Hey all, just wanted to post my current cutting diet and workout routine. As always, I am open to criticism as it is a great way to increase my knowledge.

Stats--

Age: 20 (almost 21)
Height: 5'10.5"
Weight: 195
Bodyfat%: 12-14%
5th HST cycle

Nutrition--

I may be cutting calories a little too low, but, I preserve muscle pretty well. I aim for 1750 kcal/day regardless of lifting or not. I am for 150-200g of protein. Low fats, mostly healthy besides what comes from my ground beef patties. The rest is carbs, probably 40% of my kcals. I take 2 protein shakes a day which consists of 1 scoop of whey (30g) 2 tbsp of dextrose (20g) and 1.5 tsp of creatine (5-7g). This equals about 250 calories, twice a day so 500 total. I eat 80% lean ground beef, rice, oats, chicken breasts, canola/olive oil, grape juice (only in mornings), scrambled eggs, tacos (like twice a week, girlfriend makes me), and I drink loads of water.

Workout-- M/W/F

AM: Morning cardio on an empty stomach upon wakening. This is pretty low intensity as to not strip my muscles of the precious amino acids. Last 45 minutes, and I take an ECA before I start. (First protein shake is taken directly after)

Mid-day: Full body workout. Warm up set(s) and 1 real working set at max force production. 5 reps for 2 weeks, then 3 reps, then negs with continued 3s, then back to 5s, rinse and repeat. I know if I start to see a decrease in weight, I need to bump up the kcals. 2nd protein shake taken directly after workout.

Slight incline bench
Weighted Chin Ups
Weighted Dips
Deadlift
Shoulder Press
Leg Press
HG Seated Rows
Hamstring Curls
Preacher Curls
Laying Tricep Ext
Calf Raises (Not on Wednesdays)

Before Bed: Another cardio session like the morning cardio, but not on an empty stomach and no ECA obviously. I eat a source of protein afterwards and hit the bed.

T/Th/S

Basically this is my triple cardio day. I have the morning session on an empty stomach, mid-day session usually walking on a treadmill at an incline for 45 minutes, and before bed I do another low intensity jog.

Sundays- This is supposed to be an off day but I may do 1 session of cardio at 1 of the 3 designated times.

Anyone see any flaws, major or minor? I appreciate your feedback, I have received nothing but good advice from this community and I thank you all for it. BTW my goal is to get to 7-8% body fat, in other words, stupid shredded.

Hey guys. I'm new to HST.

A bit about me:
A week ago, I was displeased with my current state of muscle during my cut.
My muscles looked soft and I felt like I wasn't making any progress cut-wise or muscle-wise. Whether this was due to the improper gymbrogohard6daysaweek training I was doing with a ridiculous amount of sets hitting my muscles from "different angles" or because I was in a caloric deficit, I wasn't sure.

Anyways, I decided that I would do 1 bulking cycle of HST for 6 six weeks and see how it went from there. A lot of people seemed to like HST and the more read about it, the better it sounded.

Last week, I tested all my maxes as suggested per the HST Book. This week, I'm supposed to start my SD.

Problem is, I was just alerted by my family that they want to go on a vacation with me to Mexico from 6/10 to 6/17. Exactly a week. Now, this seems like the IDEAL time to start my SD. No need to work out and seek a gym during this time and just relax as opposed to doing my SD this week.

I'm not really sure what to do anymore...do another program? Stick with HST but in a modified manner?


I really appreciate any help I can get. Thank you so much!

FYI my bulking plan is to have 3 high-carb days, 4 low-carb days as per carb cycling. Low-carb days, I hit maintenance calories and high-carb days I go 20% over maint cals.
(I know, it's the daily/weekly macronutrient goals that affect body composition the most but on a day-to-day aesthetic basis, my face looks really bloated if I eat carbs and don't exercise.)

During my SD, I was planning on having a low-carb week with maintenance calories.
On track practice, I would up my calories by a bit and carbs by a smidgen but the week is still primarily high-fat.
Protein doesn't change no matter what.

Hey guys. I'm new to HST.

A bit about me:
A week ago, I was displeased with my current state of muscle during my cut.
My muscles looked soft and I felt like I wasn't making any progress cut-wise or muscle-wise. Whether this was due to the improper gymbrogohard6daysaweek training I was doing with a ridiculous amount of sets hitting my muscles from "different angles" or because I was in a caloric deficit, I wasn't sure.

Anyways, I decided that I would do 1 bulking cycle of HST for 6 six weeks and see how it went from there. A lot of people seemed to like HST and the more read about it, the better it sounded.

Last week, I tested all my maxes as suggested per the HST Book. This week, I'm supposed to start my SD.

Problem is, I was just alerted by my family that they want to go on a vacation with me to Mexico from 6/10 to 6/17. Exactly a week. Now, this seems like the IDEAL time to start my SD. No need to work out and seek a gym during this time and just relax as opposed to doing my SD this week.

I'm not really sure what to do anymore...do another program? Stick with HST but in a modified manner?

I really appreciate any help I can get. Thank you so much5


FYI my bulking plan is to have 3 high-carb days, 4 low-carb days as per carb cycling. Low-carb days, I hit maintenance calories and high-carb days I go 20% over maint cals.
(I know, it's the daily/weekly macronutrient goals that affect body composition the most but on a day-to-day aesthetic basis, my face looks really bloated if I eat carbs and don't exercise.)

During my SD, I was planning on having a low-carb week with maintenance calories.
On track practice, I would up my calories by a bit and carbs by a smidgen but the week is still primarily high-fat.
Protein doesn't change no matter what.

Here's a sample of my routine, I made a few changes but overall this is what I was doing. 15s were all one set, 10s I did two sets and 5s were 3 sets. I was able to complete each workout at right around 1 hr or less. I completed this in the 6 weeks. On the very last workout instead of doing my squats at 315 I tested max squat, and then the program was complete. Last week I tested max deadlift monday, bench wednesday, and weighted chins friday, while on each day doing lighter weights of all the other exercises. For the SD week would that be doing absolutely nothing, as in should I do nothing this week, and start fresh next week?

Before starting HST I was doing starting strength for about 8 months, was working pretty good, just got burned out... Anyway, I want to run HST for a few more cycles.

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I am having a problem still hitting my lats properly with Pulldowns. I have been doing wide-grip, slightly wider than shoulder width, pronated (overhand) Pulldowns to the chest as recommended by Totentanz and countless bodybuilders, trainers and scientific studies, but they seem to be hitting my teres major much more than my lats? My lats are hardly sore at all, but my teres major are really outrageously sore lately!
One thought I had is that maybe my teres major are just weak, and will eventually even out.
The other thought I had is maybe my form is wrong for targeting latissimus dorsi. It seems that a wider grip and pulling the bar to the chest definitely emphasizes the teres major, so maybe I could bring my grip in a little to only shoulder width and only pull the bar down to my neck, but not go all the way to the chest. I am going to try this, but wanted to see if anyone had any input.
I used to do close-grip supinated Pulldowns or chin-ups, but studies and anecdotal evidence seems to lend support to doing the pronated Pulldowns for maximum latissimus development.
Thoughts?

Hey guys,
Hope all is doing fine. I just finished my 15 cycle 2 days ago and i really love it so far but i got a couple of questions as im confused how to proceed with my 10 cycle.

1) is it ok to start my 10 cycle with my max 15 (which wasn't really accurate even though i tested it before, but i feel like i could have done couple of more rips in my last day) and then add little weight every exercise 1.1 kg (2.42 lbs) ? i did my calculating and i think if i started with my 15 max i will be able to add around 1.1 kg for each day till i reach my 10 max. or should i go down in weights and add 2.3 kg (5.07 lb) each day ?

2) what about dips and chen ups ? my max for dips is 20 and for chen ups is 12, that's only using body weight.
for my 15 cycle: i started dips with 15 reps and added one rep each workout and started chen ups with 7 and added one more rep each workout... was that a right approach ? and how can i proceed with those 2 exercises in the 10 cycle ? Please note that my gym don't have weighted belts, so i only can do them with my weight body.

3) for abs, should i do them to failure or just do the same approach i did for dips and chen ups ?


Again, thanks for your help and sorry if those questions were answered before i just didn't find what im looking for.

We've all seen guys with big arms at a local gym (or we ARE one of them :)) There's at least one or two of them in every gym. You know, arms that aren't huge, but still big and impressive, giving observers the immediate impression that their owner is into strength-related sports. There are at least two in the gym I go to. How could they have achieved that? What I've noticed, they don't spend much (if any) time working on their legs. Mostly chest/shoulders/bis/tris/back. I work my arms 3 times a week following HST principles, but no one could ever refer to me as the one having big arms. I can think of at least these reasons:

(1) they do more volume than me.
(2) lack of proper leg training leaves more resources for upper body growth
(3) better genetics
(4) something else?

Hello
Next week I start my first cycle of HST program, I set my maximum for all ranges of intensity.


I train to 15 months without interruption.
And here comes my question: Should I make strategic deconditioning before my first cycle of HST? I tried to find the answer to this question in the FAQ, but did not find. (I am Brazilian and my English is not so good)


the interpretation of the official website can be concluded that the SD should be done only after the initial period of eight weeks. What would be the best way?

I am eager to get the HST
and would like someone more experienced can answer me.


Hugs to all

I am a double major at Ohio University. Exercise Physiology and Nutrition. What I've learned in my nutrition class is that the human body can only do so much with protein. Now, my nutrition professor (who has a doctorate degree and has done many experiments and tons of research) says that eating too much protein is actually bad for strength training / hypertrophy. She says that 1g of protein / lb of BW is way too much protein and that the human body cannot utilize that much protein in one day. Now some exceptions would be if an individual is taking synthetic hormones such as testosterone injections or any other anabolic steroid. I would assume the jacked up hormone levels would allow the body to utilize more protein in the day, but for the natural bodybuilder this is invalid.
My professor recommended anywhere from 1.3-1.6 grams of protein / kilogram of bodyweight. For me that equals out to less than 150g of protein a day. My professor argues that anymore protein consumed is not used for muscle growth or anything of that nature and eating anymore than that will only stress my kidneys and could possibly cause health issues long term. Now obviously I argued this in class stating that I never started actually seeing real significant results in muscle mass until I increased my protein intake to at least 200g a day. I also stated that I see other bodybuilder's sample diets and some of them are over 300g of protein per day for a similar body weight to my own.
Does anyone have any insight? Protein is expensive as hell when you're in college buying all your own groceries. Providing enough kcal in the day is hard enough on my wallet haha.. If I do not have to consume massive amounts of protein, why would I? I could replace the excess protein with more yummy carbs lol.. What would you all recommend for proper protein intake?

I have been considering ditching the 5's for shoulders and maybe chest. Size wise, I feel I have pretty much reached my goal with both these muscle groups. My main reason for ditching the 5's for these muscle groups is to avoid flogged out shoulders in the years to come. My shoulders are still in very good shape and I do not have any issues with them, but I have read too many stories where people have developed shoulder problems.

Before HST, I was using MAX OT and was lifting mega heavy all the time. Just wonder if it is time to start going a bit easier? I am wondering if cycles of 12 and 8 would be any better for me? Being that I have lifted heavy most of my training life, going lighter is rather foreign to me.

I tend to always stick with compound natural movements also.

What do you guys think? Thanks!

PS - I recently saw Arnold say in an interview that he no longer bench presses due to shoulder issues. It sounds like the same would go for Frank Zane...

So I wrote up a little 60-some page primer on HST and am going to release it as an ebook relatively soon. Obviously for free, since I don't own HST or anything. Don't be expecting me to be talking all about the science or anything. It's strictly to explain what HST is in relatively basic terms, including how to set up an HST cycle, lift selection, sample HST cycles for beginners through intermediates and advanced trainees, eating for size and cutting on HST. This one is my own interpretation of HST as I understand it, no studies cited or anything like that, so it is possible that some small bits may not fully jive with everything Bryan has always said (lift selection is possibly one area that might differ...)

I know there is already an HST faq book out there but it is a little more difficult to wade through all that information, since it is simply 100+ pages of copy and pasted forum posts, faq entries and interviews. Further, I really wanted to put in variations for more advanced trainees and get the bulking/cutting stuff squared away so there is less room for error with newcomers. I did not include any of the tweaks from the Pimp my HST ebook, this is strictly HST as I see it, boiled down as simple as I could make it, hopefully making it more accessible to newcomers. I think a big part of HST that scares away newbies is how complex it seems at first. We see evidence of this in all the threads from new people who don't fully understand progressive load and instead spend two weeks lifting their 15 RM, two weeks lifting their 10 RM followed by two weeks of their 5 RM. It is clear that we need more than just a short article on t-nation and bodybuilding.com to get people to understand HST.

Anyway, once I'm done with the proofreading and such, I'll post it up. I still wish that Bryan had the time and inclination to write an official HST book, as I think the system as a whole has kind of faded from public eye quite a bit. We need to revive HST. I remember the golden days of this forum when there were a good several dozen regulars posting constantly, all the talking about science, figuring things out, etc. It was a great time and I learned a lot back then. Not sure if there is a convenient way for me to get this little pamphlet out there for people to find, but I'll look into that once I'm finished polishing it up.

I've been reading Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe to improve the form of my lifts. It's done wonders for my squat. I no longer hate squats, thanks to him.

However, I cannot do presses as he describes thus: "The lockout position is correct when there is a perfectly vertical relationship between the bar, the glenohumeral joint, and the mid-foot."

My shoulders are so tight (and always have been, to my recollection) that, when I raise my arms up "over" my head, they are actually forward of my head by a good 15 to 20 degrees. If I lie down on the floor with my arms by my side and raise my arms up off of the floor in an arc until they stop, they stop well before they reach 180 degrees unless I really arch my back.

I do have very mild kyphosis, so perhaps that is contributing to the issue. In any case, I'm trying to do some stretches that will give me more shoulder flexibility to complete the press better. Do you have any suggestions for the best stretches for this problem?

Hi guys, I was wondering what do you think for supersetting these 8 exercises from my HST cycle:

Leg press
Leg curls
Incline Bench Press alternated every next workout with Dips
Bent Over BB Rows
Pullups (alternate wide and close grip)
Military Press
CGBP
Standing Calf Raise

I will probably start with the supersets from the beginning of my 10s, so if someone have some recommendation on which with which exercises to supersets it will be great to share it with me.

I was thinking of something like:

Leg press superset with Leg curls
Incline Bench Press alternated every next workout with Dips and superset with Bent Over BB Rows
Pullups
Military Press
CGBP superset with Standing Calf Raise (on the smith mashine)

Not sure about the pullups and military press, should i superset them.

P.S If someone can advice me on how should i alternate the pullups (Narrow grip chin up, palms facing me.
and Wide grip pull up, palms away. ) every workout or what ?

Hi guys,

What are everyones thoughts on the importance of the 2 weeks of negatives once you've completed your 5s'? Or is it just as good to try to extend your 5s' instead, pushing for new maxes?

I've just completed my 2nd cycle and find the Negatives really beat me up joint-wise, especially chest. First cycle was OK, 2nd one had me dreading them. The only two negatives I do are chins and bench. I work out alone, so I bench negatives down to support pins. I find that 10 reps of negatives for bench takes me approx 10 minutes, which includes resetting the weight (lifting each end back up to the starting support). The full ROM really kills my right pec/shoulder connection (whatever thats called).

Also the extra time taken to incorporate the Negatives pushes me over an hour for the workout. I generally super-set Bench with Chins, then Dips with Rows, but am unable to do so with the Negatives. Hence I have dropped the isolations I do for Bi's and Tri's for the duration just to get the workout to fit in my schedule. I don't really want to drop these as I feel they are lagging body parts.

FYI, I'm on a long slow cut (lot longer than expected so no discernable size changes) so my last cycle I dropped the 15's from it, and extended both the 10's & 5's by one week to compensate. Not sure if this is a good idea! I'm thinking for my next cycle I might have one week of 15's to start with before doing the same as last time with extending the 10's & 5's.

Sorry, this is probably two posts in one! But I am mainly curious about opinions on Negatives. Any other critique people may make about what I'm doing will be very much appreciated.

Regards,
Dazza

Recently I have been thinking about the idea of targeting weaknesses in the physique, while simply maintaining strong points in the physique, with relatively less effort.

For example Totentanz seems to be having good results from doing upper body only workouts, while largely ignoring his already huge legs.

For me, my arms and traps are strong points so I rarely do any shrugs, curls or tricep stuff. Lately I just train my weak points harder, focusing on back, legs and chest with most of my workout.

It seems to be a successful strategy to focus on the weak points, to grow a more balanced physique.