Would your body adapt to HST?

[seizer]

I ask this from a very amateur point of view, but since this program is constantly changing with every week during a cycle and with every cycle there after, wouldn't you be able to continue doing HST reaping the benifits?

Rep, set and weigh scheme's are changing constantly, so the only thing that you would really need to change are the excercises used. Other than that could in theory stick to it permantly...not that i would, but i would like to know the extent of which i could remain on the training regimen and still gain.

 

[JohnRobHolmes]

i have never tried it, but from what i have read it varies enough that your body would never get "efficient" with the routine. the strategic deconditioning really helps keep the gains coming. it would be total looks though, and not much strength for the mass. but then you could always use that mass and train for strength only.

 

[ghettostudmuffin]

It's true that the size of a muscle doesn't neccesarily correlate with the strength of a muscle because lighter weights, higher reps training builds the size of the fibers, while heavier weight, lower rep makes them denser. There is a scientific explanation if you want to know. Check out theweightrainer.com for a legit explanation as to why this is. Also, the way I said it may be off a bit, I'm abit rusty on that, think I'll check out the site myself. One thing to note however, even though you can make a muscle bigger without making it much stronger, you can then make the muscle stronger than it was previously because a bigger muscle always has a higher potential for strength. So building size actually helps you to get stronger and vice versa in the long run. Simply put, it's easier to make an 18" arm stronger than a 16" arm do to the greater potential for strength in the larger arm. It's probablysafe to say that the larger arm has quite abit bigger muscle fibers or cells. You can then makes these fibers much stronger. Think of it like 2 different engines that come stock. Here comes a really poor example as I don't know much about cars. Say You've got your 3.8L v6, and your buddy has a 350v8. Obviously the v8 is stronger and produces more power. Now lets say your engine is in a little rice rocket and you supe it up alot. Now you can go faster than him. So the smaller engine can outperform the bigger engine at this point. But then your buddy throws on a badass custom built edelbrock 4-barrel carburetor and supes it up other various ways and now his bigger suped up engine beats your smaller suped up engine. See what I mean?

 

[seizer]

That analogy isn't bad actually. But i never knew that stuff u said.

 

[Tom Treutlein]

Your body would adapt to pretty much anything, provided you give it proper nutrition and rest.

That said, HST would work wonders if your goal is size. It's not based on bodybuilding lore, which is common of most routines these days. It's based on scientific data and physiology that tells us why it is the muscle grows. Check the HST link in the Training Methods sticky at the top of this forum.

Also, visit here: http://www.hypertrophy-specific.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi?;act=SF;f=13

Read every post on the FAQ. After that, read it again, because it's very rare that someone memorizes and especially comprehends something the first time.

The analogy wasn't that bad, but it wasn't too great either. I know Casual put up a good one in the past, so I'm not even going to bother making my own. What Ghetto said is true, though. A bigger muscle between two individuals is one story, but if you yourself have 15" arms, your potential for a bench press may be 315 lbs. (realize people can be very small and gain a lot of strength). Now, obviously your shoulders, lats and chest also play a role, but let's say you're capped at that number due to triceps being weak and at that size, you can't get any stronger (this I highly doubt, but it's just a random figure for the sake of this example). If you increase your arm size to 15.5"-16" or so, you'll start being able to break past that previous 315 lb. plateau in the long run, due to you increased potential for strength.

We just had a debate on this recently, and the general consensus seems to be that it is true. I know I believe it.