Hopefully a program for sucess

D

dedicatedto

New Member
This is my 1st HST program. I was aware of HST for years but had a bad attitude and didn't believe it could help me... I thought I knew it all... obviously I dont cause now Im far from gaining...
I love training... so much so... I've overtrained... for years... IDIOT!

Well hoping for thoughts, comments or experiences...


Monday:



DB Squats (mainly cause the squat rack is ALWAYS taken)
Stiff-Legged Deadlifts
Shrugs
Incline DB Bench Press
Dips
Bentover Rows
Military Press
Bent-Over Rear Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Curls
Behind head Triceps Extensions
Calf Raises
Crunches

Wednesday:



BB Squats
Snatch-Grip Deadlifts
Behind the Back Shrugs
Incline Bench Press
Dips
Bent Over Rows
Military Press
Lateral Raises
Hammer Curls
Skull Crushers
1-Leg Calf Raises
Weighted Leg Raises



Friday:



DB Squats
Snatch-Grip Deadlifts
Shrugs
Incline Bench Press
Dips
Bentover Rows
Military Press
Bent-Over Rear Lateral Raises
Dumbbell Curls
Behind head Triceps
Extensions
Calf Raises
crunches

My nutrition is as follows (Im 75kg currently)

Breakfast:
1 cup of quick oats with milk, then I add 1 1/2 scoops of protein powder and a banana.
1 piece of wholmeal toast with natural penut butter
Multi

Next Meal:
1/4 plate of meat, fish or chicken breast, with 1/4 plate of basmati rice and some veg

Next Meal (lunch):
wholemeal wrap with chicken breast or lean meat or fish and 1 small avocado and a bit of fat free mayo

Next Meal:
1/4 plate of meat, fish or chicken breast, with 1/4 plate of basmati rice and some veg

Pre-training:
1 scoop of protein powder and water (as Im still loaded on carbs)

Post-training:
2 scoops of protein powder with 1 scoop of 100% waxy maize starch (carbs)
Creatine (when Im on it)
Glutamine

Next Meal (Dinner):
1/4 plate of meat, fish or chicken breast, with 1/4 plate of veg

Before Bed:
1 1/2 scoops of Muscle Milk (slow released protein) and glutamine
 
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Is the first week supposed to be sooooo light?

Im not a machine and cant really lift that heavy, but in order to show progression in weeks 1 through to about week 3 Im pretty much lifting air (considering day 6 of week 2 is supposed to be my 15rep max)? Is this correct? or have I done something wrong?

Also are weeks 5&6 progressive as well?
For example if I bench 100kg it would look something like this correct...
75
80
85
90
95
100kg

Then for weeks 7&8 I just stay on 100kg's?
 
How light is too light?

dedicatedto said:
Is the first week supposed to be sooooo light?

Im not a machine and cant really lift that heavy, but in order to show progression in weeks 1 through to about week 3 Im pretty much lifting air (considering day 6 of week 2 is supposed to be my 15rep max)? Is this correct? or have I done something wrong?
Click to expand...

Hi dedicatedto,
“Is the first week supposed to be sooooo light?” Well, it depends. If you properly deconditioned before beginning your first week, yes the lighter weight loads will benefit you. If, however, you jumped right into a light week following your previous heavy load routine, no, the light week won’t do much accept allow for some much needed recovery of your CNS.

When trying to build muscle, the goal is to trigger a growth response in the tissue itself. Most of the time, this can be done successfully without being carried out of the gym on a stretcher. How light is too light? That depends. The effectiveness of any load is dependent on the condition of the tissue at the time it is applied. So, in a deconditioned state, it takes less weight to reach the threshold for growth. After you have been training consistently for a few months or years, it takes much more strain at the tissue level to elicit a growth response.

If you have set up your increments correctly, yes, the first week of 15s can be relatively light (compared to your 5RM for example). Nevertheless, just because the load is light doesn’t mean you should simply go through the motions until you reach weight loads you think are better. If the weight is light, slow it down and keep it short. By that I mean slow down your rep cadence and keep the rest periods short. Try something like 4 sec down/ 3 sec up and keep the rest to 60 seconds. By doing this you should easily get to the point where a full 15 reps on your second set isn’t possible unless you rest longer.

Just remember when our focus is building muscle our focus must remain on the muscle…and not on the thing we are lifting. Strength training is a different game for sure, but with hypertrophy-specific training it is all about what happens to the muscle, not whether the barbell went through a full range of motion, or made it all the way to lock-out or whatever. All of that is irrelevant to HST. All we care about is, “was this enough to trigger growth or not.”
 
dedicatedto said:
Also are weeks 5&6 progressive as well?
For example if I bench 100kg it would look something like this correct...
75
80
85
90
95
100kg

Then for weeks 7&8 I just stay on 100kg's?
Click to expand...

Yes, weeks 5 & 6 should also progress using increments like the previous weeks. There may be some zig-zagg in the weight loads as you drop reps but as long as the zig isn't too extreme it won't matter and will afford a bit of recovery ta boot. Once you hit your 5RM yes, stay there as long as you feel you are making progress. It is a good idea to include some drop sets during the 5s as well (last set for each muscle group).
 
dedicatedto said:
This is my 1st HST program. I was aware of HST for years but had a bad attitude and didn't believe it could help me... I thought I knew it all... obviously I dont cause now Im far from gaining...
I love training... so much so... I've overtrained... for years... IDIOT!
Click to expand...
Welcome. Bryan's answer is difficult to add upon, so I won't bother.

However, since you have mentioned you are overtrained "for years", then I hope you have done strategic deconditioning (SD) for about a month or so (I could not tell if you have already done so because you have not mentioned it). Without SD, from your current state (as I have assumed from your post) of overtraining, you most likely won't see any benefit from just jumping to 15's and going through the 8-week cycle.
 
Firstly,
Thanks guys for taking the time to comment on my post… its always just that much more motivating when you have professionals such as yourselves to lean on!

Jvroig,
Previously I trained 4 days a week doing mon:chest/tri, Tue:back bi's, Thur:shoulders, Fri:Legs (8-12 reps) all with WAY too many exercises for someone with my foundation and weight.
Since waking up (so to speak) I have had a month off to take a step back and evaluate my whole training and nutrition (bad) habits.
I've trained for 6 years now and have seen hundreds of people overtaking me gains wise within a matter of months… its ridiculous… to counter this, I'd buy a few more muscle mags… read what Ronnie Coleman does and adapt that… haha!...
So in answer to your advise... I believe I am well rested since my 6 year stint of sporadic training schedules...
Bryan,
I think you are right… I'll do the reps at a slower pace with a real emphasis on control, coupled with shorter rest periods. I did need the time off to recuperate, but also if I had of jumped into progressive overload at 15 reps straight from my previous program, I don’t think I would have found weeks 1-3 beneficial.
Once again… thanks guys
 
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Jvroig,
Previously I trained 4 days a week doing mon:chest/tri, Tue:back bi's, Thur:shoulders, Fri:Legs (8-12 reps) all with WAY too many exercises for someone with my foundation and weight.
Since waking up (so to speak) I have had a month off to take a step back and evaluate my whole training and nutrition (bad) habits.
I've trained for 6 years now and have seen hundreds of people overtaking me gains wise within a matter of months… its ridiculous… to counter this, I'd buy a few more muscle mags… read what Ronnie Coleman does and adapt that… haha!...
So in answer to your advise... I believe I am well rested since my 6 year stint of sporadic training schedules...
Click to expand...
Another thought that crossed my mind (and this is because I have no way of knowing or measuring your muscle development / progress when you seemingly plateaued), is perhaps your diet is the main culprit. What made me think of this is your statement that I bolded for emphasis above.

I have seen your new diet plan in your opening post, and it seems ok. However, without really having to go through each item, what's important is total calorie intake and total protein intake. The rest (percentage of fat calories vs carb calories vs protein calories, or "macronutrient ratio", quality of the protein sources, timing of nutrition, etc) are of secondary importance, and you need to dial-in total calorie intake and total protein intake first, otherwise all the timing, quality, and macronutrient ratio will not help you. Determine your calorie needs, then let that be your target intake per day - it can range from 2000 - 3000 calories a day, depending on your weight and activity level. As for protein, there are several guidelines as well, like 1-2 g / kg of bodyweight, or 1g/lb of bodyweight. The more "high quality" your protein sources are, the less you will relatively need, and the inverse is true, this is why total protein intake takes precedence over the quality of the protein sources (but you have to understand this is in general and to be taken "within reasonable limits"): as your intake increases (say, from 60g of "high-quality protein" to 120g of lesser quality protein sources), the need to micromanage your protein sources lessen, which is a far easier way to solve the protein problem rather than always worrying about the quality of protein sources.
 
Oh agree 100% Jvorig… I struggle a great deal with my diet… from a knowledge perspective… I got all my info off 'word of mouth'… not the internet… so it was extremely inconsistent and from what I read now… really bad advise.

Now Im in a position where I have no excuses… I have the net and I can now afford the protein sups and the high quality protein foods (tuna, salmon, chicken breast, rib eye steak being my selected favourites).

Below are my stats:
Height: 177cm (5ft 10 inch)
Weight: 73.5kg (162 pounds)
Body Fat: around 20%

I have worked out my calorie intake as per John Beradi's method on this site.
According to the site http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/berardi41.htm, my calculations are as follows:

Calories burnt:
Training days: 3473 (including 438cal burnt per workout and 179cal for TEF)
Non Training Days: 3036 (the total above minus the training)

So that would mean just to 'maintain' I would need to consume 3473 calories???
Does this seem a high number of calories to you from your experience?

Then I go to this site http://www.gettinglean.com/caloric.htm and get a completely different calculation

TOTAL: 3027 calories per day (also selecting 27 years old, very active)
That's almost a 500 calorie difference???

Or in your opinion should I just break it down like this;
Protein: 2g per 1kg - 147g per day
Carbs: 4g per 1kg - 294g per day
Fat: 0.5g per 1kg - 37g per day

And follow that for gains?
 
I've found so many calorie calculators, and they often are inconsistent.

The most effective way will really be to make a log of your progress, and try to only gain 1 or 2 pounds a week.

If you aren't gaining, then adjust your diet by adding ~200 calories, until you start to consistently gain 1 or 2 pounds a week.

If you are gaining too much weight, then adjust your diet by lessening it by ~200 calories.

Making a log of your progress (including daily diet, routine/exercises, weight) is the best long-time solution to dialing-in the most suitable regimen for yourself. As your body composition changes (and you make more progress), you will find yourself having to change diet and/or routine, which is why always having a reference of your activities is helpful so you know which parts you may need to tweak and which tweaks have proven effective or not for particular problems.
 
Oh I'll be logging my progress moving forward that's for sure.
But as a starting point would my below calorie estimate be about right? Once again, just as a starting point.

Protein: 2g per 1kg - 147g per day
Carbs: 4g per 1kg - 294g per day
Fat: 0.5g per 1kg - 37g per day

Keep in mind my body fat maybe a little over 20% so that will drop as I train and get leaner, so gauging progression based off the scales can be a little tricky the more body fat I lose… until its slows down or stops... and then I can get a true indication of what to tweak.

And you posted previously stating that my total protein intake is important, from your experience is the 40/50/10 (P/C/F) ratio a good balance?
 
Protein: 2g per 1kg - 147g per day
Carbs: 4g per 1kg - 294g per day
Fat: 0.5g per 1kg - 37g per day
Click to expand...
This totals to only 2,097 calories, I think? I suppose it's a good starting point as any. If you need more calories, you can just up your carbs to compensate if it's easier. 2g/kg of protein is good enough.
 
I just took another glance at your training regimen. You've got a lot of exercises lined up. There's a thread here about "Simplify" (the routine) that can help you streamline it. But we can just have that for your next cycle. Right now, though, you can save yourself the trouble and just drop the crunches. When your bodyfat is down to single digits, they'll show up.
 
yeah I agree cause I spent this week finding my 15, 10 and 5 max's and even then it felt like a hell of a lot.

I will keep you posted with my progress if that's okay, you've been a great help!
 
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