My HST Workout Update
an update to my progress using the HST (hyper-specific training) program.
Week 1
This is the week I found my 15, 10, and 5 rep maxes for each workout. I’ve never actually took the time to record my maxes in all major lifts so recording this is useful so I look back in a year and see how I’ve progressed. Doing 15 reps was much harder than I expected as it takes a LOT of energy out of you compared to 6-8 heavy reps.
Week 2
Took this week off (strategic deloading) as the program recommends. This was the hardest week; forcing yourself not to go to the gym when it’s so routine to you is a pain and makes you feel lazy, but it was necessary.
Week 3
This is the first week of my 15 rep block. It starts off with very, very light weight which feels a little silly, but every workout after gets heavier and becomes more challenging. 2 sets of 15 reps for all 8 exercises uses A LOT of energy and makes a full body 45-60 min workout very tiring.
What I like so far
- HST Calculator is great because it provides a stress-free roadmap of exactly what weight I’ll be lifting and how many reps
- Full-body workouts feel great compared to high-volume splits
- Lots of squating; 3x a week versus my usual 1x
- Very little training to failure
- Low volume ensures that I’m not overtraining
- Lighter weight allows me to focus on perfect form
What I dislike
- Any errors in your 15,10,or 5 rep maxes makes for annoying readjustments; You’ll either feel like the weight is waay to light or heavy if your maxes aren’t accurate enough
- You’ll use a lot of 2.5lb and 5lb plates; time consuming to load up bar
As you can see, there are a lot of things I like and only a few I dislike, so overall, I love the program and recommend it. It seems to be more geared towards bulking or building muscle but I am currently trying to lose bodyfat so it’ll be interesting to see the results in the coming weeks
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Posted in Training
August 8th, 2008 at 7:05 am
I am curious to see your progress on this routine. It looks as though you have set this up properly according to the HST site. I will be starting my first cycle next week. I have already determined my RMs for the 15, 10, and 5 rep sets. I plan to run three such cycles to give this program a fair evaluation. I started as a powerlifter in the 80s and have since retired from that as I am now in my 40s. I am looking to add some hypertrophy / size to my physique. I already lift with some considerable poundages. This method looked appealing to me due to the similarities it has with the staple 5 X 5 routines that I have been using for years now. Good luck and keep us posted please.