HST Log

[colby2152]

I hope yins don't mind if I put up a log of my cycle that I just started. I won't be posting every time I lift, but any time some type of change in my routine or diet comes up I will make note. This is my 2nd cycle after a 16 day SD. I don't have a scale - I should get one in two weeks, but my last measurements were 192 at 13% BF.

Exercises
Dips
Chins
Shrugs (Smith)
Straight Leg Deadlift (Smith)
Iso-Wide Chest Press
Skull Crushers
Incline Curls (DB)
Leg Press
Calf Raises
Pulley Crunches
Shoulder Press
Broomstick Twists

Sets/Reps
1st Week: 2-3 sets of 15's
2nd Week: 1-2 sets of 15's
3rd Week: 2-3 sets of 10's
4th Week: 1-2 sets of 10's
5th Week: 2-3 sets of 5's
6th Week: 1-2 sets of 5's
7th Week: 2-3 sets of 3's
8th Week: 1-2 sets of 3's
9th Week (if there is one): any progression on the 3's if I can do so

Diet
My diet is pretty simple.. trying to get about 300kcal above maintenance which is about 3300. I am aiming at 200 gram of protein a day, but that barely ever happens... maybe I will take 2 shakes a day. I am also starting creatine at about 5g/day. Most of my protein will be pre/post WO, and my carbs will be early in the day with a vast majority 2-3 hours before WO.

Notes
I am dropping two exercises once I hit the 5's - the incline curls and skullcrushers. There has been a lot of debate on how to handle isolations, and I like what Dan said about isolations' effect on RBE, so I am giving that a try.

Oh yeah.. I tried to do the standard 3x/week when I started this cycle yesterday, but I got burnt out and I missed out on skullcrushers, pulley crunches, and broomstick twists. I am going to try splitting it up however I can.

-Colby

 

[Joe G]

Colby

No bench press or squats

I dont think i could do a cycle without it just cause I love doing them....

Just curious, how tall are you? and maybe you should post the weights your using every once in a while to see your progress, that would make it more interesting.


Joe G

 

[colby2152]

Joe G,

As far as bench press goes, I haven't done full ROM bench press in a year. I think it's more of an egotistical exercise. It's also not the best exercise for rotator cuffs (I eventually got some mild pain and cracking in mine), so I quit that, close-grip, and certain shoulder exercises... I also watch how I do my dips and shoulder press. Squats just scare me, even on a Smith machine.. I don't have a training partner, and I don't want to risk anything on my knees.

1st day of 15's were a lot of work and I was exhausted and couldn't finish the last few exercises.. that's why I am splitting it. I have DOMS in most of my muscles, but that's expected after SD. As for the weights, here they were for Day 1 of 15's:

Dips - 90
Chins - 75
Shrugs (Smith) - 100
Straight Leg Deadlift (Smith) - 100
Iso-Wide Chest Press - 110
Incline Curls (DB) - 15
Leg Press - 290
Calf Raises - 100
Shoulder Press - 40

I ran out of energy and couldn't do Broomstick Twists, Pulley Crunches, and Skull Crushers

Well, I felt like I looked like an as doing 15lb dumbell curls, but hey.. it's part of HST.. the same with Dips and Calf Raises when I took over for guys who were of course lifting traditional style and I had to lower the weight a lot.

Another note, the first exercise I did was Leg Press, but I am definitely changing the order of that. My legs were shaking bad by the time I did the SL Deadlifts.

Also, say my weekend schedule interferes with lifting.. could I go Monday AM/PM, Tuesday AM, Wednesday AM, Thursday AM, Friday AM?

-Colby

 

[colby2152]

Oh yeah, I'm 6-2.. around 190

 

[Fausto]

Colby

Some rumbling...

Quote[/b] ]As far as bench press goes, I haven't done full ROM bench press in a year. I think it's more of an egotistical exercise. It's also not the best exercise for rotator cuffs

Whilst I agree somewhat, it is still one of the best upper body compound exercises, you just have to find the "groove", I found that for a while doing a slight incline was good for my shoulders, but also when I got serious with shoulder building it stopped bitching!

Quote[/b] ]Squats just scare me, even on a Smith machine.. I don't have a training partner, and I don't want to risk anything on my knees.

Squats only really hurt your knees if:

1 - You have serious medical knee problems
2 - You don't do squats properly (best is to do full ROM, if the weight is too heavy just go slightly beyond 90 degrees.
3 - If you are bouncing between lowest point and return to straightened position.

Squats are real good for you, you don't really need a partner, I have done 124 Kgs alone, and that was my best last cycle, did not hurt myself, I simply was very careful, my body weight is almost half of that (currently 69 Kgs naked)

I am not saying that the leg press is bad...nooooo...just........ squats are better!

Anyway your program looks fine so far and as you are still young you have the world to conquer, so happy HSTying.

 

[faz]

3 sets on the 15s is a lot try just 2sets and 2 on the 10s and 3 on the 5s...good luck

 

[colby2152]

Faz, last cycle I did 1-2 sets for 15's.. but I decided to boost that up a bit more. In a day and a half of workouts, I have only done 3 sets for only a few exercises, and it probably won't last too much longer with the increasing load.

Fausto, as far as bench press goes - who knows when I will return to it - I did do bench press with dumbells last cycle though. Squats, I do want to do sometime in the future, but leg press will do for now.

Today was my first try at the split routine:

3x Dips (targeting chest)- 110
2x Shrugs (DB's) - 55
2x Straight Leg Deadlift (Smith) - 110
2x Incline Curls (DB) - 20
2x Calf Raises - 120
2x Shoulder Press - 45
2x Skullcrushers - 35 (doesn't include ezbar)

Intrestingly, the isolations were a bit tough to finish out. I'll probably cut down to 1 set for them next time around and add in extra reps by feel. I am still working on my form on the deadlift. I did a lot better on it today than Monday.

Oh yeah - in terms of nutrition, there was a first for me today.

Creatine monohydrate... I did some research, and I'm going to take 5g/day... but I just made the worst shake of my life by mixing it with vanilla protein powder and water.

It's orange flavored, so I think I'm going to mix it with OJ tomorrow.

I'll do the other half of my exercises tomorrow.. that's about it - thanks for the comments!

-Colby

 

[Sonny]

3-->

Quote[/b] (faz @ Sep. 21 2005,3

3)]3 sets on the 15s is a lot try just 2sets and 2 on the 10s and 3 on the 5s...good luck

I do 3X15, 2X10 and 1X5
That seems to work best for me.
Thanks
Sonny

 

[colby2152]

I did the other half of 15's - Day 2 tonight:

2x Broomstick Twists - 60
2x Chins - 80 (120 lbs of support on the machine)
2x Dips (focused on tri's) - 110
2x Iso-Wide Chest Press - 140
2x Pulley Crunches - 60
2x Leg Press - 320

Didn't feel anything from the twists or crunches. In fact, I had 40 as my original weight to do for pulley crunches, but it was seriously too low. Maybe I under estimated the 15RM.

I was thinking of adding more volume since I am performing a split, but I went with it by feel, which more or less is what I should do.

On note of the exercises... I may switch to using a hyperextension stand for obliques by doing side-crunches, what do yins think?

Felt some DOMS in my tri's from yesterday.

-Colby

 

[colby2152]

The debate of compounds vs. isolations... well - into my 2nd HST cycle, I am starting to realize that I do not need the isolations. I almost want to quit them now, but I am trying out what Dan said by applying isolations such as curls and skull crushers until the 10's, and not to do them into the 5's as to prevent RBE. More or less - it is experiment as of now.

Another update... lifted yesterday, and then started my 2nd week of 15's today. I am still doing a split. Today - on accident, I lifted the weights that I did on Friday, so there should be a good jump for the load come Wednesday. I have been thinking I was doing the pulley crunches wrong, but I had the wrong numbers on my excel spreadsheet, so I'll see how they go tomorrow with the new estimates (120 for 5RM? we'll see.)

Today
3x Dips (chest) - 110
2x Incline DB Curls - 20
2x Shrugs (DB) - 60
1x Calf Raises - 120
2x SL Deadlifts - 110
1x Skulls - 40
2x Iso-Wide Lateral Chest Press - 140

I got the form going good on the straight leg deadlifts... although people look at me kind of weird since it is kind of an unorthodox exercise - especially to the younger college crowd.

The only thing I don't like about HST - yet I do like it at the same time, is that it is very un-egotistisic (if that's a word)... I mean, cmon now I was doing curls with 20 lb dumbells and the dips were 80 lbs under my weight... and then every other guy around me is lifting traditionally going max weight all the time... and to failure to top it off

sorry for the long boring post - had to get some of that off my chest

-Colby

 

[colby2152]

I was sick since Thursday, so it's been five days since I lifted, and I picked up right where I left off - the first half of my "5th day of 15's." Twenty-five minutes long and it was a hell of a workout:

2x Dips (chest) -130
1.5x Chins - 100
1x Incline DB Curls - 25 (didn't get all my reps, looks like I over estimated my rep maxes on the exercise)
2x Shrugs DB - 70
1x Broomstick Twists - 95

My obliques got a good workout for once from the twists.

On another note, I think I truely come to the other side of one debate on this forum - I don't like isolations anymore. I'll continue doing skulls and curls till the end of my 10's, and then go back to 3x/week instead of the split.

Diet - No OJ this week = no creatine till next week. I'm going to start taking measurements and recording kcals and macronutrients next week once I get back up to school from a busy weekend at home.

-Colby

 

[colby2152]

Haven't update in a while - finally started my first day of 10's today. I dropped the isolations (skulls and curls.)

Yeah that's right, I finally came to the other side of the isolation-compound debate!

Still haven't started creatine - my poor @$$ college student of a person can't seem to find funds for a gallon of orange juice right now.

With dropping the iso's, I am now doing a standard 3x/wk routine, here's what I did today in this order:

3x - Chins - 70 (lbs resistance - 2x wide, 1x close-grip)
3x - Dips - 140 (2x chest, 1x tris)
2x - Calf Raises - 130
2x - Pulley Crunches - 100
1x - Straight Legged Deadlift (Smith) - 100
2x - Shrugs (Smith) - 130
2x - Shoulder Press - 60
2x - Wide Grip Chest Press - 130
2x - Leg Press - 400
1x - Broomstick Twists - 70

Well, it felt good that I got through all those exercises and sets with no problem. Interesting note is that when I did shoulder press, I took over for a power lifter who was doing 270!

That's pretty impressive in my book.

I went home this past weekend, and got complimented on my gains from people who haven't seen me in a month in a half... good to hear after completing the 15's!!!

Also, I implemented close grip on the chins to give additional load to the biceps since I took the curls out.

-Colby

 

[chiefhog]

Looks like a solid program, Colby. I too, dropped isolations for the first time ever this cycle. I just added one set of inc. bicep curls yesterday (started the 5s).

 

[colby2152]

Yeah - more and more I realize compounds are the way to go. After combining my routine into the standard 3x/week, it takes me 50 minutes to complete my workout.

2x Leg Press 420
1x Broomstick Twists 80
3x Chins 80 (1 close, 2 wide)
4x Dips 150 (2 close, 2 wide)
2x Shrugs (DB's) 75
2x Calf Raises 150
2x Iso Wide Chest Press 140
2x Pulley Crunches 110
2x Iso-Shoulders 60

I am not feeling anything from the 110 lbs for the pulley crunches, but I'll see how the progression goes. I also notice my triceps get hit from that exercise.

Another note about the HST main board (this one). Can we make it show 50 threads? All those stickys take up half of the board.

-Colby

 

[Joe.Muscle]

Colby I notice you have 6 sets for chest 4 with dips 2 with iso wide chest press how is that coming? More sets than normal for HST and I am doing something similar to that as well.

 

[colby2152]

Joe,

I suppose I have 6 sets targeting chest, but the close grip for dips targets my triceps mostly, so that is why I did the extra sets. So far, I am having no problem with reps or sets, but once the heaver part of 10's hit, I am sure the amount of sets will lower.

-Colby

 

[Joe.Muscle]

Ah ok...i see now.

Thats cool well let me know how it goes. I am currently expierementing with an upperbody only routine with just compounds and higher sets. So far I love it it looks like this.

P.S. I am only doing this for 1 cycle just to expierement.

Chest 5 sets of bench
Back 5 sets of rows
Shoulder press for 3 sets
1 set of side laterals
and 2 sets of shrugs if I have time

So far I feel great. And I started directly in the 10's

 

[colby2152]

Joe,

Isn't 5 sets of chest and back a bit too much - CNS, general muscle fatigure, so forth? I would think I could do 4 sets until the latter end of each macrocycle, and then do 2-3 sets in the end.

I'm almost done with the 10's - finished day 5 tonight. I did everything except leg press, because I didn't feel like waiting another 10 minutes.

I accidently did 190 instead of 170 on calfs, but there was no problem, so I raised my rep maxes for calf raises. The # of sets I have been doing are all down too.

On another note, I finally got back into recording caloric intake this week, and I am average about 3200 kcals with 160g of protein, which is where I want it.

-Colby

 

[Joe.Muscle]

Colby yeah I am half way through my 3rd week, and I have had to cut the set back now to just 4 sets chest and back and just 3 for shoulders and thats it. Only 11 sets per workout. I am just expierementing. The 5 sets were fine up until last workout and then I felt my joints and tendons feeling a little sore, so I backed it off to 4 sets and concentration on mostly increasing load at larger increments.

This is more a feel it out as you go upper body only routine, which we all know that feeling it out as you go, is not the best way to go, it better to statistically have everything down.

I just have had a weird schedule latley and I said well I will try something different. I will tell you I have been eating like a horse everything in sight...definatly not the clean eating route I have been doing for past 6 months or so and while my waist has grown a little bit my upper body is coming along well. I plan on doing this until i get about 3 or 4 pounds on me and then i will cut it back to cleaner eating and 300 or so calories above maintenance.

 

[jvroig]

"Too much" is less about "# of sets" as it is about very individualistic capacity, and also about what exactly is done.

In other words, unless some frail kid says he's going to do 10 sets of 400 pound squats, hard to say what is too much for a person who isn't yourself.