Advice

C

canehdian_guy

New Member
Hey guys,

I'm pretty new to HST and have beendisingenuousg the routine "simplify and win" which exclusively uses compound exercises. I'm having a lot of trouble working out my biceps using compound exercises. I would like to do chinups because I hear they are great for building mass on the back and biceps but I cannot do 15 reps of weighted chinups. Instead I have been doing reverse bent over rows but I've yet to feel even the slightest burn in my back or biceps from doing them. Do you guys have any suggestions as to what compound bicep/back exercises I could do? I'm primarily interested in my biceps because they are much less developed then my back muscles.

Thanks a lot guys,
Canehdian
 
- throw in a bicep curl with your routine.
- for chinups.. do close grip underhand pulldowns where your bodyweight exceeds the weight needed to do chinups for the desired rep range and percentages.
aka you weigh 200lbs and can do 10 chinups max. for 10s find out the percentages and work it out something like.
75% 120lbs x 10 (pulldowns)
85% 140lbs x 10 (pulldowns)
..
..
100% bodyweight (200lbs) x 10 (chinups)
(btw, these numbers aren't correct, just getting my point across.)

I've never liked BB Rows, luckily for me i have a herniated disc now anyways so i cant do them even if i wanted to.
If you want an exercise you can feel it in your back and does the same thing BB rows are suppose to do. Try seated cable rows with a V-bar or something. Up to you.
 
"I would like to do chinups because I hear they are great for building mass on the back and biceps but I cannot do 15 reps of weighted chinups. Instead I have been doing reverse bent over rows but I've yet to feel even the slightest burn in my back or biceps from doin them."

If you can't do 15 reps of weighted chins, then start with no added weight. If you can't do 15 reps, then do what you can. Chinups are very forgiving: they develop your strength over time if you keep at it.

I am fortunate that in my gym I have access to a chinup assist machine. It was very helpful during my first weeks of chinups. Only later was I able to add weights.

As far as the "burn" goes, forget about it. The issue isn't "burn", but a regular increase in the load over a series of frequent workouts. Some days you may feel a "burn" and some days you may not.

Good luck with your training. Keep us posted on your progress.
 
wobbles said:
- throw in a bicep curl with your routine.
- for chinups.. do close grip underhand pulldowns where your bodyweight exceeds the weight needed to do chinups for the desired rep range and percentages.
aka you weigh 200lbs and can do 10 chinups max. for 10s find out the percentages and work it out something like.
75% 120lbs x 10 (pulldowns)
85% 140lbs x 10 (pulldowns)
..
..
100% bodyweight (200lbs) x 10 (chinups)
(btw, these numbers aren't correct, just getting my point across.)

I've never liked BB Rows, luckily for me i have a herniated disc now anyways so i cant do them even if i wanted to.
If you want an exercise you can feel it in your back and does the same thing BB rows are suppose to do. Try seated cable rows with a V-bar or something. Up to you.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the reply. I forgot to add something important though sorry. I workout at home so I don't have access to machines. If I did I'd definitely try either that or assisted chinups. Have any other advice in regards to this anybody?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
TunnelRat said:
If you can't do 15 reps of weighted chins, then start with no added weight. If you can't do 15 reps, then do what you can. Chinups are very forgiving: they develop your strength over time if you keep at it.

I am fortunate that in my gym I have access to a chinup assist machine. It was very helpful during my first weeks of chinups. Only later was I able to add weights.

As far as the "burn" goes, forget about it. The issue isn't "burn", but a regular increase in the load over a series of frequent workouts. Some days you may feel a "burn" and some days you may not.

Good luck with your training. Keep us posted on your progress.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply TunnelRat. I'm just unclear about one thing, you said "The issue isn't "burn", but a regular increase in the load over a series of frequent workouts". How would I go about increasing the load over a series of frequent workouts if I can only do my own bodyweight? Should I perhaps start out doing reps until I'm 75% of the way to failure, then add a chinup each workout?

I had a member on another site suggest that if I did chinups only letting myself half way down (at the bottom of a rep my arms would be in an L shape), that the exercise would target my biceps more then the full range of motion and I'd also be able to do more reps. Does this seem correct to you guys?

Thanks
 
I used to use my Wieder home gym. When I was able to bench the stack, I just started adding reps as my strength increased. After doing chins and dips for awhile, you'll eventually be able to rep your BW. Then you can buy a belt and start adding weight to it.
 
this is what im doing for my next hst cycle also i got a belt for adding weights for chinups and dips just wish there was a safe way to add weight to ur body for pushups as i would add that to my cycle also ( my gym plates only go upto 25kg each and its not safe to stack more than 1 plate on ur back for pushups hehe :p )

forgot to mention i can alread do 20 reps of pushups with 25kg on back so i do need more weight but weighted jacket is a really expensive option :(
 
I had the same problem with the pushups, I put around 25kg in a backpack and I didnt feel too comfortable lugging that on my back aswell as having the fear of the backpack breaking with that kind of weight inside. For my first cycle I did dumbbell flyes on the ground then superset it with pushups ( sometimes plyo pushups for added difficulty.) Personally I would not incorporate pushups in hst unless it's a warm up as I found out through doing and with some guidance from other members. In saying that if you still want to do them what I did for my first cycle was do wide, normal, narrow stance pushups one after the other stopping a rep before failure, although this won't help too much as you get stronger and into the lower reps it's still better if you can't do anything else. Hope this helps.
 
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