Introduction to Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST)

To be certain, there are a mind-boggling number of lifting programs available, all claiming to be universal in their ability to produce bigger and stronger lifters. Some programs rely on muscle fatigue, or working to muscular failure, to produce results. With these programs, a weight is lifted until it cannot be lifted even one more time. Other programs rely on increasing volume. These programs may call for adding more sets or repetitions of each exercise over time. Still other programs call for a combination of working to failure and increasing volume to produce results.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of these programs are based not on scientific evidence, or research, but rather on the basis of observations of a few elite lifters. One program that is based on scientific research is Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST), developed by Brian Haycock. HST is helping many ordinary people make wonderful gains on an every-day basis, and many exceptional lifters are experiencing renewed, plateau-free growth, as well.

It should be noted that the objective here is not to provide the scientific evidence behind HST, but rather to briefly explain the principles of HST and demonstrate how to set up your own HST cycle. A more detailed account of the science behind HST can be found at the Hypertrophy-Specific Training website, located at www.hypertrophy-specific.com.

Key Principles of HST

An important thing to understand about HST is that it is not a rigid program which is applied to all lifters in the same way. Rather, HST is a group of principles, which, when understood intuitively, can direct your lifting efforts toward new growth without hitting the plateaus that inevitably plague lifters using other, generalized programs. In the simplest of terms, the primary principles of HST are frequency, mechanical load, progression, and strategic deconditioning. Each of these principles is briefly discussed below.

Frequency: 

In the HST protocol, muscles are loaded three times a week rather than the usual once per week suggested by other programs. The greater frequency of workouts provides the muscles with an environment of chronic loading. This contrasts the acute loading (i.e., high intensity once a week) of other programs.

Let’s consider an example which illustrates the difference between acute and chronic loading. Say you get a new job that occasionally requires you to lift and move several boxes, each weighing 50 lbs. Naturally, the first time you do this, the next day you will be sore. The soreness occurs because your muscles are not conditioned to this particular form of exercise. Suppose that you only have to lift the boxes once every two weeks. Think you’ll be sore after the next time? Probably, even if a bit less than the first time. This occurs because your muscles adapt to the load provided by the boxes during the first lifting session, but then decondition during the several days before the next box-lifting session. As a consequence of this acute loading, your muscle-building efforts are slowed at best.

On the other hand, suppose that you have to lift the boxes every day. Think you will continue to get sore as the days go by? Yes, but not for long. Lifting the boxes every day will quickly condition your muscles to the load provided by the boxes. Likely, by the end of the first week of lifting, you will no longer get sore. Your muscles will have become conditioned to a new environment wherein lifting 50 lbs-boxes occurs very frequently, or chronically. Once this conditioning has occurred to a sufficient level, you will plateau and no further adaptation will take place. That is, unless there is some sort of progression to your box-lifting efforts.

The take home point is: we want to keep the muscles in a state of adaptation with as little deconditioning as possible taking place between workout sessions.

Mechanical loading: 

Traditionally, muscle fatigue has been relied upon as a gauge for the effectiveness of a particular program to produce growth. According to this reasoning, one must work the muscles to momentary muscular failure so as to cause as many muscle fibers as possible to receive a growth stimulus. Often it is suggested that the fast twitch, or white, muscle fibers are not even called into action until the last few repetitions of a set. As pointed out in support of HST, however, a great deal of research suggests that all types of muscle fibers are called into action when the muscles are exposed to heavy enough loads. Because of this, HST emphasizes heavy mechanical loading of the muscles. In other words, we want to spend some time using heavy weights, and not just stay with the lighter weights suggested by many other programs.

Progression: 

As pointed out above in the 50 lbs-box example, your muscles will eventually become conditioned to lifting the 50 lbs-boxes. Certainly, the level of conditioning depends on several factors, including how frequently you engage in box lifting, how many boxes you lift in each bout of box lifting, and how fast you lift and move the boxes in each bout. Assuming that all of these factors remain constant, your muscles will become conditioned and no further conditioning will take place unless there is some sort of progression. In our box example, progression can take the form of lifting the boxes more often, lifting the boxes more quickly during each bout, or lifting more boxes in each bout, or even a combination of these. Of course, another type of progression can be achieved simply by lifting heavier boxes. This is the preferred method of progression in HST; namely, the mechanical loading on the muscles is progressively increased in a steady manner.

Strategic Deconditioning (SD):

 As you steadily increase the mechanical load on your muscles, you will eventually reach a point where you cannot add any more weight. At this point, you will have reached your maximum lifts. Because of this, there is a natural limit to the length of time during which you can increase the mechanical loading on your muscles. And to confound things even more, you will eventually become conditioned to these maximal weights—meaning, they will lose their effect on your muscle growth mechanisms. When that happens, any further progress will be phenomenally difficult at best. So, we can either beat ourselves to a pulp lifting heavy weights day-in and day-out, hoping for some sort of progress, or we can find a way to make renewed progression possible. With HST this is where Strategic Deconditioning (SD) comes into play. Strategic Deconditioning comprises between 9 to 16 days of no lifting to allow the muscles to become deconditioned to the heavy weights you’ve been lifting for the previous 6 to 8 weeks. After about 7 days of SD, your muscles will be essentially completely repaired from the damage you’ve inflicted on them up until your final workout. From about the 7th day onward, your muscles will then become unaccustomed to these weights. Therefore, if you do a good job of not doing anything at all, when you return to the weights between 9 to 16 days later, progression of those submaximal weights will produce further growth all over again. Hence, by “SDing” you’ll avoid the plateau that would have otherwise been inevitable.

Basic Layout of a HST Cycle

A HST cycle is typically an eight-week, mass-building macrocycle which is comprised of at least three mesocycles. Each mesocycle provides a repetition range which specifies a number of repetitions you will perform with each exercise. The recommended repetition ranges are a 15-rep range, a 10-rep range, and a 5-rep range, although other rep-ranges are certainly acceptable. These rep-ranges are generally referred to as the 15s, 10s, and 5s, respectively. It should be stated up front that the secret of HST’s ability to produce renewed muscle growth is not to be found in the rep-ranges. Rather, the principles of HST discussed above hold the secret to renewed growth. The purpose of the rep-ranges is to guide you in choosing effective weights that progress throughout the HST cycle. It is straightforward to see that during the 15s, the weights will be much lighter than the weights used during the 5s.

A fourth mesocycle may include negatives (i.e., eccentric repetitions) and/or a continuation of the 5s or even the addition of drop sets. SD can be considered to be a fifth, or final mesocycle. The following table summarizes the primary mesocycles in a HST cycle.

One HST Cycle
Weeks 1-2 15s
Weeks 3-4 10s
Weeks 5-6 5s
Weeks 7-8 Negatives, More 5s, or Drops
Weeks 9-10 SD

Each mesocycle comprises at least six individual workouts. The weights you use should progress from workout to workout as you work through each mesocycle. The lighter weights you use for the 15s develop tendon strength, prepare the body for future heavy loads, and encourage the body to heal any old injuries. The weights used for the 10s are great for hypertrophy, but also serve as a transition from the light weights of the 15s to the heavier weights used in the 5s. The weights used for the 5s are great for developing strength and hypertrophy. Negatives enable you to use even heavier weights than in the 5s, and develop hypertrophy via loaded stretching of the muscles. SD allows time for your muscles to forget their conditioning, so that the submaximal weights used in your next HST cycle will be effective for producing further growth.

Selecting Exercises

As discussed above, a key principle of HST is working the muscles with a high frequency each week. While most modern-day programs suggest hitting each muscle group once each week, in HST we want to hit the whole body two or three times each week. Of course, working each muscle group three times per week is more preferable if you can handle that level of frequency. One example of a full-body routine that can be used three times each week is:

• Squat
• Stiff-Leg Deadlift
• Inclined Bench Press
• Chins (Wide Grip, Narrow Grip)
• Rows (Wide Grip, Narrow Grip)
• Shrugs
• Shoulder Press
• Lateral Raise
• Rear Delts
• Dumbbell Curls
• Lying Triceps Extensions
• Calf Raise
• Abdominal Crunches

Another example of a full-body routine that can be used three times each week is:

• Squat
• Leg Curl
• Inclined Bench Press
• Wide Grip Pulldowns
• Dips
• One-Arm Rows
• Inclined Hammer Curls
• Lying Triceps Extensions
• Shrugs
• Abdominal Crunches

Alternatively, an abbreviated version of this routine might be:

• Squat
• Leg Curl
• Inclined Bench Press
• Chins
• Dips
• Seated Rows
• Shrugs

Another popular approach is to select alternating exercises that are performed every other workout day. For example, one might choose the following alternatives for working the legs.

With these exercises, A is performed on Monday, B is performed on Wednesday, and A is performed on Friday. On the following Monday B is performed, A is performed on Wednesday, and B is performed on Friday. This is shown more clearly in the following table.

• Monday: A
• Wednesday: B
• Friday: A
• Monday: B
• Wednesday: A
• Friday: B

One example of a full-body routine that includes alternating exercises is:

In this routine, Squats are alternated with Leg Presses while Inclined Bench Presses are alternated with Dips, and Chins are alternated with Rows.

Exercises can be performed with an Upper/Lower body split two or three times each week. Using the full-body routine given above, one might split the upper- and lower-body exercises as follows:

The Upper routine is performed every other day, and the Lower routine is performed on the intervening days, as shown in the following table.

• Monday: Upper
• Tuesday: Lower
• Wednesday: Upper
• Thursday: Lower
• Friday: Upper
• Saturday: Lower

Another very popular technique is the AM/PM routine. With the AM/PM routine, you workout both in the morning and in the evening. This enables you to either split up your upper- and lower-body work or double your volume by doing full-body work twice. The following table illustrates a typical Upper/Lower body split performed on an AM/PM routine.

• Monday: AM (Upper), PM (Lower)
• Tuesday: Off
• Wednesday: AM (Upper), PM (Lower)
• Thursday: Off
• Friday: AM (Upper), PM (Lower)

Of course, other types of routines and splits are entirely possible. For instance, some may prefer to use a four day split routine, while others may prefer using a six day split routine. These more traditional split routines are certainly an option so long as one keeps in mind that higher frequency is a fundamental principle of HST. Optimally, the whole body is worked 2-3 times each week.

When you choose your exercises, remember to keep things simple. There’s no need to go crazy and then burn out. Try to avoid choosing so many isolation exercises that you’re in the gym for two hours every workout. The objective is to hit the entire body with a reasonable volume without taking much longer than about 45-60 minutes per workout.

Finding Your Rep-Maxes

Once you have chosen your exercises, you’ll need to find your 15, 10, and 5 rep-max (RM) weights for those exercises. For those readers that are new to the iron game, a RM specifies the maximum number of times you can lift a weight before hitting muscular failure. With HST, the RMs guide us in determining how much weight to use for our exercises. For instance, what is the maximum weight that you can squat 15 reps with? Once you know this weight, it becomes your 15RM weight.

One way to determine your RMs is to perform the exercises to find your 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM. You can test your 15RM on Monday, your 10RM on Wednesday, and your 5RM on Friday. A good thing about this method is that it’s very accurate on an individual basis. One drawback is that it takes an extra week to test all of your RMs, and the amounts of weight may vary depending on a variety of factors, such as sleep, nutrition, stress, recent illness, overtraining, and the like. It should be understood that after you test your RMs, you need to take a 9-16 day SD in order to prepare your muscles for the upcoming HST cycle.

Estimation is a far less time consuming way of finding your RMs. With the estimation method, you use online calculators or some other similar device to estimate your 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM based on other RMs that you already know, such as, for instance, your 12RM or 8RM. A good thing about estimating your RMs is that it’s easy and takes very little time. A drawback is that it’s generalized and thus may not be very accurate on an individual basis.

A more accurate approach is to use a theoretical method to determine your current RMs. For example, you can use linear regression to determine your theoretical 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM based on your latest RMs from your other workout programs. A great thing about this approach is that it’s very accurate on an individual basis. Of course, the main drawback is that it’s mathematically intensive, and not everyone has the math skills to use this method.

Setting up a Workout Log

Setting up and maintaining a workout log or journal is essential. Not only does a workout log enable you to carefully plan your HST cycles, but it also gives you a direct means by which to monitor your progress, as well as any problems that might arise in your training over time.

Once you know your 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM weights for all of the exercises you have chosen, you can enter them into your workout log. Your 15RM weights are the weights you will use on the last workout day of the 15RM mesocycle (i.e., the 15s). Your 10RM weights are the weights you will use on the last workout day of the 10s, and your 5RM weights are the weights you will use on the last workout day of the 5s.

Next, you must subtract weight from your 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM to determine the weights you’ll use as you work up to your RMs. Before you can do this, however, you must determine a decrement value for each exercise. The decrement value is the amount of weight you subtract from your RM weights for each workout day preceding the workout on which you use your RM weights. This is explained more clearly below. The decrement value typically is about 5% of your 5RM weight. For example, if your 5RM weight for a particular exercise is 160 lbs (kg), then your decrement value for this exercise is 0.05 x 160 lbs (kg), or 8 lbs (kg).

Once you know the decrement value for each of your exercises, you are ready to determine the weights you’ll use throughout the cycle. To do this, you work backwards from the RM weight, subtracting the decrement value from the weight for each workout day to determine the weight for the preceding workout day. For example, suppose your 15RM for a particular exercise is 120 lbs (kg) and that your decrement value is 8 lbs (kg). The weight you will use on the 6th workout day of the 15s is 120 lbs (kg). On the 5th workout day, you will use 120 lbs (kg) – 8 lbs (kg), which equals 112 lbs (kg). On the 4th workout day, you will use 112 lbs (kg) – 8 lbs (kg), which is equal to 104 lbs (kg). Continuing along, on the 3rd workout day, your weight will be 104 lbs (kg) – 8 lbs (kg), or 96 lbs (kg). On the 2nd workout day; 96 lbs (kg) – 8 lbs (kg) gives a weight of 88 lbs (kg). And, for the 1st workout day of the 15s, 88 lbs (kg) – 8 lbs (kg) gives a weight of 80 lbs (kg). For this exercise, therefore, the weights you will use during the 15s are 80, 88, 96, 104, 112, and 120 lbs (kg). The following table summarizes the weights used in the 15s of this particular example.

With the weights for the 15s determined, you’re ready to move on to the 10s. The procedure for determining the weights for the 10s is identical to that discussed above for the 15s. Starting with your 10RM weight, you work backwards through the 10s subtracting the decrement value from the weight for each workout day to determine the weight for the preceding workout day. Continuing with the example above, if your 10RM weight for a particular exercise is 140 lbs (kg) and your decrement value is 8 lbs (kg), then the weights you will use for this exercise during the 10s are:

Finally comes the 5s. As with the 10s and the 15s, during the 5s you work backwards, subtracting the decrement value from the weight for each workout day to determine the weight for the preceding workout day. Thus, if your 5RM weight is 160 lbs (kg) and your decrement value is 8 lbs (kg), then the weights you will use for the 5s are:

After having performed this procedure, you will have all the weights you will need for this particular exercise throughout your HST cycle.

One other point worthy of mentioning is that each of the exercises you choose for your HST cycle will have distinct 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM weights. Because of this, the decrement value for each exercise will be different. Accordingly, you must perform the procedure discussed above for each exercise you intend to use during your cycle.

Dealing With Zig-Zagging Weights

Zig-zag is a term typically used to describe weights in one mesocycle being less than the RM weight used in the preceding mesocycle. For example, suppose your weights for the 15s are 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, and 100 lbs (kg), and the weights for your 10s are 70, 80, 90, 100, 110, and 120 lbs (kg). Putting these weights in a simple table gives:

Looking at the weights used for the 10s, it’s easy to see that the first four values (which are shaded for clarity) are weights with which you can easily crank out 15 or more reps. Because of this overlapping, or zig-zagging, phenomenon, your 10s may not be as productive as they could be.

A popular way to reduce zig-zag is by repeating some weights. For example, you could drop the first and second weights in the 10s and then repeat the remaining four weights. This is shown in the following table.

Now, the zig-zag is reduced to only the first two weights in the 10s. Another way to reduce zig-zag is shown in the following table.

As can be seen, this approach confines the zig-zag to three days of the 10s. Many lifters find this level of zig-zag beneficial for Central Nervous System (CNS) recovery and prevention of burnout later on in the cycle.

Still another approach to reducing zig-zag is as follows:

This approach confines the zig-zag to just two days, while the heavier, more productive weights are repeated on the remaining days of the 10s.

It should be noted that a little zig-zag can be a good thing; it allows for a little CNS recovery and can stave off burn out and overtraining which might otherwise occur later on in the cycle. But if the zig-zag is too severe, the productivity of the cycle may be compromised. You will have to experiment a little to find the level of zig-zag that works best for you.

How Much Volume Should be Used?

This is probably the most puzzling question in the realm of bodybuilding. The question of volume is complex, being intimately hinged on a variety of factors which go far beyond the scope of this writing. Of course, in order to set up a HST cycle (or any other cycle, for that matter), one must have some idea of how much volume is required to stimulate muscle growth.

In the simplest of terms, volume may be viewed as the number of repetitions performed multiplied by the number of sets performed. In other words, the total volume of an exercise is equal to the total number of repetitions, or the number times you actually move the weight. Accordingly, the total volume of the exercise is directly proportional to the total amount of work performed during the exercise.

Let’s consider some examples using HST mesocycles. Suppose you perform one set of an exercise during the 15s, 10s, and 5s. Your total volume is then 15 reps, 10 reps, and 5 reps, respectively, as summarized in the following table.

This immediately tells us that your total volume is dropping over the course of the cycle. Of course, volume is not the only thing that is dropping. In fact, several important factors are dropping, one of which being the total amount of work that you are performing with the exercise.

Now suppose that you perform one set during the 15s, two sets during the 10s, and three sets during the 5s. Your total volume is then 15 reps, 20 reps, and 15 reps, respectively.

As can be seem in the table above, your volume increases from the 15s to the 10s, but then drops when you get to the 5s. This may be a beneficial amount of volume, depending on the level of weight you are using, as well as your physical conditioning at the time you perform the cycle.

Another, somewhat counterintuitive, example is performing one set during the 15s, one set of 10 reps followed by two sets of 5 reps during the 10s, and then four sets during the 5s. In this case, your total volume is 15 reps, 20 reps, and 20 reps, respectively.

With this approach, your volume increases from the 15s to the 10s, and then stays constant through the 5s.

Some may argue that mixing set-rep schemes during the 10s is not productive. But it must be remembered that we are not gauging muscle growth on the level of fatigue induced during sets. Rather, mechanical load is the primary stimulus for muscle growth, as well as the total number of times you are capable of lifting that load. Some lifters may not be able to perform two whole sets of the 10s when they reach their 10RM weight. Based on this reasoning, the only way to achieve the desired volume with the mechanical load on the bar may be to perform smaller sets following the first, primary set of 10s.

The same reasoning can be leveled at the 5s, as well. Suppose you cannot achieve 5 reps with the last two sets of the 5s. You can either give up or you can do more, smaller sets until you reach the desired level of volume. The following table shows one example wherein the 5s are performed with smaller sets.

Clearly, in the 5s, this lifter was forced to stop short of 5 reps on the third set in order to avoid muscular failure due to fatigue. To make up for this, the lifter performed three more sets having three reps, two reps, and finally one rep. Doing this enabled this lifter to achieve the desired level of volume, and thus the desired level of work, while avoiding muscular failure arising due to fatigue.

The bottom line on volume is: you should use as much volume as you can while still remaining healthy and without injuring yourself. Because this is a very individual criterion, the amount of volume you should use is also going to be very individualistic. You will have to find out for yourself what is best for you. The HST FAQ offers loads of advice to assist you in finding the volume which is best for you. Barrowing from the HST FAQ, the general consensus is as follows.

Increase your volume if:

• you’re never sore;
• you’re never tired; or
• you’re not growing.

Maintain your volume if:

• you’re slightly sore most of the time;
• you’re tired enough to sleep well, but not so tired that you lose motivation to train; or
• you’re noticeably “fuller.”

Decrease your volume if:

• you’re experiencing over use pain, and strain symptoms in your joints and/or muscles;
• you’re tired and irritable all the time, yet don’t sleep well; or
• your strength levels are significantly decreasing.

Please feel free to consult the HST FAQ for a far more thorough explanation of the factors affecting volume, as well as many other factors affecting your training.

What Comes After the 5s?

Once you finish the 5s, you have choices on what to do during the two final weeks of your HST cycle. Certainly, if at this point you are feeling overtrained or are injured, you may wisely choose to terminate the cycle and go into a nice, rehabilitative SD. On the other hand, if you’re still raring to go, then you can do one of the following.

By far the most popular, and likely most beneficial, approach is to use your 2RM for negative, or eccentric, repetition training. With negatives, you generally have a partner help you lift the weight and then you lower the weight under control. You may choose to perform five of these negative reps or you may choose to perform two concentric, or positive, reps on your own followed by three negative reps where your partner helps you lift the weight. The choice is really yours so long as you can perform the negatives without injuring yourself.

Another popular approach is to perform drop sets in place of negatives. With drop sets, you generally use a much lighter weight than your 5RM, such as your 15RM weight, and you do the drop set as quickly after your 5RM set as you can. You can continue working out with your 5RM weights at the same volume you’ve been using and then do additional drop sets; or, you can use less volume with your 5RM weight and add drop sets.

Alternatively, you can continue to increment your weights on up to your 4RM or your 3RM. You can also add drop sets to these workouts. The only caveat is to watch out for failure. With such few reps, failure can come on rather quickly.

Of course, if you don’t want to use any of above-discussed methods, you can always continue working with your 5RM weights. Choosing this approach is beneficial because the 5RM weights are heavy enough to remain productive for two more weeks.

Sample Workout Log

The following pages provide a sample workout log for an entire HST cycle. Although the log is rather generic, it should be enough to get you started with your own HST cycle. Please feel free to print and use it for your own HST cycles.

The first page is dedicated to finding your 15RM, 10RM, and 5RM weights. As you can see, the first page is organized into a row-column arrangement. There are spaces for you to write in your exercises, the dates on which you train, the amount of weight you use, and the number of repetitions you perform. There are also spaces for you to write in the weights and repetitions you use for your warm-ups (WU). The information you record on the first page will help, and indeed enable, you to set up the rest of your HST cycle.

The mesocycles are identified by “15RM,” “10RM,” “5RM,” and “5RM +.” The last mesocycle implies that you will go beyond your 5RM by performing negatives, drop sets, or working toward your 4RM or 3RM. Of course, you can continue working with your 5RM if you want.

Each mesocycle spans two pages. For instance, the first three workouts of the 15s are on the page labeled “15RM,” and the following three workouts of the 15s are on the second page labeled “15RM.”

Exercises are bundled together in pairs. It is hoped that this will help you superset pairs of exercises that work antagonistic muscle groups. This will greatly speed up your workouts.

Estimated rest times are specified for each mesocycle. The rest times are loosely related to the amount of weight used in each mesocycle. Certainly, you can choose your own rest times, if you wish.

As mentioned above, after you set up your HST cycle, you need to take a 9-16 day SD to reset the muscles’ level of conditioning, and prepare them for the upcoming heavy loads.

 Full PDF version of the Sample Workout Log (29 kb)

Charles T. Ridgely
charles@ridgely.ws 

References

Haycock, Bryan, “Hypertrophy-Specific Training: Official HST Method,” http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/

Haycock, Bryan, “Strategic Deconditioning: Priming the Muscle for Growth”

Haycock, Bryan, “Training Frequency Plan: Timing is everything”

HST FAQ

Discussions on the HST Forum.

Low carbohydrate diets

Low carbohydrate diets are among the most popular diets around. Despite this popularity, most people don’t really understand how the diet works. Here’s the low-down on low-carb diets.

A carbohydrate is a sugar is a carbohydrate

Before getting too far into low carbohydrate diets, it is important to understand that, to the body, there is little difference between different carbohydrate foods. Bread or candy, it makes no difference. The only difference with reference to its carbohydrate content is the amount of time it takes to digest. Those that take a long time to digest are referred to as complex carbohydrate because they are long chains of sugar. Simple carbohydrates take no time at all to digest and are called simple because they are very short chains of sugar. Before any carbohydrate gets into the body, it is broken down into short chains. So to the body, carbohydrate and “sugar” are identical. It is only the tongue that can distinguish between the too.

A tale of two fuels

The body relies on 2 things for fuel, sugar (remember this is just another name for carbohydrate) and fat. There is a priority as to which fuel the body will burn first when both are available. Carbohydrate will generally be burned before fat. So when you eat a meal containing both sugar and fat the body will burn the sugar and store the fat. The fat will stay where it is stored until sugar is no longer available. Unfortunately, when sugar is no longer available, the brain triggers hunger so that you will eat more sugar, leaving the fat right where it is. “A moment on the lips, forever on the hips” as they say.

Most of the sugar you eat in your diet is reserved for the brain and nervous system. Some have interpreted this as meaning that carbohydrate is the body’s “preferred” fuel. If this were so, wouldn’t the body store carbohydrate instead of fat? Rather than carbohydrate being the “preferred” fuel, carbohydrate is the body’s most “convenient” fuel under normal circumstances. This is why getting the body to use stored body fat instead of carbohydrate can be difficult.

Because the body will burn carbohydrate before it will burn fat, if you continually supply carbohydrate, the body will never dip into stored fat. There would be no reason to. The idea behind a low carb diet is to continue to feed the body essential protein, but eliminate, or greatly reduce the amount of carbohydrate, so that the body must use stored body fat for fuel. The liver then makes the necessary sugar for the brain, while the muscles switch to using fat.

Nay Sayers have a point…sort of.

Mobilizing stored fat when sugar intake is low is a natural function of the body. Even when sugar made in the liver runs low (such as during exercise), the brain can switch over to burning “ketones”. Ketones are made from fat, of which there is an abundant supply already in the body. This is why low carb diets are often referred to as “ketogenic diets”.

Opponents of low carb diets voice concern over the body’s production of ketones. They feel this will cause a condition caused by poorly managed type-I diabetes called keto-acidosis. In the diabetic patient, insulin cannot be produced; this causes ketone production to rise far above normal, and can lower the pH of the blood. This has not been shown to happen in people without type-I diabetes. Without the ability to produce insulin, ketone levels can rise far above what naturally occurs when normal people consume less carbohydrate.

In a nutshell

Here are a few summary points to take home:

·        The body burns either sugar (A.K.A. carbohydrate) or fat for fuel.

·        If sugar is available the body won’t burn fat. It is better to burn the sugar when available because it can’t be stored.

·        You must limit the availability of sugar to get the body to dip into stored fat for fuel.

A low carb diet may not be for everybody, especially those who don’t like meat. But if you have tried other diets and are looking for a new diet to try, the low carb approach just might be the ticket.

40/30/30 and Zone diets

The term “zone” refers to optimizing the body’s metabolism through a diet containing a certain ratio of protein, carbohydrates (carbs) and fat. To Barry Sears, who coined the term “zone” with respect to diet, this zone can be achieved through a special diet which controls the body’s production of a hormone called insulin.

Much ado about Insulin

Insulin is a very important hormone. It is what allows our cells to take up carbohydrates that we eat. Without insulin we develop diabetes. Diabetes is the condition when there is no insulin (type I) or when the tissues become insensitive to it (type II). As a result blood sugar rises and begins to cause secondary problems, which can be fatal over time.

Insulin is also able to affect the levels of other important chemicals in the body called eicosanoids. Eicosanoids are involved in everything from blood pressure to inflammation. There are few if any tissue in the body that are not responsive to eicosanoids.

Some eicosonoids are bad (increase pain, inflammation, raise blood pressure) and some are good (don’t increase pain, don’t promote inflammation, lower blood pressure). Aspirin for example and other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs work by blocking the production of eicosonoids (NSAIDs) and thereby can reduce pain and inflammation.

Insulin promotes the production of bad eicosanoids. According to Barry Sears, you can lower the production of bad eicosonoids and increase the production of good eicosanoids by following a 40/30/30 eating plan. This means 40% calories from carbohydrate, 30% calories from protein, and 30% calories from fat.

As with the very low-carb diets, lowering insulin also greatly facilitates fat loss. Because carbohydrate intake is relatively low, and always eaten with protein and fat, blood sugar levels do not rise quickly. When blood sugar levels do not rise quickly, insulin stays fairly low and steady. This can increase the ability of a meal to provide a sustained sense of energy and curb hunger. The lower insulin also decreases the tendency of energy to be taken up by fat cells.

Fat ain’t all bad

Finally, the zone diet places great emphasis on eating “good fats”. Just as some amino acids from protein are essential to life, so are some fats.  Fats are important for cell structure, hormone production as well as for energy storage. Certain essential fats called “omega-3” fatty acids have many healthful properties. Diets high in omega-3s have been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and stroke. That’s one fancy fat!

In summary, a diet containing 40% carbs, 30% protein, and 30% fat may have health benefits beyond simple weight reduction, especially if essential fats are included. Plus, with a diet relatively generous in both carbs and fat, fixing appropriate meals is a snap!

Low fat diets

There is probably no diet more common than a “low fat” diet. As dieters embraced it, an entirely new faction of the food industry was invented and has thus far thrived. All our favorite processed foods were soon further processed into “reduced fat” or “fat free” versions. So why all the fuss about fat? It can’t be all that bad…can it?

The cheering section

The pressure to reduce fat intake came from two camps, first the dieticians focused on fat because it is the most calorie dense foodstuff. Second came the heart doctors who realized that certain kinds of fat in the diet were highly associated with the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The two groups together present a very influential argument for Americans to reduce the fat in their diets.

The logic of Low-Fat eating

When trying to lose weight, you must burn more energy than you eat. Burning more energy is easy, just get up and get going. Eating less energy is the hard part. The easiest way to eat less energy is to focus on reducing the foods that have the most energy in them, namely fatty foods.

Fat has 9 calories per gram. Protein and carbohydrate have only 4 calories per gram. Fat is also devoid of fiber making it even easier to eat a lot of it. On the positive side, because fat is so calorie dense (meaning you can fit a lot of fat into a small package) you can cut out a lot of fat without cutting out a lot of food.

Don’t throw out the baby with the bath water

Not all fats are created equally. I think you will be happy to learn that fats have gotten a bad reputation because of the consequences of eating to many “saturated” fats.  Not all fats are saturated and not all fats pose the health problems that saturated fats do.

Fats serve a broader purpose than simply providing texture, taste and calories to your diet.  Just as some amino acids are essential to life, so are some fats.  Fats are important for cell structure, hormone production as well as for energy storage.  There are many problems experienced during states of malnutrition due to the lack of essential fats.

The association between saturated fat intake and cardiovascular disease is well known. Much of this association centers on cholesterol. Saturated fat raises blood cholesterol and LDL levels more than any other element in the diet. Studies have shown that increased saturated fat intake increases LDL (bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL (good cholesterol). (1) Cholesterol and fat, circulating in the blood, build up on the walls of the arteries. The buildup narrows the arteries and can slow or block the flow of blood. When the level of cholesterol in the blood is high, there is a greater chance that it will be deposited onto the artery walls.  Over time this can lead to a narrowing of the arteries and an increased risk of heart attack.

A good high-carb/low-fat diet is one with a wide variety of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low fat meats such as chicken, fish and lean cuts of beef. Stick to it and you will not only see the pounds come off but you will also decrease your risk of heart disease.

In Summary

You can fit virtually any diet into these three categories. You might find some variation as companies try to make their diet “appear” to be completely new, but in general they will still fit into the above categories.

I hope you noticed that I didn’t place any one diet above another. The reason I did this is because each type of diet, when combined with weights, cardio and adhered to consistently, will yield lead to significant weight loss. So the diet you chose really just depends on your preferences.

References:

1: Loktionov A, Scollen S, McKeown N, Bingham SA. Gene-nutrient interactions: dietary behavior associated with high coronary heart disease risk particularly affects serum LDL cholesterol in apolipoprotein E epsilon4-carrying free-living individuals. Br J Nutr. 2000 Dec;84(6):885-890.

Q: Hi, I am going to be starting my first cycle of HST and am wondering if there is a rep cadence [tempo] that works best with HST?

A: Actually there is. Basically, during the 15’s the reps should start out slow and then speed up as you feel the burn begin to kill your strength. After all, the whole point is to flush the muscle with lactic acid.

During the 10’s you should go slower when the weight is light. That way it will still be difficult to complete the set. As the weight gets heavier simply increase the tempo to ensure that you complete the set. BE careful not to get too sloppy though. It will do little good to use momentum to move the weight during the 10s.

The first week of 5’s should be slow on the way down but still pretty explosive on the way up. Then as the weight nears your 5 rep max you will have no real control over how fast you move the weight. It will generally go slow simply because it is so heavy.

During negatives you should lower the weight in about 2 – 2.5 seconds. This may seem too quick to most traditionalists. Research has shown that if you go too slow during negatives you don’t get the same growth stimulus. it begins to resemble the effect of isometrics if you go too slow. This is one reason why the old principle of “time under tension” isn’t so simple as just time. The action of the muscle while under load is very important when trying to produce a specific effect.

How does microtrauma actually happen?

Q: Bryan, you say that one of the main principles of HST is “strain-induced” muscle cell damage. Doesn’t strain come from stretching something beyond its normal limits? How could muscle cells be “strained” when they never are really stretched. Doesn’t a muscle contraction actually shorten a muscle fiber? It doesn’t make sense.

A: You are right when you say that the range of motion of a joint will not allow most muscles to passively stretch far enough to cause stretch/strain microtrauma on muscle cells. However, an actively contracting muscle creates a different environment

Sarcomeres (area of a muscle fiber measured from Z line to Z-line) are hooked together in series at their Z lines. Each individual sarcomere “fatigues” at different rates when they are contracting. When one sarcomere fatigues the others continue to contract (or even go into rigor) and pull on it from each end leading to strain induced disruptions in the phospholipid membrane. These disruptions are actually important because IGF-1 and other growth factors, acting in a paracrine manner, travel to adjacent cells and help with repair, satellite cell activation, and hypertrophy. So growth factors actually ooze out from the cell when the sarcolema gets disrupted (microtrauma).

You could also think of it this way. Get 3 rubber bands, 2 strong ones and 1 weak one. Hook them together with the weak one in the middle, then pull from each end to simulate contraction under load. All the rubber bands will stretch, but the weak one will stretch the most.

Now, this is where Time under Tension comes into play. Once again, think of the rubber bands as sarcomeres. Lets say the weak rubber band starts out strong but “fails” or begins to over-stretch early, even though at first it appears to be just as strong as the other two. Let’s also say that the rubber bands have to stretch a certain distance before the signal for hypertrophy is achieved.

If you quickly pull on the rubber bands with high force, all the bands will stretch sufficiently to achieve the signal for hypertrophy. Of course if you maintain this high force the rubber bands will first fail (fatigue), then stretch (strain) then break (become necrotic and be replaced with fibrous tissue). So if you are going to use high force you have to control the time under tension or you will cause too much damage.

On the other hand, lets say you pull on all the rubber bands with less force. With less force none of the rubber bands will reach a stretch required for hypertrophy at first. However, as you hold the stretch, the weak one begins to fail (fatigue) and then it starts to get stretched as the other stronger rubber bands pull back to their original length. The weak rubber band then achieves the necessary stretch (strain) for hypertrophy but the others don’t.  This is why people have noticed that a certain amount of time under load is required for growth.

So with high loads more fibers reach the required stretch/strain to induce growth in less time. With lighter loads it takes more time under load but it will eventually lead to growth. The absolute size achieved will depend on the absolute load the fibers are exposed to so reach high loads will eventually become necessary to achieve significant hypertrophy.

 Best way to eat for HST

Q: How am I supposed to eat when using HST? I’ve read a lot about diets but I was just wondering if you had any advice.

A: This is a very good question. In reality, nutrition should be optimized for the desired goal, then left alone regardless of the training regimen.

HST principles optimize the training stimulus. Now, if you go on a fat loss diet and eat too few calories, HST will prevent as much muscle loss as possible because it is optimized for muscle growth. If you are trying to gain weight, HST is still optimized for muscle growth, so HST will ensure the greatest possible gains with a mass building diet.

Here is the only thing I would recommend as far as adjusting the diet. The purpose of the 15’s and early 10’s is to flush the tissue with lactic acid and create and accumulation of oxidative by products in the cells. In order to optimize this you must be eating a fair amount of carbs. When you eat a lot of carbs the muscle will burn a lot of glycogen, creating lactic acid and producing the desired effect (enhanced tendon strength and functional oxidative capacity).

When you get into the heavy 5’s and negatives the carbs should come down a bit. Insulin sensitivity declines as muscle damage increases. I would say about 30% carbs during the really heavy weeks is sufficient to support growth.

Within the arena of strength sports, Olympic lifting, powerlifting and bodybuilding are certainly the most recognized. You see the Olympic-style events during the summer Olympics. You see the Worlds Strongest Man competitions on ESPN. If you were at the last Mr. Olympia competition you saw many of the worlds top bodybuilders gathered together all vying for the famed Sandow. Yet have you ever stopped to ponder what psychological exercises are involved in the act of building the bodies strength and size through heavy resistance exercise? Hereafter, I would like to share with you some insight into a principle of the Hypertrophy-Specific Training method I have not shared before. It’s a method of increasing strength and generating peak performance. It consists of Centering, Charging, Grounding, and Discharging (CCGD). It is the mental act of controlled, high intensity, physical exertion.

Centering is the first step in the process of CCGD. Centering is a state in which you draw within yourself mentally. Your attention is turned and focused on your own mind, in a very calm or relaxed way.

Breathing and concentration techniques are often used to center ones self. The breathing method most effective is what is called diaphragmatic breathing or abdominal breathing. It involves allowing the inhaled air to displace the contents of the lower abdominal area instead of the thoracic region. Inhalation during diaphragmatic breathing does not expand the chest. Instead, it pushes your belly out. This is the type of breathing that you will experience automatically when you are already in a deeply relaxed state. In order to purposely center yourself you will intentionally do some of this “abdominal breathing” for a period of time sufficient to relax you and allow you to become centered.

Centering should not be confused with simple relaxation. Although it is to the advantage of the athlete to be centered, too deep of a relaxed state can lead to feelings of lethargy. Instead of lethargy, becoming centered is about concentration. Concentration means to direct ones attention on a single point. Concentration should be focused internally while working towards centeredness. It is important to reach a state of concentration that eliminates all unnecessary external distracters. This is why focusing on ones breathing, for example, is so effective at achieving both relaxation and a sense of centeredness.

It is important to maintain your concentration in such a way that you are only selectively aware of your surroundings. Selective in such a way that you can perform optimally either during a competition, when you need to be aware of the starting guns, judges or the scheduled lifting order, or in a gym where you should be aware of your coach or training partner. It is important that while being centered you are able to interact normally with others when necessary. This may sound like an unnecessary precaution, yet many times you can see someone that looks as if he is on some kind of rampage and is totally oblivious to his social responsibilities (other people) training in a public gym.

Charging is the second step in CCGD. Charging is the process of increasing physiological activation (i.e. arousal) while remaining centered. Charging is obviously an integral part of CCGD. Without charging the athlete would be left trying to achieve high intensity exertion while still in a state of relative calm and relaxation. The Yerkes-Dodson law tells us that without sufficient charging, you would not be in an optimal state for performing, competing or training.

As with centering, breathing plays an important role in charging. Thoracic or costal breathing is the type of breathing that will allow the athlete to charge effectively. In thoracic breathing, the external intercostals muscles and several synergistic muscles actually force an expansion of the rib cage while the belly is sucked in. In thoracic breathing, the chest works like a bellows, sucking air in and forcing it out.

Thoracic breathing is natural during periods of high physical exertion or stress. This being the case, thoracic breathing can act as a signal to the rest of the body to prepare for exertion and/or stress. Usually three or four rapid thoracic breaths are all that is necessary to charge. Too many of these breaths performed in rapid succession can lead to hyperventilation so don’t overdo it. The point is simply to trigger the fight-or-flight response.

To facilitate the charging phase of CCGD, many athletes have successfully used a technique known as “anchoring”. A classic example of anchoring is Pavlov and his dog. Pavlov, an early psychological researcher, borrowed his neighbor’s dog. Every time he got ready to feed the dog, Pavlov would show him food and then ring a bell. The dog would salivate and then Pavlov would give him the food. He did this same procedure over and over until the dog linked the sound of the bell to being fed. So eventually, all Pavlov had to do was ring the bell and the dog would salivate. He even went so far as to put a tube through the dog’s cheek to measure the amount of saliva that the dog produced before and after the conditioning period. He found that there was no difference in the amount of saliva the doge produced either in response to actually seeing and smelling the food in front of him, or later, in response to hearing the bell alone. The dog had anchored the sound of the bell to being fed.

To develop an anchor, you first have to achieve the desired state. In Pavlov’s case this was a salivating dog. This desired state should be one that was or is experienced during peak performance. To do this you must either visualize a period of peak performance that you have recently experienced, or you have to go out and make one happen. Once you have done this, continue visualize and “re-live” that peak state several times a day. Stand exactly how you were standing, breath exactly how you were breathing, and try to see and feel exactly what you felt during that specific peak experience. This may take some practice. Over time the visualization will become more vivid and physiologically effective, meaning you will feel your body begin to respond to the visualization.

Before you attempt to gain this charged state through anchoring, you should pre-plan a unique and specific anchor. An example might be a certain motion like rubbing your hands together in a unique way, or moving the arms in a stretching motion as if to loosen them up, or even something as simple as stomping your foot on the floor. It should just be a simple and unique movement that you would not normally do. Some people, rather than relying solely on a certain act or motion, rely on other stimuli like music. Generally this is some sort of aggressive music like “real” heavy metal, or even something from today’s rap/hip-hop/metal blends. Whatever does the trick is fine.

Now, while experiencing or visualizing your peak performance, perform your unique movement. It is important to perform your movement right when you are at your peak state or feeling. Over time you will begin to connect the peak state with your movement. The more intense the experience, the faster the anchor will be established.

Developing an anchor takes practice and some experience with peak performance. Ideally you should perform your anchor just prior to peak performances. You can continue to make your anchor stronger and more effective as time passes, by reinforcing the anchor during all future peak performances. This is done by repeating your movement when you achieve a new 1RM, or when you do well in a competition, or even when you just feel at your biggest and strongest during a particular workout.

In summary there are four keys to developing an anchor:

1. You must be able to put yourself in the peak state for the experience you wish to anchor.
2. Anchors require repeated conditioning.
3. The movement (or song) you choose as your anchoring stimulus must not be one that you perform commonly. Or in the case of music, it shouldn’t be a song you listen to during other activities.
4. You must be able to replicate the peak state by firing the anchor.

The next phase of CCGD is called Grounding. Grounding is fairly self-explanatory. It simply means to establish a foundation through contact with the physical ground. Do not be mislead by the simplicity of the precept. Without proper grounding, the final phase of CCGD known as Discharging, cannot occur optimally.

In the standing position, grounding is through the legs and feet. In other positions it is through whatever body part that is acting as your foundation, for example your feet, upper back and buttocks while bench pressing.

In addition to the primary grounding that involves the contact boundary and the physical ground, there can be secondary grounding through the eyes. Looking intently at a stationary object anchors one in and to their environment. An example of this is when a ballet dancer will visually ground him or herself while performing a pirouette. This adds additional stability in an intentionally unstable position.

The final phase of CCGD is Discharging. Once the athlete is Centered, Charged, and Grounded, what remains is to discharge the energy. The discharge is controlled by virtue of the lifter’s centeredness and grounding. Its force is a reflection of the lifter’s muscular strength and level of charge.

Being centered at the time of discharging means being at one with the task. No distractions. No ambivalence. No hesitation. No holding back. The discharge is the explosion of one’s commitment to the task. So, upon discharge, one puts every bit of available energy into the lift with a precise and narrow focus on energy.

In summary, the process of CCGD is as follows:

1. Centering through slow abdominal breathing, relaxing the muscles, and the use of imagery to focus the attention on the inner self. All mental chatter and negative messages must be removed from the mind.
2. Charging through fast thoracic breathing and the use of anchors.
3. Grounding through a heightened awareness of the body’s contact with the physical ground. A visual anchor may also be beneficial.
4. Discharging by focusing the rapid release of all charged energy towards accomplishment of the lift.

The lifter is a living energy system that requires control not only of the muscle but also of the mind. I hope this brief look into this HST principle gave you some new insight, information and tools to break new ground and achieve your goals.

References:

Garver, R.B., (1977). The enhancement of human performance with hypnosis through neuromotor facilitation and control of arousal level. American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis, 19, 177-181.

Johnson, W.R., (1961) Hypnosis and muscular performance. Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness, 1, 71-79.

Smith, E., (1985) The Body in Psychotherapy. Jefferson, N.C., McFarland.

Smith E., (1989) Not Just Pumping Iron; On the Psychology of Lifting Weights. Springfield IL, Charles C. Thomas.

Horine R., Costa L., Serious Growth; A new Strategy For Bodybuilding. Copyright 1991. Optimum Training Systems.

Mr. Haycock,

If you have even read this far, I would like to thank you in advance for your time. I came across your program on your thinkmuscle site. Unlike most programs yours has some solid, current research behind it. I was hoping you could answer just a few questions; although I realize you may be inundated with queries from others. I currently use a HIT routine in which the body is trained with a three way split; with each bodypart being trained once every 14 days or so on average. Believe it or not, progress is being made on such a program, but it is glacially slow.

I too faithfully used a HIT “type” training method for at least two years. I am not surprised at all that you make progress. I did too. It was also very slow for me.

One of the tenets of HIT is that light and medium days are eliminated in favor of complete rest and training only the maximal days. The theory is that they are a drain on recovery ability yet do not stimulate growth effectively.

The theory of “recovery ability” based on energies of some sort is incorrect due to a lack of facts. It is much more mechanical than that. Keep in mind that I investigated HIT and Mentzer’s ideas with close scrutiny (just as I’m sure you have) before I changed my training to align with his theories. The problem is that Mike M’s theories are based on “stress”, not the mechanical stimulus of overload.

HIT, based largely on Mike Mentzer’s and Arthur Jones’s ideas, is founded on “Selye’s General Adaptation Model”. It is a good model however it is based largely on psychological and environmental stress. Admittedly, physical stress response is very similar, and arguably intertwined with psychological stress. When working on my psych degree we spent a lot of time discussing this model and how it relates to physiology (cortisol, catecholamines, cancer etc.).

Anyway, “overtraining” is a neurological phenomenon, not a muscular phenomenon. I believe I touched on this briefly in the “Advanced Training Planning” series of articles (http://www.thinkmuscle.com/beta/articles/haycock/training-01.htm ). The muscle tissue itself will continue to recover even if the same mechanical stress is applied to it within 48 hours (T.C. Chen, Taipei Physical Education College, and S.S. Hsieh, FACSM,. The effects of a seven-day repeated eccentric training on recovery from muscle damage. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp. S71, 1999). Studies where overtraining was intentionally induced indicate that although “voluntary strength” decreases with “overtraining”, involuntary strength does not. Involuntary strength is measured by stimulating the muscle with electrodes. This enables researchers to see if the muscle itself is able to generate force, or if the problem lies in the central nervous system (the electrodes bypass the CNS).

Why would progress be greater training at submaximal levels and only one peak day per two week cycle?

Understand that it is not necessary to train at 100% voluntary strength levels to stimulate “growth”. This is one fundamental difference between Hypertrophy-Specific Training (HST) and HIT. HST is designed only to stimulate growth. Strength of course will increase as well during HST training but this is not the primary goal of the method. It isn’t necessary to push against a weight that won’t move (due to load or fatigue) to induce the necessary strain to muscle that leads to growth.

After years of training I realized that I would never get any bigger training the way I was unless I could get stronger, but I couldn’t get any stronger until I got bigger. I had to discover a way to get bigger without getting stronger first. The HST method allows a person to get bigger before they get stronger. Accomplishing this is dependent on frequent loading (hitting same muscle at least 3 times per week), rapid progression in loading (mandatory increase in weight every workout), and Strategic Deconditioning (a week or so completely off to allow the muscle to become vulnerable to the training stimulus). HIT training takes this “deconditioning” too far. They think the muscle is “recovering” when it is actually past recovery and beginning to decondition thus allowing the stimulus to work the next time the muscle is trained. Unfortunately, the rate of growth is greatly dependent on the frequency of the stimulus. So with HST you hit a muscle at least 3 times as often as with HIT, and growth is greatly accelerated.

One other very important thing to realize is that this routine does not use “heavy” and “light” days. It is all a continuous process. The weight is constantly increasing from the very first workout. The “high rep” training is only there to prepare joints and tendons for future heavy loading. Flushing tissue with lactate stimulates angiogenesis and stimulates tendon growth. (Hunt TK, Hussain MZ. Can wound healing be a paradigm for tissue repair? Med Sci Sports Exerc. 1994 Jun;26(6):755-8.) The 15s are designed simply to flush all tissues and joints (as far as possible) with lactate to encourage angeogenesis for blood flow and tendon growth to better endure subsequent heavy loads (e.g. 5s and negatives)

Why not train one maximal day only, then utilize “complete rest” thus preserving adaptive energies?

There is no need to preserve “adaptive energies”. This is a false notion. These adaptive energies are, in reality, the ability of the CNS to recover voluntary strength. Early “thinkers” noticed the effect of stress on health and compared that to the effects of heavy resistance exercise on strength and came to the conclusion that there was some pool of “adaptive energies” that was limited. Use it all up and you can’t recover. What they had not realized was that there are fundamental differences between mechanical loading and Selye’s stress model. This caused them to confuse the limitations of the CNS with the resilience of muscle tissue.

Muscle tissue, as indicated earlier, has been shown to recover amidst continued loading. Take for example “synergistic ablation” studies. In these studies the gastrocnemius of an animal is cut so that the standing load is placed almost entirely on the soleus. In these studies the animal’s soleus is subject to a dramatic increase in load during every waking hour. There is no “rest between sets or workouts” or any kind of sets or workouts for that matter. There is no time off to allow “adaptive energies” to do their magic. Nevertheless, the soleus will double in size and weight within days. The muscle literally grows and adapts to the new “environment” while being continually loaded. Now I’m not suggesting that people have this done to get their stubborn calves to grow, but it does illustrate an important point. That is, that the muscle can adapt while it is being loaded, or trained. The tissue does not necessarily need time off. The central nervous system, on the other hand, does need time off. The amount of time off it needs depends on how much “fatigue” was induced.

And also, perhaps more importantly, is the issue of central nervous system fatigue. I cannot perform a whole body workout even with one set or so per muscle (8-10) without being drained for days afterward. I know there are many lifters others like this. Splitting the workout up into two sessions in the same day doesn’t help and there is a limit to the number of movements you can eliminate before it is no longer whole body. Any ideas?

Your body has adapted to HIT style training. HST is quite different in its physical demands. You will adapt to HST quite quickly if you follow the method closely. It will take about 2 weeks to adapt. I have been watching closely at least 10 people using HST training. Some are doing it natural others are using “assistance”. Every person has complained of the 15s “kicking their butt”. It burns too much or they feel “fried”. Then, when they get to the 10s 2 weeks later they are singing my praises.:) Even if they don’t understand why they are doing them they will benefit from it later. Whole body workouts are demanding, especially when reps are high. Keeping the over all volume in check will be your key to success.

You know, the funny thing is that this training program has come almost full circle to the ‘old timer’ routines that trained the entire body three times weekly with one set or so per muscle. Of course, the cycling is of a modern flavor as well the research behind it, but I thought interesting. That was not meant as an insult, but an observation.

That is not insulting. I am well aware of earlier theories about training the entire body each workout. They were still grasping in the dark though. They didn’t have the research that we have to day to refine the method. Nor did they understand how muscle grows on a molecular level in response to mechanical loading, so they couldn’t make precise decisions about putting it all together.

Years ago, I utilized a 3x weekly whole body workout (one set per exercise) and experienced rapid progress but always ended up overtrained or injured. The concept of cycling didn’t occur to me. It was all out training every workout. I eventually got caught up in the muscle magazine hype routines until about 3 or 4 years ago when I started using HIT. All this began over 20 years ago.

Same here. I followed the magazine hype and did their split routines for years. I made pretty good progress but eventually ended up busting my butt day after day in the gym just to stay the same. “Chest shoulders tris, back bis, legs” was basically my routine for many years.

As a side note, you and I are the same age and have been training for about the same length of time. The only thing I really have to show for my efforts are injuries in just about anything that bends (which is a concern on this program). You know, for both of us, the next several years will likely be our last productive training period ever. After that looms 35 and the big 40 (hello sarcopenia!).

Don’t be so sure! Give HST a try before looking towards retirement. The method of training will impact one’s ability to continue to grow. New research on satellite cell activity in response to resistance exercise sheds light not only on the effects of aging on ones ability to adapt to exercise, but also on the best way to train to get the most progress out of resistance exercise.

At the risk of sounding corny, the kids today are very fortunate. The science of diet, supps, and training are light years ahead of even 10 years ago (hell, even 5 years ago).

Very very true. Hopefully ThinkMuscle can continue to be a source for people to become exposed to this new science, and provide information for people to discuss (and perhaps debate) in their own circle of friends and colleagues.

Though I have yet to start your program, I’d like to thank you for what may be my best chance of achieving my goals as an injury laden drug free lifter. Thank you.

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Every opinion is welcome…

Are you retarded?! I’ve been bodybuilding for ten years and have never ever heard anyone say something as stupid as working the same bodypart out three times a week. And who wants to train at low intensity? You go in a weight room to train hard for less than an hour then you get sufficient rest and nutrition to make the body grow before hitting the bodypart again in no less than a week. Everybody knows that.

It really pisses me off that you publish something so contradictory to what everyone else thinks. Who uses your system? Where are the results? I don’t get it. Nobody with a body that makes heads turn implements your strategy, guaranteed, so what do you have to say to that?

Well, I’m not really sure what to say. I could be wrong but “Thank you” just doesn’t seem appropriate. I guess the best thing to do is let others who have used the HST method speak for me:

“I am thoroughly impressed with this workout. I have lifted off and on for all of my life and have never had significant gains until now. If you remember me I am the 6′ 165 lb. surfer with bad shoulder ligs. I have lost the inch off of my waist I wanted to and gained 5lbs.! That is allot for me because I have been trying to gain muscle mass since high school in the 80’s and have never looked so good, and only one cycle! I am amazed.”

“I am a 36 year old male that has worked out on and off for many years with marginal results. I am very pleased to tell you that I have been following your Hypertrophy Specific Training for 6 weeks now and have gained close to 18 pounds of mostly muscle and my strength has gone through the roof, I was benching maybe 180lbs and now am up to 240+. Once again I thank you for this fantastic routine and plan to continue using it with continued success.”

“The HST workouts have been extremely productive. I look pretty good, after having traveled so far in just a short period of time.”

“My strength is up dramatically…My weight is now 202lbs, and I’m pleased to say that my waist size decreased dramatically and I have an outline of abs beginning to appear. This tells me that I must have put on a substantial amount of lean mass while dropping a lot of fat.”

These are just a few comments from people who are using HST. If anyone has doubts about the correctness of HST, all they have to do is honestly apply its principles to their training. The effectiveness of the methods will then become apparent and progress will ensue where none had before. The world of science, and more pertinently physiology, is full of truths, I’m speaking of universal truths, meaning they can be universally applied. It does nothing but impede progress when people simply use the consensus of the masses, or even the opposite stance of individuality, as an excuse to reject principles of truth.

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What does “5s/negatives” mean?

I read your hypertrophy program but I am confused about the rep count “5s/negatives”. What does that mean? Do five negative reps?

Hi Ken,

“5s/negatives” means for that for the 5s/negatives 2 week block use your 5 repetition maximum for all your exercises that you can’t do in an “eccentric-only” fashion. Eccentric lifts, or sometimes called “negatives”, are when you use more weight than you can lift. Eccentric reps should be done in a controlled fashion.

If you train alone, there are many exercises you can’t do negatives on simply because you would need a partner to help you lift the weight first. If you do train alone I would suggest that you just continue using your 5 rep max for each exercise for an additional 2 weeks after finishing the first 2 week block of 5s. You should see good results using your 5 rep max for an additional 2 weeks.

Two things generally are required to get lean enough to compete in bodybuilding or fitness. One, you must cut your calories, and two, you must increase your cardio. Now there are some who might argue that you don’t have to do both but I have seldom seen someone really ripped who doesn’t use both.

The biggest mistake I see with both novice and experienced competitors is the introduction of both high volume cardio and very low calories at the same time. In essence, they go from off season mass building to marathon running semi-starvation virtually overnight. This creates a tremendous burden on the system. This burden ultimately leads to significant losses of both size and strength.

Understand that endurance training creates a catabolic environment only when calories are insufficient. When sufficient calories and protein are consumed, the body responds in an anabolic manner to moderate endurance training. This anabolism serves to enhance the body’s ability to perform such exercise in the future. If a person were to go from no exercise, to a lot of exercise all at once, there is a 12-14 day period of adaptation during which nitrogen balance is negative. With sufficient protein, this negative nitrogen balance does not necessarily lead to a net loss of muscle protein.

When you go on a diet, there is an obligatory loss of lean as well as fat tissue (under normal conditions). Increasing protein intake will help to reduce the amount of muscle loss, but it will not prevent it.

Combining both high volume endurance exercise with caloric restriction leads to rapids decreases in bodyweight, but it also leads to rapid losses of muscle tissue and often puts undue stress on the immune system.

The solution? You’ll have to find that out for yourself…just kidding. The solution is to begin your cardio before you begin your diet. In fact, to optimize the amount of food you can eat and still lose fat you must ramp up your cardio and increase your caloric intake at the same time to prevent any drop in bodyweight for the first two weeks as least. This way you will be eating a lot of food just to maintain bodyweight. This makes the body much more sensitive to reductions in calories/carbs.

If you’ve left yourself plenty of time to get ready for this future photo shoot or event, take about 4-6 weeks to slowly increase you calories until your bodyweight stabilizes at a higher weight. This generally happens after a 5-8 pound gain. You may feel fat doing this but it is all preparatory to “better dieting”. So once your bodyweight has stabilized at a higher point, slowly introduce your cardio. Be careful not to let your bodyweight drop during this 2-4 week period. Try to consume lots of carbs and lean protein to maintain weight. Guys can get away with a slight increase in fat intake as well. Remember, we are not trying to get fat, only to maintain bodyweight and muscle while introducing cardio into our training.

Once you’re doing as much cardio as you are ever going to do during your diet, slowly begin to reduce the amount of carbohydrates in the diet. If you’ve done it right, you will be consuming tons of carbs before you even begin to diet. All of this allows you to play with your carb intake at a much higher level than you could if you had cut them right at the beginning. I have also seen that people will lose fat consuming many more carbs than usual when taking this approach.

Overall, shoot for about a pound of weight loss per week. This may seem slow, but if you’ve followed these instructions, the diet is much easier to stick to because you are consuming many more calories during the diet.

Some of the things I we have tried are manipulating the ratio of macronutrients in the diet. At best, a low fat diet works for weight loss in the obese, whereas lowering carbs has a tremendous advantage in women who are relatively lean already (by lean I mean 18% or so). Even so, stubborn lower body fat will still plague the female low-carb dieter. Yohimbine, an alpha-2 antagonist, has also failed to produce the desired results. Think of alpha-2 receptors as a “brake” for fat cells. Women have a greater proportion of alpha-2 receptors on their lower body fat than men. This, in large part, gives rise to the typical gynoid, or “pear shaped”, fat patterning common in women. It was thought that if you could block the brake with yohimbine you could increase lower body fat loss during a diet. In the end, yohimbine has fallen far short of expectations. Even yohimbine creams have not worked.

So why is it that the fat on a woman’s hips and thighs is so slow to respond to tried and true fat loss techniques? Well, research has demonstrated measurable differences in the lower body fat of men women. For ease in reading I’ll put this in bullet point format:

1. Fat release at rest and before eating (called basal lipolysis) is greater from upper body subcutaneous fat than from lower body fat. This is true for both men and women. Though this does not explain the differences between men and women it does help to know that lower body fat is simply less active.
2. Beta-agonists (e.g. adrenalin, ephedrine, caffeine) do not increase lower body fat breakdown in women, but they do in men. Ouch! This effect may be due to the prevalence of alpha-2 receptors in women’s lower body fat. Once again, we see that what works for the goose will not always work for the gander.
3. There is no gender difference in lower body fat breakdown between men and women during exercise.
4. Estrogen plays a significant role in protecting and ensuring the accumulation of lower body fat in women.

I have tried to use this information with my clients to help them as best I can to get rid of stubborn lower body fat. For example, using ephedrine and caffeine will not necessarily get rid of lower body fat faster than without it. However, insulin seems to make alpha-2 receptors more sensitive so lowering carbs in a strategic fashion can greatly improve results in the lower body. Birth control pills may also be a factor due to their estrogen content. If a female client is trying to get ready for a show and is using birth control pills, I may suggest she use an alternate form of birth control until after the show. This of course is said only by way of suggestion.

In the end, what ultimately must happen, is that the upper body fat stores must be depleted before the lower body really becomes active. Unfortunately, most women compete just as there upper bodies are ripped but their lower bodies have only begun to lean up. If they would go on an additional 6 weeks, their lower bodies would be ready.

Also, beware of trainers/coaches who have only trained men. There are a lot of things they may not know about or take into consideration when training a women. Some of these things could really make a difference in a woman’s success at getting the body she wants.

There are a few other tricks of the trade, but if I told you all of them nobody would need me anymore…can’t have that now can we.

Training after Strategic Deconditioning results in much more rapid gains in size and strength. This phenomena lead to the idea of “muscle memory”. When done properly not only do you quickly regain previously attained size and strength but you will put on new muscle and reach new levels of strength beyond your previous plateau.

So what is “Strategic Deconditioning”?

What does strategic deconditioning mean and how do we apply it to continue growing? Strategic deconditioning is simply a period of time free from training which is long enough to allow a reversal of some of the acute adaptations in muscle tissue, referring specifically to the repeated bout effect. This usually requires 9 – 12 days strait with no training. The term strategic is used because this 9 – 12 day period is not chosen at random or whenever you begin to feel “burned out” or even simply lose interest. It is done every 6-8 weeks depending on whether you finish your cycle with 5 rep work or with eccentric work respectively.

Don’t confuse deconditioning with recuperation. Recuperation denotes a restoration or re-building of the tissue. This is what your average personal trainer commonly advocates. He or she will tell you, “Give the muscle plenty of time to rest before you train it again.” This pattern of training will not only produce slower gains but you will inevitably plateau more quickly, albeit a fully recuperated plateau. Your muscles will be fully recuperated within the first 7 days of the deconditioning period. At 7 days you will also still retain most of the repeated bout effects. Additional down time is required to allow the muscle to lower it’s defenses. 9-12 days is just long enough to allow deconditioning, but to prevent undue muscle atrophy.

Equally important as the deconditioning period is what you do during the 6-8 weeks of training. Standard practice is to split up your body into muscle groups and train each one separately or in groups on different days. This usually means training a given muscle once or maybe twice per week. If you were to train this way during the 6-8 weeks before your Strategic Deconditioning period you would be sorely disappointed in the result. This would only provide three workouts every 5 weeks, certainly insufficient to produce a growth promoting environment. Instead of traditional training practices you must use HST techniques to create a consistant environment that the muscle must adapt to by growing larger and stronger.

During the 6-8 weeks of training you will do full body workouts utilizing only 1-2 compound exercises per muscle group as outlined in HST. For example, for legs you will do either squats (or leg press) and leg curls. For chest you will do incline bench and weighted dips. For back do wide grip bent over rows and close grip weighted chins or pull downs. Pick one or two shoulder exercises that hit your weakest area and one exercise for biceps and one for triceps. You may alternate exercises for each muscle group from workout to workout. By alternating exercises from workout to workout you can utilize more exercises over the course of the week. This isn’t necessary f r growth, but many people chose to do this with great success.

Each and every workout you should increase the weight you use for each exercise. This means 5-10 pound increments for upper body and 10-20 pound increments for legs. This obviously requires that during the first week you are not using your previous cycle’s max loads. If the Strategic Deconditioning is done properly, you won’t need to. To choose a starting weight for your exercises, go backwards from the weights you finished with at the end of the previous cycle. Allow for 6 increases in weight with the last increase being slightly above the previous cycles finishing weight. Once again, more details can be had by reading the original publication of HST.

It is this practice of frequent loading followed by Strategic Deconditioning that allows a person to reuse submaximal poundages to illicit new muscle growth.

Here are some selected references that might be of interest.

Clarke MS, Feeback DL Mechanical load induces sarcoplasmic wounding and FGF release in differentiated human skeletal muscle cultures. FASEB J. 10(4):502-509 1996

Hakkinen K, Komi PV. EMG changes during strength training and detraining. Med. Sci. Sports Exerc. 15(6):455-460. 1983

Maughan RJ (1984) Relationship between muscle strength and muscle Cross-sectional area. Implications for training. Sports Med. 1(4):263-269

McDonagh MJ, Davies CT. (1984) Adaptive response of mammalian skeletal muscle to exercise with high loads. Eur J Appl Physiol ;52(2):139-155

MacDougall JD, Ward GR, Sale DG, Sutton JR. (1977) Biochemical adaptation of human skeletal muscle to heavy resistance training and immobilization. J Appl Physiol. 43(4): 700-703.

Nosaka K, Clarkson P.M.,(1995) Muscle damage following repeated bouts of high force eccentric exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc., 27(9) pp. 1263-1269

Smith LL., Fuylmer MG., Holbert D., McCammon MR., Houmard JA., Frazer DD., Nsien E., Isreal RG. The impact of repeated bout of eccentric exercise on muscular strength, muscle soreness and creatine kinase. Br J Sp Med 1994; 28(4)

T.C. Chen, Taipei Physical Education College, and S.S. Hsieh, FACSM,. The effects of a seven-day repeated eccentric training on recovery from muscle damage. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp. S71, 1999

Bates GP. The relationship between duration of stimulus per day and the extent of hypertrophy of slow-tonic skeletal muscle in the fowl, Gallus gallus. Comp Biochem Physiol Comp Physiol 1993 Dec;106(4):755-758

McLester JR., Bishop P., & Guilliams M. Comparison of 1 and 3 day per week of equal volume resistance training in experienced subjects. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp.S117 1999

Curto MA., Fisher MM. The effect of single vs. Multiple sets of resistance exercise on strength in trained males. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp.S114, 1999

Ohmori H., Shimegi S., Fujimoto K., Kano Y., Inaki M., Myamaru M., and Katsuta S. The effect of strength training is potentially memorized and reinforced by retraining. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp), pp S327, 1999

Phelan JN, Gonyea WJ. Effect of radiation on satellite cell activity and protein expression in overloaded mammalian skeletal muscle. Anat. Rec. 247:179-188, 1997

Rosenblatt JD, Parry DJ., Gamma irradiation prevents compensatory hypertrophy of overloaded extensor digitorum longus muscle. J. Appl. Physiol. 73:2538-2543, 1992

Rosenblatt JD, Yong D, Parry DJ., Satellite cell activity is required for hypertrophy of overloaded adult rat muscle. Muscle Nerve 17:608-613, 1994

Q. Dear Bryan, I can’t thank you enough for your article on the above mentioned [HST]. I am a 36 year old male that has worked out on and off for many years with marginal results. I am very pleased to tell you that I have been following your Hypertrophy Specific Training for 6 weeks now and have gained close to 18 pounds of mostly muscle and my strength has gone through the roof, I was benching maybe 180lbs and now am up to 240+. Once again I thank you for this fantastic routine and plan to continue using it with continued success.If after another 6-12 weeks on this routine and I want to slim/diet down for the summer months (July – Sept) should I change this routine such as working each body part intensely once a week in order to sculpt or just keep on doing what I have been?Many thanks,John W.

A. Hi John,

First of all, congratulations on the results! Second, it really is my pleasure sharing things I’ve learned over the years, especially the useful stuff.J Now to your question…

Hypertrophy specific training should not be altered according to caloric intake. Although you will notice decrements in performance when calories and/or carbs are very low, the training stimulus will still be optimized when the program is followed as outlined. While calories are high, the program will optimize the anabolic effects of feeding. While dieting, the program will minimize the catabolic effects of starving (i.e.dieting).

Q. Dear Mr. Haycock,I read your article on hypertrophy targeted lifting at ThinkMuscle.com and was immediately interested. I ‘ve been lifting for seven years now using a four day per week routine that targets each body part once per week. I have never tried a complete body routine in an entire workout, nor a weekly routine where a body part is worked 3 times. My goal in weightlifting has always been to gain muscle, but not specifically for the purposes of exhibition. I’m really excited to try your program out, but I feel I need some questions answered before I put it to effective use.If you could answer a few of these questions concerning your program, I’d be grateful.

1. One of my biggest concerns is how to warmup for your program. With reps of 15 this may not be a problem, but what do you recommend the trainee do as he begins lifting with poundages near his 5-10 rep max?

As weights get heavier, do a warm up set or two as you normally would. Pick a weight that is perhaps 50-70% of the weight you will be using. Be careful not to over do it though. The reps should be easy, producing more of an “active stretch” than a strength challenge. You will find that when you train a body part more frequently, it requires less warm up to feel ready to perform. Still, listen to your muscles, and give them the time they need to get ready before you beat the crap out of them.

2. How does the trainee determine his *RM as he cycles through your program getting stronger? (I’ve read your articles at mesomorphosis.com with its different program design and wasn’t quite certain how to work RM determination into the program design at ThinkMuscle.com).

Get all your max lifts recorded BEFORE you begin the program. That means, before you start, you will know your 15 rep max, your 10 rep max, and your 5 rep max. This way you will know exactly how much weight you will use each workout for each exercise for at least the next 6 weeks. Undoubtedly, you will rapidly get stronger, making your previously established max inaccurate. This is NOT important. The next time around, rather than finding your maxes all over again, simply add 5-10 pounds to all your lifts. In other words, go back over your previous cycle and add 5 – 10 pounds to each weight that you recorded before for the next cycle. Keep in mind that training at your absolute max weight is not necessary to grow….trust me.

3. Is this type of program designed to be completed in 60 minutes or less? What kind of rest should I take between sets?

This workout should not take longer than 60 minutes. I can’t really tell you what kind fo rest periods to take because it depends on how much effort you are putting into it. I’m sorry if this sounds vague. Overall, rest periods should be around 1.5-2 minutes. When moving from one body part to the next try to alternate between apposing body parts. This way your chest, shoulders, and tris can rest while you hit your back and bis. After a while you will find your aerobic capacity going up as this closely resembles sort of a power circuit.

4. Your table that begins with the column labeled “Adjustments: 10RM routine” gave no explanation as to its use. How should this tool be used?

This is just a way of making weight increments when finding your maxes. For example, if you are looking for your 10 rep max, and you only get 6 reps, the table indicates you should decrease the weight 10 pounds. This works best for small muscle groups like bis and tris. The table as a whole is not important. I just thought it might help.

5. During the week of 5 Reps w/ negatives, how should the negatives be used? During each day of the two week period on every exercise or only during the second week as you near your 5RM? On each set of each exercise?

Negatives begin AFTER the last 5-rep week. The weight should be approximately your 2-rep max. Yes, negatives should be used on each exercise (where possible) and during each workout of the final two-week cycle calling for negatives. This is where Hypertrophy Specific Training differs from traditional routines. Never fear, if volume is kept low and training frequency kept high, you will experience breakthrough growth.

Thanks for motivating me to try a radically different routine. I’ve always work in different rep schemes to avoid extended periods of lifting at my heaviest. Your writings have pushed me to break out of my routine!Sincerely,Greg M.

No problem Greg, and good luck! Be sure and let us know how it goes!

Knowing exactly when your muscles need to be trained again after the previous workout is difficult to judge with absolute certainty. Recent research in the area of muscle damage and recovery is showing results that may surprise you. Science is now showing us things that may change the way you train forever!

When you lift weights, you cause damage to your muscles. This is often referred to as “microtrauma”. Microtrauma involves the tearing and shearing of delicate protein structures within your muscle cells. This may sound bad but in reality it is necessary for the initiation of growth after your workout.

This microtrauma may be expected to require you to postpone your next workout until your muscles are back to normal. It is this logic that your average personal trainer will use when he/she tells you to wait, sometimes a full week, before training the same body part again. Recent research however is showing us that putting off your next workout until your muscles have “fully recovered” may not be necessary or even desirable! (1,2,3) In a study performed at the University of Alabama (4), two groups of subjects performed the same periodized resistance training routine either once per week or three times per week. The results showed that muscle mass increases were greater in the three workout per week group, compared to the one workout per week group. In addition, the strength increases in this group were on average 40% greater! So what does this mean to you? It means the fear of overtraining, which sometimes verges on paranoia, may be preventing you from getting the most gains you can in the gym.

So science is telling us that training a muscle group approximately every 48 hours may be more effective than training it once or twice per week. If you train your whole body three times per week with your current workout routine it might take several hours to complete. I doubt many of us would have time for that. Does this mean you can’t reap the benefits of more frequent training? Once again, new research provides us with some answers.

In a study performed at Montclair State University (5) researchers investigated the effect of a single set vs. a multiple set routine on increasing upper body strength. They had the subjects perform either one set or three sets of bench press, incline dumbbell press and flat dumbbell flies using ten reps, three times per week for 12 weeks. This kind of study has been done before but this one is particularly valuable because it involved previously “trained” subjects. This is significant because untrained subjects will usually respond positively to virtually any training routine. Just because a training strategy works for beginners doesn’t mean it will work for experienced lifters. These researchers found that doing a single set of each exercise was equally effective as doing three sets of the same movements in increasing the subjects one repetition maximum (1RM) on bench press. The take home message is that you needn’t do more than a single work set to achieve the same relative gains of doing multiple sets. This makes incorporating a whole body workout into your schedule much more feasible.

A sample whole body workout might look like this:

• 10-15 minute warmup on bike or treadmill
• Squats, 1-2 warm up sets and 1 work set of 6-8 reps
• Leg curls, 1 work set of 6-8 reps
• Bench press, 1 warm up and 1 work set of 6-8 reps
• Chins or pull ups, 1 work set 6-8 reps. (Add weight as necessary)
• Dips, 1 work set of 6-8 reps. (Add weight as necessary)
• Seated rows, 1 work set of 6-8 reps
• Lying tricep extensions, 1 work set of 6-8 reps
• Preacher curls, 1 work set of 6-8 reps

You will notice that this type of training relies heavily on compound exercises. This is necessary to keep the number of exercises down. Don’t worry about this however; compound exercises should be the foundation of any muscle/strength building program.

This is just some of the research used to create Hypertrophy Specific Training. If you want to get the most out of your efforts in the gym, you have got to incorporate new knowledge as science uncovers it. The message here is that by reducing the volume of sets per exercise, and by increasing the frequency that you train each muscle group, you may experience new gains you thought previously impossible. Through a little bit of trial and error you should be on your way to the physique you’ve always wanted.

References:

1) Nosaka K, Clarkson P.M. Muscle damage following repeated bouts of high force eccentric exercise. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc., 27(9):1263-1269,1995

2) Smith LL., Fuylmer MG., Holbert D., McCammon MR., Houmard JA., Frazer DD., Nsien E., Isreal RG. The impact of repeated bout of eccentric exercise on muscular strength, muscle soreness and creatine kinase. Br J Sp Med 28(4):267-271, 1994

3) T.C. Chen, Taipei Physical Education College, and S.S. Hsieh, FACSM,. The effects of a seven-day repeated eccentric training on recovery from muscle damage. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp. S71, 1999

4) McLester JR., Bishop P., & Guilliams M. Comparison of 1 and 3 day per week of equal volume resistance training in experienced subjects. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp.S117 1999

5) Curto MA., Fisher MM. The effect of single vs. Multiple sets of resistance exercise on strength in trained males. Med. Sci. Sports Exrc. 31(5 Supp) pp.S114, 1999