if bryan could re-write hst in 2014 what would he change?

Hi Just planning my first HST program and was wondering about reaching 30 reps on the 5RM days. For example, when I get to my 6 workouts at 5 RM. if I aim for let's say 20 reps for bench press that's 4 sets of my 5RM. The first workout won't be to failure so I expect to be able to do 5 reps for 4 sets but as the week progresses and the load gets heavier I'm not sure I'll be able to get 4 sets of my 5 RM out. Maybe the first set and second but the third set I may get 3 reps and the last set maybe 1-2 reps. What do you suggest - dropping the weight after the first set so I can get 5 or MYO reps or lots of sets doing 1-2 reps to reach 20 or so in totalThanks
 
gm10864, Bryan himself seems to be hitting 30-60 reps with lower loads, closer to his 10-12RM, rather than 5RM.
I'll do 3x10 of my primary exercise for a given muscle and then maybe at 2 more of an auxiliary exercise. For example, for chest I would do 3x10 of incline press and then add a couple sets of dips to finish things off. That puts me about 50 reps per muscle per workout. Keep in mind that I try to use big compounds as much as possible to limit the total number of exercises per workout.
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http://thinkmuscle.com/forum/showthread.php?19322-R-I-P-HST&p=105240#post105240 I have yet to see someone who can naturally hit 30-60 reps with their 5RM loads at least twice a week and thrive on it. Bigger/more developed guys in our gym seem to be doing more total work per session in lower/upper splits once or twice per week. When I come to the gym, I see one such guy do bench presses, then incline benches, then DB presses etc, and by the time I finish up my whole body routine 1h20m later and am ready to leave, he's still seen doing lying tricep isolations. Big arms, big chest, impressive back, big legs (mostly due to partial heavy (220+kg) squats), but nothing making it obvious he's on juice. Simply a very well developed natural. At times like this I wonder if I should tell him how he could prosper using HST principles ;)
 
1. I think it is one of thousands of studies that when taken by itself can be misleading. It only suggests that the Law of Diminishing Returns applies to weight training. It's usefulness is in proving that the first set counts the most but does indicate what the optimum number of sets would be. It may also be useful for people who merely want to maintain where they currently are or have very limited time schedules which they use as an excuse not to lift.

2. I don't think anyone understands the source or point of your second sentence so it is hard to respond.
 
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I am still surprised at the general negativity towards HST to this day on most training sites. It costs nothing to try and these boards here provide great anecdotal evidence that it works.

How nice would a funded study with body scanning be?
 
seemore said:
I am still surprised at the general negativity towards HST to this day on most training sites.
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Most of the negative opinions I know of concern the 1-2 sets per exercise being enough for muscle growth touted by the only official information site available: http://hypertrophyspecific.com/hst_II.html
Many complain that they can gain some strength, sure thing, but not muscle, resulting in them frequently resorting to proven higher-volume routines. The info should definitely be updated to include the "if you're not growing, increase the volume of work" line, because only an interested enough person would read the archived messages by Bryan or Blade on this board, or the HST FAQ. Everyone else dismisses the routine as non-working for gaining new muscle.
 
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