Have You Found Answers To All Your Questions?

Bryan Haycock

Bryan Haycock

Administrator
Staff member
As I read through the threads, I can't help but wonder if everybody feels as if they have all the answers to their questions. After all, the purpose of this ancient board is to provide answers to people's questions. Sometimes there gets to be so many threads that its difficult to find what you are looking for.

Anyway, feel free to ask questions, especially about HST.
 
How about clean bulk vs dirty bulk? Pros/cons. The role of hyperplasia of fat cells...true or false?

Personally, dirty bulks leave me with unwanted fat even if I diet down to my beginning weight. That does not appear to be the case with everyone though. Is it just genetics at work or how dirty a bulk is?
 
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Thanks Bryan! Bro you are the man... I read everything on your website, read the whole E-Book and also FAQ E-Book, and for lack of a better phrase i freakin' love HST. I'm sold on this for life. This forum here is so awesome as well, there are some really amazing people on here who contribute their thoughts, experience, & advice, i'm so happy i found this and am proud to be part of this forum.
I haven't been working out too long, about 2 & half years ago i decided that i didn't want to be a skinny little twig anymore, so that's when i started and have been consistent ever since, and will remain consistent the rest of my life. After working out for about a year & a half is when i started to hit a plateau, so i started doing a lot of research online on how to overcome it and that's when i ran across HST. I'm now 2 cycles in with HST, and am doing my RM testing right now so after i finish up finding my #'s i can take my 2 week SD and get started on my 3rd cycle.
I thought i'd let you know what i've been doing real quick and see if you (or anyone else on the forum) have any thoughts, suggestions or advice to share about it.
i'll keep it simple...
I run an A/B routine (workout half my body on day 1, then the other half on day 2)
i workout for 4 days then take a day off (4 days on, 1 day off, 4 days on, 1 day off, etc)
My 1st cycle i did 15's, 10's, 5's, and then 5's w/ drop sets.
(each of those takes me about 2 weeks to get thru, so that cycle lasted about 2 months)
My 2nd cycle i did 15's, 10's, 5's, 5's w/ drop sets, negatives, then negatives w/ drop sets
(since i added in the negs that cycle lasted about 3 months)
Long story short... it feels great, i love it, i look forward everyday to working out. I also workout with my cousin almost everytime (which really helps on the drops & negs, not to mention it's way more fun, and now he's totally sold on HST too)
So like i mentioned, i'm working on my #'s for my 3rd cycle, i feel great & i love HST, and just thought i'd show what i'm doing to get some thoughts on it is all, so i appreciate any feedback! :)

In the meantime i'll keep reppin' HST down here in SoCal! (no pun intended lol)
 
Thanks for that Bryan :). I'll post new threads when something comes up for sure.

cjasonpa said:
Thanks Bryan! Bro you are the man... I read everything on your website, read the whole E-Book and also FAQ E-Book, and for lack of a better phrase i freakin' love HST. I'm sold on this for life. This forum here is so awesome as well, there are some really amazing people on here who contribute their thoughts, experience, & advice, i'm so happy i found this and am proud to be part of this forum.
I haven't been working out too long, about 2 & half years ago i decided that i didn't want to be a skinny little twig anymore, so that's when i started and have been consistent ever since, and will remain consistent the rest of my life. After working out for about a year & a half is when i started to hit a plateau, so i started doing a lot of research online on how to overcome it and that's when i ran across HST. I'm now 2 cycles in with HST, and am doing my RM testing right now so after i finish up finding my #'s i can take my 2 week SD and get started on my 3rd cycle.
I thought i'd let you know what i've been doing real quick and see if you (or anyone else on the forum) have any thoughts, suggestions or advice to share about it.
i'll keep it simple...
I run an A/B routine (workout half my body on day 1, then the other half on day 2)
i workout for 4 days then take a day off (4 days on, 1 day off, 4 days on, 1 day off, etc)
My 1st cycle i did 15's, 10's, 5's, and then 5's w/ drop sets.
(each of those takes me about 2 weeks to get thru, so that cycle lasted about 2 months)
My 2nd cycle i did 15's, 10's, 5's, 5's w/ drop sets, negatives, then negatives w/ drop sets
(since i added in the negs that cycle lasted about 3 months)
Long story short... it feels great, i love it, i look forward everyday to working out. I also workout with my cousin almost everytime (which really helps on the drops & negs, not to mention it's way more fun, and now he's totally sold on HST too)
So like i mentioned, i'm working on my #'s for my 3rd cycle, i feel great & i love HST, and just thought i'd show what i'm doing to get some thoughts on it is all, so i appreciate any feedback! :)

In the meantime i'll keep reppin' HST down here in SoCal! (no pun intended lol)
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Love your energy mate, and awesome to hear :). Yeah honestly I've tried alot of different training programs and principles, and I just keep coming back to HST. I've found that keeping it simple is the best way to go. And that eating in conjunction with training is very very important haha.

Your cycles sound good, only thing I'd say is to make sure to be aware of your energy levels, niggles/injuries etc with the 4 days on 1 day off schedule, I know if I did that it'd be a bit much for me, but everyone recovers differently, so if it works for you, and you're feeling great go for it.

And yeah like I said there aren't too many active members but hopefully we can get some great conversations going with the great wisdom that's on here :)
 
@cjasonpa Your set up looks great, I would add though that dont limit yourself to 2 weeks on the 5s. If your feeling good on your last week of 5s, or you have been able to consistently increase the weight then keep going and extend the period of 5s. Then once your progress stalls or you start to feel very fatigued switch to either negatives or then take your SD or you could switch to a short period of 3 reps and continue to increase the weight.

HST is a great template and works well but by adding some auto regulation in when you become accustomed to its principles it can work even better.

Also dont be affraid to mix up the reps. For example 15 reps of squats or deadlifts doesn't really do me any favors so I would limit the reps on these big compound movements to 8-10 whilst keeping the other assistance stuff at the higher reps.
 
cjasonpa, both _Simon_ and Browner have given some good advice so I just want to reiterate a couple things that were said. _Simon_ briefly mentioned nutrition. I know this isn't the nutrition forum but let me expound on what he was eluding to. Make sure you know what and how much you are eating. Get your macros (i.e. protein, carbs, & fats) dialed in according to your goals, and be as consistent as possible. You are creating an anabolic environment, and you will grow most efficiently if that environment remains stable. The two biggest environmental factors are of course the training and nutrition.

_Simon_ also mentioned monitoring your energy levels. Think of this as your "adaptive reserve". There are many chemical and neurological processes involved in adapting to resistance exercise. Those processes require energy and time, and for the most part they can't be rushed, even on the best diet. So, be mindful of your recovery status and plan ahead. It will take much longer to recover from extended "over-reaching" (i.e. short-term over training) than a brief over-reach followed by SD.

Finally, Browner mentioned extending the 5's according to your adaptive reserve, meaning, if you think you've got another good week of 5's left in you, go for it. Granted, I just got through warning about over-training and that advice still stands. Nevertheless, effective bodybuilding (without a coach) requires self monitoring. I don't advocate "instinctive training" because you can't feel everything that's really going on. But I do support Browners advice to play it by ear to some extent.
 
Ignore post below as started another thread

Bryan Haycock said:
cjasonpa, both _Simon_ and Browner have given some good advice so I just want to reiterate a couple things that were said. _Simon_ briefly mentioned nutrition. I know this isn't the nutrition forum but let me expound on what he was eluding to. Make sure you know what and how much you are eating. Get your macros (i.e. protein, carbs, & fats) dialed in according to your goals, and be as consistent as possible. You are creating an anabolic environment, and you will grow most efficiently if that environment remains stable. The two biggest environmental factors are of course the training and nutrition.

_Simon_ also mentioned monitoring your energy levels. Think of this as your "adaptive reserve". There are many chemical and neurological processes involved in adapting to resistance exercise. Those processes require energy and time, and for the most part they can't be rushed, even on the best diet. So, be mindful of your recovery status and plan ahead. It will take much longer to recover from extended "over-reaching" (i.e. short-term over training) than a brief over-reach followed by SD.

Finally, Browner mentioned extending the 5's according to your adaptive reserve, meaning, if you think you've got another good week of 5's left in you, go for it. Granted, I just got through warning about over-training and that advice still stands. Nevertheless, effective bodybuilding (without a coach) requires self monitoring. I don't advocate "instinctive training" because you can't feel everything that's really going on. But I do support Browners advice to play it by ear to some extent.
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Bryan you mentioned towards the end of the above post about not advocating instinctive training as you cannot feel everything that going on, would you recommend utilising HRV apps to determine whether you are too far into the Sympathetic Nervous System
 
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mickc1965 said:
Bryan you mentioned towards the end of the above post about not advocating instinctive training as you cannot feel everything that going on, would you recommend utilizing HRV apps to determine whether you are too far into the Sympathetic Nervous System
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In short, I think monitoring heart rate is more useful for cardiovascular performance/trianing measures than resistance exercise. Loss of strength (i.e. training to frequently) will not necessarily show up as a change in heart rate. Nor will loss of motivation, etc.
 
I am not necessarily referring to the actual heart rate but referring to the variability of the gaps between each individual beat that HRV apps then assess whether your body is in the sympathetic (rest and digest) or Parasympathetic (fight or flight mode), I have found it to be a good indicator of when rest is required providing all other things in life are equal
 
Thanks Browner & Bryan, that's some really good input, i'll definitely remember that stuff.

Ya know i was also wondering... my wife usually goes to the gym w/ me too, and in addition to cardio she loves utilizing HST for the muscle groups she wants to grow bigger (like her glutes lol), but she's asked me a few times what would be best for her to do for those muscle groups that she doesn't want to grow.
For example she doesn't want her triceps, or shoulders, or upper back to get big, but she definitely wants to keep those muscles tight & toned and so they have good shape.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but i was thinking if she doesn't want those particular muscle groups to grow then maybe more of an opposite approach might be good for her in those areas. Like instead of incrementally increasing the weights, to just keep the same weight all the time, and instead of doing lower reps with heavier weight to just always keep the weights lighter (maybe to where her max is 20-25 reps or something). And i'm sorry i know that's not really an HST question, but figured i'd just see what you thought about that since she constantly bugs me about it.
 
cjasonpa said:
Thanks Browner & Bryan, that's some really good input, i'll definitely remember that stuff.

Ya know i was also wondering... my wife usually goes to the gym w/ me too, and in addition to cardio she loves utilizing HST for the muscle groups she wants to grow bigger (like her glutes lol), but she's asked me a few times what would be best for her to do for those muscle groups that she doesn't want to grow.
For example she doesn't want her triceps, or shoulders, or upper back to get big, but she definitely wants to keep those muscles tight & toned and so they have good shape.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but i was thinking if she doesn't want those particular muscle groups to grow then maybe more of an opposite approach might be good for her in those areas. Like instead of incrementally increasing the weights, to just keep the same weight all the time, and instead of doing lower reps with heavier weight to just always keep the weights lighter (maybe to where her max is 20-25 reps or something). And i'm sorry i know that's not really an HST question, but figured i'd just see what you thought about that since she constantly bugs me about it.
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Best way to 'not grow' is avoid progression. If she just doesn't increase the loads, then for sure, growth will be stunted. Be progressive on the muscle where growth is desired, avoid it on those where she doesn't
 
cjasonpa said:
Thanks Browner & Bryan, that's some really good input, i'll definitely remember that stuff.

Ya know i was also wondering... my wife usually goes to the gym w/ me too, and in addition to cardio she loves utilizing HST for the muscle groups she wants to grow bigger (like her glutes lol), but she's asked me a few times what would be best for her to do for those muscle groups that she doesn't want to grow.
For example she doesn't want her triceps, or shoulders, or upper back to get big, but she definitely wants to keep those muscles tight & toned and so they have good shape.
Correct me if i'm wrong, but i was thinking if she doesn't want those particular muscle groups to grow then maybe more of an opposite approach might be good for her in those areas. Like instead of incrementally increasing the weights, to just keep the same weight all the time, and instead of doing lower reps with heavier weight to just always keep the weights lighter (maybe to where her max is 20-25 reps or something). And i'm sorry i know that's not really an HST question, but figured i'd just see what you thought about that since she constantly bugs me about it.
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NWlifter said:
Best way to 'not grow' is avoid progression. If she just doesn't increase the loads, then for sure, growth will be stunted. Be progressive on the muscle where growth is desired, avoid it on those where she doesn't
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+1 to this.

If ever I'm doing any cycles of specialisation, I'll usually have lower volume/frequency for those parts I maintain and no real progression, or just slight progression but just much lower volume. It's still good to train them though.

Sometimes I'll just do 'whatever' for those maintenance parts and explore different exercises without any serious thought as to progression (semi-instinctive experimental training), just so that they're still being hit, just not really coaxing them to grow and giving them no real reason to. Just purely what I do, may not be gospel though!
 
Back to HST... so my cycles have been lasting about 2 & half to 3 months... do you guys think that's a good timeframe for each cycle? Or should i try something different?
 
Yeah that's a good length, mine are about that, maybe a little shorter at times. Really depends on how it's going, progressing, how you're feeling etc. If you're just done by 8 weeks then best to just SD and rest up. But if you still feel okay pushing the 5s etc then you can extend it. Some have little intense 6 week bursts (1 week 12s, 2 weeks 8-10s, 3 weeks 5s) then rest, then restart, just for something different. I really like having the 15s in there and think they're very important.

It's good to remember that HST is a set of principles, rather than a program, and that a lot of things can be varied accordingly, as long as the principles are stuck to :)
 
thanks simon i like that, that's really good info. Would you still recommend doing a 2 week SD if the cycle was only 6-8 weeks?
 
cjasonpa said:
thanks simon i like that, that's really good info. Would you still recommend doing a 2 week SD if the cycle was only 6-8 weeks?
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What Mick said :D. Yeah I would, even in shorter cycles but it's up to you, they really do serve an important purpose. I like to really ramp it up so that those last few weeks are quite intense (which the 5s usually are), so that the SD is a nice recuperative break :)
 
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