Chest/Shoulder/Tri - Leg/Back/Bi

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deelborofem

New Member
Hi all - new to the forums - Been lifting for 5 years now on and off. Ran a couple of HST cycles when I was just first starting out, but I realized now that it probably wasn't the greatest approach; at the time. Since then, I have brought my strength and knowledge up a ton, along with nutrition...
275x4 bench, 365x7 squat, 405x9 deadlift, are my all time best lifts. Recently, I just completed a 15 week diet with heavy intense lifting along with eventually hitting 0 carbs at the end.. and right now i'm on a 9 week tranistion diet doing the Dan John 40 day workout, just for some fun and to break the monotony of constantly hitting heavy heavy weight for weeks...
After this 9 week phase, I am ready to throw on some mass and HST looks like a great fit for me; at this time.

Now, one question...
browsed Simplify and Win, good info o n there, but I came up with a question on my own here...

what if i did Chest-Shoulder-Tri, Legs-Back-Bi HST split?
like...

Sun,Tues,Thurs: Squats, Stiff-Leg, Calves, Rows, Pullups, Hammer Curls, some other Curls, Abs

Mon,Wed,Fri/Sat: Incline, Dip, Seated DB Press, Rear Raise, Traps, Pushdown, Decline Extension

Is this a sound approach? And i'd be doing 1 set each exercise. 1x15, 1x10, 1x5, 1x5. Cool? not cool?

Thanks.
 
I think its better to keep it a full body workout, 3x/week. To do that, you may have to cut down on the exercises, I usually favor compounds, and cut isolations if needed. The problem with 6x/week split programs, is that there is alot of overlap, and some muscles get worked hard on all six days. Your delts for example would get destroyed.
 
I see what you're saying in regards to my deltoids. So I guess; Squat, Stiff-Legs, Calves, Incline, Dip, Row, Pullup, Press, Abs.. 2 sets for Squats, inclines, rows, and presses..1 for stiff-leg, dips, and pullups?
 
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Why are you working traps on chest, shoulders, triceps day? Traps are part of the back. You are already going to be hitting the traps on your back day so now you would be doubling up and hitting them six days a week.

Shoulders don't need that many exercises. If you are doing incline bench, that hits the shoulders anyway.

I think if you are going to do a split, you'd be better off with an upper/lower split.
 
Well, I understand what you're saying but I really don't see anything wrong doing some kind of upper back work on a daily basis. What would you say to doing 100 band pull aparts a day, along with your regular lifting? I got in the habit of doing that, and let me tell you, my traps and upper back were significantly bigger and my traps would dig into the bench with soo much more ease when setting up to bench
 
Well if you want to compromise growth in the rest of the body, then go ahead and continue to specialize on traps. You are doing almost double the volume on traps that you are doing on the rest of your body, so... if you don't care about symmetrical growth, that's fine. Upper traps tend to grow more easily than other muscle groups, just seems counter intuitive to me to add volume to the one muscle group that grows the easiest. I'd personally add the volume in to whatever muscle group grows the slowest.
 
Ah, yes, that's a very good point! So I'm just going to stick to my above full body plan with an extra set for let's say my calves, since they are most definitely lagging compared to my quads and hamstrings. Just looks weird.

And one more question i have -- in regards to "strategic De-conditioning"...do I test my 15,10,5 maxes for a week then take that following week off? Or find out the maxes one week, then start the program the following week? Thanks
 
You should SD after testing your maxes. If you are currently lifting now, you can just test for your 5 RMs then estimate your 10 and 15 from those numbers. I was going to suggest something for calves. I actually prefer two calf lifts for most people if they are not genetically blessed in the calf department. One seated and one standing, or something like along those lines.

Don't take my sarcasm in my last post personally, I was just giving you a hard time.
 
If you really want to do a split similar to what you describe, I would do something more like:

Workout A: Incline bench, weight or seated dips, close grip bench, tricep pushdowns, military press or lateral raises
Workout B: Squat, SLDL or RDL, Calves, Rows, Pulldowns or Pullups, Curls

I think six lifts per workout would be plenty of volume. However, I think you'd be better off with a fullbody and if you want variation, just do two different fullbody workouts.
 
Nah I'll just stick with the full body... just to keep it simple. For months and months now I have been doing low-volume, high intensity while eating way under maintenance and I think slow & steady is the key in terms of incorporating more volume. Maybe after the first cycle I'd do something like that.
 
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