Hope this answers any questions
Next week I start on my 15 rep cycle. Because the tricep pushdown has 10 pound increments I must start at only 20 pounds! My dick can move that weight.
easy solution for the obligatory weight increase on the weight machines that have 10lb increases. Take a 2.5 pound weight and hang it over the pin, it will ride up the stack nicely. If that doesn’t work, on some machines you can sneak a dumbell on the top of the stack. This has made all the difference in the world for me and the girl I am training. She can only do rows with 50 for 15, so uh-oh, counting back meant weightless. using the 2.5 AND a 5 pound dumbell, we can go in 2.5lb increments. 50, 47.5, 45, etc.
By the way, I am the biggest skeptic, seriously doubted HST’s effectveness, but 5 weeks in, (seasoned trainer, NEVER MISS or rarely) 5lbs weight gain and a decrease in waist size in jeans, I believe. The legs on my boxer briefs are too tight while the waist is getting droopy. Will it continue ad infinitum? Hopefully not. That would make me freakish
Ima see if this here html shtuff works for me, so bare w/ me if it comes out all jumbled.
Magnus- That’s some good shit! Makes no sense, goes against everything I have ever read…. I’LL DO IT! The 15s do indeed SUCK! And those results are friggin great, man.
Trev- Congrats on the gains, brotha. I hope I can manage something that good.
I wish I had a tape to measure w/. I think I will go pick one up today…. Today is the last day of 15’s, so the measurements will only be for the 10’s, and 2 5’s (no partner = tough to do negs). Im already up a couple pounds. Noticeable pump damn near all the time. Im going to get an accurate wt and measurements to gage my progress through the last 3 microcycles. I be stuffin my piehole w/ massive eating, 4200cal/day. I am eager to see what I can manage w/ this. Seems that HIT is the only thing that has ever worked for me in the past, so this is really interesting to me. Anyhoo, Peace and hair grease!
DA MAN – wishin he had thought of the funny catch lines at the end of his posts since 2088.
Trev,
Thanks for starting this site. I wish I would have noticed this before I posted my questions the other day.
I planned on starting HST on Monday, but after reading through this I’m not sure if I should. Any thoughts. I’ve been doing a lot of heavy weight low rep workouts for the last 9 months and wanted to change things up a bit. I’m also going to start the T-Dawg diet because I want to shed some fat before my honeymoon. Also, what is everybodys thoughts on having a different workout routine for Mon, Wed, and Thursday while hitting all of the body parts? As much as I hate cardio I do want to include it. Any suggestions for that?
I agree with you both. Generally speaking a 5 or 10 pound increase is too arbitrary to use for every workout. Smaller isolation movements especially need smaller increments.
I won't get too far into it here because this has been discussed to death in a few other threads, but I would say that there are definitely ways to get around machines that have large weight increases.
If you have the money to spend, I would suggest picking up some plate mates. They're small magnetic weights that will easily attach to either a dumbbell or weight stack for increased load that is still smaller than the given increment. I use a set of 2.5s and 1.25s, and they've really helped me continue along a positive progression when using HST.
They are expensive, and if you feel it's not worth the money, then I would definitely suggest either going with the idea of putting more weight on the stack itself. I have had no luck with an actual dumb bell, as I find them far too imbalanced, but what works well (especially on cable machines) is to just put a small plate (2.5 or 5 pound, etc.) on top of the stack resting against the cable itself.
As far as your results from HST thus far, congratulations. It sounds like you're doing phenominally. The program works very well, but I do not think it will continue to provide such results ad infinitum, unfortunately. As with anything else, especially in body building, I suspect that the Law of Diminished Returns will eventually apply. However, I think that if you occasionally cycle off and use another program, you will be able to consistently go back to HST and make good gains. Good luck and please keep us updated.
I would stick with 2 different workouts that you alternate very similar to what Haycock’s example was laid out like. That is my plan for using HST in the future. I also think that HST is a good plan to use on a diet. My experience with HST was mixed, but there were several factors that caused this and I know how to remedy these (better exercise selection, actual calculation of 15,10,5 rep maxes being the foremost of importance). If using T-Dawg diet in conjunction with HST, I would choose the higher carb (150/100) option to coincide with your 15s cycle, moderate carb (100/70) to coincide with your 10s and the low carb (70/30) or moderate carb for the 5s and 5/Negs. I think this would be an optimal pairing of diet and exercise. Just make sure to actually find your maxes before you start. I think this is absolutely critical to get the most success out of your next cycle.
Jason,
Thanks for your feedback. I did find all my maxes on Saturday so I know exactly what I can lift for each exercise that I’ve chosen. I’ve had some problems with my rhomboids lately feels like a cramp, so I’m hoping that it doesn’t bug me too much during this. I took my weight and body fat, with calipers, prior to beginning this morning, so once I’m finished I’ll post my results. Wish me luck. Let’s keep this going if possible. It’s very beneficial to see other’s results.