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Hst !
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Tom Treutlein
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I have 1 1/4 lb. plates. I can increase dumbbells by 5.
Backlash
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It is definitely ok to increase by different amounts - it depends on what the actual weight is. It doesn't make sense to increase sqauts by 5 or even 10 if you're doing like 500 pounds - the jumps should be much bigger at much heavier weights.
Also, my gym has dbs that together go up by 5 (e.g. 40, 42.5, 45, 47.5 etc).
Also, my gym has dbs that together go up by 5 (e.g. 40, 42.5, 45, 47.5 etc).
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HST
So, if Im doing HST, Im still very unclear (after reading the weblink...all be it a rushed read..ahem). Do I begin 50% less than my 10 rep max? Do I begin on 5 reps per set week 1, then up to 10 reps second week, 15 third. What happens after that?
How do I know how much weight to add each week?
So, if Im doing HST, Im still very unclear (after reading the weblink...all be it a rushed read..ahem). Do I begin 50% less than my 10 rep max? Do I begin on 5 reps per set week 1, then up to 10 reps second week, 15 third. What happens after that?
How do I know how much weight to add each week?
The rep progression in the basic setup is:
Weeks 1/2: 15
Weeks 3/4: 10
Weeks 5/6: 5
Weeks 7/8: 5/neg's
After you find your max for each rep range, pick an increment (5,10, whatever) and work backwards to the first workout for that range. If your 10-rep max bench is 200lbs and your increment is 10lbs, your first workout would be 150lbs.
As others have said, the increment depends on your maxes. The more weight you're using, the bigger the increments should be.
Weeks 1/2: 15
Weeks 3/4: 10
Weeks 5/6: 5
Weeks 7/8: 5/neg's
After you find your max for each rep range, pick an increment (5,10, whatever) and work backwards to the first workout for that range. If your 10-rep max bench is 200lbs and your increment is 10lbs, your first workout would be 150lbs.
As others have said, the increment depends on your maxes. The more weight you're using, the bigger the increments should be.
ok
So if I was using the weights you used as examples, I would be benching 150lbs on week one. Then for week 2, would that be 160lbs? Then for week 3 I go to my 10 rep max weight, and week 4 add another 10lbs?? Is that correct?
Karma to you goofball.
So if I was using the weights you used as examples, I would be benching 150lbs on week one. Then for week 2, would that be 160lbs? Then for week 3 I go to my 10 rep max weight, and week 4 add another 10lbs?? Is that correct?
Karma to you goofball.
Tom Treutlein wrote on Today 05:17 AM:
I have a few questions about HST for you, considering you seem to be the most informed about it.
Firstly, if I do 2 weeks of 5's, and have no partner to do negatives, I should do an extra 2 weeks of 5's, then start over, correct?
That's right.
Did you use negatives or 4 weeks of 5's?
It's unfortunate, I've never been able to really do negatives. What I do instead is try and make strength gains in the 5RM. If I gained any LBM in a cycle, I can usually increment my 5RM a few times. So I'll just continue as normal, adding weight past the 5RM until I can't anymore. When I reach the new number, I'll finish out the remainder of the 2 weeks at that weight.
After the 8 week cycle, how long do you take off? You always take off after a cycle, right? I'm guessing 7 days.
The website says 9-12. I usually do 2 weeks just to be safe. Sometimes, though, practical considerations interfere with starting a new cycle, in which case I'll simply extend the deconditioning. For instance, recently I had final exams followed by an almost immediate vacation. My SD right now is three weeks and counting.
How many HST cycles have you done?
I've only really done 3 complete cycles, although I attempted 6. Those three that I aborted, it was due to lack of discipline. I'll elaborate in the next answer.
Did you make those 8-9 lb. gains at the end of every cycle? That's very impressive.
I'm a natural ectomorph, a recovering skinny. While I can keep a six-pack after bulking, it means that I have to work really really hard to gain weight. At 170 pounds, I need to eat at least 3750 calories/day to gain any reasonable amount of muscle. For a college student with only limited means of purchasing and preparing food, that takes a whole lot of commitment. Those three cycles when I was able to consume and log that much food, I did make drastic gains. But if I half-ass the eating at least one bit, as I did in the other three cycles, then I gain nothing except a temporary muscle inflation and a bit of fat.
Would doing cardio while on this routine help to minimize fat gain? I was thinking of hiking multiple days a week, depending on my mood.
I don't think so. When you bulk you commit to fat gain. Hiking won't selectively use calories that would've gone only to fat and not muscle building; both will be consumed indiscriminately. If you want to hike you should consider its cost in calories and eat more to compensate.
What was your diet like when you used the routine to "bulk"? I figure my bodyweight multiplied by 18-20 and consuming 200+ grams of protein (I weigh 177) a day will be good. Does that sound okay?
Sounds great to me. This routine is as much about learning as it is about gaining; you will determine how you respond to this particular mixture of diet and exercise and, based on the results, fine-tune it in the future.
Personally my diet isn't all that complicated. I shoot for at least 3750 calories and 200 grams of protein per day. Then I follow general guidelines such as:
-try to eat vegetables (although I can barely spare the stomach space for them
-try to avoid junk food, even though they'd supply so many calories
-try to avoid high GI carbs. I have a hypoglycaemia (sp?) problem, in that when I eat too much sugar I have an insulin response that crashes my blood sugar and I get remarkably tired and sluggish.
-try to make each meal a balanced one in terms of macronutrient ratios. Always eat the protein.
-lastly, steak sauce is your friend My cafeteria often serves up very bland and dry meat. I'd never be able to eat as much as I need to without a liberal soaking of steak sauce.
How many sets per bodypart should be done? I don't want to do too much and burn myself out. My main concerns lie in my arms and chest. Should I add more sets for these, then?
I'd say try 2-3 sets for big bodyparts and 1-2 for little ones. I used to do only 1-2 per bodypart and that was kinda too little. See above for my routine.
I have a few questions about HST for you, considering you seem to be the most informed about it.
Firstly, if I do 2 weeks of 5's, and have no partner to do negatives, I should do an extra 2 weeks of 5's, then start over, correct?
That's right.
Did you use negatives or 4 weeks of 5's?
It's unfortunate, I've never been able to really do negatives. What I do instead is try and make strength gains in the 5RM. If I gained any LBM in a cycle, I can usually increment my 5RM a few times. So I'll just continue as normal, adding weight past the 5RM until I can't anymore. When I reach the new number, I'll finish out the remainder of the 2 weeks at that weight.
After the 8 week cycle, how long do you take off? You always take off after a cycle, right? I'm guessing 7 days.
The website says 9-12. I usually do 2 weeks just to be safe. Sometimes, though, practical considerations interfere with starting a new cycle, in which case I'll simply extend the deconditioning. For instance, recently I had final exams followed by an almost immediate vacation. My SD right now is three weeks and counting.
How many HST cycles have you done?
I've only really done 3 complete cycles, although I attempted 6. Those three that I aborted, it was due to lack of discipline. I'll elaborate in the next answer.
Did you make those 8-9 lb. gains at the end of every cycle? That's very impressive.
I'm a natural ectomorph, a recovering skinny. While I can keep a six-pack after bulking, it means that I have to work really really hard to gain weight. At 170 pounds, I need to eat at least 3750 calories/day to gain any reasonable amount of muscle. For a college student with only limited means of purchasing and preparing food, that takes a whole lot of commitment. Those three cycles when I was able to consume and log that much food, I did make drastic gains. But if I half-ass the eating at least one bit, as I did in the other three cycles, then I gain nothing except a temporary muscle inflation and a bit of fat.
Would doing cardio while on this routine help to minimize fat gain? I was thinking of hiking multiple days a week, depending on my mood.
I don't think so. When you bulk you commit to fat gain. Hiking won't selectively use calories that would've gone only to fat and not muscle building; both will be consumed indiscriminately. If you want to hike you should consider its cost in calories and eat more to compensate.
What was your diet like when you used the routine to "bulk"? I figure my bodyweight multiplied by 18-20 and consuming 200+ grams of protein (I weigh 177) a day will be good. Does that sound okay?
Sounds great to me. This routine is as much about learning as it is about gaining; you will determine how you respond to this particular mixture of diet and exercise and, based on the results, fine-tune it in the future.
Personally my diet isn't all that complicated. I shoot for at least 3750 calories and 200 grams of protein per day. Then I follow general guidelines such as:
-try to eat vegetables (although I can barely spare the stomach space for them
-try to avoid junk food, even though they'd supply so many calories
-try to avoid high GI carbs. I have a hypoglycaemia (sp?) problem, in that when I eat too much sugar I have an insulin response that crashes my blood sugar and I get remarkably tired and sluggish.
-try to make each meal a balanced one in terms of macronutrient ratios. Always eat the protein.
-lastly, steak sauce is your friend My cafeteria often serves up very bland and dry meat. I'd never be able to eat as much as I need to without a liberal soaking of steak sauce.
How many sets per bodypart should be done? I don't want to do too much and burn myself out. My main concerns lie in my arms and chest. Should I add more sets for these, then?
I'd say try 2-3 sets for big bodyparts and 1-2 for little ones. I used to do only 1-2 per bodypart and that was kinda too little. See above for my routine.
I'm thinking of doing a cycle or two of HST when I get back to school. I'm not going to commit to that just yet but I'm definitely considering it. I can think of two main reasons to do it: number one, it would get me to my desired amount of LBM faster than the strength/explosiveness training I've been doing, and second, it would be great for my joints and future injury prevention. Unfortunately I'm already running into minor shoulder and elbow pain despite the low weights I use for upper body exercises. HST would let me totally pre-hab and strengthen my tendons and rotators and stuff before I dive back in to heavier weights.
I'm still reading up on this but I have a few questions casual if you don't mind:
first, I'm thinking of alternating back squats and SLDLs with front squat and snatch grip deads. on squats I'll have no problem finding my maxes but with deads, there's a big gray area where form is getting shaky but you can still get the weight up. am I gonna lose anything by staying somewhat light so that form is always really perfect?
also since ultimately my goals are athletic, I'm not mentally prepared to totally abandon explosive training for 8 weeks
I'm thinking of doing box jumps to a max height on my wednesday workout and then adding an extra saturday workout which is just cleans working up to a training max single (not an absolute max). I've been front or back squatting 2-3 times a week plus olympic lifts with no difficulty for over a month now for multiple sets so I'm confident in my ability to handle the volume. Also with 28 inch thighs and 13.5 inch arms I think I can afford to sacrifice a little leg growth if it means staying explosive. sound ok?
I'll post up my entire plan once I get it figured out and probably do measurements and report my results if I decide to go through with it.
I'm still reading up on this but I have a few questions casual if you don't mind:
first, I'm thinking of alternating back squats and SLDLs with front squat and snatch grip deads. on squats I'll have no problem finding my maxes but with deads, there's a big gray area where form is getting shaky but you can still get the weight up. am I gonna lose anything by staying somewhat light so that form is always really perfect?
also since ultimately my goals are athletic, I'm not mentally prepared to totally abandon explosive training for 8 weeks
I'm thinking of doing box jumps to a max height on my wednesday workout and then adding an extra saturday workout which is just cleans working up to a training max single (not an absolute max). I've been front or back squatting 2-3 times a week plus olympic lifts with no difficulty for over a month now for multiple sets so I'm confident in my ability to handle the volume. Also with 28 inch thighs and 13.5 inch arms I think I can afford to sacrifice a little leg growth if it means staying explosive. sound ok?I'll post up my entire plan once I get it figured out and probably do measurements and report my results if I decide to go through with it.
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