Stats And Impressions After 5th Hst Cycle

leonardopm

Member
Hi.

Last Friday I finished my 5th HST cycle and I'd like to share my experience.

1 - TRAINING

I used a Vanilla HST since the first cycle. Only did 15's in one cycle and the other I followed the traditional 2 weeks of 10, 2 of 5 and 2 post 5. Usually took 9 days SD except when traveling.

I messed with different exercises but the last two months I was stick with this routine:

Deadlift
Pull-ups (or cable pull downs at the 10's weeks)
Bench press
Calf raise on leg press
Pendlay rows
Standing barbell press
Ab work

The last 4 weeks I've been doing metabolic sets for biceps and triceps, since I dropped (again!) direct arm training. It's early to be sure but it seems promising. Got back some arm size without the recovery issues of an arm training 3x a week.

2 - DIET

I've been bulking since the mid of first cycle until now. I started with a 3200kcal flat diet and after some months raised to a 3400kcal, going for 3600 on training days and 3200 on rest days. Nearly a month ago I changed for a 3500kcal being 4000kcal on training days and 3000kcal the others (I train early morning). In fact I've been trying to follow Jester advice and aiming for a 4000kcal intake in the 24hr window after the workout.

I started the diet without any monitoring of macros but actually I've been trying to get as least 1.75g of protein / lb of BW. Fats are usually 30% from the caloric intake. I supplemented with albumin for at least four months but I can't even smell it anymore. I'm taking only weight gainers and fish oil at this time and trying to get my protein from food. Lots of broiled eggs, ham, milk and meat.

3 - STATS

I started HST in late January or early February, not pretty sure. I was 193 lbs at 10,8% BF, resulting in 172 lbs of LBM.

Bench press @ 5 reps - 140 lbs
Barbell press @ 5 reps - 57 lbs
Pull-ups @ 4 reps - BW of 193 lbs

Currently stats are:

BW - 221 lbs @ 14% BF (LBM 190 lbs)

Bench press @ 5 reps - 190 lbs
Barbell press @ 5 reps - 92 lbs
Pull-ups @ 5 reps - BW of 220 lbs + 9 lbs

4 - OPINIONS

After almost 8 months on HST I can say that is the best routine I ever tried. I'm 38 yr old and actually my physique is better than my life-time best condition, since I was in college. I broke my PR on the bench press, barbell press, squat and reached a BW I never had (220+ lbs), almost 20 years older and training less than half the time.

The progressive overload philosophy also kept me far from diseases, injuries and really helped me to keep the focus on the training. When I used to train to failure all the time I was always around with colds and other health issues.

Well, that's my testimony on HST and I hope it can help those who are struggling on HST or not pretty confident on the program. I know there are tons of bigger guys here who also endorse HST but, hey, I needed to tell it to anyone!

I'll start my cut tomorrow and a whole new world is coming with lots of questions, but that's a point for another topic. Thank you for the patience and a special thanks for all users that helped me in the way.

Leonardo
 
Awesome job dude, you are an inspiration. It's good to know that HST also works on the long term and my gains with the first cycle will continue.

I love the progressive overload system because unlike other programs that leave me exhausted, HST makes me feel like an energetic beast throughout my day (although mostly during bulking)

Keep hustling
 
Thank you for all the support.

Today is my first day of the cut and I already got a big problem. Yesterday as I was writing the OT I felt something gone bad with the dinner. I had some Pad Thai at a local restaurant and felt strange. Lots of humbles in my stomach. Today I woke up a mess, went to the toilet at least six times in the morning.

I immediately called the people that were at the restaurant with me and four from the six ones had some type of digesting disorder.

The result is that I was 221lbs on Monday and now I weighed 217. Luckily I got to train at 6pm and manage the loads from previous session, so I believe I lost majorly water.

I also started Creatine today to help with the loads. Cut slightly the volume (2 sets instead 3 for some exercises). Let's see what happens.
 
How tall are you? I'm trying to reconcile in my mind your low body fat and strength levels compared to myself. Good improvements!

Also are you doing squats now? You don't mention this in your original routine but mention it later.
 
I'm 183cm tall. I guess it's almost 6' right?

I did squats until 3rd cycle but I had to do them in a Smith machine and it was killing my knees. My gym doesn't have a rack and the leg press uses fixed plates so it doesn't offer enough load. I tried to do single leg presses but I found a very sloppy exercise, at least with this equipment.

I plan to move on at the end of year and the condominial facilities of my new house include a gym that has a free weight leg press so I'll probably do it again. By now I'm doing only regular DL.
 
Don't do squats on a Smith Machine.

Try single leg squats instead. Split squats in a Smith Machine are acceptable for some.

Lunges are a suitable substitute. Deficit deadlifts. Barbell hack squats.

Any of those.
 
yes I read an article about Smith machines and they are really terrible on the joints.

Single leg squats can be an option if I can handle a good pair of dumbells.
 
Today's workout was really awesome. It felt like I was bulking and I'm pretty sure I could raise loads at least in four lifts.

Nothing changed in the cutting diet these last 4 or 5 days so the only thing I can think is that the body is getting used to work on lower calories.

The clothes also feels slightly larger but being only a few days on the cut is more probably that I lost some water retained.
 
One of the problems I had when doing the cut is that I didn't feel as energetic in the gym and elsewhere, but maybe I was cutting too many calories (consuming around 1600, hoping to lose 0.5 kgs per week). how are you feeling and how much a eyou cutting
 
I'm feeling a bit hungry some times of the day but nothing I can't handle. As I said, today I had a excellent workout, lot's of energy.

I'm a bit higher on the calories, cutting at 2700, but yesterday I ended with 2300 and today at 2100. I believe I'll have to stabilize around 2500. I'm currently 6' tall and 217 lbs.
 
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