First HST cycle - please check my routine!

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imported_g-rex

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i have been very happy with my gains up until a week and a half ago i put on around 1 lb a week (average) over an 8 week cycle of push, pull legs.

i have always been intrigued by HST principles and have spent the past 11 days on an SD before commencing an 8 week HST cycle.

after seeking lots of advice in various forums, i have come up with the following training plan:-

workout a

squats
decline db press
military press
wg chins
core work

workout b

deadlifts
dips
shrugs
bent over rows
core work

workout a perfomed mon/fri
wrorjout b performed wed then following monday etc....


will be structured so that i do:

2 weeks at 15 reps up to 15rm (2 sets) 70% 1RM
2 weeks at 10 reps up to 10rm (3 sets) 80% 1 RM
4 weeks at 5 reps up to 5rm or 2 wks 5rm 2 weeks negs - not sure yet. (4 sets) 90% 1RM

then a 2 week SD before beginning another cycle.

i realise i have no arm isolation exercises in here but from the advice i received, i will be hitting these with most of the compounds i am doing.

i always have the option of doing some arm iso's on off days if they are really lagging.

any advice would be really appreciated as i am due to start tomorrow, especially regarding core work:-

how is best to stick to HSt principles with core work?

add weight or increase sets?

thanks in advance to anyone who feels they can contribute.

Dave
 
G-REX

You got things pretty much summed up,you're on the right track, workout is tops, I see you like a little extra volume...just eat like a dog
biggrin.gif
else it'll get ya.NO serious eat well mate!
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These simple workouts are the best, I bet your results are going to be tops!
 
<div>
(Fausto @ Mar. 04 2007,16:49)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">G-REX

You got things pretty much summed up,you're on the right track, workout is tops, I see you like a little extra volume...just eat like a dog
biggrin.gif
else it'll get ya.NO serious eat well mate!
cool.gif


These simple workouts are the best, I bet your results are going to be tops!</div>
thanks fausto, i am eating around 3600 kcals a day at the moment on a 40/40/20 split.

supplementing with bcaa, leucine ON whey and CEE tabs.

that is approx 18 times my bodyweight in kcals.

however i have been at this sort of kcal level since jan when i was about 8 lbs smaller.

do you think i should up the kcals slghtly to adjust for the extra weight i am carrying?

thanks

G-Rex
 
<div>
(Keystone @ Mar. 05 2007,15:10)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">18X is fine. You can go up to 20X if need be. Everything looks good with your routine too.
smile.gif


Keystone</div>
thanks keystone,

just finished the first day on 15's!

was ALOT harder than i thought.

not the weights so much, but i was trying to have quite short rest-times to make it slightly more intense.

just 2 sets of 15 reps of squats to start off with made me feel like i just done a 20 mile run!

enjoyed it loads though, i like sticking to just 4 exercises then i do 3 for core work afterwards.

HST Rocks!
smile.gif
 
bad doms today after first set of 15's!

is this due to the fact i was on an sd for 2 weeks do you think or am i just a total weed?
sad.gif
 
That's normal. Goes away.
One thing: arm iso's on an offday needs enough recovery before the next workout, so you could do them like in the 5x5 programs - after your third (&quot;friday&quot;) workout, just before your two days off, or on your saturday, resting them on Sunday.
If that's confusing, just don't do them the day before a workout.
 
Arm iso's on an offday (as long as the volume isn't too high) can be very beneficial. It raises your frequency, so if you support 6x or 12x (AM/PM split) / week, then this can be another solution. Fausto and I both tried this variation of a cycle out last spring with decent results on both ends.
 
Admittedly you guys have younger shoulders and faster recovery, but I'd still rather not WORK my arm muscles and expect them to perform on presses, rows and such the next day, let alone GROW. (IMO)
 
I wouldn't say higher frequency is better for a younger person considering some of the older gents like O&amp;G have trained at high frequency with good results. With that said, every person is different, and HST is a set of principals that can be very flexible in a routine.
 
Just something I'm adding, I don't know much but I read something on another thread in this forum that might apply to you.

They said to switch their chins and rows. Basically put your rows on your squat day and chins on your deadlift day only because your lower back might be tired from the deadlifts that day. Of course I don't have any experience so I can't say.
 
<div>
(kaos @ Mar. 07 2007,00:09)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Just something I'm adding, I don't know much but I read something on another thread in this forum that might apply to you.

They said to switch their chins and rows. Basically put your rows on your squat day and chins on your deadlift day only because your lower back might be tired from the deadlifts that day. Of course I don't have any experience so I can't say.</div>
thanks kaos i will bear that in mind
 
<div>
(quadancer @ Mar. 06 2007,19:05)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">That's normal. Goes away.
One thing: arm iso's on an offday needs enough recovery before the next workout, so you could do them like in the 5x5 programs - after your third (&quot;friday&quot;) workout, just before your two days off, or on your saturday, resting them on Sunday.
If that's confusing, just don't do them the day before a workout.</div>
thanks quad, i like the sound of doing them on the fri/sat.

should i try and keep these within the HST principles as well then?

or as i am only doing them once a week shall i adopt another method?
 
<div>
(colby2152 @ Mar. 06 2007,20:29)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Arm iso's on an offday (as long as the volume isn't too high) can be very beneficial. It raises your frequency, so if you support 6x or 12x (AM/PM split) / week, then this can be another solution. Fausto and I both tried this variation of a cycle out last spring with decent results on both ends.</div>
i could do with some decent reults on my arms as they have never been huge, we are talking sub 15&quot; so any growth would be excellent!

i am on a mwf split currently and will prob do the arm iso's fri/sat but in a later cycle i may look at something similar to what you have suggested.

thanks for the help

G
 
I haven't believed it myself for many years until I tried it myself: NOT doing arms every workout, in a workout with squats and deads, and doing them once a week would make them grow. And grow they did. As Colby said though, we're all a little different and you have to do some experimentation (months, not days) to see what is working for you.
The thing to remember is that the arms are working a lot for your workout itself...so many guys don't get big arms due to overtraining (working) them. Some others may flourish on that...for a time. We all have to change up sooner or later.
If you do arms 3x/week, follow HST principles. If you do them once, you can go ahead and blast to failure, if followed by 2 days recovery. (or a minimum 36 hrs.) Very high rep experiments I did actually shrunk my arms.
Oh, and some of &quot;they&quot; don't know the difference between a pullup and a chinup. Chins are bicep builders with a bit of back. Pullups are lats, little bicep. I use weighted chins on arm day, alternating with cambered bar curls.
Pullups are for lats like Trix are for Kids.
 
i am due to be doing my 5 rep maxes starting today but have a slight concern.

on dec db bench press i worked out my 5 rep max at 40kg, yet my previous week i completed 3 x 10 reps at 35 kg.

the db's in my gym jump from 35 to 40 to 45 kgs and then stop.

any ideas how to approach this from a hst perspective?

thanks

dave
 
Decline DB Bench Press - Why?
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 (esp. if you can only 5rm around 40Kg)

Crank the bench up to 15 degrees and start BB pressing, or switch to weighted dips
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<div>
(kaos @ Mar. 07 2007,00:09)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Just something I'm adding, I don't know much but I read something on another thread in this forum that might apply to you.

They said to switch their chins and rows. Basically put your rows on your squat day and chins on your deadlift day only because your lower back might be tired from the deadlifts that day. Of course I don't have any experience so I can't say.</div>
It's all personal preference after you split the deads and squats. For instance, my AB split this cycle has me going rows on my deads day and chins on my squats day, and it has worked out great thus far.
 
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