opinion, it is wise to keep your workout schedule in mind while training so that you get through all the exercises you plan on doing. It is unlikely one can train to failure on each exercise they do in a given session. If they could, then they have been woefully under-training. Most of my routines call for the heavy lifting to happen at the beginning of the workout. I think this is the time to train to perceived failure.