Newbie here...just started HST

[j_love01]

I just thought I'd say hello and thank everyone for their contributions to this forum.  I have learned a lot from this site.  I started my first day of 15s yesterday after 14 days of SD.  WOW...those 15s kicked me in the nuts!  I was getting great pumps off of such light weights.  

 DOMS is very prevalent today but I still can't wait to hit the gym tomorrow.  
I'll be posting stat changes on a weekly basis.  
Thanks again!
~Jason

 

[Old and Grey]

We look forward to your updates. Why don't you post your program too so we can match the stats with what you are doing?

 

[j_love01]

I am following a pretty vanilla HST program.  1 set during the 15s, 2 sets during the 10s, and 3 sets during the 5s.  I'll continue Week 7 & Week 8 with 5s and added drop sets/negatives.  Alternating negs with drop sets every other workout.  Here are the exercises:

Squats
Inc. Bench Press (<15% incline)
Pullups
Shoulder Press
Bent over Row
Deadlift
Bicep Curls
Lying Tricep Extensions w/ BB
Standing Calf Press/Seated Calf Press (Alternate every other w/o)
Shoulder Shrugs
Weighted Swiss Ball Crunches (Low Cable Pull)

Diet:  Carb Cycling (Re-feeds every 3rd/4th day, alternating)
Cardio:  HIIT twice per week (will adjust if necessary)
Goal:  Add lean muscle mass, currently at 9.5% and would like to keep it under 11%.

Critique as necessary.  I can modify my second HST cycle based on your recommendations/modifications.

 

[imported_goal220]

Your routine, including diet, is nearly identical to mine except I only do 10 excercizes. Looks solid. Full body workouts can really wipe you out if you`ve never done them before but you`ll adjust to it very quickly. Take any tips you can from O&G. He`s done almost exactly 1 zillion cycles

.
Make sure to eat enough, particularly on your workout days. I`d say it looks like your set to see some really good results.

Good luck

 

[j_love01]

Quote[/b] (goal220 @ June 01 2005,9:47)]Your routine, including diet, is nearly identical to mine except I only do 10 excercizes.  Looks solid.  Full body workouts can really wipe you out if you`ve never done them before but you`ll adjust to it very quickly.  Take any tips you can from O&G.  He`s done almost exactly 1 zillion cycles

.  
Make sure to eat enough, particularly on your workout days.  I`d say it looks like your set to see some really good results.
Good luck

Thanks!

Yeah, the full body workout was exhausting but I look forward to hitting the gym this evening.  At least I'm a little bit more mentally prepared than I was during the first workout.  It's no cakewalk...that's for sure.  

I'm constantly monitoring my diet.  I track every ounce of food consumed in Fitday PC which allows me to monitor macronutrient ratios, calories, etc.  I've learned the hard way...diet is KEY.  If this isn't nailed down then gains are minimal (if even apparent).

 

[j_love01]

Well the 2nd workout of the 15s was a lot better than the 1st.  I only felt like I was going to throw up once opposed to 3 or 4 times like the 1st workout.

 

[Fausto]

Jason

Looks solid mate

Keep going, the way you are specially tracking your nutrition that closely, you should get some interesting gains.

What frequency are you using? 3 x p/week or 6 x p/week?

Let us know how you are progressing!

Cheers

 

[j_love01]

Quote[/b] (Fausto @ June 02 2005,3:53)]Jason
Looks solid mate
Keep going, the way you are specially tracking your nutrition that closely, you should get some interesting gains.
What frequency are you using? 3 x p/week or 6 x p/week?
Let us know how you are progressing!
Cheers  

I am only doing 3 full body workouts per week. A typical week looks like this:

Mon: HST
Tue: HIIT
Wed: HST
Thur: Off
Fri: HST
Sat: HIIT
Sun: Off (I'll probably end up going to the gym anyway and working forearms, obliques, misc stuff)

Do the 6x/week guys do full body workouts 6x a week or are they breaking it up to where two split workouts = 1 full body workout. I don't know if I could handle a full body workout everyday on these 15s.

I DO LOVE to spend time in the gym though so I'm interested in hearing feedback on how to perform HST at 6x/week. My current plan is pretty vanilla but I plan on tweaking it for the next cycle.

 

[Totentanz]

It varies. When I do high frequency, I do full body each day. Some people do a split though. Some people (like Old and Grey) do 12x a week frequency, with an AM/PM split every day. I'm going to be trying that out next cycle, which will be next Monday, actually.

The secret to doing full body every day is to use slightly lower volume than you would on a 3x a week plan. You may not have to use less volume though, it depends on what you can handle. The main thing effecting your success on a high frequency plan is your diet. Your calorie requirements will go up dramatically and you will definitely want to make sure you are getting a ton of carbs during a cycle like this.

 

[Fausto]

Jason

I think tottentanz has answered your question, as for me I think that 3 x week is more than enough but yes, you can get to do it 6 x week, just like he said your carb intake will go up seriously and it better else you will get drained in a serious way!

Anyway, nice to see you got yourself organized!

Ciao

 

[j_love01]

Thanks for the replies! I'll definitely take that into consideration during the construction of my next HST cycle.

I'm looking forward to today's workout.

 

[Old and Grey]

Jason

Looks like a good HST routine to begin with. You may only need one set for tris and bis during the 10's and 5's. Once you get that intitial pump in the smaller muscles, adding more volume can sometimes be more negative than positive. You may also find that 3 sets during the 5's makes for too long a workout. If so, you can try splitting it up over two days and work out 6 days per week or just drop the volume. Workouts much over 45 minutes long can be more taxing on your body than you realize. Also, I rarely do multiple sets of the same exercise but prefer to add different exercises if I need more volume. It seems to be more efficient and work better for me. Experiment over time and see what works best for YOU.

Good luck!

 

[j_love01]

Quote[/b] (Old and Grey @ June 03 2005,9:43)]Jason
Looks like a good HST routine to begin with. You may only need one set for tris and bis during the 10's and 5's. Once you get that intitial pump in the smaller muscles, adding more volume can sometimes be more negative than positive. You may also find that 3 sets during the 5's makes for too long a workout. If so, you can try splitting it up over two days and work out 6 days per week or just drop the volume. Workouts much over 45 minutes long can be more taxing on your body than you realize. Also, I rarely do multiple sets of the same exercise but prefer to add different exercises if I need more volume. It seems to be more efficient and work better for me. Experiment over time and see what works best for YOU.
Good luck!

I was thinking 3 sets might be a little long during the 5s. I definitely like to keep my workouts under 45 minutes...that's a big priority when I am in the gym. My body starts going downhill after that.

I can see your point on doing only 1 set for tris but my biceps would not forgive me if I reduced the # of sets. I have a real hard time getting them pumped. I really focus on my back when I do pullups so they don't get much off of that exercise (same with rows). If time becomes an issue I will start by reducing the number of sets on bis and tris during the 10s and 5s. If it's still an issue after the reduction I'll work on splitting the workouts up over two days.

Only time & experimentation will tell...

~Jason

 

[j_love01]

EEEeek!  I did my 3rd workout of the 15s yesterday and I wasn't able to reach 15 reps on about half of the exercises.

 I was hitting 13 or 14 reps but I just couldn't squeeze out anymore.  Should I repeat this workout at the same weights instead of increasing weights?  I think I can squeeze in another workout, making the 15s a total of 7 workouts instead of 6 during the first 2 weeks.  

My diet did not change at all.  Maybe it was just a bad day at the gym...

 

[Totentanz]

You may need more carbs. I would try it out and see how much that effects your next workout. Especially since you are doing HIIT every other day.

 

[j_love01]

Well, after 1 week of HST & 9 days of the Natural Hormonal Enhancement diet(basically a carb cycling program with refeeds twice/week) I have lost 0.66 pounds of fat and gained 1.16 pounds of muscle mass (calculated by measuring body fat %, I used omron fat analyzer and calipers).
I took body measurements (chest, arms, calf, etc.) but I believe they are off due to me being glycogen depleted the second time I took measurements and not being depleted the first time I took measurements. I'm going to start measuring once/week several hours before my second weekly refeed. I should be glycogen depleted at this point. I was thinking I could take measurements after a refeed but glycogen replenishment can vary based on types of carbs consumed and other body factors. So, I'll take measurements at maximum glycogen depletion, post 4 days of minimal carbs. Consistency is key when taking measurements, right? Live and learn...

I'm happy with results so far.

Changes to the HST program thus far:
I added one additional workout to Week 1. So I have completed 4 workouts of the 15s at this point. Week 2 of the 15s begins today. I'll probably end up doing 4 more workouts of the 15s.

~Jason

 

[j_love01]

Update:

I will finish up the 15s today. I did decide to go ahead and squeeze in an extra workout during Week 2. This makes the total workouts for the 15s come to 8. I'll probably do the same for the 10s and 5s.

Fat Loss: 0.65 pounds
Lean Mass Gain: 2.15 pounds

Next week I'll have body size changes. I took measurements right before my 2nd weekly carb load and I'll do the same next week.

I'm extremely happy w/ the results. I don't expect these numbers to continue throughout the cycle but if they do:

 

[Bob Evans]

Quote[/b] ]I'm constantly monitoring my diet. I track every ounce of food consumed in Fitday PC which allows me to monitor macronutrient ratios, calories, etc. I've learned the hard way...diet is KEY. If this isn't nailed down then gains are minimal (if even apparent)

Hey Jason I am currently re rigging my diet. Both for bulking and cutting. I am currious specifically what you are doing. Thanks

Bob

 

[j_love01]

Quote[/b] (Bob Evans @ June 11 2005,11:54)]

Quote[/b] ]I'm constantly monitoring my diet.  I track every ounce of food consumed in Fitday PC which allows me to monitor macronutrient ratios, calories, etc.  I've learned the hard way...diet is KEY.  If this isn't nailed down then gains are minimal (if even apparent)

Hey Jason I am currently re rigging my diet. Both for bulking and cutting. I am currious specifically what you are doing.  Thanks
Bob

It's basically somewhat of a carb cycling diet. Someone over at bodybuilding.com turned me on to this diet called Natural Hormonal Enhancement. I started with 7 days of active carbs being less than 20 grams (I did this during SD). This 7 days switched me over to being a fat burner opposed to a sugar burner. After the 7 days are complete you have 3 days with carbs being less than 30g. On the night of your 3rd day you do a carb load with a meal containing 100g of carbs or more. Then you do four days with carbs being less than 30g and on the 4th night you have another carb load. Repeat. A sample week for me is like this:

Day 1: <30g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Day 2: <30g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Day 3: <20g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Last Meal: 100g+ carbs, minimal protein & fat
Day 4: <30g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Day 5: <30g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Day 6: <30g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Day 7: <20g carbs, 50% calories from fat, 45% from protein
Last Meal: 100g+ carbs, minimal protein & fat

There are a lot more details to it than just this. There's a book out there called Natural Hormonal Enhancement by Rob Faigin which is highly worth getting. He covers a lot of principles on hormones and how to take advantage of them by tuning your diet. Pretty good read even if you don't follow his suggested diet. He gives two diets, a general & a bodybuilding, I follow the bodybuilding. The bodybuilding diet entails a moderately high fat consumption and a higher carb load.

The only drawback to the book is he does not give out specifics on how many calories or grams of protein or fat to consume. This is why I constantly monitor my diet. I can increase/decrease a macronutrient based on my results. The macronutrient ratios I gave in my sample week are not given in the book but this is what I have found is working for me.

 

[j_love01]

Well, I completed the first workout of the 10s yesterday. It was a nice change from the 15s, great pumps and even some DOMS today.

HIIT today!