HST Program

[michael_69er@hotmail.com]

just been looking around for some mass/growth building programs and the HST , Hypertrophy-Specific Training, popped up

Im wondering if any of u hardcore gurus out there have tried it and would u recommend it, if not what is great for adding huge size


http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html#top

 

[Insane_Man]

I have used this for the past year. I got absolutely insane gains my first time, because I kept the volume low. On my most recent cycle I had too high volume and payed for it with only OK results. Right now I am just about to start a stength program but I will certainly go back to HST once I hit my short term goals for my lifts.

 

[michael_69er@hotmail.com]

awesome...im might give it a try. what do u mean by volume...volume as in the number of sets/reps or volume in weights

 

[Insane_Man]

Volume as in sets. I suppose there is some factoring in there for reps too, but I followed someone's recommendation and did 3 sets of everything on my 5s this time and I didn't see the results I did when I did a max of 2 sets for a given ex all the way through.

 

[michael_69er@hotmail.com]

so what ur saying is that you only did 2 sets of all exercises...did u follow the program on the site

 

[michael_69er@hotmail.com]

i must admit theres one thing i quiet dont understand with this program. they ask at the begining of ur first cycle to find ur max for 15, 10 and 5, this is understandable but then it asks u to begin 10lbs from this and increase by 5 evry week. why dont u start with ur max and try and beat it every week

 

[Insane_Man]

I did 2 sets of some exercises, 1 set of others (namely squat and DL), 3X a week.

My first cycle I basically followed the plan laid out on the site.

The weight progression is based on the concept of progressive load. Basically here's how it is: initially your muscle is deconditioned, you apply a load (a load anywhere from your 20 RM to your 1RM can produce hypertrophy), your muscle becomes conditioned to that load, in order for more hypertrophy, you need to increase the load. The level of conditioning your muscle is at is inverseley proportional to the amount of microtrauma you will incur by exercising.

With HST, you are constantly increasing the load by adding increments each workout. This maximizes the potential for hypertrophy, by maximizing the microtrauma. The standard size for an increment is 5% of your 5RM for the exercise BTW.

The matter of conditioning brings us to the concept of SD, the need to decondition a muscle to resensitize it to lower weights so that the progression of weights may start over, and you may once again milk your muscles for all the microtrauma they're worth.

I suggest you do some reading in the articles section and on their forum. The FAQ is a great source for scientific info related to BB, regardless of training method. Although, once you get a grasp of all the concepts, HST just seems a natural choice. That's what I like about HST, Bryan takes a very no BS approach, not using any buzz words like "shock".

Good luck man!