Ok, I am now finishing my fourth HST cycle and this is my progress report, as well as a mean of sharing what I learned in these past four cycles.
These last two cycles have been a very hard on me. The previous one was pretty much ruined by my shoulder injury, and in this one I had a rumble with higher volume HST that left me in a relatively bad shape.
Still the results have been good and I thought I would make a balance of what I've gained since last august, which is the date of the oldest measurements I could find (I wonder why I didn't put these things in the computer right from the beggining).
So, this last cyle I'm still one or two workouts from finishing, was a pretty weird one. I started the cycle doing 2 sessions a day. Now, instead of putting to use what I have learned in the past about my reaction to higher volume routines, I decided to double the volume I used to do, so it ended being two sessions of 14 sets. Now, to some this probably won't seem like such overkill(after all, Brian himself uses up to 30 something sets per day), but to me it is too much. Half these workouts were done at home, with some barbells, plates adjustable dumbells and a bench I brought. Needless to say, me going crazy with my new toy was half the problem.
So, after five weeks of twice a day training I gained an outstanding zero pounds. I kept going thinking next workout my gains would surely explode, but they didn't.
At the end of this week I came down with bronquitis. Being an asthmatic, this was extremely problematic. In the workouts previous to my forced break, I had to sit down for 3 or 4 minutes for my breath to catch up so I could put the plates away. The asthma attacks I had in the following days were the worst I had in many years. I suspect now that I broke the 200 pound barrier, my body is needing a lot more oxigen and when I have asthma, the once limited but enough oxigen, is clearly unsuficient to go around all this body mass. I had to take antibiotics to treat the infection. I didn't sleep almost anything for almost one week. I also didn't train during the first 6 days of treatment.
By this time I was exactly were I started, 88 kg.
Now for the good part. After I resumed training I started my old low volume HST routine, I didn't do more than 14 sets and did as litle as 6 sets in the last negatives workout. I also started creatine supplementation which surely contributed for the 3 kg (6.6) pounds in gained in these following 4 weeks.
So the lesson learned is:
1-I have a very limited tolerance to volume
2-4600-5000 kcals seem not to be enough to meet my metabolism caloric demands when doing twice a day traning.
3-Regardless of frequency used, I always seem to burn out to some degree around week 5, I noticed this on other cycles too, and in my first two I even had to finished them at around this time. From now on, I will intencionaly incorporated a strategicaly placed week of zig-zagging around this time to allow some CNS fatigue recovery to take place.
4-I have to lose weight and increase my cardiovascular conditioning.
As for results, thanks to HST I finally broke the 200 pound barrier. In 8 months of HST I gained 24 pounds with a 2-3% increase in fat mass. I was 176 14-15% when I started, cut to 12% around august and am now 200-202 pounds at around 16%-17%-. These numbers are from a bio impedance device so they're not to be taken too seriously. They are simply a tool to monitor increases/decreases in fat mass.
As for some measurements Here they go:
29-08-2002:
All rested except biceps
-----------left-----------------------right
Biceps---40.2 cm (16.08 inches)----40 cm (16 inches)
Quads----63.5 cm (25.4 inches)----63.5 cm (25.4 inches)
Calf------36.5 cm (14.6 inches)----36.5 cm (14.6 inches)
Waist-----99.5 cm (39.8 inches)-Fully extended.
Unfortunately, these were all the measurements I took at this point.
I do have some other measurements from 31-09-2002 which have chest and neck measured, they were 114 cm (45.6 inches) for chest and 44.5 cm (17.8 inches) for neck.
Current measurements (15-12-2002):
--------------Left------------------right
Biceps-----42.5 cm (17 inches)---42 cm (16.8 inches) + 2.3 cm (0.98 inches) and + 2 cm (o.8 inches)
Quads------66.5 cm (26.6 inches)-66 cm (26.4 inches) + 3 cm (1.2 inches) and + 2.5 cm (1 inch)
calf--------37.3 cm (14.92)-------37.3 cm (4.92) + 0.8 cm (0.32 inches) and + 0.8 cm (0.32 inches)
waist-------103 cm (41.2 inches)-Fully extended or 99 cm (39.5 inches) normal + well, nevermind....
chest-------116 cm (46.4 inches) + 2 cm (0.8 inches) in two and a half months
Neck--------46 cm (18.4 inches) + 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) also in two and a half months
As you can see I can't really complain. Calfs are still a complete disgrace (I must be the only guy I know with larger arms than calfs). I am a fat @$$ by anyone's standarts and have to start cutting soon. I am dedicating at least 6 or 7 months to thsi next year. Hopefully I won't lose much size on most of my body as I only seem to store fat in the abdominal area. Though I'm around 17%, you can't pinch of significant amount of fat from my arms and legs.
I'd like to thank everyone who contributes on this board, and of course a big thank you for Brian, without whom this wouldn't be possible.
These last two cycles have been a very hard on me. The previous one was pretty much ruined by my shoulder injury, and in this one I had a rumble with higher volume HST that left me in a relatively bad shape.
Still the results have been good and I thought I would make a balance of what I've gained since last august, which is the date of the oldest measurements I could find (I wonder why I didn't put these things in the computer right from the beggining).
So, this last cyle I'm still one or two workouts from finishing, was a pretty weird one. I started the cycle doing 2 sessions a day. Now, instead of putting to use what I have learned in the past about my reaction to higher volume routines, I decided to double the volume I used to do, so it ended being two sessions of 14 sets. Now, to some this probably won't seem like such overkill(after all, Brian himself uses up to 30 something sets per day), but to me it is too much. Half these workouts were done at home, with some barbells, plates adjustable dumbells and a bench I brought. Needless to say, me going crazy with my new toy was half the problem.
So, after five weeks of twice a day training I gained an outstanding zero pounds. I kept going thinking next workout my gains would surely explode, but they didn't.
At the end of this week I came down with bronquitis. Being an asthmatic, this was extremely problematic. In the workouts previous to my forced break, I had to sit down for 3 or 4 minutes for my breath to catch up so I could put the plates away. The asthma attacks I had in the following days were the worst I had in many years. I suspect now that I broke the 200 pound barrier, my body is needing a lot more oxigen and when I have asthma, the once limited but enough oxigen, is clearly unsuficient to go around all this body mass. I had to take antibiotics to treat the infection. I didn't sleep almost anything for almost one week. I also didn't train during the first 6 days of treatment.
By this time I was exactly were I started, 88 kg.
Now for the good part. After I resumed training I started my old low volume HST routine, I didn't do more than 14 sets and did as litle as 6 sets in the last negatives workout. I also started creatine supplementation which surely contributed for the 3 kg (6.6) pounds in gained in these following 4 weeks.
So the lesson learned is:
1-I have a very limited tolerance to volume
2-4600-5000 kcals seem not to be enough to meet my metabolism caloric demands when doing twice a day traning.
3-Regardless of frequency used, I always seem to burn out to some degree around week 5, I noticed this on other cycles too, and in my first two I even had to finished them at around this time. From now on, I will intencionaly incorporated a strategicaly placed week of zig-zagging around this time to allow some CNS fatigue recovery to take place.
4-I have to lose weight and increase my cardiovascular conditioning.
As for results, thanks to HST I finally broke the 200 pound barrier. In 8 months of HST I gained 24 pounds with a 2-3% increase in fat mass. I was 176 14-15% when I started, cut to 12% around august and am now 200-202 pounds at around 16%-17%-. These numbers are from a bio impedance device so they're not to be taken too seriously. They are simply a tool to monitor increases/decreases in fat mass.
As for some measurements Here they go:
29-08-2002:
All rested except biceps
-----------left-----------------------right
Biceps---40.2 cm (16.08 inches)----40 cm (16 inches)
Quads----63.5 cm (25.4 inches)----63.5 cm (25.4 inches)
Calf------36.5 cm (14.6 inches)----36.5 cm (14.6 inches)
Waist-----99.5 cm (39.8 inches)-Fully extended.
Unfortunately, these were all the measurements I took at this point.
I do have some other measurements from 31-09-2002 which have chest and neck measured, they were 114 cm (45.6 inches) for chest and 44.5 cm (17.8 inches) for neck.
Current measurements (15-12-2002):
--------------Left------------------right
Biceps-----42.5 cm (17 inches)---42 cm (16.8 inches) + 2.3 cm (0.98 inches) and + 2 cm (o.8 inches)
Quads------66.5 cm (26.6 inches)-66 cm (26.4 inches) + 3 cm (1.2 inches) and + 2.5 cm (1 inch)
calf--------37.3 cm (14.92)-------37.3 cm (4.92) + 0.8 cm (0.32 inches) and + 0.8 cm (0.32 inches)
waist-------103 cm (41.2 inches)-Fully extended or 99 cm (39.5 inches) normal + well, nevermind....
chest-------116 cm (46.4 inches) + 2 cm (0.8 inches) in two and a half months
Neck--------46 cm (18.4 inches) + 1.5 cm (0.6 inches) also in two and a half months
As you can see I can't really complain. Calfs are still a complete disgrace (I must be the only guy I know with larger arms than calfs). I am a fat @$$ by anyone's standarts and have to start cutting soon. I am dedicating at least 6 or 7 months to thsi next year. Hopefully I won't lose much size on most of my body as I only seem to store fat in the abdominal area. Though I'm around 17%, you can't pinch of significant amount of fat from my arms and legs.
I'd like to thank everyone who contributes on this board, and of course a big thank you for Brian, without whom this wouldn't be possible.