Old man HLM

[convergentsum]

Hi, i'm a late novice anticipating the transition to intermediate programming (6'2, 220lbs, 37). I think a short period of slow dieting on HLM would be appropriate for me, after which i imagine i'll settle into a 4-day split. Has anyone tried Andy Baker's old-man tm-flavoured hlm, as described Heavy-Light-Medium | Andy Baker ? Looks promising.

[Charlie Davies]

I've run HLM at age 50, but I do more volume than the "Older Client" setup Andy mentions in that article. Maybe older means 70?

I.e. I like 4x5 on heavy day, but sometimes as ramping sets rather than sets across.

[David Mitchell]

53, just started a cut and running HLM but with more volume than mentioned in this article. 1 top set and 4 backoffs (5%) on heavy day, 2x5 on light and 3x5 on medium.

[Andy Baker (KSC)]

When I wrote that article the client example was 67 years old I believe. All HLM programs are templates and models and exact sets/reps etc can and probably should vary from one person to the next. Adding or subtracting a set here or there, adjusting %'s, etc is always expected. That being said, that particular model and the concept behind it is effective.

[convergentsum]

Thanks guys, looks like i can expect to tolerate more volume. As i add volume to medium day, should the intensity come down so that it doesn't become another heavy day? Or should i keep a couple of heavy triples and add backoff sets?

[David Mitchell]

Thanks guys, looks like i can expect to tolerate more volume. As i add volume to medium day, should the intensity come down so that it doesn't become another heavy day? Or should i keep a couple of heavy triples and add backoff sets?

Since you are coming off LP and starting a cut, if it were me I would back off the intensity 10-20% and add volume over a week or two while not changing intensity. Once I hit the desired volume I would start upping the weight.

Then adjust as needed.

[convergentsum]

OK, I'm off next week on vacation but this week my squat has been very stubborn, so I'm excited about changing things when I get back. I think this TM-flavoured HLM is not enough stress for me at this point, so I'll try to derive something from Andy's HLM video.

M: heavy squat, medium bench, light pull, chins
W: overhead press, light squat, heavy pull
F: heavy bench, medium squat, medium pull, pullups

Heavy lifts 5 sets, medium lifts 4 sets, light lifts 3 sets, except for pulls. Treat OHP as a heavy lift.

I do like the idea of an intensity set plus back-offs for heavy squat, heavy bench and ohp. Do I need to keep the back-off sets on the heavy lifts heavier than the medium sets across? eg. for the squat:
M: 150 x 5, 140 x 4 x 5
W: 120 x 3 x 5
F: 130 x 4 x 5

Or should Monday's back-offs be at 130, and Friday's sets be 140? I guess I should just try it.

I haven't had much luck learning to clean, so I'll try GHR and rows for light and medium pulls, both for 2-3 sets of 8, and stick to one set of 5 for the deadlift.

Optionally, I might add volume to chins/pulls with the lat pulldown (this has been working well for me for a few weeks), some dips on Wednesday and higher-rep overhead presses on Friday.

I think David's suggestion to increase the volume gradually is pretty sensible, but this is my target. Please let me know if anything about it is stupid

[David Mitchell]

Or should Monday's back-offs be at 130, and Friday's sets be 140? I guess I should just try it.

On heavy day I would back off enough that you get the volume in, but not so much it doesn't feel like work. For me, today, that's 5%.

I don't think you've made any egregious choices but I am not a coach. You will just have to see how it goes and adjust. That's one of the things I really love about this... tinkering.