I tried hst two years ago. I was had been natural for a few months at the time. Didnt dial it in right, my mentality fought the program the whole way and I stopped after week one. As of now, I am just coming off a test only blast and will be cruising for 8 weeks till running a 14week summer blast. So I wanted to try HST while cruising and continuing to cut. I took a bunch of time and effort setting it up this time along with getting my mentality to agree with it. Since im cruising starting this week not modifying the standard program. last night was the second day of the first week of the 15 rep single set. Im pretty impressed so far. In only two days I feel fuller and am visibly fuller. Adding in 20min of pwo cardio and my metabolism has taken off like a rocket as of today. On top of taking armour this should result in some nice fat loss. If I deem this 8 week hst run a success then I will run it for my summer cycle. Here is where I need help from people who have experience with this scenario. 1) I have read that with AAS you can modify and extend your hst to accommodate your cycle length? 2) I have read that with AAS you can skip the SD phase? 3) also read that with AAS you should not push to the true RM at any given level (injury) but instead add sets. If so add how much volume is added? Obviously its individual but im looking for examples. 4) with or without AAS how much do you guys warm up before you begin "work" ? I have been doing a 25rep set of cable flys, 25rep set of whatever back movement im doing for work and some light 40rep press downs to get blood in my elbows along with rotator warm ups. And since some forums like stats and info im 38, lifting 24 years with some 1-2 year breaks in there. Been back into hardcore bb'ing since jan 2009. Been cycling off and on since 21. Im not here for AAS advice. On a traditional split I train super intense. Like almost throw up driving home intense. I like volume and moderate weight and im a nazi about form. Currently 6'0" 237 15%.
Setting up HST cycle with AAS advice
- Thread starter BTC
- Start date
Do a forum search. Most guys here are natty or have only done one-two cycles. O&G boosts himself with T on a regular basis, so might be worth having a chat with him. AFAIK, he just brings it up to the level approximately of a 30 year old, so not doing anything too substantial. IIRC, Bryan recommends just adding volume by way of extra sets, rather than load, especially for anyone doing isolation exercises (hello torn biceps tendon etc.).
To be honest, I would stick to something more along the lines of doing 12s and 8s as mikeynov outlined a while back. You don't want to be going into the 5 RM range with single joint exercises while on for sure. Also, once you hit PCT, you can then move into the 5s and keep it heavy while you recover your hormone levels. Since you plan to do a 14 week cycle, you could chase strength gains in each rep block, so do like 5-6 weeks of 12s, working up to your 12 RMs within three weeks then pushing for new strength gains for another few weeks before dropping down to 8s and doing the same thing until the end of your cycle. Since you would be assisted, you might as well do 30 reps per session for upper body muscle groups and 60 per for lower. I think you can safely push RMs with 12s and 8s, risk of injury is less than when pushing for a max single or something. Assuming you are doing test and not deca, you'd start pct two weeks after that. Then do several weeks of 5s with reduced volume during PCT. I would stick with probably 3x5. You could even progress it into heavier 3x3s during PCT as long as you are adding some higher rep metabolic work on top.
Depending on what level of test you are cruising on, you probably don't need to SD beforehand.
Warmups don't need to be over the top. Remember, the warmup is just to get the muscles ready, they shouldn't be a workout of their own.
Depending on what level of test you are cruising on, you probably don't need to SD beforehand.
Warmups don't need to be over the top. Remember, the warmup is just to get the muscles ready, they shouldn't be a workout of their own.
I would still do like 3x5 plus 2x15 for each muscle group for a few weeks when you drop down to 150 just to keep the tension high as your hormone levels drop. If you're doing tren (assuming you are using ace and not enanthate?) I would just watch it as you chase new RMs as obviously the strength gains can be pretty high on a test tren combo. How's the diet? At your size, I hope you're packing in the calories. You could easily do 5000 calories a day on that cycle and see some awesome size gains. If you don't mind, it would be nice to see a log or at least beginning and ending measurements/weight/bf% on this cycle.
Diet is clean minus one cheat meal a week. Even if that cheat is a whole pizza. Im cutting on a 800cal deficit now. If I add tren I will be going to a cal surplus. 300g pro, 50-75g carbs, 80g fat at the moment. Obviously that would change. Im not wasting tren on cutting. With the 12/8 you recommend how long would you run each? And dont worry, ill always add volume before going overly heavy.