First post/HST Cycle - Light bulk from UD2 cut!

This is my first post

Background - Trained 20 years in boxing, weights, cycling

Currently - Just finished ud2 cycle prior to my holiday. Got to 8 % bodyfat at 86 kgs. Really liked the full body set up on ud2 which lead me here. natural trainer

Current goals - Been doing leangains previous to ud2. feel like ive been dieting forever so going to try a hst cycle in a surplus using leangains as im used to that lifestyle. I deconditioned for 2 weeks on hols. Ate crap and did nothing. so should be good to go.

Currently 91 kg and around 12 % bf. would like to gain 1 or 2 kg this cycle of hst ideally. with minimal fat gain

Proposed plan

15 rep Week (figures in kgs)

Week number 1 2 3 4 5 6

Squat 90 100 110
Leg Press (plates) 12 14 16
Bench Press 50 55 60 65 70 75
sldl 70 80 90
ghr 10 15 20
flyes 12.5 15 15 17.5 17.5 20
DB sh press 15 17.5 20 22.5 22.5 25
rear delts 5 5 7.5 7.5 10 10
pull ups bw 2.5 5
chins bw 2.5 5
BB Rows 65 70 75 80 85 90
shrugs 60 65 70 75 80 85
BB curl 35 40 42.5 45 47.5 50
decline skulls 25 30 32.5 35 37.5 40
leg press calfs 4 5 6 7 8 9
decline abs 5 5 7.5 7.5 10 10

I have a grade iii shoulder seperation so chest and shoulders are weak also cant do dips

gonna start this today

any thoughts / criticsms welcome
 
If i understand correctly, you are doing 16 exercises, 6 of which are alternated, so you are doing 13 exercises per session. I can't imagine doing 13 exercises per session, I guess it would be doable doing only one set each, but once I get into the 5s, I am doing 3 sets per exercise and resting at least 3 minutes between sets, so 13 exercises would take me about 2 hours including warmups... too much for me. I prefer keeping my workouts with 6-8 exercises for the whole body per session. To hit everything, I just focus on heavy compounds like dips and pullups, so there is no need for arm isolations, and such.
 
took about an hour! one warm up set of 5-10 reps one working set of 15 reps

im usually pretty quick between exercises.

coming from doing ud2 find it easy to go between exercises and my recovery is pretty good. thing is if i dont do isolations on arms for instance they just stay the same
 
Yeah, the depletions in ud2.0 definitely do increase your conditioning. Nevertheless, you could probably drop a couple lifts once you get into the 5s. I'd imagine during the 5s your workout length might creep up to 1.5 hours or so if it's taking an hour right now. If that's not a big deal to you, then that's fine. There is something to be said for conserving energy though if you are trying to build muscle.

I'm not sure I'd bother doing any warmups during the 15s though.
 
tbh only warmed up properly on shoulders and squats (my legs were real achey after having couple weeks off, took me 5 light sets to warm up properly). The rest just pretty much jumped into it.

Dont really mind 1.5 hr weights sessions. It only x 3 per week not that much of a pain in ass.

one thing i was wondering was how to encourperate deadlifts into it. previously i only used to deads once or twice a month but wdnt mind slotting them in somewhere
 
I would pick one day a week to do deads. Depending on strength levels, doing deads more often can get somewhat taxing. Doing them on Weds and keeping squats or leg press on Monday and Friday seems to work well for many people.
 
maybe i could substitute one of the squats sessions every other week? find if i do them weekly i just get worse and worse at them so my cns doesnt seem to cope with them too well. i used to be able to smash them out couple times a week guess im getting on a bit now.
 
It's fine to keep all 13 exercises, but I would leave all the isolations last, do the compounds first when you have the most energy. That way, even during the end of your HST cycle, when your doing multiple sets of heavy compounds, if you still have energy left, you can quickly finish with the isolation moves. And if not, you won't be missing out too much by cutting your workout short and dropping some of the isolations like abs and the more foo-foo stuff.
 
I pretty much followed the order i put up there which was compounds first. actually moved chins up the order a bit before rear delts.

One thing im looking forward to do is find away of doing the negatives on my own. my gym has an abudance of machines so should find a way. or may ask for a spot for a few things. Never done negatives before so hoping it will coax some new growth.
 
2nd session

ok so not sure why but neck was all cricked and felt pretty achey all over. guess it was a proper deload

so warming up with leg press and my hammy seized up. tried to stretch it off but no good so had to leave them for today.

left out GHR too.

not sure if sldl are a bit too much for me atm im sure thats the culprit. didnt feel anything until i started warming up

did everything else though.

will rest this weekend and try leg press again on mon
 
Been looking at diet today. To gain 2kgs over 8 weeks ive set up a IF leangains program

will be 1 day 3000 - non training (day before day 1 training)
3 days 2600 - non training
3 days 4000 - Training days

carbs on non training days will be 100 g
carbs training 500 g
protein 200 g everyday

will try to keep fat low on carb days

I had been dieting for 5 months straight pretty much, my libido was shot to bits. But the horn is gradually returning.

Finding it hard not to diet tbh as its my default setting pretty much. But I feel hormonally im messed up. Need a decent break et my baseline t-levels where they should be.

annoying already as i feel like a stuffed whale, dont do carbs too well
 
ok one week in put on 3kgs

more than likely im just filling up empty glycogen. havent been eating huge amounts just bit more carbs

workout went ok today. was worried going in today as ive done goin / hammys loads times and had to have weeks off, but they were fine. everything else was all good too.
 
All went ok for 4th sesession legs are feeling smaller for some reason. Forgot how horrid high rep squats are. As set goes on seems to get easier . Mind over matter
 
All went ok for 4th sesession legs are feeling smaller for some reason. Forgot how horrid high rep squats are. As set goes on seems to get easier . Mind over matter

With you there, its sickening how crappy you feel after lifting such light (comparatively speaking) weights. Then again squats kill me regardless of 15s, 10s or 5s.
 
So miscalculated a bit on some lifts blew out on curls. 12 reps on 45 kg
kg .
my gym is stupid has every peice of equipment known to man but no 1.25 kg discs. Which makes it awkward at times

also did 15 plates leg press today instead of 16 as I missed on sesession.

did 8 plates calves x 2 sets as felt way too easy and my calves are pretty resiliant

cant seem to post on my laptop hence poor posts sos
 
My gym is stupid has every peice of equipment known to man but no 1.25 kg discs. Which makes it awkward at times
Why not get some fractional plates for your own use and chuck them in your gym bag? Or you could ask the gym to get hold of a set of smaller discs. Maybe they used to have them and they went walkies?
 
So 15's finnished. Feel pretty good. Decided to use sleeves for squats as my knees were beggining to ache. Felt much better after. Completed all of the prescribed reps apart from pull ups didn't have it in me today . Did 11 reps with 5 kgs.

unsure now whether to drop back on some stuff and build to higher final weight for 10s . Or start where I finished today with last session of 15's

going to keep same routine for now for 10s. Then will cut to compounds only for 5's
 
So onto 10's now think ill zigzag a touch on a few things but will try my best not to really. going to drop flyes as chest wasnt really recovering enough and i think i went bit to heavy too soon so dont see much room for manuevour now.

will go like this;
squats 115 120 125
leg press 16 18 20
Bench Press 65 70 75 75 80 80
ghr 15 20 20 22 25 25
DB sh press22.5 25 27 27 30 30
rear delts 7.5 10 10 12 12 15
pull ups bw 7 10 12
chins bw 7 10 12
BB Rows 80 85 90 95 95 100
shrugs 75 80 85 90 90 95
decline curls 17.5 20 20 22.5 22.5 25
decline skulls 40 40 45 45 50 50
leg press calfs 5 5.5 6 7 8 8.5
decline abs 15 15 17.5 17.5 20 20
 
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