Have any of you guys tried this programme, seems like an interesting concept?

Commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. - proverbs 16:3

I tried it for 8 months, I think it's better suited to more intermmediate trainees who can't make linear progress anymore. I couldn't take the protein depravation cycles. It taught me a lot about nutrition though although I found the exercise intructions too vauge. Two brief sentences for each lift is a bit lazy IMO especially when you pay about £40 for the e-book.

oh right yeah I thought so, saw the link at the bottom and read through the huge advert telling why I had to try it and why professional bodybuilders are waisting there time with steroids as its not necessary, thought it looked a little extreme, been looking at maybe trying some 'Tabata' training at the end of my workouts for each bodypart to really get a good pump after some compound heavy sets.

The german volume training looks interesting aswell, so many different choices

Commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. - proverbs 16:3

You looked into HST? The other US forums I've posted on were mad about it. I tried it for a few cycles and got good gains. Its very easy to get bored with it since you hardly ever lift to your maxes. I'll post the routine I was using if you want.

I found it:

Do the workout below three times a week for two weeks, over the 6 workouts build up from 70% on the first day to 100% on the final day.
After the first fortnight start again with 70% of your 12REP MAX and start again.
Only do 2 sets or 1 set of each exercise.


Squats 2 x
Deads 2 x
Flatbench BB 3 x
Wide Pull-ups 2 x
BB Rows 1 x
Shoulder Press BB - 2 x
BB Shrugs 2 x
Skullcrushers BB 2 x
alternate with
Bicep BB standing curls 3 x

Sounds pretty different, how many reps we looking at? The only thing is that sometimes you get accustomed to certain routine and dont like drastically changing it. Currently doing a four day split at the moment, explain more what this HST principle is

Commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed. - proverbs 16:3

HST - Hypertrophy specific training, usually has workouts that are in the higher rep ranges (8 - 12 reps) with shorter rest times (0 - 60 seconds). Basically, the main goal of this type of training is making the muscles bigger. Strength is usually not the main concern here.

If you stick with the same routine, rep range indefinatley you will adapt to it and gains will stop.

Hypertrophy is going to occur within the first 36-48 hours after a workout. The rest of the week is mostly spent not moving backwards. If you hit the muscles again after 48 hours, you can provide stimulus for more growth without significantly hampering recovery.

Also, the volume per exercise per workout session is only one or two sets, because more than that might just be a waste of time. The reduced number of sets allows you to get in a full body workout in just one session, and results in about the same total number of sets per week per muscle group.

The web site goes into more detail (it incorporates other ideas, like progressive load).

Not everyone agrees with HST principles - many feel strongly that muscles need a full week of recovery, so the idea of hitting them every other day is somewhat controversial. I just got started on HST myself, so I can't speak from first hand experience, but it seems like the principles are well supported by research.

http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html