Does this HST program look good?

R

Raiyuden

New Member
http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/wotw39.htm

The one that placed 1st in this post is what I wanna use. Does it look good? I've been suffering from slow gains for so long and have made every effort to improve them. My diet, My increased intake of calories, My rest, now I hear HST is a solid program with promising gains so I've come to this forum to hope to see these promised gains.

Thank you for your help! :)
 
It's ok. Not sure why the inclusion of snatch grip deadlifts, split squats and other obscure lifts. Seems retarded to me. Having to learn an exotic lift during the course of your cycle is going to mean less muscle gain, more gains in neural coordination since you will be learning these lifts and won't be able to use loads heavy enough to put significant tension on the muscle.

As I've always said, you should construct an HST cycle with lifts you are familiar with and have been doing for a while so that any strength gains are purely due to remodeling of the muscle and not due to gains in neural coordination. Whenever you start using a new lift, your central nervous system has to "learn" how to do the lift, so strength in that lift will start out light and will make rapid gains. Muscle gains during the period of learning a new exercise are fairly poor. And especially with stuff like split squats and other strange lifts, it is going to take up to a few months to properly attune your CNS to that lift so you can start making muscle gains.

Here is a pretty decent article by anoop about this very same problem I am talking about: http://www.exercisebiology.com/index.php/site/articles/why_you_should_not_change_exercises_too_often/

We can help you put together a better routine. Then all you have to do it eat like it's your job and go in the gym to do that workout three times a week.
 
Thank you so much for the reply! I'm very coordinated on exercises like Barbell rows, chin ups, military press, bench press, squats, deadlifts. The major compounds are what I worked my hardest towards because they play such a key part.

Since I'm new to HST I would love it if you could clear up some things for me.

1) Do we ramp up the weight each new time we train or is it per week? (So if I hit 100 pounds for bench on Monday, I work up to 105 pounds on Bench for Wednesday)
2) Does it go like this? Week 1-2 (15 reps each exercise with 1-2 sets), Week 3-4 (10 reps each exercise 1-2 sets), Week 5-6 (5 reps with each exercise 1-2 sets) or is the goal to constantly hit 30 reps each exercise (15 reps for week 5-6)

Also it would be fantastic if you could help me come up with a great routine. I train at home so I'm very limited on what machines and such I can use but the exercises listed above I can definitely do at home with no worries :D!
 
As Totz pointed out, the lower the number of exercises the better the size gains over time simply because you take out a lot of the neural adaptation and put it into mucle building. I usually have programs with 4 to 6 exercises only. A typical program could be something like:

Squats/Deadlifts
Bench press/Dips
Chin up/Seated rows
Miltary press/Rear delts or shrugs

The slash means you can alternate exercises every other day or they can be used for a subsequent cycle or for a change after 6 months on one routine.

The weight should be increased every workout. The exception could be if you do a second 2 week cycle of 5's as you get more advanced before a SD. This is doable since the Repeated Bout Effect does not impact heavier weights as much as it does lighter weights. You can get plenty of benefit in the 3rd and 4th weeks of 5's even if you can only increase the weight once per week as more muscle fibers are being recruited with higher weights. Let your joints tell you if this is OK to do.

Fot the above program, I would recommend two sets of 15's, 3 sets of 10's and 4 sets of 5's. All can easily fit into a 40to 60 minute exercise period. If you feel the need, you can throw in a set of curls and/or close grip bench presses at the end of each session to specifically target your arms but it is not really necessary.

The example above is just that, an example. Pick compound moves you can do with the the strictest of form to stimulate muscle growth and to insure safety.

For the chins, you may need to use an assistance machine or power bands to hit 10 or 15 reps for a while. There is nothing wrong with that.

Most people choose 3 times per week (M, W, F) for covenience. Ideally your body would respond, regardless of age, in my opinion, to more:

M AM
T PM
W Off
TH AM
F PM
Sat Off
Sun AM
M PM
T Off
etc.

Under this high frequency scenario, Monday should be at, lets say 6:00 AM and Tuesday at 6:00 PM. 36 hours apart.

I already use a split AM/PM routine to keep my routines short to stay fresh so I settle for 4 times per week. Typically M,T Th, Sat. However there is nothing wrong with thrice per week and some research suggests twice per week may be as beneficial as thrice per week but I, personally, have not yet bought into that.

And eat like a MoFo. The more frequency the more food needed to build muscle. Good food! Emphasis protein, good fats and complex carbs. Restrict sugars and other simple carbs and bad fats.

O&G :cool:
 
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Thank you so much! So here's the plan for me.

I'll do a standard M, W, F as everyone else does following this routine. Alternating between A and B.

(A)
Squats
Bench
Chin Ups
Military Press
Hammer Curls
SkullCrushers

(B)

Deadlifts
Dips
Barbell Rows
Rear delts/Shrugs
Concentration Curls/Dumbbell Curls
Close Grip Bench Press

My weeks going as follows
(Weeks 1-2) 2 sets 15 reps
(Weeks 3-4) 3 sets of 10 reps
(Weeks 5-6) 4 sets of 5 reps

Calories : 3200 cals (640 cals per meal)
Macros : 320g carbs ( 64 carbs per meal)
180g protein ( 36g per meal )
100g fat ( 20g per meal )
 
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Looks like a good plan to me. Go make some muscle!

Someone else may want to comment on the diet numbers. They do not add up to 3200 to me. I believe Totz has laid out his diet somewhere but I cannot locate it offhand. But bear in mind he is a solid 250 pounds so you would have to scale it down.

O&G :cool:
 
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Sure, you will be changing from a lower pec to upper pec emphasis is all.
 
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Diet. How much do you weigh? what are your goals? Are you planning on any cardio?
It is not necessary to break up the protien like that. Your body can process massive amounts of protien at one time. It is a myth that you have to divide it up. HOWEVER, make sure that you get protien before and after your workout.
 
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