****ed up my first HST cycle - help appreciated for this rookie

benben2356

benben2356

Member
Hey everyone ...... I am new to HST as the title suggests however I have been bodybuilding since the age of 17. I am now 28 and am what I would describe as your classic "wheel spinner" or hardgainer.

My workouts are long and I have always pushed sets to absolute failure which on numerous occasions has led me to overtraining and making myself very worn down.... I think im in great shape from a fitness perspective as I have a tendancy to do a fair bit of running which I have cut back on drastically as of late in an effort to help me gain more muscle.

I have made some gains since my scawny teenage years as back then I was 6'1 and only a shocking 9 stone ...... whereas now im at lean 6'1 weighing in at 12,9 with very little bodyfat (visable abs and pretty veiny) but considering the years ive been training with no rest breaks at all I would say that my gains are somewhat pathetic compared to what they could have been if i hadnt kept spinning my wheels and under eating. .....

I recently stumbled across HST and set myself out a plan after working out my rep maxes for the 15s 10s and 5s ..... I did a lot of research before jumping into it but eventually took the plunge .....

I decided on 2 full body workouts (workout A and Workout B) so I could vary my exercises a little....

The first week of the 15s felt great and the second week was also very enjoyable but my form did get very sloppy on my max out days on the end of week 2...

The first week of the 10s was even better and I was cruising along very nicely ...... then came the second week of 10s. Monday was a phenominal workout with great form and pace on everything with the weights getting very challenging .......... but then came wednesday and friday (my two max out days) and I hit a wall big time ....... the first half of the workout was good on both days and my legs , chins , chest hit the estimated maxes .... but then my energy levels just plummeted and I could not complete the rest of either workout..... I only upped the weights by 5kg per exercise but by the time i finished legs , chest and back I was just completely exhausted and could barely knock out 5 reps on my other exercises ........ infact my shoulders seemed to have lost strength completely......

I am suspecting that i peaked a bit early on the monday as that was a great workout and felt very challenging - I also noticed I looked very full that day.
But as a result the rest of the week was just terrible. It wasnt a complete waste of time as I did hit my target maxes for legs, back and chest ...... but it was mainly shoulders and arms that I struggled with.

Should I just continue as normal next week when I start the 5s ?? but perhaps zig zag back a little and start very easy?? ...... it shouldnt matter too much as I'll have 3-4 weeks to hit my maxes anyway and however long i want to continue until SD ......

I will definately run another cycle and stick with hst after this one as I am really enjoying it .... but I suppose I will just have to learn from this one and make up for it next time by starting a little lighter ........ I think thats where the problem lies in that I started a little too heavy with this first cyle... But I still have the 5s to start on next week so I may not have ****ed it up completely .....

Heres a brief rundown on my routine ......

WORKOUT A !!!!
Chins
Squats
Deadlift
Bench press
Pulley row
Military press
upright row
barbell curls
tricep pushdown
Rear delt

WORKOUT B!!!
Chins
Hack squat
BB Lunges
Incline db press
Tbar row
DB mililtary press
Lat raises
Barbell curls
dips
rear delt

The first 2 weeks I did 1-2 sets of 15 ..... the second 2 weeks i did 2 sets of 10 ..... and next few weeks I plan to do 3 sets of 5 (chins and dips are weighted by the way on each week)

My rep maxes by the end of the 10s were

Chins weighted - 12.5 kg x10
squats - 80kg x 10
Lunges - 70kg x10
Bench press 70kg x10
Incline db press - 37.5 kg dbs each arm x 10
Deadlift - 120 kg x10 (felt easy)
Tbar row - 55kg x10
military press barbell - 45kg x10
Barbell curls - 45kg x 10
Dips - 12.5 kg x 10
Lat raises - 15kg dbs x 10

Anyways sorry to ramble but I could use any help I can get ........ Im sure its common to mess up your first cylcle as long as i learn from it next time and start lighter with less training to failure ...... training to failure seems to be my biggest problem as I have a tendancy to over do it and then wind up suffering for it and losing gains .....

Thanks everyone and yes im expecting a lot of abuse for my pathetic gains in my 10 plus years of consistent training - I am drug free by the way and a very tall lanky build ......
 
There are no hard gainers. There is simply inadequate diets. People who think they are hard gainers just aren't eating enough and I know this from personal experience.

You wrote this big long post about your routine but you didn't say anything about your diet. Not getting enough calories is going to lead to ****ty gains and ****ty workouts. How many calories are you consuming? Are you tracking calories? How many grams of fats, carbs and protein each day? This is critical information. HST is a great plan but without an adequate diet, it won't do anything.
 
Am I reading this correctly? 11 years of training under your belt and only 80kg for a set of 10 back squats? Or did you mean 180kg? Judging by your other lifts, I don't think so.

My take on your current set up is that you need to focus on just a few major compounds for a few cycles, get your calories dialled in for size gains, and start building your strength base.

Do read Totentanz's HST Ebook and do have a read through the Simplify & Win thread.

I'm certain you are set to make a whole lot of progress if you can make just a few key changes to your program.
 
Thanks guys ... I appreciate you taking the time to help me out ... I have read the Ebook and I do understand the basics.
And with regards to the previous response I'm afraid my back squat is only 80 kg for 10 reps ... However I don't count bar weight and squats are my weak point ... That's why I included hacks on workout B as I am much stronger on those.
I do Squat very deep though which for a lanky lifter is tough lol

I do feel ashamed of my lack of progress but I'm sure hst could be my saving grace once I've mastered it.

My diet is very clean but I get about 2900 cals a day mostly from brown rice , chicken , peanut butter , loads of veg , loads of milk and cottage cheese and lots of oily fish. I'm afraid I haven't been religious with weighing grams of everything though so my cals are a rough estimate. I will read up on the diet section and get that dialled in.

Also I think your right when you say I should drop a few exercises and simplify it a bit more ...

Do you guys think I should just rest up as usual for the weekend and start on the 5s as normal ?? I will just be sure to zig zag a bit and start the 5s on the light side
 
How did you finish up the 10's, and how are you starting up the 5's? Ie. in terms of loads?

A common rule of thumb is to start off each mesocycle with 75% of your RM for that rep range. That should provide enough zig-zag to allow for a bit of CNS recovery before heading off into heavier territory.
 
What do you mean when you say your diet is "very clean"? Are you washing your meats and vegetables before using them? What is important with diet is not how long you washed your chicken before you ate it, or what brand of scrubber you used on it, but how many calories, how many grams of fat, carbs and protein you are eating. Figure that out first. You don't have to weigh every gram, but you do need to know what size portions you are eating and then track all of that on a site like http://www.myfitnesspal.com
At your size, assuming a decent activity level during the day, you probably need more like 3000 calories to gain. 175-200 grams of protein, roughly 80 grams of fat a day and 370 grams of carbohydrates each day. Get that amount in however you can, clean or dirty, whether you run the food through your dishwasher first doesn't really matter.
Always remember, if you aren't gaining weight then you aren't eating enough. If you aren't eating enough, then don't bother lifting because you can't build muscle out of air. You need plenty of food to build mass.
 
Im new to HST, nearly finished my first cycle. I used to think I was a hard gainer same as you, could never gain weight and much size, tried so hard in the gym and ended up over training, tried to bulk 'cleanly' but it just never happened for me. I was always terrified of gaining too much fat. After reading the ebook section on bulking I realised to stop fretting about simple carbs and fat getting me fat and just bulk! Worry about calories as the book says. Literally as soon as I started a proper bulk diet I started putting on weight and getting so much stronger in my lifts. Im 29yrs old, 79kg (up from 72kg when I started 7 wks ago) on 3800-400cals a day, yeah ive put fat on around the abs, but more importantly im seriously stronger and my muscles have got bigger. I tried for ages to get stronger and keep lean, but, as the book says, you cant do both. You needs cals for growth, lots of carbs and plenty of fat, so just get an old fashioned 'dirty' bulk going! Its working for me!
 
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