[quote]tn1 wrote:
Curious how the HFT for chest went?
Thanks[/quote]
Part 1 is done, I’m 3 weeks into HFT2, with 3 weeks to go. Tough to say… Which I guess means there hasn’t been an explosion of mass there, but as I notice myself in reflections throughout the day ti does seem a bit meatier up there, like my shirts have more to “drape” off of.
I’ll post pics and such in 4 weeks.
Preliminary impressions right now is that HFT1 might be better than HFT2 for pecs.
I just wanna say that when I was a beginner, I was a huge proponent of training twice or more per week and the longer I train, the more I lean towards once a week training. I find that my intensity is much higher this way. A while back, I heard Lee Priest say that he thought training 1 day on/1 day off was best because psychologically you know that you have the next day off so you’re more likely to put everything you got into this session. And you know what, that shit works for me big time. I’m about 190 now and I’m still making good gains.
Matter of fact, I make more gains now than I did before. And going through this post makes me feel like this even more. The gains you made training this way don’t exceed the gains you should be making on any program. I’m not saying this to be a dick but rather to make you think about your training so you can optimize it as best as possible. Lonnie, do you think the gains you made since the start of this thread prove that higher frequency is better? Or do you think it’s not enough statistics to know for sure or to make an educated guess?
Wishing you the best. I’m just here to learn as we all are.
[quote]Aopocetx wrote:Lonnie, do you think the gains you made since the start of this thread prove that higher frequency is better? Or do you think it’s not enough statistics to know for sure or to make an educated guess?
Wishing you the best. I’m just here to learn as we all are.[/quote]
Aop,
I think the body part that I’m using the HFT training on is actually working, not to a mind blowing degree but to the “eye test” and the tape measure there was improvement. My chest is seemingly bigger now as well, and my bench numbers are as good as ever. However I am still training bench/chest “normally” twice a week, so its difficult to tease out the results as to what is actually helping the most in that regard.
I will say this… After I run the back HFT next (which is tons of pull ups basically) I will definitely stick with some sort of HFT program. I liked it for several reasons. If the pull ups work for my back I may pull a Waterbury and just do those for like 6 months.
As mentioned, it does increase hypertrophy of the area. It wasn’t mind blowing, but for the 10 weeks I ran it I think I got enough growth that it was worth the effort. It’s a great way to “spec” a body part while keeping your regular training program on schedule.
I like having a “daily fitness ritual.” Something to focus on every day that wasnt a huge, draining session
For something “big” like doing pull ups every day, its actually a good amount of effort and increases total energy expenditure, which I like.
*This is the last week of my HFT2 Chest, then I take a week “off” and then I’ll post the pics/vids/measurements.
Chest experiment over. I definitely don’t think I got the same type of gains I did on the delt program, and unfortunately I opted for iPhone pictures this time instead of the camera I was using… When I went to go pull my photos for this write up they are all over the place in the phone and not in the order I took them, so its very hard for me to tell which ones were start / middle /end…
Luckily I did take video, and while I admit it isnt that impressive (or at all… I have laxed my diet a bit so the starting video I am a bit more lean, which reveals a bit more definition making it even harder to judge, oh well)
However mediocre the results, here are the videos as I said I would put them up.
Starting:
Final:
I am continuing this experiment with the back, which will probably be my final one. My schedule leading into the new year is kinda jacked up (I have a 2 week honey moon coming up in December, its kinda smack dab in the middle of what would be this HFT program) so I will work around that as best I can.
I kinda like the HFT1 methods a bit more than the HFT2 methods, so I might just keep adding pull ups every day until my honey moon… then take 2 weeks off. Then when I come back I’ll do his other lat focused exercise in the same manner… All in all this could be a 6 month project here.
Just being honest with you but I can’t see any gains, either in the shoulders or chest. What is your calorie intake like? Do you tend to eat a lot of protein, sometimes to the exclusion of carbs? Maybe we can figure out how you can get some better gains.
[quote]Aopocetx wrote:
Just being honest with you but I can’t see any gains, either in the shoulders or chest. What is your calorie intake like? Do you tend to eat a lot of protein, sometimes to the exclusion of carbs? Maybe we can figure out how you can get some better gains. [/quote]
I appreciate the honesty (and I dont think I over sold anything… I dont see much either. Part of this thread was to see if this type of training “worked” at all for me) and the offer for help, but as I mentioned in the beginning of this thread I have literally tried every macro break down and diet possible for gains over the last 12 years of training.
For my current life style (work hours, family, money, etc…) I eat what I have found to work for me in terms of fueling my training and keeping me from gaining fat beyond what I like, and I’m not terribly interested in hashing this stuff out over the net at this time.
Again, I do appreciate your offer and your interest in this thread, but I just don’t have the interest in doing that kind of stuff right now.
Hey Lonnie,
I was just wondering if you are still doing Chad Waterbury’s HFT program? If so, any new insights you would like to share?
Also, veganbodybuilding.com might be of interest to you.
Thanks
Hey tn1
I continued the experiment all the way up to my honeymoon in December, ending with the Pull Ups. Got pretty damn hard at the end to get them in… You dont realize how many pull ups 70+ is EVERY DAY until you do it.
Having said that, I havent picked it back up since the honeymoon for a couple of reasons:
In an effort to get rid of some nagging issues I am changing my training up a bit and want to establish a “baseline” training program and then I will consider adding stuff on after I get a few things sorted out.
I dont really think I saw any MAJOR gains. The deltoid measurement change from HFT1 was relatively impressive so I may do that again, but the other sections didnt seem to do much (including the pull ups). The spec’s only last 1-2 months so its not like anything massive can happen, so maybe if I had done it for 3-4 months I would have really noticed.
Thanks for you interest in the thread. I recommend you do try the deltoid one out (lateral raises, start with a ~12RM, do 25 on day one, add a rep every day for 4 weeks, take a week off) to see how the training works for you.
Thank you for the reply. I think I will try some sort of HFT program.
Nice lats bro! I totally advocate this style of training!! This is my split
Chest, front and side delts
Back, Rear dealts, traps, calves
Legs, front and side delts, light traps
Tris, Bis, Forearms, Calves
So my shoulders are hit DIRECTLY 3/4 days, and since I started this program they have become my best body part! I also am hitting both tris and bis every other day on this program, once directly and once indirectly and my arms have improved a lot. When I really wanted my shoulders to grow, I added in secondary workouts on ALL 3 of the direct shoulder days, and the secondary workouts were just very light weight, very high volume burnout style high intensity sets. Was aiming for a feeder workout or pump workout with the secondary workouts. So when I Was doing those, that was 6 shoulder sessions every 4 days, which is 12 every 8 days. That’s when my shoulders grew the most. Keep in mind I Was not tearing muscle fibers twice in a day, the secondary workout was “Feeder”/pump based with about 25% of normal weight.
I Wouldn’t buy into the whole “base of strength” B/S, Most people who spend years on “Compound only” or “Strength base building” programs regret it. Maybe it can be beneficial for like 3 months as you learn to lift but that’s about it when it comes to bodybuilding! I think there are other reasons such as diet that account for his results, not that I am saying they are great or poor just saying they are defined by his diet not the fact he has no strength base.
Fantastic results bud!! Once you are done with this program, read the post I posted in this thread earlier about my routine and try it out!! It is a good routine that allows you to work each body part 2-4 times a week and has no rest days! For us guys who respond well to high volume I think it is absolutely ideal! IF you want more volume than it offers then look to the part of the post when I talk about 2 a days. I recommend following the program as I outlined it, and then adding in 2 a days on 2-3 of the days for 1 muscle group at a time, for one month+ at a time per muscle group! It really brought my shoulders up fast, from my weak point to my best point!
To bring up my arms, I found working tris and bis twice a day every other day. I would do a heavier workout in the morning in the 8-12 rep range, with exercises like cgbp for tris, some pullups for bis, then some more traditional curls and extentions, 4 exercises of 5 sets for both bis and for tris. Then in the evening I did the same 4 exercises of 5 sets, but with different exercises, and about 1/4 to 1/3 of the weight I would normally use, and with extremely high volume and a LOT of burnout techniques such as super sets, drop sets etc. Note that in the secondary workout I wouldn’t actually be “tearing” the muscle group, I believe doing that twice a day is counter productive. It was more of a “Feeder workout” or “pump workout”, the benefits being increased blood flow to muscle, increased protein synthesis, increased and faster recovery, and also a secondary post workout window to allow more growth. It really worked well for me. So far I have done this for shoulders and bi/tri and these are now strengths for me not weak points.
Your delts look fantasatic! I think they are your strong point in fact now. If I were you I would work on your legs, particularily quads and “quad sweep”. Not criticizing you at all, your physique is very nice. Just trying to point out what I Think would bring your physique to the next level. Congrats on current progress hun
I Strongly disagree about both. While the chest gains admittedly were very minimal, they were still noticeable, and the shoulder gains were quite impressive.
@ delts, Thank you. It was a long process to get capped delts. I’d forgotten about trying this experiment.
At quad sweep, I had an old training thread in this forum called Emphasis on Quad Sweep, deleted now, but that made me smile since it was a thing for me! Lots and lots of Close Stance Hack Squats, and Smith Somersault Squats. Ha! I’m proportionately longer through the legs than my torso, but I like a smaller figure to bikini look through the leg so I’m not pursuing bigger hams of quads these days.
I build glutes and calves fairly easily (in fact I never train calves). Hams and quads not as well, but proportionately there are worse problems to have.
I never got a quad sweep until I did the following to start off my leg days.
Feet closer than shoulder width front squats - 5 x 14-20
3-5 min running stairs with feet oh so slightly pointed in and very close together
Feet closer than shoulder width leg press - 5 x 14-20
3-5 min running stairs with feet oh so slightly pointed in and very close together
Quad extentions - 5x 14-26
3-5 min running stairs with feet oh so slightly pointed in and very close together
Doing this got me a good quad sweep. I think big quads and thighs and glutes on a girl is the most attractive thing possible but to each there own