Just finished my first HST cycle - cant wait for the next

[benben2356]

Hello again everyone ... You might remember a few weeks ago I posted about messing up my cycle etc etc .....
Well it is true that on those last 2 workouts of the 10s I came a little unstuck as I over estimated my maxes a tad ....
But my cycle on the 5s has completely made up for that minor slip up ... I've finished with great results and carried on to best my planned maxes in the 3rd week ...

I followed an A B alternating full body split with the main exercises on workout A being ..
Chins
squats
deadlift
bench press
pulley row
military press
barbell curl
dips

and workout B
Chins
Hack squat
deadlift
incline db press.
T bar row.
Db military press.
Barbell curl.
Dips.
Rear delt.

My maxes on everything this final week for the 5s were ...

Chins - weighted with 30kg of plates
Squat - 90 kg
deadlift - 150 kg
Hack squat - 110kg
bench press - 82.5 kg
incline db press - 42.5 kg dumbells
pulley row - level 15 (not sure what weight that is but it's only 3 short of the full stack )...
Military press - 52.5 kg
db military press - 30 kg dumbells.
Dips - weighted with 30 kg of plates
Barbell curl - 45 kg (not counting the bar which apparently weighs 15 kg..

I never count the bar weight so these lifts are referring to just the weight on the bar ..
I'm really pleased with my finishing point as all of these are above my planned maxes which I hit last week .... I am going to start my deload now though due to the fact I am beginning to feel burned out and I'm getting a few aches and pains ....

Most of the lifts have stalled now apart from hack squat , chins and deadlifts which I feel I could probably increase on Some more but the form would be very sloppy .... So I think it's best I deload now.

I have never taken breaks in my years of training so this is really going to be tough on me ... But I am really looking forward to getting back on those 15s again as I'm missing the pump big time lol ...

I weigh 78 kg currently but plan to really dial in my nutrition on my second cycle as I'm sure I could be a lot heavier at 6'1 ....

I have a couple of questions though on reflection of my cycle ....
Is it normal to feel smaller after the 5s ??? I felt strong but looked quite deflated towards the end whereas in the 15s and 10s I looked much fuller ....

Also I have been doing cardio on my off days ..... Is it a good idea to still do cardio during the deload phase ??? I really enjoy my running but I don't want to ruin my deload if its going to interfere ..

Anyways I now know my mistake in the 10s was over estimating my maxes by a fraction and also my diet should have been a lot better as previous users pointed out in my other thread .. I am planning to run a somewhat dirty bulk throughout my next cycle as I think this will really benefit me in terms of upping my lifts and body weight ....

 

[Totentanz]

Why are you doing cardio while trying to bulk? All you are doing is burning calories you could be using to grow. Growth occurs on your off days, not your training days.

There is no such thing as a "dirty bulk" - there is only calorie excess, maintenance or calorie deficit. You have three options. Eat enough to grow, eat enough to maintain or eat so that you are losing weight. What you eat doesn't matter a whole lot as long as you hit your calorie goals and macronutrient goals. It doesn't matter whether your food has dirt on it or whether you washed it in the sink, so don't worry about the terms "dirty eating" or "eating clean" because they are meaningless.

Re: feeling deflated during the 5s. Have you read my book? This is addressed in there. You have to add in metabolic work if you want to avoid the deflated look. Not that it matters as you will still grow without a pump if you are eating enough but doing metabolic work makes sure you are getting the erk 1/2 signalling.

 

[benben2356]

Thanks man ... Sorry to keep harping on about clean , dirty foods lol ... It's years of backed up bro science stick in my head .....
I must've overlooked the part about metabolic work in the Ebook ... I shall go back and re-read that part now
i do try to compensate for the cardio by eating more .... It's just I worry about my general fitness and am somewhat worried by all the media hype of taking care of your heart via cardio ....

Thanks for your help though mate .... I'm a big fan of the Ebook and I know your a guy who certainly knows this stuff better than anybody ...

From now on next cycle I have accurate rep maxes to work with and it's gonna be calories calories calories on their purest and densest form

jar of peanut butter a day may help lol

i am generally very pleased with how hst has made me feel ... It's refreshingly nice to not have to hit failure on every workout and somehow I seem to respond better this way ....
I think I will stick with the same workout on the second cycle but I will take the advice of the sticky thread and drop a few unnecessary exercises so I can focus more on the power moves ...

 

[Old and Grey]

Why are you doing cardio while trying to bulk? All you are doing is burning calories you could be using to grow. Growth occurs on your off days, not your training days.

Very true. However I personally would not give up heart health just to bulk up. You need to find the right balance and adjust your caloric intake accordingly, The two are not mutually exclusive unless your goal is to just get big and not worry about your overall health.

Totz's suggestion about adding in metabolic work is very important. You really need to hit both type 1 and type 11 muscle fibers to maximize total hypertrophic gains. Using heavy weights plus a final set of metabolic sets of 10 to 20 reps will help do that.

Also, watch out for deads and squats in the same workout, depending on the number of sets, you do not want to go overboard with compounds and risk CNS problems.

Gook luck!

O&G

 

[Totentanz]

Lifting weights when you incorporate 15s, etc, is sufficient to fulfill the role cardio plays in maintaining heart health when you are on a bulk. If you lose any cardiovascular ability, you can quickly regain it when you start doing cardio during a maintenance or cutting cycle. In reality, the role of cardio in heart health is negligile in comparison to other things you should do to maintain heart health which includes maintaining a healthy cholesterol profile, triglycerides, etc. Increasing your VO2 max or lowering your resting heart rate through cardio is not going to prevent heart disease if your cholesterol is bad. Eating a proper diet along with exercising regularly will help though.
Cutting out cardio while bulking is not going to kill you but keeping it in during your bulking cycle is going to slow down your gains and it does not improve partitioning as many people have claimed. You will still gain the exact same amount of fat versus muscle when you include cardio, you will just gain less of both due to having fewer calories available.

You will also deplete glycogen from your legs which will cause slower gains in strength on leg exercises and less energy during your workouts for those same exercises, which means you will have to reduce volume for leg exercises which can compromise gains in the related muscle groups. Nobody got thighs in the region of 26 inches or larger by including cardio while bulking.

As an anecdote, I very rarely do cardio, yet somehow I have a resting heart rate of around 50 bpm and my cholesterol, tryglycerides, etc are in the healthy range. In other words, my heart is extremely healthy, according to my doctor. I could just naturally be that way, I suppose. Or it is more likely that any type of exercise along with a proper diet, is good for the heart.

 

[Totentanz]

Thanks man ... Sorry to keep harping on about clean , dirty foods lol ... It's years of backed up bro science stick in my head .....

It's fine to use terms like that, just be aware that they are realistically meaningless. I just want you to be worrying about the important things - total calories along with how many grams of fat, carbs and protein you are taking in.

I must've overlooked the part about metabolic work in the Ebook ... I shall go back and re-read that part now

I'm not sure what section it is in. I'll look it up later and let you know. I'm pretty sure I included an example routine with metabolic work included. You could probably just use that and tweak it for your purposes.

i do try to compensate for the cardio by eating more .... It's just I worry about my general fitness and am somewhat worried by all the media hype of taking care of your heart via cardio ....

As I said a post ago, diet is going to play a much larger factor in this than cardio. As will genetics. The reality is that any type of exercise is going to help your heart, it doesn't really matter a whole lot whether it is cardio or lifting. Unless you have a preexisting defect, of course. But lifting raises your heart rate and increases your breathing just like cardio does.

Thanks for your help though mate .... I'm a big fan of the Ebook and I know your a guy who certainly knows this stuff better than anybody ...

From now on next cycle I have accurate rep maxes to work with and it's gonna be calories calories calories on their purest and densest form

jar of peanut butter a day may help lol

i am generally very pleased with how hst has made me feel ... It's refreshingly nice to not have to hit failure on every workout and somehow I seem to respond better this way ....
I think I will stick with the same workout on the second cycle but I will take the advice of the sticky thread and drop a few unnecessary exercises so I can focus more on the power moves ...

Just don't drop the volume too low. You need enough to cause a growth stimulus.

If calories are a problem, you could also try adding olive oil into your shakes for a large boost in calories.

 

[benben2356]

Volume wise I have been sticking to ..


2 sets for the 15s
2 -3 sets for the 10s
3 - 5 sets on the 5s - however on the last few weeks of 5s I had to reduce it to strictly 3 sets of 5 ...due to how strenuous it became toward the end ...


it required long rests between sets to get 5 reps on each of the 3 sets on week 3 of my 5s .. but I just about made it ...


Next time though when the 5s get super heavy I will probably go even heavier if I can (extending into as many additional weeks as I can) and drop it to 1-2 sets of 5 with a couple of burn sets at the end for metabolic work .. When you are working with your absolute 5 rep maxes I find getting 3 sets out of it is very tough work so maybe 2 would be better for me with the addition of metabolic work .. (I'm only talking about the advanced weeks after hitting my planned maxes for 5) ... On the planned 2 weeks of 5s I should be fine to continue with 3-5 sets of 5 ... The 15s and 10s I shall keep at 2 sets though as I feel that was plenty ..


I feel somewhat hesitant to start my SD now as its only week 7 ... But I didn't deload before starting hst (bad move I know). ..... And also Im feeling pretty beat up after this weeks workouts literally straining everything to failure ... I have no idea how I'm going to handle a whole 9 days of no training but I know my next cycle is going to be much better as this 7 week period has given me great data to plan with and the mistakes I've made on this 1st cycle should be a valuable learning curve .... Most important as you say are going to be calories and tweaking the volume and adding burn sets to the 5s ..... Strangely as a previous poster mentioned - I've never had problems squatting and dead lifting on the same workout .... As long as squats are first .... But I'll keep an eye on it as my lifts increase ...


My workouts I think I will keep the same for next cycle ... As most of them are heavy compound lifts anyway ... I ditched triceps exts and push downs already as I felt dips were doing a good enough job ...


does anyone ever find it mentally tough to SD ??? To be honest I'm dreading it because it just feels like I should be doing something ... I hate not being able to train lol

 

[Old and Grey]

does anyone ever find it mentally tough to SD ??? To be honest I'm dreading it because it just feels like I should be doing something ... I hate not being able to train lol

Not in the beginning of an SD as I am usually beat down, physically and/or mentally. After 5 days though, I really have to fight the urge to continue SDing but it is worth it in the end.

 

[wungun]

Just think of SD as a primer...the ultimate, preworkout prep! To max your growth, you NEED to SD. Keep telling yourself that...

Looking at your workout...I'd ditch the DB curls in favour of barbell curls, especially when your get heavy on the 10's and 5's.
I just find it more effective and easier to keep form/target the bi's with the barbell instead when you near your RM's.
But for 5RM met work, nothing beats 15 reps of preacher curls!


Sent from my iPhone...