Since Ridgely determined that HST had the greatest potential to cause hypertrophy (due to its allowing the nervous system to recover between lifts) I decided to commit 6 weeks (4 of which being the brodyssey) to completing a full 3 cycles.
The interesting thing that sets HST apart from my experience, is that it postulates that only 1-2 sets of a lift (with appropriate weight and repetitions) are necessary to cause a hypertrophic response, and any sets in addition to the "effective sets" only burn calories while causing unnecessary and useless stress to the muscle.
According to Bryan Haycock's recommendations, the progressive loading of the lifts increase in weight steadily but quickly and decrease in reps steadily but slowly. This "strategic deconditioning" is purposeful, as studies suggest the muscles respond to an increase in load, even if exposure to the load is reduced. Therefore, it is easy, in a cyclical pattern, to continuously increase load on muscle over the course of multiple cycles.
In addition, giving 48 hours to repair the muscle, and the nervous system muscular activation pathways, it is efficient to work the full body once every other day, 1-2 sets per lift, 1-2 lifts per muscle group. This should provide ample muscular stimulation with minimal time/energy cost, according to Haycock's hypothesis.
My HST plan I prepared for myself is simple, and looks a lot like this:
First 3 workouts are 11 rep sets, and I started with 50% of my 1RM.
The second 3 are 8 reps, and the final 3 are 5.
Every workout, I will add 10 pounds to the load of the bigger, compound exercises, like squat and deadlift, and I will add 2.5-5 for smaller, isolated exercises like curls and lateral raises.
After completing 9 workouts, (which I will finish my first cycle of, this upcoming Wednesday, Day 15 of the brodyssey) I will then return to the rep scheme of the beginning, but only drop half of the added weight load. By doing so, I will ensure that the load will continuously increase until the end of my six week trial.
So far, I have noticed a definite increase in strength, with the loads decreasing in perceived difficulty as the weights increase. I speculate that I have already increased the 1RM for my deadlift and squat, and may even pass the weight of my original 1RM as a 5 rep lift during my third cycle.
More appropriate to the goal, I have also noticed a pump-like swelling of the musculature that never seems to dissipate. It began around the 3rd workout and persists to today.
Based on judgements so far, I am convinced that I will see positive movement toward my goal with this program.
Updates to come.
Tomorrow: The Big Ass Book Challenge - Roosh V and Hemingway
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