A refreshing change from traditional workout.
- Goal: building muscle mass and endurance
- Technical complexity: medium
- 1-Day Split
- Duration: 60 – 90 minutes
- 3 times a week
HST is a very interesting, refreshingly different workout plan. The effect of HST training is usually muscle growth and weight loss.
In this workout plan, the whole body will be trained three times a week using basic exercises such as squats, bench press, shoulder press etc. The workout plan is divided into five 2-week periods (10 weeks total). During the first 2-week split you will do 15 rep sets, 10 rep sets during the second 2-week split, followed by 5 rep sets during the third. The fourth 2-week period you will do negative reps or alternatively do another 2-week period of 5 rep sets while increasing the weight if possible. The fifth 2-week period is for resting (SD = Strategic deconditioning).
A negative rep signifies an exercise where the weight is so heavy that you need assistance with putting it up. The actual exercise is to slowly put the weight down within 2 – 5 seconds. In practice, this means that your weight should be your 2-rep max and that you will do 1-2 reps by yourself followed by 3-4 reps with your friend assisting the weight up finishing with you slowly putting the weight down. Negative reps are not a necessary part of the HST.
The weight used is calculated in a manner that if, for example, your 15 rep maximum during the bench press is 70 kilos, the weight for the first two weeks are as follows:
2 x 15 x 45 kg / 100 lbs
2 x 15 x 50 kg / 110 lbs
2 x 15 x 55 kg / 120 lbs
1-2 x 15 x 60 kg / 130 lbs
1-2 x 15 x 65 kg / 145 lbs
1-2 x 15 x 70 kg / 155 lbs
The idea is to add a little weight every time you workout so that during the sixth time, you can hardly complete one clean set. The rate of increase could be 1.25 – 5 kg / 2.5 – 10 lbs depending on the exercise. The main concern is that the weights will increase every time.
The same logic is used when planning the weights used for the 10 and 5 rep set weeks. You will have to estimate or try out these weights before starting the training cycle. During the later weeks that include the 10 and 5 rep sets in their 2-week periods, you should warm up very carefully before each exercise. Otherwise, the risk of injury becomes significantly higher when the weights used increases.
Notice that the weight of the 10 rep periods during the first and second weeks are probably lighter than the weight of the 15 rep periods last weight. In addition, the same trend is observed when changing from 10 rep periods to 5 rep periods.
Select one exercise for each muscle group to make a HST workout plan for yourself. For example, a good selection of basic exercises for your training cycle could be the following:
- Squat
- Deadlift
- Bench Press
- Cable Pulldown
- Dumbbell Shoulder Press
- Barbell Lying Triceps Extension
- Barbell Bent-over Row
- Barbell Curl
- Abdominal exercise of your choice, three sets
Why is HST working?
- Muscle load. Muscles must be loaded in order to grow.
- Muscles will be loaded often. Muscles will fully recover already within 36 hours. Anabolic phase (muscle growth) will last for a maximum of two days after the training. When a specific muscle is trained often enough (for example 3 times a week), it is constantly growing.
- Progressive load. Muscle growth is not only about the weight. Muscle growth can be sped up by progressively increasing the weight so that every time you are training, you will load your muscle slightly more than last time.
- No need to do sets until failure. In order to grow muscle, it’s not necessary to complete the sets. If the sets are fully completed, recovery of the muscle strength will take more than two days due to neural reasons. That would cause trouble due to the frequent training intervals of the HST.
- A break between the cycles (9 – 14 days). The purpose of the break is for your body to recover properly and cause a stronger stimulus in the beginning of a new cycle.
HST is recommended to do 2 – 3 five week periods in a row. If you decide to do HST with the example exercises mentioned above you can buy a training journal.
Need a training diary?
If you want to save your time and support this site, you can buy a training diary below (printable image and excel sheet). By using training diary, you can track your progress and maintain your motivation and you don’t need to remember the exercises by heart.
Training diary as an excel sheet and printable picture.
Training diaries as an excel sheets and printable pictures.
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Looking for a different type of workout plan?
Source: http://hypertrophyspecific.com/
