New to HST

B

barhop

New Member
Hello I am new to weight lifting and have been trying to read up on different training programs. HST caught my attention but I am a bit skeptical with how this works.

All the threads I have read about this has people talking about this but no one really posts their results at the end of the cycle so I don`t know how well it really works. As well I have read this program isn`t for ecto`s which I am.

I was thinking about just doing the basic cycle of 15X1 10X2 and 5X3 and the following excercises:
Squat
Bench Press
Stiff Legged Deadlift
Bent Over BB Rows
Seated Shoulder Press
EZ Bar Curls
Lying Tricep Extensions
Standing Calf Raise

I think I understad how this program works. I do all 8 excercises 3 days a week starting with 15X1 for 2 weeks. The next 2 weeks I do 10X2 and for weeks for and 6 5X3. On my 3rd day in the gym and weeks 7 and 8 I lift until I can`t lift anymore.

What I am looking for by making this post is; to find out where I am wrong and what I am missing.

Thank you for any help or tips.
 
I'm not sure what you're looking for in terms of feedback/help, you appear to be intending to follow the program just about exactly how it was written - both in terms of exercises used and sets. You seem good to go.
 
Don't worry about definitions like "ectomorph" and crap like that. It doesn't apply. You just need to eat a lot more than someone else trying to gain muscle. And if you want to know about other people's results, just look around, there are entire threads dedicated to that. Or... well look at my join date. I've been around a while, but not forever. I started out when I first began lifting at around 140 lbs. I'm 6'1. I'm now 230 lbs and pushing for 240 this cycle. People would have described me as an "ectomorph" back when I first started out. I made no progress when I first started lifting until I found HST and from there... well, I already told you where I'm at now.
So this program can definitely work for you. However, I would suggest you keep reading and reading some more. HST isn't just a cookie cutter program where you follow the routine posted to the letter. It's just a set of principles. Yeah, you'll see that statement repeated ad nauseam on the internet if you do some serious searching but that's because it's true. All that said, go ahead and do what you posted however week 7 and 8, I'm not sure what you mean by "lift til I can't lift anymore." If you mean that you will try to do more reps until you can't, well that is certainly one option but what I would suggest is that you try adding 5 lbs to each lift each session once you get into weeks 7 and 8. If you get all your sets and reps then add 5 lbs again the next workout. If you don't, then keep the weight the same. Repeat this process until the end of week 8, and which point you can use these new loads that you are lifting as your new 5 rep maxes and base your next cycle on those numbers.

Last thing: Your success is going to depend almost completely on your diet. Since you describe yourself as an ecto, I'm guessing you are very lean, quite small and that you have a very fast metabolism. So here's what I'm going to suggest you do. You know how all these people are always talking about "you gotta eat clean bro" and stuff like that? Forget them. Those things don't apply to you. You need to get as many calories in as possible. Fat is your friend. Take your current bodyweight in pounds, multiply that by 20 and that is how many calories I suggest you get a day. Start your diet off with a minimum of 1.5 grams of protein per lb of bodyweight a day. Fill in the rest with fats and carbs. Fat is real calorie dense so it is a lot easier for you to eat a lot of calories if you consume fat. You're going to have to retrain your body when it comes to food. Most of the time when I was starting out, I would have to force feed myself throughout the day. Sometimes I overdid it and ended up puking because I packed my stomach too full. But eventually my body adapted and now I can put away huge amounts of food that put morbidly obese people I know to shame.

Stick with it. There are going to be times where you think to yourself "My life is hell, why am I doing this to myself?" but in a few years when you are a huge beast, you'll be looking back at where you were when you started and wondering why you thought it was hard back then.
 
Yup, I'm with Totz on this one. HST principles work just fine: frequent workouts, constantly increasing load, occasional strategic deconditioning. It seems to help to use compound lifts -- more bang for the buck.

I think ''ectomorph'' comes from the greek, meaning ''doesn't eat enough''... j/k
 
Some think that there are no ectomorphs or hardgainers, just undereaters. But seriously, I know where you are coming from. But on the bright side, you are here now so we can help you. Remember, about 5 years ago I was almost 100 lbs lighter than I am now, and I made really poor progress for some of those years of my training due to not sticking to the plan or getting sick/injured or going through my divorce, etc. So if you stick to the plan hard, you could do even better.
 
Totentanz said:
Some think that there are no ectomorphs or hardgainers, just undereaters. But seriously, I know where you are coming from. But on the bright side, you are here now so we can help you. Remember, about 5 years ago I was almost 100 lbs lighter than I am now, and I made really poor progress for some of those years of my training due to not sticking to the plan or getting sick/injured or going through my divorce, etc. So if you stick to the plan hard, you could do even better.
Click to expand...

nice to see you back tot,where have you been.
 
A lot of crap happened and I also got transferred to a different place at work for a while to take over for someone they had to fire and turn the place around since it had become craphole. After working 60-70 hours a week (on top of having full custody of my three young children) I was left with no time for anything except work and sleep. I'm out of that place now though and back doing what I love.
 
hey i'm new to HST and I've done some reading on the program and the only thing that i don't like the the M-W-F split. I love working out and i'm used to 5 or 6 days of training per week and i don't know if i could handle only training only 3x per week. Another thing that I was thinking is that with training 3 days per week you might miss out on all the great physiological benifits, releasing growth hormone, stimulating protein synthesis etc... and taking advantage of the anabolic time around training to get shuttle the nutrients into the right places. It seems like this would be much less with only training 3x per week...Is the M-W-F the only split that you recomend for HST?
 
Releasing growth hormone and other hormone theories have all been debunked. It's a load of crap, basically.

If you really must do 5-6 times a week, consider an upper/lower or push/pull split.
 
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