Thread: HST popularity growing strong, a new approach to working out!

No, its not an ad, but a fairly new and different approach to the common working out schemes. For years, most people believed working out bodyparts once a week, full intensity, heavy weights were the only way to go. Without super high intensity and ball bursting weights, you were going to shrink. HST for anyone who doesnt know about it, is a very different, more scientific approach to building muscle.

HST's basic principles are simple, easy to adapt to, and based on science, not "feel".

HST involves working out each muscle 3 times per week... yes 3, and the intensity the gradual, not blaring every workout. Doing the basic, common split, you workout Mon/Wed/Fri, doing basic compound lifts, full body workouts (or divided in am/pm workouts), and do approx 1-2 sets per bodypart. But thats not the real kicker...

You only go to failure, or close to failure once every 2 weeks.

HST builds progression each workout, and the science behind this, is that failure is not only unessicary to build muscle, but can be actually detrimental in many cases (as it causes overload of the CNS more readily).

On a typical HST cycle, 6-8 weeks of 4 different rep schemes is used.

Week 1-2
15's

Week 3-4
10's

Week 5-6
5's

Week 7-8
Negatives

Before you even begin HST, you need to find your 15 rep max, your 10 rep max, and your 5 rep max in each exercise you are going to perform. After determining your max, you simply subtract 5 to 10 lbs off each max for 5 days.

For example.... if your bench press max is 200 for 15 reps, you would subtract 10 for 5 days....

Day 6 200
Day 5 190
Day 4 180
Day 3 170
Day 2 160
Day 1 150

This is the weights you would use for the cycle of 15's. Starting Monday (Day 1) of your first week, you would do 150 at 15 reps, Wed (Day 2) you would go 160 at 15 reps, Fri (Day 3) you would use 170 for 15 reps.. and continue until you reach your max by the sixth day (Friday in most cases). The idea behind this is that progressive resistance on a muscle and frequency (changing the environment of the muscle) are what will cause hypertrophy. Your are always progressing in weight, you are always reaching a target rep scheme, and you are only working to failure on your final day. This creates the proper environment for the muscle, it follows the rule of progressive resistance,and allows CNS recovery, or actually in better terms, prevents overstimulation of the CNS due to going to failure constantly.

Also, of major importance is Strategic Deconditioning, which basically after 6-8 weeks when your muscle is "tough as shoe leather and will not grow very easily anymore", you take 9 to 12 days off, allow your muscle to basically "
reset" its threshold without undue atrophy and begin another cycle again, only this time adding 5-20 lbs to each lift (progressive overload).

This is a very basic review of HST. I just wanted to let people know about it, and if you have any more questions.. dont ask me, check out the site.

www.hypertrophy-specific.com

Its worked wonders for me, and I think its approach is probably the most sound I have ever read and researched

I wasn't new.