First Attempt At HST

[Chthonian]

I plan to take a crack at HST. My joints seem to be calling for it, and it intrigues me. The only issue I have is a physically demanding job which calls for me to move 10-70 lb. packages (a job with UPS, for any person wondering) for three hours a night at a rate of 1200 packages per hour (usually passing this), Monday through Friday.

After much reading, I see that SD is an important part of HST. It makes sense, but I'd like to see it for myself. The issue is, I have no way of making my work load any less. I'm due for a promotion, but that's in a month or so, and I'd rather not wait, since it's not guaranteed.

That being said, will the routine still be effective? I've had the job since March 14th, so the way I see it is that what I've been doing now has become my base amount of work, so in a sense, can't this be my "deconditioned" state, since it's built into me by this point, and the weight lifting is what will really determine my level of conditioning?

Hopefully I'll get a response some time soon, so I can really determine what my options are. It's been like a splinter in my mind the past two days, and I want to rid myself of it.

Now that my rant is over, here's my choice of exercises:

Full Olympic Backsquat
Good Morning
Flat Bench Press
Glenn Pendlay Rows
Standing Military Press

In my opinion, these are the most functional exercises a person can do. I would like to use the deadlift, but my job involves enough lifting from the floor, and doing it thrice a week would be troublesome, especially coupled with squats.

If there's one thing I've learned from WSB, it's that good mornings are amazing for building strength in the posterior chain, while being much less draining on the CNS and the body as a whole than deadlifts. My primary goal is hypertrophy now, but functional strength is always nice. Since that's my scenario, I figure squatting and good morning...ing would go wonderful together.

I would utilize dips and chinups, but in all honesty, I seem to get more from flat bench pressing and rowing. If done properly, rows are the best horizontal pulling movement. Pendlay rows are the cream of the crop. I could throw in chinups every so often for some vertical pulling, but I'm not too worried.

Finally, closing with one of the most functional movements ever, the standing overhead/military press. I love this exercise. It's a true display of strength. Push pressing may even be an option for me here.

I'd throw in some core work, such as bridges and frog kicks, randomly, just to make sure I'm covered on all bases.

This got too long.

 

[Dood]

Regarding SD, it will be less effective for you since you are basically working out at work, and therefore you won't get much from the 15's and the first week of 10's. I have a similar problem with a job that is physical, so what I've done is start out with only 2 or 3 15's workouts then move on to 10's, increasing load quickly to get to the heavier range and repeating some weights when necessary.

 

[Totentanz]

Despite your job, you should still get the joint strengthening effect from the 15s. It may cause you to not gain as much as you would, but there isn't much you can do. I would just try out a standard cycle with 15s, 10s and 5s and see how it goes. If your gains are really poor, maybe in the future you could just do the 15s, then skip to the 5s, since you want the 15s for your joints.

By the way, I'm also a big fan of good mornings. I love them.

 

[Chthonian]

I assumed I wouldn't have picked the best scenario in which to start HST. That's okay, we need to deal with what we have. I'll run a generic cycle of HST and see where it takes me. Hopefully I'll manage to add some mass regardless of my job. Should I come out of it with little gains, I suppose bigger increments in weight would lead to more hypertrophy.

 

[imported_dkm1987]

Be sure to eat enough since you have a physical job, without the proper nutrition for growth there won't be any.

 

[Chthonian]

Oh, come now, dkm. I may be a newbie to this forum, but certainly not to the iron game.

I eat close to 4500 (shy of that) right now. My weight is staying roughly the same. Therefore, I'm bumping calories up to 5000.