Hybrid Hypertrophy Program

S

soflsun

New Member
This is my new program, based off articles I have read from Westbury, and advice/experience from Russ.  I am pursuing this program with the goal of doing more work each session at weights 80%+ 1RM to illicit growth/strength.
 
4x/week split...every other day sessions.

Chest, Back, Calves, and Biceps - 2x/week
Quads, Hams, Shoulders, Traps - 2x/week

There will probably be some modifictaions, but this looks good for now.  
Warmup with 5-10 minutes of cardio & External Rotations
Every workout will alternate between straight sets and supersets
No exercise will be performed more than 1x/week
On alternating sessions, movements that were geared toward power/hypertrophy will be switched to endurance/hypertrophy
ex.  If on Monday I do 10x3 BB flat bench, on Thursday I could do DB incline bench 2x15 (or some other higher rep alternative)
Every week either weight, reps within sets, or sets will advance (not sure how this will break down yet)
Off days will consist of grip training and low/moderate intensity cardio (incline treadmil, stationary bike)

*The majority of this program should be composed of compound movements, there is no direct tricep work...but I couldn't help leaving in bicep iso's.  I enjoy some direct trap and calf work as well since I am lagging in these departments so these were included as well*

Today's Routine - Tuesday 10/2/07
Superset Day - Max rest 90 seconds

CS Rows/BB Incline Bench 10x3

Dips 3x10/CG Chins 3x8

Calf Raise (Leg Press Machine)/BB curls 5x6
 
My reasons for the switch:

1)  I feel that I need more volume and weight than the standard routine prescribes.  More work "now".

2)  I believe that performing the same exercises repeatedly for days/months leads to more neural adaptations than hypertrophy...meaning more strength gains than mass gains.

3)  I think rep schemes need to be changed more frequently to maximize hypertrophy, strength, and endurance.

4)  I think goals in addition to inceasing weight each session should be strived for (increasing reps/sets).

5)  I think HST will be best utilized for me between higher intensity cycles, where the increased rest will allow me to reap some of the gains minimized during periods of "planned overtraining."

Now I'm sure HST can be tweaked to cover all of these "feelings" that I have, but I want to give this a go and see if the information I've been reading has some merit and will lead me to my goal of more hypertrophy.
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">On alternating sessions, movements that were geared toward power/hypertrophy will be switched to endurance/hypertrophy</div>
This is something I'd thought to set up years back...but got sidetracked and didn't.
The one problem I'd think would make it less effective would be the working of the muscle only once a week in each alternate manner. In other words, the lowrep and highrep hits are once weekly as opposed to twice with either manner, as in HST.
That's the only difference I see. I'd done a highrep set or two, followed by a lowrep set in the same workout, but that gets to be a LOT of work, and the lowrep would of course be, less weight than if you were just building up to it in a pyramid.
Just as intense, tho.
 
quad,

The good thing is since this split hits each muscle group individually 2x/week, I can manage 2 exercises for each muscle group per session.  So, in the routine that my bench variation is in a higher rep format, I can do Dips (or another chest exercise) with heavy weights and lower reps.  For instance in the above example:

If on Monday I do 10x3 BB flat bench and 3x10 dips, on Thursday I could do 2x15 DB incline bench and 10x3 BB decline bench  I just wouldn't be able to do dips again because they were already done once during the week.

The entire workout doen't have to be geared toward just low reps or just high reps, although it can be if you want.  The main thing is that the variation of the exercise isn't done the same 2x/week.
 
Personally, I think the neural learning issue that you are trying to avoid is a lot less important for exercises that do not require a high level of skill and/or speed to execute correctly. If you were doing cleans or some other Oly lifts then, yes, neural learning would play an important part in lifting more weight over time. In the case of dips, though, I doubt that neural learning is going to be the main reason for progress once you are beyond newbie gains.

A certain amount of neural learning is important for any exercise. Once you can 'get in the groove' for an exercise you can focus on really making the muscles work hard throughout the movement rather than just trying to balance the load.

It'll be interesting to see how you get on with this new program.
 
Glad to see you are going to log this! I'll help in any way I can , and I'm looking forwards to learning more myself , now that I'll have someone elses experiences to draw from/read about. Your plan looks good . I'm not sure if you unloaded or SDed before embarking on this , if not you may consider incorporating a deloading week later on to address this ( if it seems nessessary of course) , you could keep intensity (%ages/load) the same and just drop to only two workouts that week using only 4 instead of 6 movements ( just for that week) ex:


Instead of -

CS rows/incline
dips/chins
calves/bi's


This:

CS rows/inclines
calves/bi's

AND (very important) drop to 3x3 instead of 10x3 on movements marked for triples ( just during the deload week) this should be sufficient to dissapate some accumulated fatigue and &quot;buy you&quot; another 3-4 weeks productive progression . This is just an example - theres a lot of ways you could do it to make it more &quot;yours&quot; .


Other than that the only things I would suggest is that SDing or unloading for a week is important before any cycle - without it even a great system can be obscured behind accumulated fatigue. I've had best results with higher intensity training to make use of ramp up phases , deload phases (if nessessary), ramp back up then volume cut right at the very end when gains (at the main volume of the cycle) start to stall.


I look forwards to reading this log as it progresses. Good luck!
smile.gif
 
Good luck with the new program, soflsun. I actually do have one question about it, though - why are you singling out your biceps along with all of the other major muscle groups, but not triceps? No doubt by using compounds, you'll hit both, but I'm just curious why you singled out biceps instead of both.
 
For the record, I stand behind this idea. I'm not sure if it's good to do continually, but for a changeup, could certainly do no harm.
Lol: Solfsun is new here, but I don't think noob gains refers to him; not if that avatar is him!
Russ: Bump to the lesser reps on deload. Not much needed and too much will negate the deload.
 
Thanks guys...I will keep diligent logs so we can see how this works.  I can already say for sure that my back and chest feel more worked after yesterday's workout than they have in the previous 6 weeks or so.

Russ,

Yes, I agree completely.  With this type of intensity there will need to be a deload phase probably every 4-6 weeks depending on the intensity.  Like you said, the best way to do this will be to drop to 1 exercise/muscle group and cut the volume in half on those remaining exercises, but keep the intensity constant.  As far as SD goes, you're probably right...but I feel that the 15's and 10's in the HST cycle gave me a sufficent deload from the volume I was doing previously.

_tim,

I just feel that triceps are going to be worked 4x/week either through chest/back days or shoulder/leg days.  Also, its always been relatively easy for me to get my triceps &quot;good and worked&quot; where it is more difficult for me to get that feeling with my biceps.  I will probably switch the bicep iso's to the shoulder/leg days though so they don't get overdone on chest/back days where they will already be getting significant work.

quad,

Thanks for the support.

I left out a few more rules I will be following during the program:

Concentric phase of the movements will be performed as fast as possible (with proper form) and eccentric will be quick but under control.
Exercises should be terminated before muscle failure (maybe 1 left in the tank)
Full ROM on every exercise...if speed, form, or ROM are breaking down, set is terminated
 
THOSE 3 (oops, sorry, didn't mean to yell) rules should be universal, a S.O.P. if you will. I've always done it that way, except for the occasional slow last reps, just not wanting to stop short of a set.
 
The pictures were not taken identically, unfortunately, but they were taken 1 month apart...9/2/97-10/2/07.  My arms are flexed in different positions and the lighting was obviously different.  The flash on the top may have wiped out some of the definition that can be seen in the more recent (bottom) photo.




 
solfsun, it may partly be the lighting or the angle of the shots, but, from where I'm sitting, it looks as if you have added a good 10lb! And all in one month! Good job.
 
soflsun

<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Now I'm sure HST can be tweaked to cover all of these &quot;feelings&quot; that I have, but I want to give this a go and see if the information I've been reading has some merit and will lead me to my goal of more hypertrophy. </div>

Have you read the &quot;pimp my HST&quot; e-book? It covers just this type of thing!

The HST e-books

The pimp my HST e-book
 
It seems like I am bigger in the bottom pic, but I actually weigh 2 lbs less than last month! Anyway, I appreciate the compliment but it has to be the pose, angle, lighting, distance, SOMETHING. Also, in the first pic I was completely &quot;dry&quot; and in the 2nd pic I had done my grippers about 15 minutes earlier...it must have pumped my upper body up some. Well it's still good motivation for me. Thanks.
 
10/2/07
Straight Set - Endurance/Hypertrophy Day - Max rest 120 seconds

BB Back Squats 3x15 185 lbs

Seated BB Military Press 3x10 95 lbs

Lying Hamstring Curls 3x15 90 lbs

Shrug Machine  4x15 180 lbs

Seated Alternating DB Curls 3x10 50 lbs (combined)

Observations:

My shoulders are still sore/weak from the heavy bench 2 days ago...weight used on military press reflected this, and still felt VERY heavy.

I used a flat bench under my ass during squats to make sure I went down to parallel.  I didn't sit but just let my butt touch before pressing back up.

I wanted to do some sets of rear-delt raises but I refuse to let my workouts go longer than 75 min. so it was time to go home.
 
Hey Colby,

On the heavy triples, I'm going to increase the weight 2.5-5% each week.  Since the exercises will vary, the percentage increase will apply to each exercise individually.  On the higher rep sets, my goal will be to hit 3x15 without any clustering, then increase the weight by 5%.  Some of the exercises with a shorter ROM like shrugs and calf exercises I will do 4x15 for the higher rep sets before increasing weight.  Since this is just the beginning, some of my weights were too light/heavy so I will either increase them quickly, or have to stay with them for awile until the rep goals are met.  I will not decrease weight though.  Roughly, I was shooting for 80% 1RM for the heavy sets and 70% 1RM for the endurance sets.  Thanks, hope all is well with your routine.
 
10/7/07
Superset - Strength/Hypertrophy Day - Max rest 90 seconds

BB Flat Bench 235 lbs/Pullups BW 10x3

Hammer Press 160 lbs/Seated Cable Rows 9th Plate 3x15

Seated Calf Raise 135 lbs 4x8

Seated BB Curls 95 lbs 12x2
 
10/9/07
Straight Set - Strength/Hypertrophy Day - Max rest 120 seconds

Back Squat 235 lbs 5x5 PR

Seated Smith Shoulder Press 135 lbs 8x4

Shrugs 270 lbs 4x10

EZ Barbell Curls 50 lbs 2x10
 
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