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(seemore @ Aug. 01 2007,03:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">^ I have to ask, how many cycles you do and what changes have you made to the vanilla. What did you gain on each cycle?</div>
I do a cycle of 15s-2 wks & 10s-2-3 wks & 6s - 4-6 wks
The last week of 6s I do 1 workset of 6s and 1 set at 75% of workset of 15s
Then SD.
repeat, repeat
I do 2 weeks of 15s everytime after SD, and really concentrate to get a good burn in my exercises.
I do go past 2 weeks on 10s if I am able to keep adding weight. I do this because I try to build up my metabolism. I do 1 set x 10s rest 1 minute or less then 1 set x10s and move to next exercise. I do not take longer than 3 minutes between exercises. I'm injecting some anaerobic conditioning into the weight training, kinda like doing a cycle like "Curves" does for the ladies.
When I move to the 5s/6s I am really primed for getting heavy on the loads fast. I always bump up the weight first workout after the 10s. I don't increase or decrease weights once I do an exercise. I keep the same weight and finish my sets. I apply the same or more weight next workout. My goal is to try to add weight at least everyother workout.
I realize the best way is to add a little weight each workout in the 5s/6s, but I don't do that. Sometimes I may make a huge jump in weight,i.e, this morning I was doing wide grip cable pulldowns, and I added an additional 15 lbs over my last workout. I could have done 25 lbs more easily. On my bench I wasn't any stronger than last workout, in fact I felt weaker for some reason.
My body just doesn't get stronger across the board. LOL
Some parts get stronger and others kinda lag.
Recently, I really felt a surge in my shoulder strength. I am being very cautious, because it is easy to injure a shoulder and be out for months. Don't gt me wrong... cautious ain't backing off, it's just that I don't bump the weights too much at a time. I also make sure I do a warmup set, before a workset.
I've gotta say somthing about gains. I don't take out the tape and measure things. I haven't taken a measurement in over a year. The mirror is my indicator of what is happening.
You will notice something one day. You're body will just begin to seriously respond to your training and diet. I mean it, you'll be in the "Zone" so to say. All that bit about worrying if you're growing and if you're eating the right supplements will just take a back seat in your mind.
Gains are usually very good with HST in the first couple cycles for most everyone, even bodybuilders coming from other training disciplines.
When you're skinny or fat you really want to see those gains. If you stay disciplined, stay with good workouts and eat a lot of nutritious foods you'll look in the mirror one day and say... wow!
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Workouts are critical, because they create the micro-trauma that breaks down the muscle tissue. Protein in simple terms, just for explanation purposes, binds with the muscle tissues at a molecular level making your muscles bigger and stronger. If you don't eat clean and nutritious your gains will not be attained through workouts alone.
Eating right is just as important as the workouts
Good Workouts + Eating right = Muscular gains
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You can mess up some on your training, and not be a 100% follower of HST. Obviously when you look around at all the training programs that are working for people you'll see people getting good gains doing some strange workouts. THose workouts are still creating Microtrauma the muscles need and a proper diet can still be provide growth of the muscles just fine.
You don't get big in workouts. The pump is a deceitful thing, since it is only blood gorging your body parts. Growth is achieved when you've left the gym and gorged your body with enough of the right nutrition to nurture those micro-traumatized muscles.
