HST clarification for keen NEWCOMER

[dan_how]

Im just comign back from shoulder rehab and looking strong in terms of my recovery. Im a UKSCA accredited strength and conditioner who works with elite athletes with regard to more functional training to compliment exercise performance and olympic power lifting techniques.

However, for my personal gains i want to improve my size and HST is a new concept for me. i must admit the traditional 8-12 rep range, working body part splits thorughout the week with 3 weeks progressive overload and 1 week recovery was intitially in my mind. im definately intrigued by the HST concept especially with my aptitude for knowledge in terms of cellular physiology. im ok on the nutrition side of things but if members who used the programme and/or bryan (!) could help provide some answers to the following questions id much appreciate it;

a) 3 times a week, same session repeated right? im ok with that, what are the effects of 4 x week? is this seen as overtraining? or has anyone combined each 2 week cycle at each rep range with 1st week @ 3 x week, 2nd @ 4 x week or vice versa for progressions?

b) after working out maxes for each exercise in each rep range, and typing this into the calculater, am i right in understanding that i only lift this max again once every 2 weeks? understanding adaptation, byt his time the subject should have adapted and thus lifting the "max" would actually be slightly "submaximal". or is it frequency and not overload we are looking for?

c) after 6 months of rest and specific rehab my CV conditioning is immense and have shed fat and am now a very lean 78kgs (172lbs). However, im dropping the CV come the start of my cycle. irrespective i need to bulk my shoulders specifically, can i swap exercises, i.e. one back exercise dropped out for an extra shoulder exercise.

d) the programme works on the principle of 1 - 2 sets per exercise. what constitutes lifitng for 1 set and then lifting for 2 sets in another exercise? i was thinking of 2 sets for every exercise?

e) recovery between sets? should this be a set time irrespective of rep range, or should it be the typical 60-90 seocnds for 15's, 90-120 for 10's and 120secs+ for 5's?

all of your input is much appreciate. im keen to do a full training biog come january and post on here to demopnstarte progress. i wish to get as much knowledge as possible prior to this!!

Thanks for taking the time to respond!!

 

[quadancer]

I'm no expert, but I've been doing HST a while.
A.) Yeah. Some of us do every other day, which is 3-1/2 times a week...keeping to the principles of growth and recovery. Downside is you'll work out sat. one week and sun. the next with this rotation. If you do an AB split, you'll hit it even more. I'd rather just git 'er done in one.
B.) Maxes sometimes come up early, or late, if you're cutting. You should be about ten pounds up on your next cycle. The goal is hypertrophy, but strength just naturally comes up with it. Don't sweat it.
C.) I wouldn't add exersizes to a small muscle group. Better to alternate two of them, like OH presses and rear laterals or use d/b's as an alternate to the bar.
D.) Many of us do 1 or 2 sets for 15's, 2 sets for 10's, and 3 sets for 5's. I'm not sure if that's what you're asking.
E.) Good call. But with your CV conditioning, you might even be able to do 30 sec. for the 15's.

The log. Your most valuable tool for growth. (after FOOD!)

 

[Fausto]

First a warm welcome dan_how

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">a) 3 times a week, same session repeated right? im ok with that, what are the effects of 4 x week? is this seen as overtraining? or has anyone combined each 2 week cycle at each rep range with 1st week @ 3 x week, 2nd @ 4 x week or vice versa for progressions?</div>

a) 3 x week is the standard HST as per original &quot;vanilla&quot; program, however there are a variety of different schemes the guys have come up with.

- 4 x week; 5 x week and 6 x week all done in a way as to avoid burnout.

- Other variety's tried are 3 x week/2 x day some crazy dudes might have tried 4 x week/2 x day, these are extremes though and your nutrition has to be tiptop in order to handle it plus the higher the frequency the shorter the workouts. (like 30 minutes maximum)

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">b) after working out maxes for each exercise in each rep range, and typing this into the calculator, am i right in understanding that i only lift this max again once every 2 weeks? understanding adaptation, by this time the subject should have adapted and thus lifting the &quot;max&quot; would actually be slightly &quot;submaximal&quot;. or is it frequency and not overload we are looking for?</div>

Exactly as you put it, your rep max will be slightly submaximal by that time, provided all the other factors are in order, specially nutrition as it contributes 70% whilst traing only about 30%.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">c) after 6 months of rest and specific rehab my CV conditioning is immense and have shed fat and am now a very lean 78kgs (172lbs). However, im dropping the CV come the start of my cycle. irrespective i need to bulk my shoulders specifically, can i swap exercises, i.e. one back exercise dropped out for an extra shoulder exercise. </div>

If you do a 3 x week cycle, you should keep your CV going on the off days, albeit a shortened variety like Tbata or HIIT, as it will keep fat gains at bay, and besides it is a good thing to have good CV conditioning, in that way it willnot interfere with gains at all!

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">d) the programme works on the principle of 1 - 2 sets per exercise. what constitutes lifitng for 1 set and then lifting for 2 sets in another exercise? i was thinking of 2 sets for every exercise?</div>

As put before by Quad, most of us go for the 1 set 15's; 2 sets 10's and 3 sets 5's, some even do 1, 1 1/2, 3 just to keep the frequency perfectly balanced, other variety's exist even going for 30 throughout which I have tried but it is rather difficult specially during the 5's, in which case you could always go for 4 sets.

High volume is cool for some of us.

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">e) recovery between sets? should this be a set time irrespective of rep range, or should it be the typical 60-90 seocnds for 15's, 90-120 for 10's and 120secs+ for 5's?

all of your input is much appreciate. im keen to do a full training biog come january and post on here to demopnstarte progress. i wish to get as much knowledge as possible prior to this!!</div>

Recovery is very much up to you as Quad already indicated due to your high CV conditioning you might be able to keep short rests like 30 sec during 15's, 60 - 10's and 75 - 120 during 5's. Obviously the thing to watch here is not to overdo it.

Cheers - hope this helps

 

[faz]

if you trained every 48hrs that would be 3x one wk and 4x the second wk that is not a problem.

if you get to the end of your 2wk cycle (say 15s) and your max is 100k if you can do 110k then do it and use that as your rm for the next HST cycle.

muscle memory should bring your shoulder up to its normal size just do a fullbody workout.

 

[dan_how]

thanks so far guys. do people keep traiing logs on here i.e. update the forum with how they are progressing....?

 

[Fausto]

Start your own log as a thread we will input our thoughts!