Balancing Muscle Development Recommendations

T

tc33

New Member
Hi HSTers

I've been HSTing for about 8 months now, put on 30 lbs (~75% muscle) and am pleased with my progress.  I've been focusing on full-body compound exercises, solid diet, supplements, etc.  Overall, so far so good.

I have a concern, however, about my unbalanced physique.  My lower body is disproportionately larger than my upper body.  This did not result from HST -- this has always been an issue due to the sports I played as a teen (primarily hockey).  

My primary measurements are approximately:
height:  5' 11"
weight:  190
bf%:  ~12-13%
waist:  33"
thigh:  25"
calf:  15.25"
arm (flexed):  14.5"
chest (relaxed):  41.5"
neck:  16"
wrist:  6.9"

According to the 'Grecian Ideal', my lower body is where it should be at, but my chest and arms need a few more inches.  The grecian ideal measurements are a 45" chest and 16" arms, so I need 3.5" on my chest and 1.5" on my arms.  I also have to figure I'll lose around an inch after I finish cutting to get rid of that excess body fat, so I'll probably have to shoot for +4.5" chest and +2.5" arms.

So my question now is:  what's the best way to get there?  I'm thinking I'll want to continue to utilize HST for my upper body, but either ignore or go with SST (or RRD) to minimize the growth in my legs.  Also, do you recommend I cut back on my excess calories to minimize any additional fat gains that would have otherwise been put towards building leg muscles?

Anyone had to face this type of challenge before? How did you overcome it?

All input appreciated.  Thanks so much

- Tom
 
Could I please have some of your problem??? Yeah, I'd say you don't want to exclude legs, since you want cuts, overall conditioning, and strength regardless. So were it me, I guess I'd be doing a minimal leg routine and stay with high rep stuff at that. Don't bother with a lot of progression, since you don't want more muscle there, in other words: work out wrong, but work out nonetheless.
IMO, this would keep you at a setpoint with legs, while HST is obviously making some serious gains for you. Oh, and of course, cardio shouldn't hurt.
 
I have the same "problem" as you. My legs make my upper body look retarded.

The only exception to this whole dilemma that I would point out is that, aside from the Grecian ideals being idiotic, they also assume low bodyfat. You'll likely lose a bit of size in your legs when you cut down. If you want better goals, which would be similar but more representative, check out Casey Butt's article about maximum potential. It's a bit more useful.

Anyway... on to the actual dilemma. I think that a few specialization cycles would help. As Quad pointed out, you don't want to cut out legs entirely... but you could just do enough to maintain them, while focusing on your back and chest. Growing bigger pecs as well as lats will increase your chest measurement. Well, overall back thickness would make your chest measurement bigger. Arms are self explanatory.
So basically, you would still do HST, but only do 1-2 sets per session for legs, stick to major movements like squats one day and deads another day, and do nothing else for legs. Then hammer your upper body, with like 3-5 sets or so of your primary lift for that group (bench, rows) then hit it with a 1-2 sets of the secondary (flies, chins/pulldowns) or something like that. Then hit your shoulders and arms.

I would still use progression of load on everything. You still want to avoid RBE, you don't want to lose any muscle or strength in your legs, so sticking to load progression would be the best idea here. Obviously you'll want to be on a bulking diet for this. Also, I'd only do it for a couple cycles in a row before going back to more normal training.

Alternatively, you could try Lyle's specialization cycles. It still uses HST principals (except for SD) and it should work well enough: Specialization Cycles at bodyrecompostion.com
You'll have to be registered and logged in on his forum to view the post.

Good luck.
 
Tot

Excellent recommendations ande links.
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> I'm thinking I'll want to continue to utilize HST for my upper body, but either ignore or go with SST (or RRD) to minimize the growth in my legs.</div>

My problem is the same, yet now my upper body is up to part with my lower body. However, my legs grow are already very big - I wear two pant sizes higher than my waist. Therefore, I am going to be training legs for strength and upper body for hypertrophy.

Look into 5 x 5 and check out my 11th cycle log when that comes out later this week.
 
Thanks for the responses guys.

Totentanz, good stuff.  By the way, why exactly is the grecian ideal 'idiotic'?  It has given me something specific to shoot for, rather than just 'getting big'.  I like Casey Butt's article, but I'm not after maximum size at this point; just a well-balanced physical appearance.  

Also, with your recommendation of doing my 'primary' exercises and then 'secondary' exercises, would that put too much load on those muscle groups, limiting hypertrophy?  I can definitely understand working the secondary muscles that weren't hit too hard with the compound lifts, but would following bench press with, say, flys, prevent hypertrophy (at worst) or just burn calories (at best) due to the primary focus of both exercises being on the pecs?

I'll check out those specialization cycles, thanks for the tip!

So the concensus thus far is continue to work the legs (for strength, at least) while continuing with HST for the upper body.  Makes sense to me.  Thanks guys!

One more pointed question:  right now I'm eating 400 cals over surplus, gaining about .8 lbs/week.  Should I decrease my surplus a little bit since I won't be shooting for hypertrophy in my legs?  I'd like to prevent excessive fat gains that I'll have to cut off later...thanks

- Tom
 
I just think the Grecian ideal isn't attainable for very many people. It actually isn't that bad, since it is fairly similar to Casey Butt's max size calculations. I just think that the Grecian ideal is weird... plus it doesn't take height into account. Those measurements are going to look a lot different on men of different height, even if they have the same wrist size.
Casey Butt's calculator at least takes height into account, which gives a little more realistic picture.

Doing a primary and secondary exercise won't limit hypertrophy at all, as long as you are eating enough and don't somehow overdo it. If you find that your strength is significantly dropping, then perhaps cut back the sets a little. I think you'd be fine though. Just follow Bryan's recommendations about volume - cut back if you are always sore, can't sleep even though you are always tired, etc etc.
 
Thanks for the clarification Totentanz. I'll be sure to keep an eye out for those symptoms you describe. I appreciate the input!

Tom
 
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