Most Hypertrophy

www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html

I am sure some of you guys visited that site…They give you a sample program for the most hyperthrophy. There are some differences between this and Waterbury’s Total Body training. What do you guys think?

[quote]ynballin wrote:
www.hypertrophy-specific.com/hst_index.html

I am sure some of you guys visited that site…They give you a sample program for the most hyperthrophy. There are some differences between this and Waterbury’s Total Body training. What do you guys think?[/quote]

I think you’re right, there are differences. Are you asking which approach is better?

If so, I think HST is a good option for beginning lifters. You get a good groove in your lifts before hitting heavy 5s, you (hopefully) learn to lift with solid technique because the lifts don’t change over the course of an eight week cycle, you learn that increasing tension over time is the key to hypertrophy.

Waterbury’s TBT is a simple undulating plan that I’m sure works very well. He has you change lifts every two weeks, which in an intermediate lifter should be fine for hypertrophy, if not ideal for bringing up strength in specific lifts (which of course the program is not concerned with.)

Generally, I think 3x/wk total-body programs are great for hypertrophy…whereas for strength 2 upper/2 lower for 4 sessions per week is probably better. But that’s just an opinion; there are plenty out there (Starr, Pendlay, and C.S. Sloan come to mind) who espouse 3x/wk. for max strength gains.

One thing I would recommend is to go to Kelly Baggett’s website (Higher Faster Sports) and read his ‘No-BullCrap Bodybuilding Articles’. In particular, the article ‘A Training Philosophy for Solid Mass Gain’ is probably the best article about hypertrophy that I’ve ever read.

wow, thanks Ramo…that was pretty much everything I was looking for.

Just to clarify on hst: HST isn’t totally about full body 3x per week. It’s not fixed in stone That layout of a full body routine on hst’s main faq page is just a simple blueprint to get you started with learning the science of hypertrophy . If you check on their forums for more info and faqs, then you’ll see that hst is really based on principles that can be manipulated into different practices and are flexible on schedule.

You can do twice per day with 4rm, 8rm, 12rm in two week phases, some go to 20rm, stretch out each microcycle or shorten to one week, lengthen entire macrocycle to 10-12 weeks, organize into upper/lower routines 6 days a week rather than full body 3 days a week, etc. Overall it’s an excellent way to train and complements Waterbury’s routines well. It’s all on the same focus of frequent workouts.

[quote]Ramo wrote:
Generally, I think 3x/wk total-body programs are great for hypertrophy… [/quote]

…when you’re a beginner. I’d say intermediate to advanced trainees following head-to-toe workouts would do better with twice-per-week.