Question regarding results with HST/MaxStim/MyoRep

S

slowgrower

New Member
Hello guys,

Off and on HST user here, just finished a "Simplify and Win" cycle. I've used HST/DC in the past to go from about 165 lbs (skinnyish) to 190ish (heaviest was 195 on a bulk). Currently 30 years old and 190 with mid-teens bodyfat (can't see abs, but only a small belly). My ultimate goal is trying to get to 220 (I am 6'1") with mid-teens bodyfat, so I can diet down to about 210 and hopefully see some abs while retaining some size. I am doing some SD right now until Christmas and New Years are over with.

My question is... I know that gaining weight is directly proportional to the amount of food you eat. However, I also know that if you don't induce hypertrophy and supply yourself with the right nutrients, your body won't grow lean body mass. I am trying to decide if I should keep doing HST cycles (15s, 10s, 5s, sub-5 cluster), switch to MaxStim, switch to MyoReps, or do some sort of hybrid of two or three of the styles? Like, myoreps after one or two sets of 15s and 10s, then maxstim after 5s?

My current exercise tolerance is about 4-6 exercises per workout for multiple sets. I usually do an A/B split. I injured my rotator cuff about 6 months ago, but it hasn't really affected my lifts. Currently 5s are (as of monday):

Bench 155x5
Military Press off upper chest 105x5
Squat 185x5
Deadlift 205x5
(theres also t-bar rows, assist chins, hammer str rows, etc)

So please, give some direction on what I can/should do next year to get closer to my goals
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Also, wouldn't mind getting stronger in the big three also.
 
Hi,

Keep it simple. Stick with the basics, and stick with it some more.

Dont confuse yourself with all this chopping and changing, looking for that magic routine.

Decide what you feel gives you the best results, and just stick with it. It takes time, and so long as your diet is ok, then you'll grow.

Fat, unfortunately, comes on easier, the older you get, so it can be a tricky balance getting diet right, but with time and practise, it will come.

You sound like you know what you're doing. Your routine looks pretty good - based on what you've written?
I think you're probably on the right track, but you gotta be patient.

I've been doing HST - exclusively - since mid 2002, and still make noticeable gains...

(I'm 38yrs, 6'1" aswell, and currently 260lb at about 20% bf - I also work long, irregular hours, have a nearly 2yr old hyperactive son, and a pregnant missus, so I do my best, and am still progressing!)

Good luck, and feel free to ask anything

Brix
 
Ditto what Brix said. The more muscle you get the harder it is to get some more, so every lb of muscle is going to be harder to obtain then the previous so you have to stick to your plan and be patient. Regarding the training, if you never tried MyoReps I would recommend you to do a cycle or two. It is not because it is better then HST but because some times it is good to vary things to keep your motivation going. It is also nice to know how your body fares with different techniques. All in all I think you are going on the right direction, just stick to it and good luck.
 
slowgrower, there's still plenty of scope for improvement as far as your main compound lifts are concerned, without having to get into any fancy programming for a while yet.

Make it a goal to absolutely nail your technique for the main compound movements. This will allow you to see whether you are progressing or not and will generally make comparisons much more meaningful.

Check out the following Weightlifting Performance Standards to get an idea of how your main lifts are shaping up:

http://exrx.net/Testing/WeightLifting/StrengthStandards.html

Keep doing what you are doing. Set goals for each cycle, eg. aim to increase your top lifts by 5% cycle-on-cycle. It won't always be possible but if you push for it you might get there sooner. Think in terms of adding 100lb to your deadlift 5RM over the course of the next year. You might not get it but I think it's a distinct possibility.

Would you mind posting how you set up your last cycle (ie. weights, sets, reps) for your main compounds? It would be useful to see how you are approaching things.
 
sometimes I see guys just charge in without any program but hit everything stoopid hard for a while and of course, blow up 10 lbs. and gain strength. But we all know that is short lived, and you have to put something organized at the end of it.
OTOH, I see guys carefully measuring grams/cals/macros, keeping decent logs, and carefully adding tiny weights to their poundages and not get anywhere. I always ascribe to "if it's working, don't fix it" which is, inversely, "if it ain't workin', stop doin' it!"

Brixman...if you're 20%, you'd better change your avatar man!
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Quad...

You saying I look higher than 20% ?
Maybe its the difference on Uk and US exchange rates...???

Anyway, that pic is about a year and a half old. I need to update it - its just that Xmas time pics are never the best! (Too many beers and cakes!)

Have a good Xmas and New Year to all HST
and thanks for all the never ending advice and suggestions

Brix
 
Just got back in town from the holidays. My Strategic Deconditioning ends on Monday when I start lifting again. (Getting antsy!)

Thanks for the words of encouragement, Brix. Believe it or not, I keep drifting away from HST, but always end up coming back to the routine and making the best progress on the 15s, 10s, and 5s. I actually weighed about 145 right after college and never thought I would be closing in on that mythical 200 pounds (currently 195 after all the holiday eats!). The reason why I asked about myoreps/maxstim is because I wondered if those techniques (which have been praised on these boards) could maximize my results within my HST routine, if used appropriately.

Lol, my last cycle was an A/B split where I worked different exercises each workout. However, for my new cycle, I've decided that I want to keep certain exercises in every workout so I can get the 'skill' of them down, like Bench Press. I went to your link, and currently I am hovering between Untrained and Novice for my bodyweight. If it can be believed, HST puts size on me, but not always strength. I am much stronger than I used to be at 165, of course, but I am not nearly as strong as these guys who have problems putting on weight, but squat 315 or bench 275.

Workout A: Bench Press, Pulldown, Military Press, TBar Row, Squat

Workout B: Incline Bench, Hammer Str High Row, Dip, Hammer Str Low Row, Deadlift

My progression was basically 80%, 90%, 100% RM for both workouts across the 2 weeks. After the 5s, I just tried to increase the weight by the bare minimum and cluster the reps for 2-3 weeks before taking off for the holidays.

This post is getting long... but I wanted to say that I was inspired by MoDog's routines in the results thread. As he increased the weight and volume of his exercises in the 5s and post-5s, he dropped his isolation exercises and some bio-mechanically straining exercises like dips and upright rows... I'd like to try the same thing this time around to see how it works.

I do know one thing... when I squat and deadlift, I get HUNGRY. Eat everything in sight HUNGRY. If only I knew 10 years ago it was all about the food
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Oh yes, I would also like to add... this cycle was the first time I had ever done the bench press. I've been working out for years, but because I originally came from a HIT school of thought (and I work out alone), I always thought you had to go to failure to make progress on the exercises... which meant benching was impossible since I worked out alone.

I cannot tell you how much of a relief it has become to realize that you don't need to go to failure to grow muscle... especially since HIT advocates those 20 rep squats... oh lord, they were brutal. LOL.
 
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(slowgrower @ Dec. 29 2009,2:44)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I cannot tell you how much of a relief it has become to realize that you don't need to go to failure to grow muscle... especially since HIT advocates those 20 rep squats... oh lord, they were brutal. LOL.</div>
Just curious, did you have any growth on that brutal HIT routine?  I didn't want to just infer from your screen name  
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I'm wondering how that PL exersize selection worked out for you doing HST. I'm not sure I've seen anyone doing that, but I don't read many logs. I would assume that the strengths didn't come up because of the 3x/weekly training as compared to traditional PL work.
 
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(omega99 @ Dec. 29 2009,7:49)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Just curious, did you have any growth on that brutal HIT routine?  I didn't want to just infer from your screen name  
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</div>
Actually, no. I didn't even realize it at the time (being so enamored with Arthur Jones), but frying my CNS made me somewhat stronger, but did not increase my size really much at all. Of course, I wasn't eating enough or doing the pre- and post- workout whey supplementing I'm doing now. Additionally, I was much younger, and my metabolism was a lot higher than it is now.

Ultimately, what ended up happening is... because I was going to failure on every exercise (and thus limiting myself to mostly machines a la Nautilus), I would get burned out fairly quick after about 6 weeks, then my desire to workout would plummet. I even worked out at my University's gym because somehow I thought the old chain driven Nautilus machines there somehow held the secret to growth that I kept reading about on the Internet.

It too me a long time to discover that it's always been about food, free weights, big lifts, and making progress. If only I could go back in time...
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<div>
(quadancer @ Dec. 29 2009,9:39)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I'm wondering how that PL exersize selection worked out for you doing HST. I'm not sure I've seen anyone doing that, but I don't read many logs. I would assume that the strengths didn't come up because of the 3x/weekly training as compared to traditional PL work.</div>
I think the lack of strength has been more about my (lack of) continued discipline than HST. HST makes me grow, and it does make the strong, but I think when I strategically decondition and/or quit working out for a long period of time, I lose all the motor unit neural optimizations that I get from working out.

Overall, I liked my last cycle, and will be transferring most of those exercises into my new cycle. I am trying to use as many exercises with a barbell as possible because of the overall stress that a barbell adds compared to dumbbells.

Anyway, to answer your question, yes I think that HST suits the PL exercises fairly well, even if I don't use PL protocol to improve in them. Squat, Bench, and Deadlift build large physiques... and I think you might be hard pressed to find someone who didn't do those exercises yet still looked massive (without AAS, ofc). That is the intent of my original post... I am looking for techniques to use during HST that will maximize my hypertrophy opportunity, whether its myoreps, max stim, DC style extreme stretching in between exercises, dropping isolation exercises in 5s, or whatever.
 
The more I study, the more I find that strength is connected to resting from hard work, rather than volume of any kind. Of course, when slamming hard with big weights, you need a bit more rest than someone doing volume, but the goals are different.
Another secret: catnaps.
 
<div>
(slowgrower @ Dec. 30 2009,10:31)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> It too me a long time to discover that it's always been about food, free weights, big lifts, and making progress. If only I could go back in time...
smile.gif
</div>
Yeah, same here. Trained my but off in the '90's with little progress in size. Didn't know anything about progressive load, and ironically, my nutrition sucked even as I was majoring in exercise physiology. When I got back into lifting 4 years ago, I started perusing the web, and thinking back, there was so still much garbage out there. Luckily, I stumbled over Bryan's site at bb.com, and finally started seeing some good gains.

Anyway, I'm totally off thread here, but it's wise to realize that HST is set of principles -- many variations in routine can be accomplished while sticking to the basics.
 
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