HPM Reloaded 2.0

(Felt like a fresh start)

24
H: 6’5
W: 250

Lifts:
(March - 2011)

DL: 518 x 1
FS: 330 x 1
BS: 395 x 1

OHP: 198 x 1
BP: 319 x 1
Dec.BP: 330 x 1

I’ve been training roughly for a bit over 2 years, before then I mucked around with weight training to help with swimming + basketball - but I had no real idea what I was doing (I was also fairly lanky weighing under 220).
I decided to get into strength training after coming across a Joe DeFranco vid - it was extremely appealing and so the motivation grew to build up a home gym.

Before getting enough equipment to start WS4SB I did this routine roughly for a few months - to sort out technique, RM’s etc.
Mon: Weighted Chins (4 x 6), Incline Bench Press (6 x 4), Back Squat (4 x 6)
Wed: Front Squat (6 x 4), Bench Press (8 x 3), Bentover Row (8 x 3)
Fri: Deadlift (8 x 3), Military Press (4 x 6), Upright Row (6 x 4)

Once I had enough equipment I ran WS4SB for over a year, then I came across T-Nation and started to read Christian Thibaudeau articles - when HPM was written I felt like I needed a change; I have been doing HPM for the past 14 weeks.

I plan on running HPM until the winter months - in which I’ll probably start into a solid Powerlifting program

HPM Layout:

Note:
This is different to the original layout in the article - it’s also different to how I ran the program from my last log.
I’ve personalised it slightly (to suit recovery, lifestyle etc.) but it’s still utilising the HPM principles.

My current MTW’s are:
OHP(Standing): 155
BP: 237
Dec. BP: 248

FS: 226
DL: 342

I’m into my 15th week and about to begin a 2nd phase of 3 weeks for a HPM cycle

I’ve chosen to do a non-concentrated approach for my weekly HPM split

Mon:

Regular Upper Body HPM session
3 Upper Primary lifts

  • 1 lower body secondary

My lower body secondary is going to be done with emphasis on speed following this chart: (This was a change I made)
Set
1 x 2 reps at 50% 1RM
2 x 2 reps at 50% 1RM
3 x 2 reps at 55% 1RM
4 x 2 reps at 55% 1RM
5 x 2 reps at 55% 1RM
6 x 2 reps at 60% 1RM
7 x 2 reps at 60% 1RM
8 x 2 reps at 60% 1RM

Tues:
Lower Power Complex + Lower Sled Work
e.g. Emphasis on Power

  • Box Jump
  • DB Jump Squat
  • Power Clean from Hang
  • Squat

Wed: NC

Thurs:
Upper Power Complex + opt. Tricep/delt/chest iso work
e.g. Emphasis on Power

  • Plyo Push Up
  • Speed Bench
  • Push Press
  • Dec. BP

Fri:
Regular Lower Body HPM session + Lower Sled Work
2 Lower Primary lifts

  • 1 upper body secondary

My upper body secondary is going to be done with emphasis on speed following this chart: (This was a change I made)
Set
1 x 2 reps at 50% 1RM
2 x 2 reps at 50% 1RM
3 x 2 reps at 55% 1RM
4 x 2 reps at 55% 1RM
5 x 2 reps at 55% 1RM
6 x 2 reps at 60% 1RM
7 x 2 reps at 60% 1RM
8 x 2 reps at 60% 1RM

Sat: Lats + Biceps

Sun: NC

Very nice my friend, I’ll be following

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
Very nice my friend, I’ll be following[/quote]

Thanks man, always appreciate your feedback and support.

Sun 13/03/11

NC

  • Knees to feet jump x 3-5
  • Feet elevated Plyo P/U x 5
  • Broad Jump Reset x 3
  • Fat man chins x 5

repeated for 3 times
Felt pretty good at the end of the 3rd - decided to stop there

Mon 14/03/11

HPM - Wk15

AM

Act: Band Press
A1. OHP: 0 / 114 / 124 / 134 / 144 / 154 / 144 / 149 / 154 / 144
A2. Staggered sets of: Power Shrugs (7)

B1. BP: 237 / 227 / 232 / 237 / 227
B2. Staggered sets of: Cable Face Pulls (6)

C1. Dec. BP: 248 / 238 / 243 / 248 / 238
C2. Staggered sets of: Band Pull-aparts (5)

PM

Act: Snatch Jump
A. DL emphasis on speed (50-60%) - Doubles
242 / 242 / 270 / 270 / 270 / 292 / 292 / 292

Ecc-less sled circuit - Lats + Biceps
A1. Straight arm sled pull to side
A2. Sled Curl
A3. Sled Lat Pullthrough
for 20m ea.
1 @ 90
1 @ 100
1 @ 110

Pretty good session’s - my biceps and lats where still pretty sore in the morning (from sat) so it affected my performance a little.
Really enjoyed doing the speed work on the DL for a change of pace.
Went for a surf around midday - so I really need to pack in some food tonight.

Tues 15/03/11

AM

Lower Body Power

A1. Weighted Box Jumps x 8-10 reps
A2. DB Squat Jumps (20%BW) - 50 x 5 reps
A3. Hang Power Clean x 5 reps
A4. BS x 5 reps

Repeated 5 times

Kept weight fairly low throughout (50-60%) really wanted to focus on improving explosiveness / kept rest fairly short. My clean form is terrible - so i’ll probably look for a replacement, rather than wasting my time.

I’m going to change these up fairly often until I find the right formula.

PM

Ecc. Less Sled:
A. Frankenstein Walks
1 x 30m @ 90
1 x 30m @ 110
3 x 30m @ 145

B1. Sled Push (Long Strides)
B2. Bent Knee Sled Pull
1 x 30m ea. @ 165

Tried to make the movements as slow as possible, Frankenstein walks are becoming a fav movement.

I haven’t really done the Frankenstein walks yet. I’m assuming you can’t use much weight compared to regular pushes and pulls. Am I right?

I have done pullthroughs though (and I add a front raise to finish each rep) and I love those.

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
I haven’t really done the Frankenstein walks yet. I’m assuming you can’t use much weight compared to regular pushes and pulls. Am I right?

I have done pullthroughs though (and I add a front raise to finish each rep) and I love those.[/quote]

I think so, although my hamstrings are probably a little weak so someone stronger might not have as much of a difference(maybe). It’s a really enjoyable movement for the hamstrings once you work out the technique - I like the sled pulltroughs as well.

Wed 16/03/11

NC

  • 1 Arm DB Snatch x 5
  • Sled Pull Through x 5
  • RDL x 5
  • 1 Arm DB Clean + Press x 5

repeated 3 times

Probably should have added a jump somewhere - just experimenting.
This worked fairly well though as an NC session.

Thurs 17/03/11

AM

Upper Body Power

A1. Plyo P/U off a bench x 8-10
A2. Speed Bench (50-60% 1RM) x 8
A3. Push Press (<70%) x 5
A4. Dec. BP (<70%) x 5

repeated 5 times

Triceps:
A1. EZ Floor Rolling Ext (widish grip)
A2. Tri Rope Pushdowns x 3 s/sets - 10-12 reps
B1. Bench Dips
B2. Band Pushdowns x 2 s/sets - 10 - 20 reps

Just ordered a medicine ball to replace A2. Speed Bench with throws - hopefully it doesn’t take too long to arrive.
The speed bench is good, but your upper body launches itself off the bench each rep - so you become conservative, with a ball you can just let it rip.

PM

Ecc. Less Sled
A1. Straight arm sled pull to side
A2. Sled Curl
A3. Sled Lat Pullthrough
for 20m ea.
2 @ 40
1 @ 50

B1. Sled Front Raise
B2. Rear Delts High Sled
for 20m ea.
2 @ 25

Ran out of protein powder early this week - still hasn’t arrive yet.
So ive been eating close to 500g of tuna to make up the loss. (approx 115g protein)
The rest of it has been coming from chicken breast, salmon, cottage cheese etc.
Hopefully it arrives tomorrow.

Fri 18/03/11

Act: Box Jumps
A. FS: 0 / 146 / 166 / 186 / 206 / 226 / 186 / 206 / 226 / 186
B. OHP emphasis on speed (50-60%) - Doubles
100 / 100 / 110 / 110 / 110 / 120 / 120 / 120

C1. Hanging leg raises (3 sec neg) x 5
C2. BB Rollouts x 5
repeated 5 times - no rest

FS are back to normal - ROM is good and explosiveness is there.
It had been about a week since I last completed a FS HPM session - so the little break paid off.
See what happens next week - in case the one session is not enough.

PM

Act: Snatch Jump
A. DL: 0 / 262 / 282 / 302 / 322 / 342 / 302 / 322 / 342 / 302

Ecc. Less Sled
A. Bent knee sled pull
for 20m ea.
2 @ 165
1 @ 220

It’s been a good 8 weeks since I last did a test week (the program calls for you to do it every 7th)
I’m thinking about running one next week- to see where I’m at etc.
I’ll wait and see on Mon morn.

Sat 19/03/11

Lats

A. Tri-grip pulldown to face (2-3 holds) - 4 sets
B. Thib Pulldown - 6 sets
C1. Straight Arm Lat Pulldown
C2. Close Grip Lat Pulldown - 4 s/sets

Biceps

A. EZ Preacher Curl (ramped up for 4 sets - then did 2 sets of partials: bottom 1/2 as many as possible to top 1/2 amap)
B. Hammer Curls with iso holds - 3 sets

Busted my knuckle last night and it had a slight effect on my grip - during the hammer curls it started to swell up quite a bit (currently have it iced), so I cut the session short. A good session though lat + biceps got a good pump and were pretty fatigued at the end.

Wk 16

Mon 21/03/11

Decided to do a test week.
I’ve had a pretty mixed experience with HPM so far - so this will be interesting…

OHP: Current MTW: 176 1RM: 198
A. One Arm DB Snatch: 3 x 3 WU

B. OHP: 55 x 3 / 77 x 3 / 110 x 3 / 132 x 3 / 149 x 3 / 160 x 3 / 171 x 3

182 x 3 - an ok triple, could be a new MTW

193 / 176 - singles

198 - single, a bit better than the last time I did this weight

154 / 132 - triples - at the end of the last set, extended too much at the top - bit a pain in the upper back, hopefully it’s gone by tomorrow for front squats.

Face Pulls and Band Pull Aparts: 15-25 reps - upper back was being a bitch.
repeated 5 times

Wasn’t expecting much of an improvement with the OHP - but I went in there with all I had.
In the end though not much improvement, but I’ll take it.
If I decide to do another HPM cycle - I’ll still stay with the old MTW and probably not worry about 1RM for some time.

Tues 22/03/11

FS: Current MTW: 275 1RM: 308
The pain in the upperback had backed off a bit, so I was able to test the squats - with a little discomfort.

Act: Box Jumps

A. FS: 66 x 5 / 88 x 5 / 110 x 5 / 132 x 5 / 176 x 3 / 198 x 3 / 220 x 3 / 242 x 3 / 264 x 3 /

286 - decent triple, could be a new MTW

308 x 1

330 x 1 (PR)

BS: 330 x 3 two times - upperback was flaming up a bit

FS : 242 x 3 / 198 x 5

B1. Reverse Hypers: 15 reps
B2. Hanging leg Raises: 10 reps
repeated 3 times

Very happy with the session considering the small discomfort - really pleased with the PR, I’ve been having a bit of trouble with my FS lately - so it’s nice to see it coming back to normal.

Seeming that the vid worked - heres the DL from about 8-9 wks ago. (hopefully I can put a bit more weight up on thurs)

Wed 23/03/11

FS: Current MTW: 275 1RM: 308

Act: Plyo P/U off a bench

A. BP: 132 x 5 / 165 x 5 / 198 x 3 / 220 x 3 / 237 x 3 / 253 x 3 / 275 x 3 /

286 x 3 - felt pretty good, could be a new MTW

308 x 1

319 x 1 (PR)

220 x 12

B1. Power Shrug: 15 reps
B2. Face Pulls: 15 reps
B3. Band Pull-Aparts: 20 reps
repeated 3 times

A good session, very happy with the PR (+11 lb). I’m crappy at benching, so it’s cool when the weight goes up.

I had the pins set about 20mm off the chest, it was as close as I could get it. The angle of the vid makes it look higher. I also bench with a pretty widish grip

Very nice PRs these past few sessions!

Have you gained any weight during HPM or have you tracked your weight even?

[quote]ashylarryku wrote:
Very nice PRs these past few sessions!

Have you gained any weight during HPM or have you tracked your weight even?[/quote]

Thanks man :slight_smile:

Not much weight gain, I’ve been eating at a fairly moderate cal amount + getting about 1.5lb/bw of protein and eating carbs depending on whats coming up etc. So in other words not enough. My weight fluctuates fairly often, but it’s normally around 250lb. We’re just coming off a long summer in oz, so I ‘usually’ make some gains during the cooler months.

Thurs 24/03/11

DL: Current MTW: 424 1RM: 500

Act: Snatch Jumps
A. DL: 132 x 5 / 198 x 5 / 242 x 3 / 286 x 3 / 308 x 3 / 352 x 3 / 385 x 3 / 407 x 3 /

430 x 3 - felt pretty good, could be a new MTW

463 x 1 , 485 x 1

518 x 1 (PR)

440 x 1 / 352 x 1 / 242 x 3

B. Ghetto GHR: 3 x amap
C. Core Floor Circuit

A great session, although I don’t think I was deadlifting that well - was having troubles getting enough drive from the heels. But I’m not too worried - new PR (+ 18) so I’m very pleased - it was a little ugly at the top though. Ramping down my legs were gone, so I gave it all that I could - without much grinding.