2nd Cycle down.

C

charr

Member
Hi.

I was under the impression the forum was down. I've been trying to come to it through the main HST website for the last month or so and just getting an error page. On the off chance I just typed HST forum into google and found it is all fine.

Anyway. I've done my second cycle + sd and I've just started my third cycle. I still haven't gained muscle. My weight has gone up at least 5lb in the last cycle but i'm getting to the point where I feel really out of shape now and it is going to to be a long hard task trying to get lean. I'm still trying a third cycle though. On a plus point I have hit all my new maxes and created some new ones. But how do I create hypertrophy and get "showy" muscle?

Maxes are below:
Bench 107.5 KG * 5
Pendlay row: 83kg * 5
standing barbell press: 73kg * 5
Dip: BW + 45kg * 5
Pull up: bw+10kg * 5.
squat: 100kg * 5
 
Hi friend,

I think it'd be very useful to know:

Your current weight, tall and BF %
How long you have been training before HST
How are your dieting macros and caloric intake.

Leo
 
Also, what does your program look like? Volume, frequency etc.
In a relative sense, some of your lifts suggest good progress but others suggest you need to address some weaknesses.
 
You either diet down (cut) and retain as much muscle as you can, or you don't and stay where you are or continue to add mass, which will include muscle and fat (at a variable rate, though the maximum is genetically determined).
 
And yet again, we need to know how you somehow determined that you gained zero muscle mass. Why only 5 lbs of weight gain over the course of an entire cycle? That can be entirely accounted for with just increased water storage. As Jester said, decide what you are doing and actually do it. HST isn't magic, you can't make it somehow do something if you aren't going to put in the effort on the diet side. If you aren't going to either eat enough to gain or cut back the calories to strip the fat, then don't bother lifting at all because it's a waste of time.
 
Of course we all need food to grow the muscle from, but before starting the all-you-can-eat bulging free ride please realize that we don't need exercise to shove the incoming calories to fat/muscle stores, according to our individual p-ratio (p=partitioning). Meaning you will gain both muscle & fat when overfed even if you don't lift. Exercise is meant to balance the incoming calories more toward the muscle (by increasing tissues' insulin sensitivity), and some caloric restriction is meant to burn off the extra accumulated fat that inevitably gets stored (even when we eat 0 fat, some carbs will still get stored as fat through the acetyl-CoA pathway) while still attempting to spare lean tissue due to increased GH concentrations and the increased post-exercise muscle protein synthesis (typically lasting for 36-48 hours). What are we left with? You either "bulk" in the traditional sense for a longer period, eating your BW up to +20kg (+45lb) as some people here are practicing, and then attempt to cut calories for a couple of months to burn off the ton of extra fat (we're most likely talking about 20% bf or thereabouts at this point), or you can combine the steps within a much smaller time frame... say eat for growth (the aforementioned "bulk") 3 days in a week (assuming you're working out on Mon-Wed-Fri), and cut during the remaining 4 days. Or something similar that will allow you to steadily progress without sacrificing on the looks. This all assumes you're training 100% liftetime naturally.
 
You say things like "trying to get lean" and get "showy" muscle what makes me think that you have a high BF %. You probably has some muscle as your PRs are reasonably good. I have some "showy" muscle and I didn't reached any of these loads yet.

That being said I believe that you should move to a cutting diet until you are around 10% BF. That'll surely show your muscles.

Leo
 
Chris,

Did you ever get yourself any calipers? This will be the only way that you can monitor gains etc without the expense of hydrostatic weighing or bod pod, you must have gained some muscle as even without training you would still not add 100% fat!!

I know from previous posts you are 6 foot tall but what is your calorie intake like at the moment?
 
I wrote quite a long post about my training history in an earlier post if you can check it out. The top and bottom of it is I struggle to get lean when dieting and only seem to get fat when eating to gain muscle.

Totentanz.
I am pretty in tune with my body and can usually tell what is water gain and what isn't. I weigh myself everyday morning and night. I also know that I'm growing in all the places I don't want to be. Waist, hips, butt, thighs,waist. Right now I am eating to gain muscle.

Sorry Mike. Haven't got calipers yet.

I am 6ft. I'm eating 3100 - 3200 on training days and about 2900 on non training days. I weigh 14st 4lb

Leo. I was on a cutting diet for one and a half years. I got to 13st 5lb stone. I was no where near lean. On the last 3 months of the diet I only lost 3 pounds in 3 months on 2000 cals a day. I got fedup as over the 1 and a half years of dieting I had main no gains in the gym during that time. I decided to bulk and give hst a proper go just to give my training purpose again.
 
Last edited:
Sorry Charr but I didn't find your training post. Maybe I searched the wrong way, don't know.

Without knowing what you're doing is a little hard to diagnose the problem. The same applies to your diet. How is your protein intake?

Another question: what is a 14 stone? How much in lbs or kgs?
 
I don't understand how you can believe your opinion of your body composition is somehow more valid than actual measurements.
 
Glad to hear you are smashing some PRs. Fat doesn't move weight bro so you must have gained something worth keeping in those 5lbs.
 
Regarding cutting: I find its better to take it in stages. Cut for a few weeks keeping track of morning weight then once you find the weight-loss has stopped you can eat at maintenance or just above for a few days or so them resume the cut. This ALWAYS works for me. Are you completely sure it was 2000kcals you were eating back then? 6kg loss im a year! There's something not right there.
 
My previous posts seem to have been removed. I wrote a long account of my training. To cut it short. I've been training around 13 years now. Always the 1 body part per week stuff. About 3 years ago I got into strength training (stronglifts etc) believing it to be the key to size. I put around 28 lb in a year but mostly fat. I then spent 1 and a half years getting back to the weight I started at and lost the 28lb. I wasn't lean. I haven't been lean since before I was a teenager. I couldn't lose any more so I decided to try gaining again so I could at least progress in the gym.

I'm trying to build muscle size. The main problem I have is I can't seem to gain muscle or get lean. I either put on fat or lose fat but never get lean.

I suppose your right Totentanz. But the fact is i'm putting on far more fat the muscle. If i'm gaining 10% muscle and 90% fat it's no good. I mean i'm not imagining the fact that i've out grown the jeans I was wearing and had to move into a larger pair which are now getting tight.

I've read alot of people's results on here who gain 10lbs on there first cycle while also losing inches off there waist.

The numbers don't really add up for me. There are many guys I speak to at my gym who are my height and stay lean on 4000 kcals a day. I follow lean gains and one of the success stories there is someone who put on 10lb of lean muscle over 7 months while eating 3000 cals a day at my height and at a lower weight than me. I gained 14 lbs in less than 3 month.

So how can I create hypertrophy? How should I train if I was aiming for a bodybuilding competition for example?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top