Critique my first HST routine

K

kaos

New Member
Howdy all. I came across this site a few weeks ago and it really intrigued me. It was so different than what I've heard before. Years ago, about 7-8 I trained a body part split for a few months and the gains were good in the beginning. I then tried HIT a couple of years later for another couple of months and didn't make any gains. Back then my diet was horrible so it's not really a fair assessment. In general I just never gave it a real shot and stuck with it.

For the past few months I've been working out with kettlebells and I've actually improved quite a bit. Even though I hate going to gym and love working out at home, I've started going back last week to find my 15,10,5 maxes to start this program.

Here's what I'm gathering from researching here and this is what I'm looking at for my first cycle.

- Deadlifts
- Dips
- Chins
- Incline DB or BB (more than likely DB, but due to the baby weights used, I will be zig zagging tons or using the same weights over again)
- DB rows or seated rows
- standing Overhead DB Press
- random ab work maybe a set or two or crunches if I'm up for it that day.

I will not be doing any squats this time since the only part of the my body that has any mass are my thighs. I can squat more than I can deadlift. I'm extremely bottom heavy with a big butt. Gotta thank my Cuban genetics for that. So I'm trying to add more to the top and even out a little.

A couple of questions on my above routine.

1. I'm wondering if I should drop the overhead pressing. It seems like my tri's and front deltoids are already doing quite a bit from the dips and inclines. Or is everything fairly rounded in my above routine?

2. I had planned to do bent over DB rows, but when I went I did my 5 rep max it feels like I'm not working hard enough even though I can't lift it up anymore. I've never done low reps, so this is new to me and maybe I just need time to get adjusted to the higher weights used. Should I just stick to the DB rows?

Sorry for the long post.
smile.gif
I'm long winded at times.

Thanks again.
smile.gif
 
I prefer bent over rows with a BB. You can use a much higher load. Are you adding weight with dips and chins? Weighted chins are awesome for the lats, in my opinion.

Routine looks solid. Make sure to eat big.
 
I haven't tried the bent over rows with a bb yet, but maybe I should.

I can do 9 bw dips and 8 chins. So I figured for the 15's I would use the assist machine they have at the gym and I guess part of the tens. For the 5's I'm either thinking of moving to a different gym (I really hate 24 hour fitness) that has dipping belts (my small local gym) or buy a dipping belt.

Eating big for sure. Funny I've been practicing eating big. I have my calorie counter thing online and when I first did it about a month ago, I was shocked at how little I was actually eating when I thought I was eating more than that.
 
About the overhead pressing, I prefer to do Behind the Neck Press or Upright Rows to hit the Lateral Delts, I find overhead presses like military press work too much of the front delt, and not enough of the side. Be warned though that BTN Press and Upright Row comes with an additional risk to your shoulder joint and rotator cuffs. Use extremely good form at all times. If you stick to DB Shoulder Press, try to keep your arms back and concentrate on using your side delts.

Chest dips shouldn't really hit the front delt much, if you do them wide.

I think you may have to get used to the load and small reps of the bent over row. If you're not used to it then neurologically you'll improve very fast, and the more weight you pick up the more you'll feel like you're working. Bent Over Row is a better all round exercise than Lying DB Row, and more load.
 
Yeah I have to be careful with my shoulders, typically in the past i haven't been able to workout past a few weeks or so because of my left shoulder.

It's one of the reasons I started doing kettlebells. I really think they helped my shoulder. They are much stronger than ever before. I guess time will tell if they are okay after I get started on the first cycle, but so far so good.

I forgot to add I'm also doing some rotater work at the end of each workout and I'll probably continue to do some while I SD.
 
Good plan. Your rotator work will pay off later in strength and injury prevention. Take it from a guy who can't lift one arm over shoulder height anymore. (but am doing rotator exersizes to rehab it)
I think you'll progress faster without the assist machine. Just cluster the reps. Each workout you'll get more reps in the first cluster until you're doing all 15 at once. You have a really good start at 9. I would do about 2 or so cycles wide grip, then as many doing narrow grip (8-12")

Don't worry about overworking the arms, since you're just doing compounds and no arm iso's. You should see some beef loading up on them just from that routine; it shouldn't be too much IMO.
 
Totentanz, you mentioned eating big. I'm in my second week of 10's and starting to feel a little fatigued. I believe a lot of it has to do with my diet, I eat healthy, but don't think I'm eating enough.

Do you know of a site/article that would give me an idea of what my calorie/protein/carb intake should be?
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Feb. 28 2007,16:06)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Good plan. Your rotator work will pay off later in strength and injury prevention. Take it from a guy who can't lift one arm over shoulder height anymore. (but am doing rotator exersizes to rehab it)
I think you'll progress faster without the assist machine. Just cluster the reps. Each workout you'll get more reps in the first cluster until you're doing all 15 at once. You have a really good start at 9. I would do about 2 or so cycles wide grip, then as many doing narrow grip (8-12&quot;)

Don't worry about overworking the arms, since you're just doing compounds and no arm iso's. You should see some beef loading up on them just from that routine; it shouldn't be too much IMO.</div>
Thanks. I hadn't thought about doing the dips and chins like that. That assist machine didn't work out as well as I hoped. Either it helps too much or not enough. I wasn't sure how I was going to slowly increase it.

So just to make sure I understand. For the 15's I should do say 9, then pause do another one or two until I get to 15 and do that for the two week period during the 15's? If so, I like that idea and I will have to do that.

Do you think I should just do one set of them instead of doing two sets during the 15's like that?
 
<div>
(dr_janitor @ Mar. 01 2007,15:59)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Totentanz, you mentioned eating big. I'm in my second week of 10's and starting to feel a little fatigued. I believe a lot of it has to do with my diet, I eat healthy, but don't think I'm eating enough.

Do you know of a site/article that would give me an idea of what my calorie/protein/carb intake should be?</div>
This guy seems to be pretty popular and there are tons of good articles and how much to eat and stuff.

http://www.bodyrecomposition.com/articles.html
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">So just to make sure I understand. For the 15's I should do say 9, then pause do another one or two until I get to 15 and do that for the two week period during the 15's? If so, I like that idea and I will have to do that.
Do you think I should just do one set of them instead of doing two sets during the 15's like that? </div>
I think if you can handle two sets of fifteens you should, just to get in the volume. It may be too taxing for you (we're talking about a working set, after warmups) while you're struggling to hit an unclustered set; it's up to you.
When you cluster, you do as many as you can (I.E., 9) then as many as you can for the next try, say you do only 5. That leaves you owing yourself one rep more. But you TRY to get that 6.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top