Hypertrophy-Specific Training™(bulking)

[Ares]

Hey guys, here is a great link if you wanna bulk up and get bigger in an "easy" way....
I've gained 3 kilos of muscle in one month and i havent followed my diet to the extreme either....oh and i've increased the weight i can lift in certain areas with 20%....
read it, study it, and get ready for some good results....

warning, its not some magick pill or something.
your not gonna become the terminator over night
and it requires dedication and old fashion hard work
so you slackers can pizz off,
but its probably the best training routine for bulking out there.....

peace

Ares...

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

 

[MindOverMatter]

I've done 3 cycles of HST myself. Each cycle was about 8 weeks, and I've made pretty good gains with them (the first one I did, I ended up with a 13lbs gain post-cutting)

The whole workout is based on valid university sports medicine research, and works 100%.

However, I don't train exclusively with it, because it's a bit of a wuss way to train. I'll explain.

Basically you do full body workouts 3x a week (mon/tue/wed) for 8 weeks. First 2 weeks you train in 15 rep sets, then 2 weeks of 10 rep sets, 2 weeks of 5 rep sets, and 2 weeks of 1-2 rep sets.

Now here's what I don't like about HST:

Say you are doing your 2 weeks of 10 rep exercises. That means on every mon/wed/fri, you will do 2 sets of bench press. Say you're 10rep max for bench is 250lbs.

Instead of doing 250 every workout, you will only do 250 on your
last day (workout #6 / the friday of the second week). Every workout before that, you will use lesser weights. For example

day 1 : 10x 225
day 2: 10x 230
day 3: 10 x 235
day 4: 10x 240
day 5: 10x 245
day 6: 10x 250

On your next 10 rep cycle, you add 10 more lbs.

There is a reason the workout system works this way. According to recent research, if you train using your maxes every workout, your body will will adapt and gain strength, but you will gain minor hypertrophy (muscle size) gains. Your body eventually gets used to the mechanical load, and your growing gains slow down. HST is designed around progressive load, that forces your body to be in a constant state of adaptation, and thus always growing.

It's a great workout system for putting on size, but it's not the best system for putting on size AND strength. If you do it while you are a newbie your lifts WILL go up, but if you've been lifting for several years, it's not the best system for gaining strength.

Plus everytime I train with lesser weights, I leave every workout feeling unfullfilled.

You will make good gains with it, but I personally didn't enjoy training with smaller poundages and not going to failure. I train mostly with HIT principles, which means heavy weights, low reps, few sets, high focus + concetration, and going to failure.

I make similar gains with HIT that I do with HST, and I always get better increases on my maximum lifts.

If you are a guy who wants mass or size more then strength, HST is the way to go.

If you want strength + size, or strength moreso then size, train conventionally.

 

[Alpine]

So what's the difference between this and cycling?

Sure the average guy doesn't gain much because

a)he goes full bore from day 1

b)he never cycles his intensity.