Just wondering about peoples experiences with HST. Also what are your opinions on the principles involved.

Has anyone adapted HST in certain ways to meet their needs well?

I am looking into it again and seeing if it is applicable to me.

I always end up injured whenever I try HST. Stupid overtraining. I like UD2.0 much, much more.

I've had good results from HST after having completed 6 cycles. After a few more cycles, I'm going to try a flavor of Starr's 5x5.

HST is pretty easily "adapted" to fit needs, afterall it's just a set of principles.

my opinion on the principles is they're intuitive (assuming growth is the goal).

Mechanical Load
Chronic Stimuli
Progressive Load
Strategic Deconditioning

section 8,
I'm really not sure how someone would overtrain using HST; as opposed
to another program. As for UD2.0, are you saying you like to diet much
more than lift?

I liked it a lot. It was the first program I used where I had my workouts planned out and organized weeks in advance, which helped me make major improvement in my consistency and commitment to training. That may be the main reason it worked so well for me, but it did work.

There's a workout that goes with UD2.0.

my bad, sorry about that. I've read a bit about Lyle's diet but need to spend some time reading his site.

Here's my take on HST:

1) The high frequency of training is good for size. For gaining, retaining and building on what you've gained in size, it is always better to train more frequently (3-4 times per week). For high frequency training, then HST fits the bill.

2) Two sets per exercise really doesn't incur as much growth as higher set totals. This is one drawback to HST. Two sets per exercise works well for beginners and old people, but not so much for the intermediate to advanced lifter. High frequency/low set training is great for strength, but crappy for size and hypertrophy. Unless you're doing other physical activities (MMA, strongman competition, shotput, etc.) in addition to HST, then it's better to vary your set totals from workout to workout: i.e. 3 sets-6 sets-2 sets.

3) The periodization of reps should be compressed into a week's span. Your body responds better to compressed cycles of reps rather than longer cycles. Whereas HST has you doing 15 reps in Week One, 10 reps in Week Two and 5 reps in Week Three, you will get better results by doing it all in one week: Monday (15 reps), Wednesday (10 reps), Friday (5 reps). Cycling your reps within the week is much better, because you will gain size and strength at a faster rate. Overall, HST is not a bad program. But if you vary the sets and use weekly cycles of reps, then HST will be a great program.

Thanks, guys and achan for your detailed response.

Confused...

imo, sets are fairly arbitrary. ie; at rep max, one set of 15 deadlifts may be plenty. (max-stimulation is an excellent method for managing fatiuge...)

point being that as load increases, volume decreases.

HST is not about a magical # of sets or repetitions. the point is to progressively increase the workload, regardless of how you go about it.

I've been using a similar routine to HST for a while with good results. I think I'm going to start a journal thread on this to get some feedback.

Here's the gist of it (MWF):
Squat Variation 5RM, only 1 work set
Deadlift Variation 5RM, only 1 work set
Bench Variation 5RM, only 1 work set
[5 other exercises, 1 set each, in a higher rep range]

Monday looks like:
5RM: squat
5RM: snatch-grip rack pulls
5RM: dumbbell bench press
6-10: incline bench press
6-10: rope-grip pull-up
6-10: french press
6-10: standing barbell curls
6-10: ab machine

Wednesday looks like:
5RM: bench
5RM: box squat
5RM: snatch-grip deadlift
6-10: barbell row
6-10: military press
6-10: close-grip bench press
6-10: incline db curl
6-10: lying cable crunches

Friday looks like:
5RM: deadlift
5RM: front squat
5RM: pause bench (3 second pause at bottom)
6-10: wide grip pull-up
6-10: incline db press
6-10: weighted dips
6-10: standing db curl
6-10: hanging leg raise

The 5RM lift is changed if I fail to make an improvement on two workouts in a row. So if on two Wednesday's in a row I can't set a new snatch-grip deadlift max, then I'll change it to another deadlift variation (like a platform deadlift).

For the other 5 sets, the "higher rep" work, I aim for additional reps each workout until I hit 10. Once I hit 10, I increase the weight. If on any day I fail to increase the reps, I'll sub out the lift.

Like I said, this has been working fairly well for me. Strength gains have been great. Size gains have been slower, BUT consistent (couple pounds a month). I might mix in a lower intensity volume day once a week or once every other week to see if that speeds up the size gains.

The best way to use HST is as a 6-week micro-cycle within a larger meso-cycle, as follows (the order is very important, clearly):

HST - 6 weeks
Hybrid Strength/Size - 6 weeks
5-day Split - 4 weeks
Powerlifting - 4 weeks

Rinse & Repeat after 1 week of total rest.

Eat a shitload of good food, drink a lot of water, take 5g of creatine mono on workout days, sleep well, think positive, take 1 dose of fish oil and 1 dose of green tea extract per day, drink a glass of natural fruit juice first thing upon rising every morning, and don't drink alcohol. Cut out all the other crap and bullshit and save your money. Assuming you are not an idiot and know how to properly train/perform the lifts, if you do this for a year, I will guarantee you'll be absurdly bigger, stronger, and healthier. There, I just distilled about 100 billion pages of books, threads, and crappy websites on bodybuilding down to a half-page summary.

Oh yeah, and Oprah changed my life.

You are my hero...

So joining her book club is worth it then?????

OF COURSE !@!#@#!