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Hypertrophy-Specific Training
Here it is since a few here got interested after I said that my brother gained 7lbs so far on the program I designed for him. :)
I'm not going to get into the details. Perhaps Chinpiece and Hrdgain81 can add what worked for them. It's pretty easy to design something that works as long as you follow the four principles: 1) Mechanical Load Mechanical Load is necessary to induce muscle hypertrophy. This mechanism involves but isn't limited to, MAPk/ERK, satellite cells, growth factors, calcium, and number of other fairly understood factors. It is incorrect to say "we don't know how muscle grows in response to training". The whole point of the HST book is not to discuss HST, but to present the body of research explaining how hypertrophy occurs. Then HST becomes a relatively obvious conclusion if your goal is hypertrophy. 2) Acute vs. Chronic Stimuli In order for the loading to result in significant hypertrophy, the stimulus must be applied with sufficient frequency to create a new "environment", as opposed to seemingly random and acute assaults on the mechanical integrity of the tissue. The downside of taking a week of rest every time you load a muscle is that many of the acute responses to training like increased protein synthesis, prostaglandins, IGF-1 levels, and mRNA levels all return to normal in about 36 hours. So, you spend 2 days growing and half a week in a semi-anticatabolic state returning to normal (some people call this recovery), when research shows us that recovery can take place unabated even if a the muscle is loaded again in 48 hours. So true anabolism from loading only lasts 2 days at best once the load is removed. The rest of the time you are simply balancing nitrogen retention without adding to it. 3) Progressive Load Over time, the tissue adapts and becomes resistant to the damaging effects of mechanical load. This adaptation (resistance to the stimulus) can happen in as little as 48 hours (Repeated Bout Effect or Rapid Training Effect). As this happens, hypertrophy will stop, though neural and metabolic adaptations can and may continue. As opposed to hypertrophy, the foundation for the development of strength is neuromuscular in nature. Increases in strength from resistance exercise have been attributed to several neural adaptations including altered recruitment patterns, rate coding, motor unit synchronization, reflex potentiation, prime mover antagonist activity, and prime mover agonist activity. So, aside from incremental changes in the number of contractile filaments (hypertrophy), voluntary force production (i.e. strength) is largely a matter of "activating" motor units. 4) Strategic Deconditioning At this point, it is necessary to either increase the load (Progressive load), or decrease the degree of conditioning to the load (Strategic Deconditioning). The muscle is sensitive not only to the absolute load, but also to the change in load (up or down). Therefore, you can get a hypertrophic effect from increasing the load from a previous load, even if the absolute load is not maximum, assuming conditioning (resistance to exercise induced micro-damage) is not to extensive. There is a limit to the number of increments you can add to increase the load. You simply reach your maximum voluntary strength eventually. This is why Strategic Deconditioning is required for continued growth once growth has stopped (all things remaining equal). * I think the most important step in order to make something like this [HST] work is #4. This program has you using weight that is far below your max. By SD'ing for a week and a half or whatever, you are deconditioning your muscles enough to where that light weight now becomes harder to lift, and a growth stimulus takes effect. Any other information anyone wants about the specifics can just go find it themselves by clicking here. They also have a helpful calculator that can aid you in planning your weights to be used each day...Or every other day. Any questions about how to use it ask away. I've been there, done that. HST is strictly a mass program. Of course, with hypertrophy comes strength, but that is not the goal. If you like lifting heavy weights day in and day out, then disregard this whole topic. (that's me!) It's not for you. I've personally tried this program in the past, but I used their piss poor example with what looks to me like a thousand different exercises. Trust me, this is not what you want to do. Also, if you cannot bear to be seperated from the gym for a week and a half to two weeks, then forget about trying this. (me again) |
Hey, thanks a ton 0311. This is very similar to what I am doing only with my own personal mods. I have got to say you guys are the most knowlegdable and helpful group I have been able to find, thanks. :D
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HST is divided into 2 week mesocycles at a given rep range. Here's the basic program:
15 reps-2 weeks 10 reps-2 weeks 5 reps- 2 weeks Plus negatives Anyways, the info is on that website to figure out what you'd want to do. Now, the program I made for my brother back home looks like this: 12 rep mesocycle Olympic Squats (low) Incline Dumb. Press Shoulder Press Barbell Rows Pulldowns Calves Week 1: 2 x 12 Week 2: 1 x 12, 1 x 8-12 Everything is 2 sets of 12 reps. Once the weight gets really heavy as you close in on your 12 RM in that second week, you still need to get the first set of 12. The second set if you choose to do it [in the second week] can be anywhere from 8-12. 8 rep mesocycle Olympic Squats Flat Barbell Press Incline Dumb. Press (1 set) Barbell Rows Barbell Shrugs Chins (underhand, shoulder width) OR underhand pulldowns Calves (optional) Reverse Curls Week 3: 2 x 8 Week 4: 1 x 8, 1 x 5-8 -As you can see, I added a few extra lifts since the rep range got lowered. I still do not include any direct arm work since IMO you won't need it. Plus, chins more than work your biceps! Same thing goes for the second week of 8's. For the second set of the exercises, since it's so close to your RM you might not be able to nail both sets of 8. However, doesn't hurt if you try. :cool: On the actual RM day, you can just do 1 set of 8 and move on since you are maxing out. 5 rep mesocycle Olympic Squats Leg Extentions Flat Barbell Press Incline Dumb. Press Barbell Rows Barbell Shrugs (optional) Weighted Pullups Barbell Curls OR Incline Curls Calves Week 5: compound lifts are 3 x 5, supplemental lifts are 2 x 5. Week 6: compound lifts are 2 x 5, drop set of 10 reps. supplemental lifts are 1 x 5. - I put the most exercises for 5's. I prefer all the isolations to come during this time. Like the example says, the first week has all compound lifts set at 3 sets of 5 reps, and the supplemental are 2 sets of 5. Week 6 has compounds at 2 x 5 due to the heavier weight, then a drop set of 10 I always prefer. Supplementals are just a single set of 5. If I was to increase all those sets further, you'd be in the gym forever. My brother so far (all natural) has gained 7 lbs by the middle of the 5's which is superb! Especially when I take into account that his diet leaves much to be desired. Anyways, I have a spreadsheet if anyone's interested in trying it. If you do want to do a plan of your own or something more like what I posted, there are steps you must take before beginning... 1. You need to find your rep maxes for each exercise. I had my brother hit the gym on Monday and find all his 12 rep maxes for each exercise. On Wednesday he found all the 8's, then on Friday he found all the 5 rep maxes. 2. From there, he gave the numbers to me and I inputted them in the final day of each mesocycle....Which is day 6 of each. From there I decided on his increments that he will jump up in weight and reversed planned....All this means is whatever I put in day 6, I equally subtracted either 5-10 lbs for each day working my way down to day 1. 3. Finally, once everything was set in stone, I told him to stay out of the gym and perform minimal cardio for his SD. His SD since he's a big guy used to slinging iron was 2 weeks. For others, it could be sooner or later depending on your level of conditioning. **I edited some of that list to do per range because I wrote the order wrong for the shrugs and rows. Barbell rows should be done before shrugs since they are more important. I also put side laterals for 8's, and high pulls for 5's because high pulls are more explosive and deserve no more IMO reps than 5 [heavy]. Side laterals are more beneficial with a higher rep range. |
2) Acute vs. Chronic Stimuli
One last final thing. Obviously, full body splits are far and away superior to the one muscle per week "supercompensation theory". Here is how they compare and why it's superior:
Quick Example: 1 muscle per week frequency (classic BB'er split) Monday- Chest Flat bench-3x10 Inclines-3x10 Dips-3x10 Tuesday- Back Pulldowns-3x10 Rows-3x10 Pullovers-3x10 Total sets per week: Chest = 9 sets Back = 9 sets HST Full Body (three times per week frequency) Using 8 rep mesocycle example. (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Flat Barbell Press-2x8 Incline Dumb. Press-1x8 Barbell Rows-2x8 Chins-2x8 Total sets per week: Chest = 9 sets Back = 12 sets -Basically, you are getting in the same amount of work sets per week. However, according to Principle #2- Acute vs. Chronic Stimuli , increased protein synthesis, prostaglandins, IGF-1 levels, and mRNA levels all return to normal in about 48-36 hours. This fact is what seperates both examples from one another. With the full body, you are keeping all those growth factors elevated for the entire week. The first example has you only growing for 3 days and maintaining for 4 days. So a very simplified explanation could be that example 1 has 52 growth cycles per year per muscle group whereas example 2 (full body) has 156 growth cycles per year. This explains why a lot of people lean towards frequency to blast out of plateaus, ect. Of course, all this gets thrown out the window once steroids enter in the picture. ;) |
Okay, last thing I'd like to add:
FAQ written by Blade. Full FAQ found Here. So how is HST different from other training programs? This is a very good question and one that deserves to be answered, without simply zealously defending the premise that is being questioned. This makes for a very bad circular argument that can be VERY frustrating for people with skeptical, though honest, questions. First, let's start with what isn't different about HST compared with previous training programs. The length of this list is what has raised this question in the first place, and justifiably so. Let's begin with the "concepts" and then follow with the "methods". Pre-existing Scientific Concepts of Weight Training Found in HST: • Stimulus Leads to Adaptation (cause and effect) • Specific Adaptation to Implied Demands (SAID) or simply "Specificity" • Progressive Resistance • Some relationship between Time and Tension • Diminishing Returns Pre-existing Methods of Weight Training Found in HST: • Traditional Weight Lifting Movements both compound and isolation (squat, bench, curls, etc) • Training the whole body 3 times per week • Altering weight loads used over time • Altering the number of repetitions used over time • Doing eccentric reps (negatives) There has never been a weight training program that did not incorporate or mention most of these Concepts, and at least some of these Methods. Entire books (big books) have been written to explore these concepts and teach these methods. Whenever research was required, like for a textbook, you would find "strength and conditioning" research sited to support the validity of the concepts and virtues of each particular training method. The studies used "strength" and other "performance indicators" as a measure of whether the concept and/or method were valid. This has been perfectly sufficient for nearly everybody including trainers, teachers, professors, coaches and athletes, who have ever lifted a weight. For those who needed more, they simply explored other methods for steadily increasing body mass - I'm referring specifically to hormones. The exploration of the hypertrophic effects of hormones began in the 50s and has continued unabated every since. Today, a competitive bodybuilder considers himself conservative if he only uses 1 gram of Testosterone per week. Lest I digress, we are not including the effects of androgens and other drugs in this discussion. That is a different issue with concepts and methods specific to the pharmacology and endocrinology of hormones and muscle tissue. Now let's consider the concepts and/or principles or beliefs of traditional weight training that HST refutes. These are the concepts that the new research refutes most specifically. Pre-existing Concepts that HST Refutes: • A muscle must be fully recovered before you should train it again. • You should not train a muscle that is sore (DOMS, not injury). • You must never train a muscle on consecutive days. (i.e. train the same muscle everyday) • The concept of "Overtraining" in general as it applies to bodybuilding. • You must train with maximum "intensity" to elicit significant muscle growth. • You should not use eccentric training on a "frequent" basis. • You must change your exercise selection regularly in order to "confuse the muscle" into continued growth. • You must hit a muscle at every angle in order to adequately train it. • Muscle Fatigue is the primary indicator of having triggered the growth signal • You must effectively isolate a muscle in order to train it effectively. • You can train a muscle in such as way as to change its natural shape. Pre-existing Methods and/or practices that HST Refutes: • Training a muscle no more than once or twice per week. • Training less frequently as your "intensity" increases. • Adding weight only when you can complete a certain number of additional reps at that weight. (This is a fundamental difference! • Training to failure every set and/or workout (If you don't how would you know if you can perform additional reps at that weight yet?) • Forced reps • Performing several "obligatory" exercises per body part per workout • Performing multiple exhaustive sets per exercise • Changing exercises to "confuse" the muscle. The above erroneous concepts/beliefs and the methods/practices they engender are the cause of all the confusion and different training programs out their today. Most all of it stems from bodybuilding magazines fabricating these concepts and practices to address their ongoing need for new content each month, and to conceal the use of drugs required to attain the level of mass flaunted by the sponsored models. By limiting your study of muscle growth to these magazines you will be ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. But that is an issue to be addressed elsewhere. Now, there is one traditional concept with its associated methods and practices that often make HST appear to be like previous programs. That is the concept of "periodization". We will only briefly discuss the topic of periodization, as only a brief treatise will be sufficient to show the differences between periodization and HST. For more detailed discussions of periodization you are advised to read "Super Training: Special Strength Training for Sporting Excellence" by Siff & Verkhoshansky, "Special Strength Training" by Verkhoshansky, "Fundamentals of Sport Training" by Matveyev and "Science and Practice of Strength Training" by Zatsiorski. Traditional concepts of periodization are based on methods used to manipulate intensity (i.e. work and/or load), volume and frequency in order to manage CNS fatigue and adaptability in athletes. To date, the art of periodization has entered the mathematical age and significant progress is being made in modeling systems designed to predict CNS fatigue and changes in the individual's fitness level. (1,2,3). Once an individual familiarizes him or herself with the true concept of periodization, they will immediately see the difference between Strategic Deconditioning and Periodization for strength training. For example, here are a few differences between SD and Periodization: • SD is used to decrease fitness level (A.K.A. conditioning). • Periodization is used to increase fitness level. • SD is used to increase the micro trauma associated with training. • Periodization is used to decrease the trauma associated with training. • SD is used to reduce work capacity. • Periodization is used to increase work capacity. • SD is applied irrespective of the need for "rest". • Periodization according to the need for rest. • SD is not based on "peaking" performance. • Periodization's sole purpose is to allow the athlete to peak on a specific date. So, when people ask, "What's different about HST?", tell them plenty! And its those differences that make HST superior to any other bodybuilding training method existing today. |
All I can say is damn....... oh ya and thanks :)
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HST is a great training method. I had very good results with my first HST cycle, and I will eventually do another when the time is right. From my exsperience i will add just a few things to this thread that i found to be helpful.
1. In designing your HST workout, focus mainly on compound movements. this way you get hit as many muscles with each movement as you can. 2. Many of the hst outlines i've seen have up to 15 movements. To me this is overkill, i started with 12, and had dropped 2 by the end of the second week. 3. after your first HST cycle, you may be inclined to substitute for certain weeks. In other words, i found two weeks of 15 reps to be a bit much, and it didnt seem to help with joint elasticity as projected. my next cycle will have one week of 15's, and 3 weeks of 10's. 4. I ran a small ph cycle with my hst cycle. not a bad idea, but hst is geared more toward a natty bodybuilding enviorment. I wont do anymore ph's with HSt. |
My 0311 database is becoming immense... I'm going to need a separate server for all this info.:)
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nice work :)
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I agree Hrdgain. With the first week, it's only compounds, and no direct arm work. The second mesocycle can have some added isolations, and the third can have metabolic stress techniques, ect... This is all coming from the Pimp HST book that's for the advanced reader. I'll try and post the whole book, but it would probably confuse most here. :confused:
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I'm actually outlining my next HST cycle now 0311, I'm going to use it to continue my cutter. I will be cutting down my time between sets to more for a circut training effect. I think it will be benificial to use this on a cutter, mainly because you are not working to failure (and at below main cals, its tough to go all out).
to that end, I may keep the 2 weeks of 15's to facilitate more fat burning, what do you think 0311? I'll post up a spread sheet of what my projected workout will be later today. EDIT: after reading through your spead sheet 0311, i'm simply going to stick to your plan, but I will switch up certain movements. olympic squats to hack squats, ect ect. but for the most part it will be unchanged. |
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yeah i'll have to add some leg curls or something. I dont want my inexsperience with A2G squats hold me back from pushing the wieghts I should be. I think that may hinder my hypertrophy gains.
in the future I will work on A2G's, i hate having a weakness, or a lagging in my training. Thats one weak in the chain that will eventually need to become a strength. |
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Monday: A2G (5x5) same weight Wednesday: A2G front squats (5x5) same weight Friday: A2G (1x5) pyramid to max set It'll take you maybe 15 minutes tops to do this before you begin whatever you're on. I personally found all my subsequent lifts got stronger after doing these first in my routines. Just something to think about. |
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I've been researching on this a bit and Bryan Haycock over at the meso board was saying that a very effective way to increase your 5 RM weeks after you already cannot progressively load any further is to increase the sets. Of course to do this, you'd have to drop an exercise or two, keeping only the best ones. At least this way you'll increase TUL to continue growing. I'd personally rather milk the 5's for all their worth rather than do negatives. Not like I could do them anyways since I always fly solo.
Just posting this as food for thought.... Here's an example: - 2 weeks of the 5 rep mesocycle... - Gained some strength and was able to extend for another week... - Hit your 5 RM for every exercise at the end of that third week.... - Added another set for the major lifts, dumped the minor ones OR at least deducted a set or two.... |
Here's some study's done that show no significant difference in doing 1 set per exercise vs. multiple sets. Whole writeup is found here
"A low volume program, one set of each exercise, results in increases in muscle size and function similar to programs with two to four times as much volume." Hass et. al. (2000) compared the effects of one set verses three sets in experienced recreational weightlifters. Both groups significantly improved muscular fitness and body composition during the 13 week study. Interestingly, no significant differences were found between groups for any of the test variables; including muscular strength, muscular endurance, and body composition. During the 1980s, we conducted a much larger research project comparing the Nautilus principle of single-set strength training with two and three sets of strength exercise (Westcott, Greenberger, & Milius, 1989). The 77 subjects were experienced strength trainees who agreed to participate in a ten-week program of bar dips and chin-ups. All of the subjects were pretested for the maximum number of bar dips and chin-ups they could perform with proper technique. The subjects were divided into three training groups. Group One performed one set of bar dips and chin-ups, Group Two performed two sets of bar dips and chin-ups, and Group Three performed three sets of bar dips and chin-ups, three days per week throughout the study. The only difference between the three training groups was the number of sets performed during each exercise session. The final study by the Pollock group (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Supplement 30(5): S115, 1998) addresses the training experience issue. As you'll recall, some have suggested that experienced trainers might benefit from higher volume. In other words, after you've been training for a while, you need increased volume to continue progressing - more is better. According to this study, those people should think anew. The researchers recruited 40 adults who had been performing one set to muscular fatigue, using nine exercises, for a minimum of one year; average training time was six years. The participants were randomly assigned to either a one-set or three-set group; both groups did 8-12 reps to failure three days per week for 13 weeks. Both groups significantly increased their one-rep maximum strength and endurance. There was no significant difference in the gains made by the two groups in the leg extension, leg curl, bench press, overhead press and arm curl. The researchers concluded: "These data indicate that 1 set of [resistance training] is equally as beneficial as 3 sets in experienced resistance trained adults." Another research group, K.L. Ostrowski and colleagues, tested "the effect of weight training volume on hormonal output and muscular size and function" in experienced trainers. (Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research. 11(3): 148-154, 1997) Thirty-five males, with one to four years weight-training experience, were assigned to one of three training groups: one-set, two-sets, or four sets. All participants did what I would call a periodized routine; they changed the rep range every few weeks. They did free-weight exercises four times a week for ten weeks using 12 reps maximum (week 1-4), 7 reps max (week 5-7) and 9 reps (week 8-10). All sets were performed to muscular fatigue with three minutes rest between sets. The only difference between the three programs was the number of sets. As in the Pollock group studies, no significant differences in results were found. The authors concluded: "...A low volume program ... [one set of each exercise] ... results in increases in muscle size and function similar to programs with two to four times as much volume." |
The researchers found almost identical increases in upper and lower body thickness for both the one-set (13.6%) and three-set (13.12%) groups. Increases in one rep maximum were also essentially the same, for all five exercises, but the principle of specificity asserted itself on one exercise when it came to maximum reps or endurance. Both groups showed significant across-the- board increases in endurance, but the 3-set group showed significantly greater improvement in the bench press. At 25 weeks, the one-set group averaged 22 reps in the bench press compared to 27 for those doing 3-sets.
The third 6-month study by the Pollock group (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Supplement 30(5): S163, 1998) focused on increases in knee-extension strength in three different modes: one-rep max, isometric peak torque and training weight. Again, there was no significant difference between the one-set and three-set groups. One-rep max increased 33.3% and 31.6% for 1 set and 3 sets, respectively; isometric increases were 35.4% versus 32.1%; and training weight increases were 25.6% compared to 14.7% Even though the researchers apparently didn't find it significant, note that the one-set group gained slightly more strength in the first two modes and substantially more in training weight (25.6% versus 14.7%). It seems to me that specificity is at work again. When you do only one set there's nothing to keep you from doing your absolute best; but when you plan to do three sets it's natural to hold back and pace yourself. I believe that's probably why the one-set group gained more strength. They triggered more muscle fibers than the 3-set group, where pacing probably reduced intensity somewhat. The fourth study by the Pollock group (Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise. Supplement 30(5): S274, 1998), also 6 months long, showed significant increases in circulating insulin-like growth factors (IGFs) in both one-set (34%) and three-set (30%) groups |
Hypertrophy Research - Training Frequency
Written by Daniel Moore and Ron Sowers Wednesday, 26 October 2005 Training Frequency Training frequency is a much debated and apparently, variable part of training. Multiple aspects of recovery and adaptation are blended together, such as rest, sleep, mental state, nutrition, age, and immune function. Prescribing a fixed and/or perfect frequency is thus very difficult. What is usually needed is a conditional prescription. i.e. If a person pays close attention to all controllable factors, rest, sleep, diet, etc. a general recommendation can be made. Another point of consideration is optimal vs. workable. It's obvious that more equally productive sessions per time period will result in faster progress. Adjustments in the program may also be considered as a variable. A trainee may choose to alter the intensity and/or duration of training sessions while keeping a fixed frequency, or, they may adjust frequency while keeping a fixed intensity and/or duration. Both sides have 'logical' reasoning for each action. What is superior has not been proven. What science has to say Busso (1) compared training frequencies of 3d vs 5d per week. The conclusions were that 5d per week led to a higher level of fatigue and thus a longer recovery time. Obviously, the subjects were not recovering between sessions. If one is training in a 'single factor' model, the goal is to replicate a 'stimulation -> rest -> recover -> adapt' scenario before a subsequent stimulation is induced. DeMichele (2) Tested rotational torso strength gains between 1d, 2d, and 3d per week subjects. No difference between 2d or 3d per week were found, but both 2d and 3d were superior to 1d per week. Carroll (3) tested strength and MHC gains in the leg muscles for 2d vs. 3d per week training. In this study, results were similar but higher strength gains were seen in the 2d per week subjects. Other work (4) by some of the same researches earlier had shown that 3X week training for 12 weeks increased increased arm girth (5%) and forearm extensor strength (39%), associated with the triceps brachii muscle. Significant changes in hypertrophy have been seen using various training frequencies. Abe (6) used a 3X weekly protocol, Staron (5,7) used 2X weekly both training programs produced significant increases in mass. Hakkinen (8) also used a 3X weekly approach but divided the daily volume into two daily sessions. No systematic changes took place in the cross-sectional area (CSA) of the quadriceps femoris muscle or in maximal voluntary isometric strength of the leg extensor muscles over training period I with one daily sessions. However, a significant (p < 0.05) enlargement in the cross-sectional area of the muscle occurred during period II. Both phases where 3 weeks in length and this could account for not seeing changes in the initial phase simply too short of a duration to see any change but we will discuss this in our “Duration” section. Looking at exercise frequency in older adults, Taafe(9) shows that training more frequently than one time per week had little impact compared to higher frequencies (2 or 3 times per week). Using three sets of eight exercises targeting major muscle groups of the upper and lower body, at 80% of one-repetition maximum (1-RM) for eight repetitions, muscle strength and lean body mass increased in the exercise groups relative to control, with no difference among frequency groups at any measurement interval. Too much, too little too late? One last consideration is recognizing over training. There are two ways the term 'over training' appears to be used. Training more often than optimal, with no ill effect Training more often than optimal, with ill effects (over training syndrome) The latter is usually seen in high caliber athletes, and over a longer period of training time. The common ground being, the former will or could lead to the latter. Many researchers are looking at the over training syndrome and some new light is being shed on it. Smith (10) puts forth a hypothesis that over training compromises immune function, leading to a signaling of the CNS. This signaling generally leaves one feeling lack luster, depressed, or other feelings of malaise. The 'take home' message If one is willing, and/or able, to adjust the factors needed for proper recovery, and are a healthy adult, twice weekly training per muscle or muscle group appears to be the optimal prescription. Superior results have not been found for higher frequencies of stimulation (in longer term situations), but lesser results have been found for lower frequencies. A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link, and results are the final proof of a program. Intelligent trainees will note progress, and adjust factors such as sleep, nutrition, and the like, so that recovery and adaptation may take place at the fastest pace. If a factor is unalterable, and progress cannot be made with an optimal frequency, the trainee must then, decide to either adjust the amount of work or the training frequency (11-13). Daniel Moore and Ron Sowers www.hypertrophy-research.com (1.)Busso, T. Effects of training frequency on the dynamics of performance response to a single training bout. J Appl Physiol. 2002 Feb;92(2):572-80. (2.)DeMichele, PL.Isometric torso rotation strength: effect of training frequency on its development.Arch Phys Med Rehabil. 1997 Jan;78(1):64-9. (3.)Carroll, TJ. Resistance training frequency: strength and myosin heavy chain responses to two and three bouts per week.Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1998 Aug;78(3):270-5. (4.)Jurimae, J. Changes in the myosin heavy chain isoform profile of the triceps brachii muscle following 12 weeks of resistance training.Eur J Appl Physiol Occup Physiol. 1996;74(3):287-92. (5.)STARON, R. S., Skeletalmuscle adaptations during early phase of heavy-resistance training in men and women. J. Appl. Physiol. 76:1247–1255, 1994. (6.) ABE, T. Whole body muscle hypertrophy from resistance training: distribution and total mass Br J Sports Med 2003;37:543-545 (7.)STARON, R. S. Muscle hypertrophy and fast fiber type conversions in heavy resistance-trained women. Eur.J. Appl. Physiol. 60:71–79, 1989. (8.) H¨AKKINEN, K. Distribution of strength training volume into one or two daily sessions and neuromuscular adaptations in female athletes. Electromyogr. Clin. Neurophysiol.34:117–124, 1994. (9.)Taafe, D. Once-weekly resistance exercise improves muscle strength and neuromuscular performance in older adults.J Am Geriatr Soc. 1999 Oct;47(10):1208-14. (10.)SMITH, L. L. Cytokine hypothesis of overtraining: a physiological adaptation to excessive stress? Med. Sci. Sports Exerc., Vol. 32, No. 2, pp. 317-331, 2000 (11.)Cronin, J. Training volume and strength and power development. J Sci Med Sport. 2004 Jun;7(2):144-55. (12.) American College of Sports Medicine position stand. Progression models in resistance training for healthy adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2002 Feb;34(2):364-80. Review. (13.)Halson, SL. Does overtraining exist? An analysis of overreaching and overtraining research. Sports Med. 2004;34(14):967-81. Review. |
I'm posting this to show that, yes, some pro's do HST training.. Here's a quote from Blade over at the HST board...The guys name is Boris Kleine. There's a pic of him as well as the full thread about this found here: Boris Kleine
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The following posts have been made by Honeypeck32:
Beginner Mass Building Programs Exercises : Squat Stiff-legged Deadlift Bench Press Bent Row Military Press (seated) EZ Bar Curl Lying Triceps Extension Standing Calf Raise (on board) Sets : 1x15, 2x10, 3x5, 2 weeks of 5RMs Ideology Explained : This is a very bread and butter HST routine, and is perfect for any beginner. There's not too much to explain here, you learned everything you need to know in the first two articles. You'll be doing 1 set for the 15s block, 2 sets for the 10s block, and 3 sets for the 5s block. You'll also do 3 sets for the two weeks of 5 rep maxes. Now for exercise explanations : Squat - the king of all exercises, you need to squat. Squats will hit all parts of your legs, as well as stimulate growth throughout your entire body. Stiff-legged Deadlift - stiff-legged deadlifts make a perfect combo with squats. You get more emphasis on the hamstrings, as well as your back, whereas the squats will hit your quads and glutes more. Bench Press - the bench press is known by some as the king of upper body exercises. You'll be hitting your chest, shoulders, and shoulders mainly. The bench press is a great starter exercise for anyone. Bent Row - this is a great exercise for your lats, as well as your biceps. This is another compound exercise, which work very well for beginners and advanced lifters as well. Military Press - the best overall shoulder builder. MPs are another great lift for upper body power and size. You'll be doing them seated to place more emphasis on form, rather than using body momentum to do the lift. EZ Bar Curl - I like using the EZ bar because it is easier on the wrists. Plain 'ol curls (combined with rows) are all that your biceps need to stretch the sleeves. Lying Triceps Extension - a great exercise for triceps mass. I like doing these with an EZ bar also, because of the less stress on the wrists. Standing Calf Raise - great overall calf mass builder. Do them on a board for added stretch. And there you have it. Don't turn down this program just because it looks simple, IT WORKS! Just because a program isn't super complex doesn't mean that you won't gain well off of it. Sometimes, simpler is better. |
Intermediate Mass Building Programs
Exercises : Squat Stiff-legged Deadlift Incline DB Press Parallel Bar Dip Bent Row Military Press Partial Curl (bottom to halfway up) Lying Triceps Extension Standing Calf Raise (on board) Sets : 2x10, 2x5, 4 weeks of 5RMs/clusters (10 rep total) Special methods used : Cluster reps Strength test days Metabolic fatigue sets Ideology Explained : Now we're kicking it up a notch, and adding in some new methods. This program is good for those who have done a couple cycles of HST, and are ready to try something new and different. The explanations can be a bit tricky, but you should be able to understand what I'm saying. The first four weeks are just standard HST, no problems there. You have your two weeks of 10s, and 2 weeks of 5s. The 5RM period is going to be extended, and we're going to be clustering for the most part. A cluster set is a set in which you take a pre-determined amount of reps, and do small 1-3 rep "clusters" to build up to the desired amount of reps. In this case, you're going to be working up to a total of 10 reps. Once you hit your 10 reps, you're done with that exercise. As for rest in between sets, take as long as you need before you feel ready for the next set. Don't rush this, take as much time as you need. Why do clusters? You'll be able to hit the desired amount of reps with your 5 rep max, but you'll be minimizing CNS fatigue, which can lead to overtraining. A strength test day is just another word for a 5RM day, and it will determine what weight you use next for your cluster workouts. After you have built up to your 5RM (end of week 4), you'll be starting with week 5. On Days 1 and 2, you'll use cluster sets and do a total of 10 reps for each exercise (in 1-3 rep clusters of your 5RM). On Day 4, you'll have a strength test day. All you'll do is re-test your 5RMs (keep with 2 sets, 2x5) on every exercise. Then, the following week, you'll cluster on Days 1+2 again, but you'll use the weight from the 5RMs that you just found on Day 3 of the previous week. Now that you know that, I'll show you what you'll be doing for metabolic fatigue. You will incorporate these sets after the 10s, at the start of the 5s. A metabolic fatigue set is a set of 15 reps, with a relatively light weight. The point here is to get a nice "burn". After you finish the last set for a particular body part, you'll perform a set of 15 reps to get the "burn". You'll do this to add hypoxic stress and increase post workout nutrient shuttling to your muscles. So, once you finish both incline dumbbell press and dips (chest), you'll do a 15 rep set with flat dumbbell flys. The weight should be somewhat heavy, but not extremely straining (ie the weight you would use for a mid-15s HST set). Here's what exercises you will use for metabolic fatigue sets : Quads - Leg Extension Hamstrings - Leg Curl Chest - Flat DB Fly Lats - Bent Row Shoulders - Side Lateral Raises Biceps - EZ Bar Curls Triceps - Cable Pressdown Now on to the core program exercise explanations : Squat - the king of all exercises, you need to squat. Squats will hit all parts of your legs, as well as stimulate growth throughout your entire body. Stiff-legged Deadlift - stiff-legged deadlifts make a perfect combo with squats. You get more emphasis on the hamstrings, as well as your back, whereas the squats will hit your quads and glutes more. Incline DB Press - incline bench press will work your upper chest more, and is a great exercise for chest mass, and the appearance of chest mass. Weighted Dips - this is a great exercise to combine with incline dumbbell press, it will hit your lower chest and triceps hard. Bent Row - this is a great exercise for your lats, as well as your biceps. This is another compound exercise, which work very well for beginners and advanced lifters as well. Military Press - the best overall shoulder builder. MPs are another great lift for upper body power and size. You'll be doing them seated to place more emphasis on form, rather than using body momentum to do the lift. Partial Curl - By going only halfway up, you'll be able to use a much heavier load, while still adding plenty of overall mass to the biceps. Lying Triceps Extension - a great exercise for triceps mass. I like doing these with an EZ bar also, because of the less stress on the wrists. Standing Calf Raise - great overall calf mass builder. Do them on a board for added stretch. There's the intermediate program. You have some new methods implemented, and some minor exercise changes. This is a nice step up from basic HST after you have done a couple of the basic cycles. |
Advanced Mass Building Programs
Exercises : Squat Stiff-legged Deadlift Incline Bench Press Parallel Bar Dips Pendlay Row Military Press DB Side Lateral Raises Partial Curl Lying Triceps Extension Standing Calf Raise (on board) Sets : 3x5 (3 weeks), 4-6 weeks of 5RMs/clusters Special Methods Used : -cluster sets -strength test days -loaded stretches -pulses (metabolic fatigue) Ideology Explained : This is a fully advanced HST program. This program is NOT recommended for new HST'ers, or new lifters. We are going to be implementing a bunch of new techniques, and introducing a few new exercises. You're going to be starting right with the 5s. Since you're starting off with a heavy load, you'll take 3 weeks to build up to your 5RM and start off lighter (instead of a two week rep block like standard HST, this will just be a three rep block). After that, we start using cluster sets and strength test days. A cluster set is a set in which you take a pre-determined amount of reps, and do small 1-3 rep "clusters" to build up to the desired amount of reps. In this case, you're going to be working up to a total of 15 reps. Once you hit your 15 reps, you're done with that exercise. Why do clusters? You'll be able to hit the desired amount of reps with your 5 rep max, but you'll be minimizing CNS fatigue, which can lead to overtraining. So you'll just be doing a lot of small sets, not going to failure. Strength test days are just 5RM days, and they will determine what weight you use next for your cluster workouts. You'll just do your 3x5 with your 5RMs, just like good 'ol standard HST. After you have built up to your 5RM (end of week 4), you'll be starting with week 5. On Days 1 and 2, you'll use cluster sets and do a total of 10 reps for each exercise (in 1-3 rep clusters of your 5RM). On Day 4, you'll have a strength test day. All you'll do is re-test your 5RMs (keep with 2 sets, 2x5) on every exercise. Then, the following week, you'll cluster on Days 1+2 again, but you'll use the weight from the 5RMs that you just found on Day 3 of the previous week. This is the pretty straightforward base, now I'll discuss the other extra "features" that you'll be using this whole time. Now that you know that, I'll show you what you'll be doing for metabolic fatigue. A metabolic fatigue set is a set of high reps (~15), with a relatively light weight. The point here is to get a nice "burn". You'll do this to add hypoxic stress and increase post workout nutrient shuttling to your muscles. So, once you finish both incline dumbbell press and dips (chest), you'll do a 15 rep pulse (covered next) set with flat dumbbell flys. The weight should be somewhat heavy, but not extremely straining (something you would use for a mid-15s HST set). Here's what exercises you will use for metabolic fatigue sets : Quads - Leg Extension Hamstrings - Leg Curl Chest - Flat DB Fly Lats - Bent DB Row Shoulders - Side Lateral Raises Biceps - EZ Bar Curls Triceps - Cable Pressdown Now the type of set that you will be doing for metabolic fatigue, is a pulse set. A pulse is a single rep at the top 3-4" of the particular movement (use judgment, it doesn't have to be exactly 4"), and you do the top part of the movement, with a somewhat slow concentric (1-2 seconds), and a somewhat fast eccentric (1/2 second). Don't let the eccentric part of the lift just be dropping the weight, keep it under control. You'll do 1 set of 15 pulses for each exercise, after that body part has been trained. Pulses provide a little better way to add in metabolic fatigue, because there's not as much stress because of the shortened eccentric time of the lift (because you're only lowering the weight a few inches, not the whole way). The last thing that you'll be adding in to your advanced cycle is loaded stretches. At the end of each muscle group (or workout, your choice)(after metabolic fatigue), you will perform a loaded stretch. A loaded stretch is taking about 60-70% of what you would use for a 6-8 rep set, and going into the stretch portion of certain movements, and holding a deep heavy stretch for about 45-60 seconds. You will do this to stretch the fascia of the muscle to allow more room for growth. Loaded stretching also has other benefits, you can easily find some of them by searching it on google.com (it is also referred to as extreme stretching, and fascia stretching). Keep in mind that loaded stretches will burn, a lot. If you start to feel any pain whatsoever, drop the weights and call it a day. Loaded stretching can be a very dangerous thing if done wrong. Here is what you will do for each body part (note : extreme stretching is done only after you have done your regular and metabolic fatigue sets for that certain bodypart) : Quads - Take a moderately wide stance in your legs, and squat down so that you are sitting on the ground. Put your hands on the ground behind you, and lean back until you get a deep stretch. Hold for 45-60 seconds. Hamstrings - Put your leg up on a bench or bar, and grab your toe. Straighten your leg into a deep stretch, and hold for 45-60 seconds. Chest - Grab a pair of dumbbells, and lay on a bench. Go into the flat DB fly exercise, and sink in to the bottom of the movement. Sink and get a deep stretch for about 45-60 seconds. Shoulders - Place a bar on a squat rack at your shoulder height. Put your hands on the bar (shoulder width apart), and flex your lats. Lower your shoulders down as far as you can to the floor, and hold for ~30 seconds. Back - Hang from a pullup bar as long as you can, using wrist straps so your grip doesn't give out first. Biceps - Lie down on an incline bench with a pair of dumbbells, and lay your arms down in the stretched position of an incline DB curl. Slowly go deep into the stretch, and hold it for 45-60 seconds. Triceps - Grab a pair of dumbbells and lay down on a flat bench. Get into the fully stretched position of lying triceps extension (bottom of movement), and go deep into the stretch. Hold for 45-60 seconds. Calves - Stand on a board on one foot, and sink down into the bottom position of a calf raise. Push on your heel with your free foot to get a good stretch. Hold for 45-60 seconds Those are the loaded stretch exercises, now I'll explain why I chose the main exercises that I did : Squat - the king of all exercises, you need to squat. Squats will hit all parts of your legs, as well as stimulate growth throughout your entire body. Stiff-legged Deadlift - stiff-legged deadlifts make a perfect combo with squats. You get more emphasis on the hamstrings, as well as your back, whereas the squats will hit your quads and glutes more. Incline DB Press - incline bench press will work your upper chest more, and is a great exercise for chest mass, and the apperance of chest mass. Weighted Dips - this is a great exercise to combine with incline dumbbell press, it will hit your lower chest and triceps hard. Pendlay Row - this is like a super-strict bent barbell row. It's just like a bent row, but each rep will start from the floor, and your body will never break 90 degrees (you'll always be bent over at a 90 degree angle, don't move your back any higher than that). Every rep will start dead on the floor, it's not just a touch and go. You'll do this for more isolation, and to make sure that your form is near perfect, and you're using just your lats/arms to raise the weight. Military Press - the best overall shoulder builder. MPs are another great lift for upper body power and size. You'll be doing them seated to place more emphasis on form, rather than using body momentum to do the lift. DB Side Lateral Raise - a great exercise to isolate the delts. It's almost like the incline bench/dip combo, but for shoulders. Partial Curl - By going only halfway up, you'll be able to use a much heavier load, while still adding plenty of overall mass to the biceps. Lying Triceps Extension - a great exercise for triceps mass. I like doing these with an EZ bar also, because of the less stress on the wrists. Standing Calf Raise - great overall calf mass builder. Do them on a board for added stretch Believe it or not, that's it for the advanced program. Right now, you're probably thinking "What did I just read?!" If you're thinking that, go back and read everything again. It's a hard thing to grasp just by reading it once, you'll have to sift through it again and again before you completely know what you're doing. You should see both great size and strength gains from this routine. |
Programs for Fat Loss
An extremely popular question that pops up is, "What type of HST routine should I do if I want to lose fat?" Well, it's not about the routine, it's about the diet. The HST training will be the SAME, it's just the diet and cardio that will be different. If you want to lose fat while optimizing the amount of muscle you maintain, you'll still choose any of the HST routines above, but your diet and cardio will be different than that of a person who is trying to gain as much muscle as possible. |
That's some very good information Anuj! Glad this got revived!
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BTW, the aforementioned is exactly what I'm planning on doing for my cutting phase starting in April. Doing a full body three times a week for cutting leaves a ton of room in-between for cardio (HIIT). :17: |
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like i mentioned in my journal... i'm feeling sick of splits and want to shift back to full body routines again.... |
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no.. no... with full body routines there is no way i can change.. i'll keep it like chad waterbury's "waterbury method" with many more sets... but, yes... full body routines rule... i cant do this shit split thing any more... its draining me... i'll come up with a routine and post it here to hear your version of how it is... just give me some time - like 10 minutes max... i think i have it figured out... :) |
ok.. so i've come up with some more info regarding HST...
thought it might be useful to everyone here.... Rep Speeds 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 2-3 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. Rest Between Sets The Rest between sets is determined by the amount of time required to regain sufficient strength to successfully achieve the minimum effective Volume. There is not much to it, and you will not see any dramatic results by varying rest periods (within reason, of course) Overall, rest periods should be around 1.5-2 minutes. When moving from one body part to the next try to alternate between opposing or antagonistic body parts – commonly known as antagonistic pairing. E.g. 1 set of chest, rest, 1 set of back, rest, one set of chest, rest, 1 set of back, rest etc. 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. You may shorten rest periods on 15s to attain the lactic acid effect - on the order of 30-60 seconds. Increase rest periods as you get into the heavier, neural ranges - on 5s and negs you will most likely find it necessary to rest on the order of 2-5 minutes between sets. Also, shorten rest periods earlier in the workout when you are fresh - then progressively increase rest periods as fatigue accumulates towards the end of the workout. How To Warm Up Begin with a general warmup – stationary bike, treadmill or similar for 5 mins at low-moderate intensity – just enough to break a sweat. Then do some light, dynamic stretching – arm rotations and similar. Continue to: Specific warmups for first exercise of major muscle groups (legs, chest, back) 15s don't really require warm-ups. 10s - 1 set 5 reps @ 70% of working weight on main exercises. Later exercises for same or auxillary muscle groups don't require warm-ups unless you feel you need it. 5s - 1 set 5 reps @ 50% of working weight 1 set 3 reps @ 70% of working weight 1 set 2-3 reps @ 80% of working weight 1 set 1 rep @ 90% of working weight (optional) Although it looks like a lot, it is low-volume compared to those that use 20+reps on their warm-up sets. The warmup only serves to increase the core- and local temperature, thus elevating various enzymes and activating the neural system, thus making the muscles work more efficiently. Don’t make the warm-ups into a workout of its own. The above should at most require 15 minutes. 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. Training Frequency The reason HST calls for more frequent training is because the acute anabolic effects of training, such as increased protein synthesis, muscle-specific IGF-1 expression, and other factors involved in modulation of short term protein synthesis, only last for 36-48 hours. There is also mounting evidence of a "summation" effect by exercising while levels of these signals and responses are elevated, as should be expected. This does not mean that the structural repairs to the tissue have been completed. Research has demonstrated that you can train a muscle before it is fully recovered structurally and not inhibit its ability to continue to recover. So, HST uses this evidence and calls for repeated loading (training) every 48 hours or so to keep the anabolic activity of the muscle high, while trying to stay slightly ahead of the structural recovery curve by constantly increasing the load each workout. Staying ahead of the structural recovery curve is really key to elicit real growth in a person who has lifted for quite a while. Of course, injuries can develop over time if care isn't taken to take time to heal, and prepare the tendons for repeated heavy bouts of lifting (SD and 15s serve this purpose in HST). "Recovery" can refer to several different things. 1) "Recovery" can refer to the structural repair process of fixing the microtrauma. The damaged proteins can takes several days to be repaired and all evidence of damage removed. Even at the end of seven days after significant muscle damage from eccentric muscle actions, you may still see some small fibers regenerating. 2) Strength - this can be acute recovery as in the necessary time to rest between sets. Or it can mean the days that it usually takes to regain baseline strength after muscle damaging exercise. So the trick is to have the CNS "recover" just in time to hit the muscle again as the acute anabolic effects are wearing off. That way you can stay anabolic more of the time. Training once every 7 days will still allow you to grow, it just takes longer for the gains to accumulate. Training more frequently is more efficient if your goal is just to get bigger To understand, you have to consider the total volume over time. A week is easiest to consider, so, over the course of a week, it is the total volume that is important. So 9 total sets for chest can be done in one workout or in several workouts. Both will stimulate growth. However, you will be anabolic more of the time if you can actually create that stimulus more often. In the case of HST, 3 times as often. There is a physiological benefit (acute anabolic effects of training) in doing 9 sets as 3 sets X 3 workouts, as opposed to 9 sets all at once - and then nothing for the next 7 days. Brian Haycock's AM/PM Program "Here are the exercises I use: Squat Leg Ext Leg Curl Straight leg calf raise Chins (wide and narrow) Dips Rows (wide and narrow) Incline Bench Lateral raises rear delt work (dumbells) Dumbell press Tri Ext Curls of all kinds I'll do some crunches too. As well as stationary bike and once in a while I will jog a bit. Sometimes I will split things up into AM and PM workouts. If I miss the PM I will simply do it the next day. I don't use a training partner so I only do negatives on Chins, Dips, curls, tri Ext, and rear delt work. I usually do 2 sets of 2 exercises for back.I don't go terribly heavy on Squats and Bench. I guess 25 years has taken a bit of a toll on this less-than-genetically-ideal body. In fact, on squats I will start with 20 reps. Here's my AM/PM split. AM Squat Incline Bench T-bar row (supported) Calf (straight leg) Lateral raises Bent over laterals EZ curls Tri extensions PM Leg curl Leg extension Millitary press (lowering no further than top of head) Chins Dips Lateral raises lying rear delt raises (lie on bench on your side) DB curl Tri extension calf raise I warm up on the bike for at least 6 minutes with a lot of resistance (break a sweat). I do 2 "work sets" after an adequate warmup on each exercise. On off days I do cardio for 20 minutes twice per day, while I'm dieting anyway. BTW, I'm currently dieting very low carb during the week and carbing up on the weekends. " |
Planning Your Training Frequency by Brian Haycock
Whether you are sold on heavy weight and low reps, or less weight and more reps, if your training frequency is not planned with the same scrutiny as other aspects of your routine, you may be wasting time unnecessarily. With a little insight into the factors affecting the optimal timing of your workouts, you may just experience more success than you believed you could. 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 Alabama4, 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 University5 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. Strength Specific Training (SST) It takes quite a bit of time and effort to piece all the strength research together to form a big comprehensive picture with which to base an SST method. HST was not born overnight, niether would SST. Fortunately, there is a lot more applied strength research out there than there is hypertrophy research. The reason for this is that strength research is used to help countries fair better in international competition. This has been extremely important to most of the world for many decades...especially the Eastern block countries of the 70s and 80s. It is important to distinguish whether strength was the goal of the research or hypertrophy. Contrary to popular belief, they are not synonymous. Remember, when training for strength, you are training the entire neuromuscular system. This requires special attention to not only the muscle tissue itself, but also to the nervous system and the emotional state of the lifter. These variables require certain training principles to acheive the most predictable increases in strength. But when training for muscular hypertrophy, your focus should only be in the muscle itself. Work it until it is “done”. Like kneading dough. You knead it until it is done. Getting a muscle to grow is a mechanical phenomena. You will also find that your pumps are as good as ever (if your not dieting) when you work a muscle until it is done, no more, no less. The whole point of HST (which others have already summarized aptly) is to: 1) Increase the frequency of loading each muscle to 3 times per week. 2) Continually increase the load. Zigzagging is fine as long as the general trend over time is upwards. If you don’t, the condition (which is to say, the resistance of the tissue to the mechanical strain of a given weight load) of the muscle will catch up with you and your growth will plateau. Growth with a given load will probably only produce gains for about 4-6 weeks. The lighter the load, the shorter the amount of time it will be able to induce muscle growth. 3) Use Strategic Deconditioning to enable a given load to once again induce muscle hypertrophy. This occurs once the tissue has been resensitized (i.e. made susceptible) to the mechincal strain of load bearing. These are the principles (or characteristics) that distinguish a hypertrophy-specific program from a strength-specific program. Is it complicated? No. Need it be? No. Is there evidence to support the idea that these principles really do change the effect of a training program from inducing strength to inducing hypertrophy? Of course, otherwise I would never have brought it up. In order to come up with a method that is "strength-specific" we first have to have an understanding of those factors involved in the production of voluntary strength. Here is a "brief" review of those factors that you must figure out how to manipulate if you are going to develope a strength-specific training method. (I took this from an article I wrote a few years ago so the references are not included. In a future article I will include those and newer references) As an untrained individual begins a strength training program for the first time they will experience quite dramatic increases in muscular strength. These improvements in strength will continue almost linearly for about 8-12 weeks. The dominating mechanism of these initial strength gains are neurological in nature (Morianti,1979; Sale,1988). These adaptations take place with or without increases in muscle cross sectional area (CSA). Some ways that a muscle may undergo neural adaptation include cross-education, increases in electromyographic (EMG) activity, reflex potentiation, alterations in the co-contraction of antagonist muscles, and improved coordination of synergist muscles. The foundation for the development of strength is neuromuscular in nature. Increases in strength from resistance exercise has been attributed to several neural adaptations including altered recruitment patterns, rate coding, motor unit synchronization, reflex potentiation, prime mover antagonist activity, and prime mover agonist activity. Aside from incremental changes in the number of contractile filaments, voluntary force production is largely a matter of "activating" motor units. In order to ascertain the relative contribution of each of these mechanisms, various measurement techniques have been utilized. Hereafter we will briefly discuss each of these mechanisms as they relate to resistance training. Recruitment of motor units can be measured with Electromyography (EMG). As a muscle contracts, the electrical signal initiated by the motor nerve can be detected with EMG. The intensity or magnitude of this signal is sometimes described as "neural drive". In order to explain increases in strength from resistance exercise, researchers have measured the changes in EMG activity in weight training subjects. Hakkinen and co-workers have shown that there is an increase in EMG activity with strength training as well as a decrease in EMG activity upon cessation of training (Hakkinen,1983). Fourteen male subjects (20-30 yr) accustomed to weight training went through progressive strength training of combined concentric and eccentric contractions three times per week for 16 wk. The active training period was followed by an eight week detraining period. The training program consisted mainly of dynamic exercises for leg extensors with the loads of 80-120% of one maximum concentric repetition (1RM). Significant improvements in muscle function were observed in early conditioning; however, the increase in maximal force during the very late training period was greatly limited. Marked improvements in muscle strength were accompanied by significant increases in the neural activation (EMG) of the leg extensor muscles. The relationship between EMG and high absolute forces changed during the training period. The occurrence of these changes varied during the course of training. During detraining, there was a decline in EMG activity. Now those who would argue that increases in strength are solely due to increased recruitment of motor units would have a difficult time defending themselves in light of other research. The is a method of measuring motor unit activity called "Interpolated Twitch Technique", or ITT. ITT is used to determine the extent of activation of the entire muscle. Merton (Merton, 1954) was the first to use this technique to describe whole muscle activation. He showed full activation of the adductor pollicis with fatigue in untrained subjects. Several other studies have since shown a similar ability of untrained subjects to voluntarily fully activate various muscle groups (Bellemare 1983, Chapman 1985, Gandevia 1988, Belanger 1981). This directly contradicts the theory of strength increases due to the ability to activate more motor units. The activation of motor units is done in an asynchronous fashion, meaning that not all fibers contract at the same time within a given muscle. There is a hierarchy to the order of fiber recruitment in muscle tissue. Because fiber activation is not "analog" or variable in nature, in other words, a fiber is either fully activated or fully quiescent, the brain must control contraction intensity by altering the number of fibers it activates. In general, slow twitch fibers are activated first followed by larger fast twitch fibers. Now when muscles begin to fatigue the asynchronous firing of fibers become more and more synchronized (Butchal, 1950). This allows for greater force production. This synchronization of muscle fibers has been linked to increases in voluntary strength (Milner-Brown, 1975). Now although increases in motor unit synchronization have been reported with training, studies involving artificial stimulation show that force development with asynchronous stimulation is greater and smoother (Clamann, 1988). In addition, researchers have shown that the rate of force development in brief maximal contractions is faster in voluntary than in evoked contractions (Miller, 1981). So from these studies we see that although synchronization of motor units can increase with training, asynchronous motor unit activation is more advantageous to rate and magnitude of force development than is synchronous activation. Increases in "reflex potentiation" have also been linked to resistance training (Sale & Upton 1983, Sale & MacDougall 1983) as well as decreases with immobilization (Sale, 1982). The actual benefit, if any, of this adaptation is unclear. An increase in reflex potentiation would contribute to the voluntary EMG signal augmenting the motor or neuronal drive. Nevertheless, because untrained individuals have been shown to be able to fully recruit their motor units, the purpose of increased reflex potential remains undecided. Finally, that activity of prime mover agonists and antagonists plays a role in directed voluntary strength. The obvious role of agonists is to assist the prime mover by guidance and stabilization. This could be termed "coordination". It is well known that any unaccustomed exercise requires practice in order to develop sufficient coordination to allow maximum efficiency of muscular effort. The role of antagonistic muscle groups is more complicated. They serve to prevent damage through co-contraction as well as ensure less resistance through relaxation to prime mover contractility. The protective mechanisms function by way of golgi tendon organs (GTO). The GTO is sensitive to force output or tension within the muscle. They are located at the musculo-tendonous junction and is contained within a compressible collagenous capsule. Fibers of the GTO are connected directly to muscle fibers as well as to Type "Ib" inhibitory neurons within the muscle. The physical structure of the GTO allows it to be sensitive to stretch or load present in the muscle. Think of the notorious "Chinese finger trap". You first stick you fingers in each end. Then as you pull your fingers apart, the structure of the woven tube causes it shrink (or in the case of GTO it compresses) in diameter in order to stretch. The GTO works very much like this. When the collagen around the GTO is compressed because of contraction or stretch by the muscle, the Ib neurons generate an impulse that is proportional to the amount of GTO deformation. In this way the GTO can decrease contraction of a muscle being stretched in order to protect it from being torn. Likewise, GTO are thought to prevent unusually high contractions of a muscle in order to protect it from tearing itself apart. So in an antagonist muscle, the GTO can serve to inhibit co-contraction, facilitating contraction of the prime mover. In a prime mover, the GTO acts to prevent torn pecs, biceps and whatever else you are using to lift insanely heavy weights. Another neuronal structure regulating involuntary muscle activity is the muscle spindle. The muscle spindle is found in greater abundance in the muscle belly as apposed to the musculotendonous junction. The muscle spindle also responds to stretch. However, the spindle is less like a Chinese finger trap and more like spring. When the muscle undergoes stretch, the center of the spindle is stretched. These spindles contain neurons that are sensitive to this stretching. Unlike with the GTO, when a muscle spindle is stretched its excitatory neurons fire in order to counteract the stretch. When a stretch is imposed on a muscle, the Type-I sensory neuron sends impulses into the spinal cord and connects with interneurons, generating an excitatory local-graded potential that is sent back to the muscle being stretched. If the stretch is of sufficient magnitude and/or rate, a local graded impulse will be sent back to the same muscle with sufficient strength to initiate a contraction via alpha motoneurons. This reflex arc in known as the "stretch-reflex" and is characterized by a quick muscular contraction following a rapid stretch of the same muscle. Now this stretch reflex primarily functions in slow twitch muscle fibers. Alterations in the sensitivity of these two regulatory mechanisms have been seen with training. Carolan (Carolan, 1992) showed a decrease in antagonist co-activation of the lex extensors with training. On the other hand, increases in co-activation have been seen in longitudinal studies comparing explosive trained athletes to non-explosive trained athletes (Osternig 1986, Barrata 1988). These somewhat contradictory results may reflect the possibility that co-activation alterations are very specific in nature and depend on things such as contraction velocity, range of motion, and training specific effects. The nature of these changes are determined by the nature of the stimulus. If you regularly allow only very slow contractions of a given muscle (such as with Super Slow methods), that muscle will improve its ability to contract slowly, at times at the expense of its ability to contract rapidly and powerfully. If you train a muscle for endurance, it will improve the oxidative capacity and fatigue resistance of muscle fibers, and even begin to change the contractile properties of all fibers in favor of endurance-type activity. All this due to chronic, and specific neural activity patterns. Zig-zagging or undulating loads, vs. linear increments When setting up your HST cycle with the proper increments, you may notice that the first workouts of a new microcycle (rep range) uses lighter loads than the last workouts of the previous microcycle. Or if your 15RM and your 10RM aren't that far apart, you will be repeating some weight loads as you go from block to block. This is what we call "zigzagging". I have yet to see a difference in gains from those allowing zigzagging of their weights, and those who don't. Zig-zagging is fine as long as the general trend over time is upwards. If not, the conditioning of the muscle (which is to say, the resistance of the tissue to the mechanical strain of a given weight load) will catch up with you, and your growth will plateau. Growth with a given load will probably only produce gains for about 4-6 weeks. The lighter the load, the shorter the amount of time it will be able to induce muscle growth. You can go about 7-14 days before you begin to lose some of the adaptation to previous higher loads. So one week will not cause you to lose ground. But by the end of two weeks with lighter loads, your muscles will begin to adapt to those lighter loads. Keep in mind that these time frames are "soft" meaning that there are many variables that can effect things. But in general, 7-14 days of lighter than previous loads will not allow that much un-adaptive response. Utilizing changes in rep speeds and modes of contraction will also make the lighter loads more effective. Do not sacrifice the size of the increments to reduce the overlap/zig-zag - it is better (to some extent) to repeat two (or even three) workouts at the same loads. Some people's RMs are so close together that this is needed. The reason HST works even though sometimes the weight zig-zags is because of the frequency. HST dictates that you train the same muscle every 48 hours, or at least 3 times per week. Most other training programs dictate that you allow what they call “full recovery” before training the muscle again, which is usually 6-7 days rest for that muscle. If you were to zig-zag your weights on a traditional routine the way HST allows, you would have to decrease your weights for at least 3 weeks just to accommodate the weight increments. While using HST, zig-zagging your weights only requires 1 week to get back to your previous weight loads. If using a traditional routine you wouldn’t train at all during this period! A little CNS recovery during the zag doesn’t hurt anybody either. If you are uncomfortable with the beginning weights for small muscle groups such as shoulders biceps triceps etc, simply decrease the number of increments and use each weight load twice. An example of this: Mon - using 35 lbs Wed - using 35 lbs Fri - using 40 lbs Mon - using 40 lbs Wed - using 45 lbs Fri - using 45 lbs That way the weight is still increasing each week, and everybody is happy. Why not set up the cycle by starting at your 5RM, and then working backwards in 5% increments? I hesitate to use the term "micro-cycle" simply because it gives people the wrong impression about what HST is, but for ease of communication I'll use it. Starting at your 5RM and working backwards is essentially what people do when they try to avoid zigzagging the weight as they work their way along. The only problem you run into is not knowing how many reps to use each workout. You will have to guess how many reps is good for whatever weight you are using that day. Then you will be tempted to use "instinctive training", which dictates that you do whatever number of reps or sets and exercises you feel like doing that day. Its kind of a slippery slope...Pretty soon you will be training "instinctively" all the time. Unfortunately, your muscle tissue doesn't have instincts, nor does it communicate to our brains concerning its hypertrophic activity. It only communicates fatigue and/or pain...both being neurological factors. Finding your 15, 10, and 5RM is a way of knowing where you are. By having these figures, you know what you are capable of lifting at various rep ranges. This allows you to plan your training to ensure consistent increases in load. The 15's serve another purpose however and that's to address any chronic pain issues in the joints and to prepare them for more frequent heavy loading later. There is nothing magical about using 15s, 10s, and 5s. Some people have used 15,12,10,8, and 5s, changing reps each week. This creates quite a bit more fatigue in well-trained lifters though and can begin to interfere with their training. Finally, there isn't anything bad about repeating weights over a short period of time, say 2-4 weeks. Sure, that particular load will show diminishing effects over time, but it is still causing an effect as long as your frequency is high enough. Also, due to the delayed recovery pattern of the CNS, most people experience significant strength gains when the weight and reps drop periodically, allowing additional recovery of the CNS. This however isn’t required for growth, it only makes the experience more enjoyable for many people. There are several people here who have opted to get rid of the zigzagging. Their results are mixed. Most report that they end up using a greater percentage of their RMs throughout the entire cycle. Due to the high frequency, this has produced more fatigue than they expected and didn’t help their results any. So bottom line - feel free to adjust your weights so that there is no zigzagging or repeating of the weights. There is nothing contraindicated with that “technically speaking”. However, it is unlikely you will experience greater results than if you simply base your weights on your 15,10 and 5RMs. This is because the frequency of training negates the effects of repeating a weight now and then. HST is laid out in 2 week blocks of 6 workouts (=increments) because this is what it generally takes you to go from one RM to another (e.g. from 15RM to 10RM, or from 10RM to 5RM). This doesn't apply to everyone though, so in order to keep the increments as linear as possible (reduce zig-zag) you can, as mentioned, repeat workouts. The other option is simply to reduce the estimated 15RM and/or 10RM, then make up the slack on the bottom end by repeating workouts (to avoid starting out at too light weights for your liking). Since the object of 15s is to induce lactic acid, you can increase the metabolic work by slowing down the reps to compensate for the lower load. Again - the frequency and progression after SD is what makes you grow, not hitting any predetermined RM - which in itself is affected by a number of factors (almost) unrelated to hypertrophy. Which is better - zig-zagging or repeating loads Zig-zagging will result in less fatigue and more strength without losing ground size wise. Repeating workouts isn't necessarily bad either. I recommend you repeat your 5RM for a couple additional weeks (6 workouts) at the end of the cycle (if you can't do negs) just to get as much growth out of that weight load as possible before you SD. I seriously doubt this answer is going to satisfy you. You’re simply going to have to try it both ways on two different cycles to see which way you prefer. Do 1 entire cycle using your 15, 10, and 5 RMs. DO NOT ESTIMATE THEM! Find them a week in advance using each and every exercise you plan on using. Monday find your 15s, Wed find your 10s, Fri or Sat find your 5s. Then do another cycle where you only use your 5RM and adjust your weight increments so there is no zigzagging, repeating weights where necessary. Then come back and tell us which one you like better and why. |
Optimising HST
A natural trainer can probably put on an additional 30-40 pounds of muscle. Muscle growth requires the proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells. When this stops, so does muscle growth. Muscles can also grow by increasing the number of cells (hyperplasia). This is greatly enhanced by using testosterone. It also happens in natural trainers depending on their age and training style. Bone structure and height play no role in muscle "growth". They only play a role in a muscle's appearance. There are other and more important factors involved - such as hormonal milieu, efficiency and levels of various enzymes pertaining to biochemistry (which also determines how your body handles nutrients), length of muscles and attachment of tendons etc etc. just to name a few. Nutrition (supplements) also plays a role. With HST the same muscularity can be reached in much less time. Under the right conditions, muscle mass can increase dramatically within a few weeks. Theoretically, with heavy drug use, a human could probably put on 20 pounds in 4 weeks. That same person could probably put on 50-60 pounds in 12 months. I have never personally seen anyone do this though. Reaching your potential while training natural is still going to take time...years. But you can knock off quite a bit of time with HST and good nutritional and supplementation practices. Please understand that when people ask me answer questions like, "how big can someone get", I have to be conservative to avoid undue criticism...I couldn't promise anyone 60 lbs of muscle...that’s quite a bit of extra muscle for a natural trainer. I don't really know how much I have "put on" because I began lifting at age 8. So, I don't know how big I would be without lifting. I did get down to 155 however after a severe illness. Since then I have gained about 60 pounds of LBM. To optimize HST a person should train twice per day. He/she should use 2 routines, and AM program and a PM program. Some exercises could be repeated but most should change from morning to evening. The normal progression of weight increments and reps to be followed. That is twice per day, 3 times per week. So still only train MWF but train twice on those days. I think I get a little more out of it when I do whole body twice. Although, I often split up upper and lower body when something cuts my workout short in the morning. Don't forget we're talking about volume too. The volume doesn't necessarily double. Just the frequency. There is the possibility that training once per day 6 days per week would be just as effective. But to be on the safe side, a rest day with massage is probably better to avoid injuries. On days off, you should receive a full body deep tissue sports massage. However, it isn't necessary to get to painful. The massage is simply a way to eliminate spasms, increase blood flow, increase protein uptake, and activate satellite cells. You shouldn't be "sore" after the massage. if it is done properly, your muscles will literally be pumped afterwards. A protein supplement should be taken before and after the massage. Calories should be high. Take bodyweight and multiply it by 18 or 20 depending on fat gain. This should give you about 500 to 1,000 above maintenance. Protein should be at least 0.8-1 gram per pound of bodyweight. Avoid saturated fat (within reason). Take a protein supplement before and after training. Use creatine as well. EFAs should be included (Fish oil and CLA). If you do these things you will grow very quickly. There are other things you can do but then you wouldn't be "natural" anymore. growth. Should I modify HST if my goal is fat loss? HST 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). 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 byproducts 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. Tweaking HST I frequently hear comments both for and against tweaking or personalizing HST on an individual basis. This is to be expected among people who are real enthusiasts of weight training. You also find this irresistible urge to tweak among other enthusiasts such as audiophiles. An audiophile will go out and spend obscene amounts of money on the highest end exotic equipment they can find. But this isn't good enough! They must find some way to "tweak" it, some way to make it their own delectable creation. Anything from placing the turntable on a 3 inch marble slab, putting sand bags on and/or in the speakers, or using speaker wire that cost as much as the car you used to drive to the store. Whenever you find people who are really into what they are doing, they will try to find ways not only to squeeze out the last bit of performance, but also make it their own creation. I think it comes down to a couple issues which I'll address after a short review for those new to HST. First let me clarify that HST is based on physiologically sound principles, not numbers. In short, they are: • Progressive load • Training volume • Training frequency • Conditioning (Repeated Bout effect)/Strategic Deconditioning So we are dealing with 4 basic issues, Load, Volume, Frequency and Conditioning. Within these basic factors we have reps, sets, and rest. HST differs from previous training methods in many aspects, but particularly in how it incorporates knowledge of how the "cell" physiologically responds to the training stimulus in its methodology. Previous methods focus on effort (A.K.A Intensity), current voluntary strength, and psychological factors such as fatigue and variety (i.e. many different exercises). • The number of Reps is determined by the minimum effective load (this changes over time based on Conditioning) • The number of Sets is determined by the minimum effective volume (this changes over time according to current load and Conditioning status.) • The Rest between sets is determined by the amount of time required to regain sufficient strength to successfully achieve the minimum effective Volume. • The Frequency (rest between workouts) is determined by the ability of the CNS to recover sufficiently to maintain baseline "health" indicators. It is also determined by the time course of genetic expression resultant from the previous workout. • The interval of Strategic Deconditioning (SD) is determined by the time course of adaptation to the individuals maximum weight loads. In other words, SD is required to reset growth potential after plateauing. The duration of SD is determined by the level of conditioning attained during the training cycle. Anyone who argues with these points after understanding them correctly is in error. That is a strong statement but it is true. These are principles that we "know" from research and experience. The data from this research is not theoretically based. It is based on identification, measurements, and direct microscopic observation. All future research will show us is more genetic detail, NOT that we were wrong on some sort of fundamental basis. So, anyone can with confidence apply these principles to their training and successfully induce muscular hypertrophy. If anyone should attempt to apply these principles and not experience some degree of muscle growth, it is not because the principles are wrong, it is because the application of the principles was flawed. Once again, another strong statement, but it is true. For example, just because you plant a garden and water it does not mean you will successfully grow prize-winning vegetables. Does this mean that your garden acted by some other mysterious agricultural principles other than those based on water, sunlight and soil? Of course not! We "know" the principles of growing plants. Where we fail, is in our application of those known principles. The application is where the details lie. Issues such as how much, how many, how fast, when and where to name a few. Whether it be growing plants, or growing muscle, you are dealing with a moving target. Because plants are alive, or put another way, because plants are biological systems, the best application of agricultural principles to grow vegetables will change as conditions change. The same is true for the application of the principles of hypertrophy or muscle growth. The application will change as conditions change. All the while, being careful to stay faithful to the underlying "known" principles. Why do people tweak and change HST? Well, when done haphazardly it is usually because they have no faith in the underlying principles. This almost never leads to progress, only constant tinkering and frustration. Without adequate knowledge of the principles, and faith in their effectiveness, their expectations will never be realized and their "locus of control" will move ever outwards, blaming everything but themselves for their lack of progress. In contrast, when people tweak and change their program based on changing conditions, they almost always experience success and they gain valuable experience in the process. Their locus of control will move inwards and they will grow ever more effective at adjusting their training as conditions dictate to keep the gains coming. If you find yourself lacking faith in your training program, you will most likely fail to reach your goals. You must first prepare yourself. Take it upon yourself to gain the required knowledge of the principles of muscle growth. Only then will you really have faith in your plan. Look up the studies and compare the traditional methods to what the research tells you. Ask questions of people who seem to have faith in what they are doing. Find out whether they are doing it because they were told to do it, or because they know it is the right way to do it. And of course, ponder your own experience and try to make sense of past periods of growth and past periods of stagnation. How to get in more volume Having the liberty to train twice per day and/or everyday opens up the possibility to significantly increase training volume. As long as a "highly conditioned" person stays within his/her limits of exercise tolerance, doing more generally means better gains. I don't mean more fatigue, I mean more reps with a given load... Sounds like one in the same but it isn't really. To understand, consider the "effort" (A.K.A. CNS activation, or even "intensity" by its incorrect HIT terminology) it requires to do the 1st as compared to the last rep of your 10 rep max. The tension produced on the tissue doesn't change from the 1st rep to the last. The only thing that changes is the amount of CNS activiation required to contract the muscle under load. So, more reps doesn't necessarily mean more fatigue if you can get enough rest in between sets. To get more and more rest, simply do 2 workouts spread out by several hours. Hence, the value of training twice per day. Another advantage is being able to do more volume per bodypart during one session. You can also split the body up into 2 halves and train half in the AM and the other half in the PM. This essentially allows you to double the amount of volume per session per bodypart. My comments about training twice per day, 3 times per week as optimal stem from the ability to increase the volume per bodypart, and still having adequate rest between training sessions (e.g. M,W,F). This also applies to cardio. It may sound counterproductive but it isn't. Just consuming more food will create a more anabolic environment (more insulin, more leptin, more test, more GH), and the additional exercise also enhances this by increasing IGF-1, and protein synthesis rates in tissues. (yes, cardio increases protein synthesis in those muscle you are using) The additional exercise will also lower your average glycogen levels and increase your insulin sensitivity at the same time, in addition you will get some upregulation of lipolytic enzymes. All of this makes those additional calories that you are eating less lipogenic. More on AM/PM splits Ok, here are a few points to think about. 1) Increasing volume isn't a bad thing. The only time it is contraindicated is when you can't handle any more volume because the current weight loads are sufficiently heavy and are causing sufficient trauma to the tissues with minimal volume and adequate frequency. There is a false notion that HST is about “low volume”. This notion arose from people erroneously stereotyping HST as a previously existing “muscle beach” method used by guys in “the good ol’ days”. HST prescribes that volume be more evenly distributed over time to create a more constant environment and thus and more consistent stimulus for muscle growth. The volume of training in HST does not differ significantly from previous programs. 2) The only physiological benefit to training twice per day is to increase the amount of loading the muscle is getting. So, if I were to go from once per day training to twice per day training, and not increase the volume, I would not be deriving any particular anabolic benefit from splitting up my workouts into two shorter sessions. You may however benefit from doing this in other ways such as accommodating a tight schedule or getting the most out of limited energy levels. 3) It is ok to either repeat the previous workout, or to use a different group of exercises, as long as the second set of exercises is comparable in effectiveness to the first group. In other words, you can have Workout A and Workout B and simply alternate between them, using workout A in the morning and Workout B in the evening or vice versa. Different exercises for the same muscle group usually only differ in the number of muscle groups involved, and the degree of stretch experienced by each muscle group during the movement. In the end, when things get really heavy, all primary movers will be activated 100% regardless of the stance, or foot placement, or hand position, etc. So for example, wide stance squats will hit just as much muscle as shoulder width squats. All that differs is the amount of stretch involved for the inner thigh (adductors). However, when a maximal squat is attempted with either stance, all muscle will be equally activated. This can be better understood by considering each joint separately. It is either extending or flexing…regardless of body position. The point of all this is that you can pick two different compound exercises for each major muscle group, squat/press for legs, high-/mid-pull for back, incline/dip for chest. Then do whatever you want for bis, tris, delts, calves, abs. The reason you can do whatever you want for the smaller muscle groups if because of the limited natural of their function on a single joint. Another option is to split the body into two halves (e.g. upper/lower or push/pull) and do half in the AM and the other half in the PM. This will allow more time (i.e. sets) to be done per muscle group during a single workout. You can either do more sets per exercise, or simply add exercises and keep the sets per exercise the same. Now we haven’t touched on the “consequences” of two-a-day training. Briefly, you will be more tired and you will burn more calories. This means that two-a-days will be easier using lighter weight loads such as the 15s, or the first week of any rep range. It also means you will be more likely to experience a caloric deficit. This means you may need to up your carbs while doing two-a-days. Just as important to realize is that you will be more likely to experience “burn out”. Your motivation to train can really take a hit after several weeks of two-a-days. Keep this in mind! This does not mean that your muscles are experiencing the same mental boredom or fatigue, it simply means that doing something relatively difficult and tiresome twice as often makes you get tired of doing it twice as fast. Recommendations on AM/PM split during your HST cycle You won't last long doubling the volume just because you are using am/pm splits. Here is what I suggest. 1) When using 15s: Go ahead a repeat the am workout in the same day pm workout. Especially when things are very light (1st week of 15s). 2) When using 10s: First week of 10s, assuming some zigg-zagg, go ahead and repeat the am workout in the pm. During the second week of 10s, split the body up into two halves, either push/pull or upper body/lower body. This will allow more sets for each exercise because you are only training half the body at a time. 3) When using 5s: Once again, if you are getting a pretty good zigg-zagg in weight loads (which is just fine), go ahead and do 2 identical workouts, one in the morning and then once in the evening. When things get heavy however, split the body up again into two halves and train have the body in the morning and the remaining half in the evening. NOTE: training twice per day significantly increases the number of calories you burn in a day. If you are trying to gain weight, take this into account and add additional calories. |
Submaximal training or not
Submaximal is a term relating strictly to strength. I use the term to describe the act of doing a set with fewer number of reps x Many have the understanding that linear increments in weight load would always be submaximal as long as you don’t go to failure. This is true, assuming failure always occurs precisely at that number of reps which represents your previously established RM with that specific weight load. But like we said earlier, your 10RM on one day might be your 8RM on another, or even a 12RM yet a different day. It would also be really impractical to try to find your RMs for every conceivable number of reps (and weight increment). Let’s go back to the idea that there is no “on/off” switch for growth assigned to a given number of reps. 1 long rep (essentially just holding onto a weight for a long time) will make whatever muscles being stretched grow larger (initially). At the same time, making a muscle do 50 consecutive high-force eccentric reps will also make it grow. So it isn’t critical to do a specific number of reps “per set”, although a minimum number of reps per “bout” will be required to achieve the minimum amount of time under tension required to stimulate growth. This "minimum time" changes up (or down as in SD) as your muscle becomes more (or less as in SD) conditioned to the load. I follow the 15>10>5>eccentric rep progress. I always make sure I hit the target reps on the first set, but I don’t worry about falling short on the second set when I close to my RM. With sufficient rest betweens sets it usually isn’t a problem though. Simple technique to avoid failure Since rep speed deteriorates before technical breakdown, end a set when a rep is noticeably slower than the first. So - if you slow down, you STOP. This ensures that you stay at a safe rep number short of failure. The reps decrease as the load increases and fatigue accumulates - you never lower the weight to reach a rep target or to get more sets. I think it is important to get rid of the notion of the “number” of reps as a principle of muscle growth. Repetitions are not a "principle" of hypertrophy, any more than counting the number of cranks it takes to reel in a fish is necessary to catch fish. You simply crank as many times as is necessary to get the job done. I'm not saying you are doing this, but in order to understand what it is you need to accomplish in the gym, it will help to avoid thinking of the specified number of reps as a restriction or limitation. Yes, the # of reps a person uses is related to the amount of a weight they’re using as well as their level of strength. However, the # of reps in no way should be used to dictate how much weight they should use. In other words, the only reason we designate a specific number of reps to use is to maintain order in our training. They are used as a guide whereby we can measure our progress. An incorrect usage of reps is to only increase the weight when more reps can be performed at a given weight load. This might be sufficient for an average strength-training program, but it is not a good way to increase hypertrophy. So if I haven’t completely confused people as to what I am trying to say, let me summarize things this way: 1) There is a certain amount or threshold of weight or tension that must be applied to your muscle tissue in order to get it to grow. That threshold changes up or down depending on your level of conditioning. 2) Active Muscle Contraction (both concentric and eccentric) is facilitative to muscle hypertrophy when tension is applied. Although Passive Stretch is a potent inducer of muscle growth, in most instances we cannot apply the necessary level of passive stretch to each muscle of our body to accomplish real whole body muscle growth. Thus we use muscle contractions to shorten the tissue before stretching it. This way we don’t have to take each muscle to its absolute limit of range of motion before it experiences high levels of stretch. 3) Eccentric contractions are more effective at inducing hypertrophy than concentric contractions using the same relative amount of weight. 4) There is no physiological threshold of repetitions that is necessary for the growth stimulus to be created. It is dependant on the duration and amplitude of stretch relative to the tissues level of conditioning, not the actual number of contractions. 5) Fatigue is not the muscle’s way of indicating that a stimulus for growth has occurred. A growth stimulus can be created without taking a set to failure, and at other times, even taking a set to failure fails to produce an adequate growth stimulus. We have no direct way of knowing how successful we have been at creating a growth stimulus from workout to workout. Direct measurements require a laboratory setting and painful biopsies. The only way to really gauge is to look at what has previously been done to the tissue (i.e. how much weight, how much volume, what level of conditioning are we working with). By continuing to increase the duration and/or amplitude of tension/stretch/load, we can be reasonably sure we are creating an adequate growth stimulus (assuming diet is in order). “Within reason”, it is the total number of reps performed of a given movement during a single exercise bout that is important, not how many are performed each set. You can blame two prominent exercise researchers and their infatuation with minuscule fluctuations in hormone levels for any confusion on this point. I’m not sure if that clears anything up or not. But it should help to see why the number of reps per set is less important than the overall progression of critical training variables (i.e. load, volume, frequency, diet) over time. What the “15-10-5-Eccentric” rep scheme does is ensure that we are doing consistent amounts of work each workout. Those who have changed their rep scheme to 15-12-10-8-5 have not experienced any better gains than those using the traditional 15-10-5-etc, in fact, many have reported symptoms of overtraining. HST's method of using submaximal weights at the beginning of the cycle is based on the fact that the effectiveness of a given load to stimulate growth is dependant on the condition of the tissue at the time the load is applied. This is a very important concept for natural lifters. It is also based on the need to maintain the health (injury free) of the tissues. You can't really apply the external load based simply on the capacity to do so, and expect to the muscle to respond the way you want it to (growth). Too much weight too soon, even though you can lift it, will not always result in an optimal hypertrophic response. Not only that, but the greater the load, the greater the response to build resistance to it, and/or get injured. Why not just do as many reps as possible (A.K.A. train at “100% intensity”, or “train to failure”) for every increment/workout instead of changing it only every 2 weeks? Because when using sufficient frequency to stimulate rapid hypertrophy, you tend to get CNS burn out. Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to train at “100% intensity” to grow quickly. This is a very unpopular statement to experienced lifters who have prided themselves on torturous workouts. They take pride in their toughness and in their willingness to self inflict nauseating exhaustion workout after workout. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS. As long as it is not taught as the correct way to train for “growth”. HST incorporates ever increasing loads in order to stay ahead of the adaptive curve. This curve is set by the tissues level of conditioning at the time the load is applied. This is as much an art as a science. Because we can't do a biopsy of the muscles every time we train, we have to guess how much, how hard, and how often, based on the available research an the "feeling" of the tissue at the time. Why use submax weights? Because using max weights eventually stops working, and simply increases the risk of injury. Why not just do as many reps as possible (A.K.A. train at “100% intensity”, or “train to failure”) for every increment/workout instead of changing it only every 2 weeks? Because when using sufficient frequency to stimulate rapid hypertrophy, you tend to get CNS burn out. Fortunately, it isn’t necessary to train at “100% intensity” to grow quickly. This is a very unpopular statement to experienced lifters who have prided themselves on torturous workouts. They take pride in their toughness and in their willingness to self inflict nauseating exhaustion workout after workout. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THIS. As long as it is not taught as the correct way to train for “growth”. So 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. Which is - 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. Please try to avoid "forced reps". During the concentric phase push on the weight but make sure it goes up "quickly". If you are doing an exercise that requires a partner, and he can no longer lift the weight up quickly, you're done. Fatigue actually "decreases" the damage caused by eccentric reps. The fibers have to be actively contracting while lengthening in order to cause the "right" kind of microtrauma. Further discussion on fatigue and its relation to a proper hypertrophic stimulus The 1st set, as with the 2nd set, merely places a given amount of strain on the tissue. As long as you are supporting the weight, the stimulus is present. You may have heard some discussion about fatiguing fibers becoming disassociated from the rest of the contracting fibers, and thus avoiding the strain. This is true in one sense, and false in another. As a fiber fatigues, it is true that it will stop contracting. When enough fibers fatigue, the tissue as a whole will no longer be able to move against the resistance and you have reached what we call “momentary muscle failure”. Some studies done using eccentric exercise have demonstrated that high resistance eccentric reps produce more microtrauma when done by a fresh muscle, when compared to eccentric reps done after pre-fatiguing the muscle. This would not be wholly unexpected given the above explanation about fatiguing fibers. However, there is another issue involved that must be taken into account. No fiber is completely isolated from the rest of the tissue, even when it becomes fatigued. So even when one fiber becomes fatigued (sarcomeres by sarcomeres) that fiber will still experience passive stretch by virtue of being attached to adjacent and in-series fibers. So even if a fiber fatigues right away, if the set continues, that fiber will be stretched and strained with the rest of the tissue, the only difference being that the forces will be shifted from the contractile elements of the fiber to the outer structural elements of the fiber. As we know, both passive and active strain/stretch produce hypertrophy. In short, fatigue is not a critical factor, although it obviously holds importance given the nature of “lifting” weights. I think where more confusion comes in, is when people begin talking about "intensity". Intensity is generally associated with effort; the greater the effort required, the greater the intensity. This naturally leads to the idea that the last few reps, which require the most effort, are the most effective. If we are strength training, this is often true. However, when training for muscle growth, the fatigue generated by training to failure and beyond (e.g. forced reps) quickly interferes with our ability to train with sufficient frequency. |
Cardio on Off Days
Sunday, Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday are rest days. Light cardio (20-40 min.) may be performed on rest days. Incline treadmill (brisk walk) should be first choice." Why is incline treadmill the 1st choice? Its easy enough to be sustained for a long period, yet doesn't interfere with big muscle group movements such as squats or leg press, like bike and stairs do. Nevertheless, you can certainly do whatever cardio you chose without concern for effectiveness (except swimming). So, if you like biking or jogging better, it will work just fine. PROPER WAY TO SD “de·con·di·tion - To cause to decline from a condition of physical fitness, as through a prolonged period of inactivity or, in astronauts, through weightlessness in space.” The whole point of Strategic Deconditioning is to strategically decondition the muscle tissue. It has nothing to do with rest or strength (that’s for periodization not SD). The best way to Strategically Decondition is to sit around on your butt all day and ask people to get things for you so you don’t have to get up. CARDIO DURING SD Will serious cardio sessions during the SD week hamper your results? Well, it will have the greatest conditioning effect on those muscle groups used for the cardio. Exercising has the opposite effect as Deconditioning. By doing intense exercise you are conditioning the muscle to be resistant for future exercise bouts. Chronic aerobic exercise interferes with strength and size gains on a number of different levels (CNS, MHC expression, etc), none of which have anything to do with deconditioning. I haven't found brisk walking (on a good incline) to significantly hamper deconditioning. DIET DURING SD Eat maintenance during your SD. Keep fat low though. It's easier to over eat when fat is high. Nothing magical. Avoiding high fat foods just helps a person not exceed their maintenance calorie level. Now, if you are going to do a LOT of cardio during your SD, it probably won't matter so much. If you're trying to gain weight, I would suggest eating the same for about 3-4 days into your SD. Then drop the calories a bit as your metabolic rate slows down. If your calories are really cut, and you don't want to eat maintenance for 2 weeks, don't SD. Move right into the 15s after your 5s. Not only that, but go ahead and extend the 5s as long as your joints are keeping up (i.e. feeling good). |
this is a link to where you can get a downloadable version for free of HST FAQs
http://www.hypertrophy-specific.info...ST;f=13;t=4624 |
ok now all the above posts are from the HST website....
i thought this might be helpful for anyone wanting to do HST.... also, i read up that u can do full body 6x a week HST style while cutting... dont have much info on it right now, but will tune in later.... hope this helps.. |
ok... so i finally got the 6x per week cutting HST routine....
here it is: I'm doing 6x a week. HST training culled from the Vicious Pimp My HST eBook. weeks 1-2 Squats OHP Lat Pulldowns (chin grip) Bench Press DL 15 reps for 1 set, M-Sa, starting weights will be around 55% of my 5rm, +/-5% or so. weeks 3-4 Squats OHP Chinups Bench DL incline laterals incline curls 15 reps done cluster style, the italic exercises are stretch point exercises. weeks 5-8 Squats OHP Chinups Bench DL incline laterals incline curls 15 reps, might drop down the reps when the weights start to get really heavy and I have to start doing negatives, which hopefully happens once I progress past my 5rm. For weights progression, I will increment every other day (so, two days at the same weight), and faster if I've found I have gotten that much stronger towards the end of the cycle. Which I hope I have, especially on the bench because it's been... years since I've benched for real. -----x----- well, i think that answers everything :D |
The Mystery of Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy
Richard Joshua Hernandez, B.S. and Len Kravitz, Ph.D. Introduction Through exercise, the muscular work done against a progressively challenging overload leads to increases in muscle mass and cross-sectional area, referred to as hypertrophy. But why does a muscle cell grow and how does it grow? Although an intense topic of research, scientists still do not fully understand the complete (and very complex) picture of how muscle adapts to gradually overloading stimuli. In this article, a brief but relevant review of the literature is presented to better understand the multifaceted phenomenon of skeletal muscle hypertrophy. What is Muscular Hypertrophy? Muscular hypertrophy is an increase in muscle mass and cross-sectional area (1). The increase in dimension is due to an increase in the size (not length) of individual muscle fibers. Both cardiac (heart) and skeletal muscle adapt to regular, increasing work loads that exceed the preexisting capacity of the muscle fiber. With cardiac muscle, the heart becomes more effective at squeezing blood out of its chambers, whereas skeletal muscle becomes more efficient at transmitting forces through tendonous attachments to bones (1). Skeletal muscle has two basic functions: to contract to cause body movement and to provide stability for body posture. Each skeletal muscle must be able to contract with different levels of tension to perform these functions. Progressive overload is a means of applying varying and intermittent levels of stress to skeletal muscle, making it adapt by generating comparable amounts of tension. The muscle is able to adapt by increasing the size and amount of contractile proteins, which comprise the myofibrils within each muscle fiber, leading to an increase in the size of the individual muscle fibers and their consequent force production (1). The Physiology of Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy The physiology of skeletal muscle hypertrophy will explore the role and interaction of satellite cells, immune system reactions, and growth factor proteins (See Figure 1. for Summary). Satellite Cells Satellite cells function to facilitate growth, maintenance and repair of damaged skeletal (not cardiac) muscle tissue (2). These cells are termed satellite cells because they are located on the outer surface of the muscle fiber, in between the sarcolemma and basal lamina (uppermost layer of the basement membrane) of the muscle fiber. Satellite cells have one nucleus, with constitutes most of the cell volume. Usually these cells are dormant, but they become activated when the muscle fiber receives any form of trauma, damage or injury, such as from resistance training overload. The satellite cells then proliferate or multiply, and the daughter cells are drawn to the damaged muscle site. They then fuse to the existing muscle fiber, donating their nuclei to the fiber, which helps to regenerate the muscle fiber. It is important to emphasize the point that this process is not creating more skeletal muscle fibers (in humans), but increasing the size and number of contractile proteins (actin and myosin) within the muscle fiber (see Table 1. for a summary of changes that occur to muscle fibers as they hypertrophy). This satellite cell activation and proliferation period lasts up to 48 hours after the trauma or shock from the resistance training session stimulus (2). The amount of satellite cells present within in a muscle depends on the type of muscle. Type I or slow-twitch oxidative fibers, tend to have a five to six times greater satellite cell content than Type II (fast-twitch fibers), due to an increased blood and capillary supply (2). This may be due to the fact that Type 1 muscle fibers are used with greatest frequency, and thus, more satellite cells may be required for ongoing minor injuries to muscle. Immunology As described earlier, resistance exercise causes trauma to skeletal muscle. The immune system responds with a complex sequence of immune reactions leading to inflammation (3). The purpose of the inflammation response is to contain the damage, repair the damage, and clean up the injured area of waste products. The immune system causes a sequence of events in response to the injury of the skeletal muscle. Macrophages, which are involved in phagocytosis (a process by which certain cells engulf and destroy microorganisms and cellular debris) of the damaged cells, move to the injury site and secrete cytokines, growth factors and other substances. Cytokines are proteins which serve as the directors of the immune system. They are responsible for cell-to-cell communication. Cytokines stimulate the arrival of lymphocytes, neutrophils, monocytes, and other healer cells to the injury site to repair the injured tissue (4). The three important cytokines relevant to exercise are Interleukin-1 (IL-1), Interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor (TNF). These cytokines produce most of the inflammatory response, which is the reason they are called the “inflammatory or proinflammatory cytokines” (5). They are responsible for protein breakdown, removal of damaged muscle cells, and an increased production of prostaglandins (hormone-like substances that help to control the inflammation). Growth Factors Growth factors are highly specific proteins, which include hormones and cytokines, that are very involved in muscle hypertrophy (6). Growth factors stimulate the division and differentiation (acquisition of one or more characteristics different from the original cell) of a particular type of cell. In regard with skeletal muscle hypertrophy, growth factors of particular interest include insulin-like growth factor (IGF), fibroblast growth factor (FGF), and hepatocyte growth factor (HGF). These growth factors work in conjunction with each other to cause skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Insulin-Like Growth Factor IGF is a hormone that is secreted by skeletal muscle. It regulates insulin metabolism and stimulates protein synthesis. There are two forms, IGF-I, which causes proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells, and IGF-II, which is responsible for proliferation of satellite cells. In response to progressive overload resistance exercise, IGF-I levels are substantially elevated, resulting in skeletal muscle hypertrophy (7). Fibroblast Growth Factor FGF is stored in skeletal muscle. FGF has nine forms, five of which cause proliferation and differentiation of satellite cells, leading to skeletal muscle hypertrophy. The amount of FGF released by the skeletal muscle is proportional to the degree of muscle trauma or injury (8). Hepatocyte Growth Factor HGF is a cytokine with various different cellular functions. Specific to skeletal muscle hypertrophy, HGF activates satellite cells and may be responsible for causing satellite cells to migrate to the injured area (2). Hormones in Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy Hormones are chemicals which organs secrete to initiate or regulate the activity of an organ or group of cells in another part of the body. It should be noted that hormone function is decidedly affected by nutritional status, foodstuff intake and lifestyle factors such as stress, sleep, and general health. The following hormones are of special interest in skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Growth Hormone Growth hormone (GH) is a peptide hormone that stimulates IGF in skeletal muscle, promoting satellite cell activation, proliferation and differentiation (9). However, the observed hypertrophic effects from the additional administration of GH, investigated in GH-treated groups doing resistance exercise, may be less credited with contractile protein increase and more attributable to fluid retention and accumulation of connective tissue (9). Cortisol Cortisol is a steroid hormone (hormones which have a steroid nucleus that can pass through a cell membrane without a receptor) which is produced in the adrenal cortex of the kidney. It is a stress hormone, which stimulates gluconeogenesis, which is the formation of glucose from sources other than glucose, such as amino acids and free fatty acids. Cortisol also inhibits the use of glucose by most body cells. This can initiate protein catabolism (break down), thus freeing amino acids to be used to make different proteins, which may be necessary and critical in times of stress. In terms of hypertrophy, an increase in cortisol is related to an increased rate of protein catabolism. Therefore, cortisol breaks down muscle proteins, inhibiting skeletal muscle hypertrophy (10). Testosterone Testosterone is an androgen, or a male sex hormone. The primary physiological role of androgens are to promote the growth and development of male organs and characteristics. Testosterone affects the nervous system, skeletal muscle, bone marrow, skin, hair and the sex organs. With skeletal muscle, testosterone, which is produced in significantly greater amounts in males, has an anabolic (muscle building) effect. This contributes to the gender differences observed in body weight and composition between men and women. Testosterone increases protein synthesis, which induces hypertrophy (11). Fiber Types and Skeletal Muscle Hypertrophy The force generated by a muscle is dependent on its size and the muscle fiber type composition. Skeletal muscle fibers are classified into two major categories; slow-twitch (Type 1) and fast-twitch fibers (Type II). The difference between the two fibers can be distinguished by metabolism, contractile velocity, neuromuscular differences, glycogen stores, capillary density of the muscle, and the actual response to hypertrophy (12). Type I Fibers Type I fibers, also known as slow twitch oxidative muscle fibers, are primaritly responsible for maintenance of body posture and skeletal support. The soleus is an example of a predominantly slow-twitch muscle fiber. An increase in capillary density is related to Type I fibers because they are more involved in endurance activities. These fibers are able to generate tension for longer periods of time. Type I fibers require less excitation to cause a contraction, but also generate less force. They utilize fats and carbohydrates better because of the increased reliance on oxidative metabolism (the body’s complex energy system that transforms energy from the breakdown of fuels with the assistance of oxygen) (12). Type I fibers have been shown to hypertrophy considerably due to progressive overload (13,15). It is interesting to note that there is an increase in Type I fiber area not only with resistance exercise, but also to some degree with aerobic exercise (14). Type II Fibers Type II fibers can be found in muscles which require greater amounts of force production for shorter periods of time, such as the gastrocnemius and vastus lateralis. Type II fibers can be further classified as Type IIa and Type IIb muscle fibers. Type IIa Fibers Type IIa fibers, also known as fast twitch oxidative glycolytic fibers (FOG), are hybrids between Type I and IIb fibers. Type IIa fibers carry characteristics of both Type I and IIb fibers. They rely on both anaerobic (reactions which produce energy that do not require oxygen), and oxidative metabolism to support contraction (12). With resistance training as well as endurance training, Type IIb fibers convert into Type IIa fibers, causing an increase in the percentage of Type IIa fibers within a muscle (13). Type IIa fibers also have an increase in cross sectional area resulting in hypertrophy with resistance exercise (13). With disuse and atrophy, the Type IIa fibers convert back to Type IIb fibers. Type IIb Fibers Type IIb fibers are fast-twitch glycolytic fibers (FG). These fibers rely solely on anaerobic metabolism for energy for contraction, which is the reason they have high amounts of glycolytic enzymes. These fibers generate the greatest amount of force due to an increase in the size of the nerve body, axon and muscle fiber, a higher conduction velocity of alpha motor nerves, and a higher amount of excitement necessary to start an action potential (12). Although this fiber type is able to generate the greatest amount of force, it is also maintains tension for a shortesst period of time (of all the muscle fiber types). Type IIb fibers convert into Type IIa fibers with resistance exercise. It is believed that resistance training causes an increase in the oxidative capacity of the strength-trained muscle. Because Type IIa fibers have a greater oxidative capacity than Type IIb fibers, the change is a positive adaptation to the demands of exercise (13). Conclusion Muscular hypertrophy is a multidimensional process, with numerous factors involved. It involves a complex interaction of satellite cells, the immune system, growth factors, and hormones with the individual muscle fibers of each muscle. Although our goals as fitness professionals and personal trainers motivates us to learn new and more effective ways of training the human body, the basic understanding of how a muscle fiber adapts to an acute and chronic training stimulus is an important educational foundation of our profession. Table 1. Structural Changes that Occur as a Result of Muscle Fiber Hypertrophy Increase in actin filaments Increase in myosin filaments Increase in myofibrils Increase in sarcoplasm Increase in muscle fiber connective tissue Source: Wilmore, J.H. and D. L. Costill. Physiology of Sport and Exercise (2nd Edition).Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 1999. References 1. Russell, B., D. Motlagh,, and W. W. Ashley. Form follows functions: how muscle shape is regulated by work. Journal of Applied Physiology 88: 1127-1132, 2000. 2. Hawke, T.J., and D. J. Garry. Myogenic satellite cells: physiology to molecular biology. Journal of Applied Physiology. 91: 534-551, 2001. 3. Shephard, R. J. and P.N. Shek. Immune responses to inflammation and trauma: a physical training model. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 76: 469-472, 1998. 4. Pedersen, B. K. Exercise Immunology. New York: Chapman and Hall; Austin: R. G. Landes, 1997. 5. Pedersen, B. K. and L Hoffman-Goetz. Exercise and the immune system: Regulation, Integration, and Adaptation. Physiology Review 80: 1055-1081, 2000. 6. Adams, G.R., and F. Haddad. The relationships among IGF-1, DNA content, and protein accumulation during skeletal muscle hypertrophy. Journal of Applied Physiology 81(6): 2509-2516, 1996. 7. Fiatarone Singh, M. A., W. Ding, T. J. Manfredi, et al. Insulin-like growth factor I in skeletal muscle after weight-lifting exercise in frail elders. American Journal of Physiology 277 (Endocrinology Metabolism 40): E135-E143, 1999. 8. Yamada, S., N. Buffinger, J. Dimario, et al. Fibroblast Growth Factor is stored in fiber extracellular matrix and plays a role in regulating muscle hypertrophy. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 21(5): S173-180, 1989. 9. Frisch, H. Growth hormone and body composition in athletes. Journal of Endocrinology Investigation 22: 106-109, 1999. 10. Izquierdo, M., K Hakkinen, A. Anton, et al. Maximal strength and power, endurance performance, and serum hormones in middle-aged and elderly men. Medicine and Science in Sports Exercise 33 (9): 1577-1587, 2001. 11. Vermeulen, A., S. Goemaere, and J. M. Kaufman. Testosterone, body composition and aging. Journal of Endocrinology Investigation 22: 110-116, 1999. 12. Robergs, R. A. and S. O. Roberts. Exercise Physiology: Exercise, Performance, and Clinical Applications. Boston: WCB McGraw-Hill, 1997. 13. Kraemer, W. J., S. J. Fleck, and W. J. Evans. Strength and power training: physiological mechanisms of adaptation. Exercise and Sports Science Reviews 24: 363-397, 1996. 14. Carter, S. L., C. D. Rennie, S. J. Hamilton, et al. Changes in skeletal muscle in males and females following endurance training. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology 79: 386-392, 2001. 15. Hakkinen, K., W. J. Kraemer, R. U. Newton, et al. Changes in electromyographic activity, muscle fibre and force production characteristics during heavy resistance/power strength training in middle-aged and older men and women. Acta Physiological Scandanavia 171: 51-62, 2001. 16. Schultz, E. Satelite cell behavior during skeletal muscle growth and regeneration. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise 21(5): S181-S186, 1989 |
hey ppl
i got this off the HST board and i think y'all might find this very useful here we go: Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
peace Sentinel ps: i hope this helps someone |
[QUOTE=0311;12072]One last final thing. Obviously, full body splits are far and away superior to the one muscle per week "supercompensation theory". Here is how they compare and why it's superior:
Quick Example: 1 muscle per week frequency (classic BB'er split) Monday- Chest Flat bench-3x10 Inclines-3x10 Dips-3x10 Tuesday- Back Pulldowns-3x10 Rows-3x10 Pullovers-3x10 Total sets per week: Chest = 9 sets Back = 9 sets HST Full Body (three times per week frequency) Using 8 rep mesocycle example. (Monday, Wednesday, Friday) Flat Barbell Press-2x8 Incline Dumb. Press-1x8 Barbell Rows-2x8 Chins-2x8 Total sets per week: Chest = 9 sets Back = 12 sets -Basically, you are getting in the same amount of work sets per week. According to the above program, where is the arms, shoulders, and leg workout? How I can include them in this program? Thanks... |
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