First HST Cycle Questions

C

chinkmama

New Member
I’m planning out my first HST cycle and I’ve got some questions. Here’s what I have so far.

Exercises

Squat
Deadlift
Bench Press
Chinups
Bent over rows
Dips

Working out Monday, Thursday, Saturday

1x15 first 2 weeks
2x10 weeks 3,4
3x5 weeks 5,6

5-10 pound increase for bench press and rows each session
10-20 pound increase for squats and deadlifts per session
Increase of one rep for chinups and dips each session.

What should I do for weeks 7 and 8? I’ve read that I should continue using 5 rep maxes and additional weight, but I don’t know if I’d be able to keep good form.

How does the balance look for muscle groups being worked? I’m thinking of adding military press or shoulder shrugs to work my shoulders, but would that be too much for the upper body?
 
I would add mil press but that is just me.

For weeks 7 and 8 try to do negs for what you can. I know it can be tough for some lifts without a spotter. If you just cant do negs for a lift just do your 5rep max and maybe add a tiny bit each time.
 
chink...

Looks Ok but as Spyke pointed out, forgot the shoulders, include Military's for sure
biggrin.gif


One other thing you may find Deadligfts getting too much mixed upi with squats, if you do (most of us find it hard to accomodate)
biggrin.gif
alternate by doing deads once per week and squats on the other two training days!
cool.gif


If you have a partner, go for negatives, if not extend your 5's phase by two weeks or longer (until your joints tell you otherwise
laugh.gif
), you can do the 5RM for a whole week then increase the load as you see fit.
 
Definitely include standing military press as the guys suggested.

You can do negatives easily with dips and chins. You can also do negatives with the standing presses. Just push press the weight to lockout and do your negatives.
 
I would advise buying a dip belt - that will allow you to add weight rather than increasing reps for dips/chins.

Obviously I don't know how many dips or chins you can do of bodyweight so it might not be appropriate now.

I personally wouldn't workout deads and squats in the same workout either so you might want to be able to alternate. That would allow you to include standing military press without increasing the number of exercises, even if include another leg exercise - you might do something like

squats / deads
leg curls / leg press
bench / dips
chins / chins
incline press / military press
row / row

Some people don't like alternating, I prefer it as it allows more exercises to be used. Also means you can increase the weight by 5kg a time rather than 2.5kg.

Just some suggestions

Cheers

Rob
 
thanks for all the feedback guys.

I'm going to take out dips (already have bench press) and chinups because they're not as easy to calculate gains in weights as barbells. Instead I will add military presses and upright rows (with a focus on the traps instead of shoulders for this excercise)

I'm thinking of not doing any abs since HST is hypertrophy specific, and I'm not shooting for a thick stomach, is my reasoning correct?

For biceps, triceps, and forearms, I have no excercises specifically targetting these muscles since I'm only doing compound excercises, will my arms still grow in proportion without additional stimulation or should I add close grip bench and barbell curls?

thanks again

edit: personally, I don't have trouble doing squats and deadlifts in one session, but my weights for both those are still under 200lb (what a weakling I am, just learned the two excercises last week
biggrin.gif
) I'm thinking for the 15s I could do both, but then alternate squats 2x and deadlifts 1x per week for the 10s and 5s, what are your guys' thoughts on that?
 
I'd say your plan for deads/squats sounds bang on, just listen to your body.

The only thing is alot of experienced guys here will really recommend dips and chins over the "alternatives" and I'd say after a year or so of testing I prefer them myself.
 
I was under the impression that upright rows are junk and chew up the shoulder pretty good.  Deadlift is what works the lats especially if you add a shrug at the end.  Upright rows dont come anywhere close to deadlifts in terms of training efficiency.  If you want something to replace the chinup then a cable lat pull down is the next best thing.  I do lat pull downs until I am near body weight, then I move to pullups/weighted pullups.  Also in the same spirit you could do decline bench until body weight then do dips/weighted dips.  Seriously, its not a hard calculation, just some simple addition.

Yeah thats fine.  I do ab work, but that is becuase I actually want a bit more meat there.  Alternatively you could do a standard crunch/reverse crunch/etc. routine if you would like to do some ab isolation work.  I beleive it is the general concensus here that heavy compounds provide enough work for the core muscles.  

They say "if you want big arms, do compounds" and they are right.  However there is a significant amount that beleive that arm isolations help out.  Proportioning shouldnt be a problem.  When I bulk again I will be doing bi/tri isos.  I havent decided on whether to do them simply for the metabolic work or use them like a regular exercise in the routine.

If you can do squats and deadlifts in teh same workout without destroying your CNS or having too stiff of a back then go for it.  
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I'm going to take out dips (already have bench press) and chinups because they're not as easy to calculate gains in weights as barbells. </div>

Dips are way better than bench to build the chest, but the best is still to use both alternated, it is a bad choice to &quot;dump&quot; dips.
sad.gif


<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Instead I will add military presses and upright rows (with a focus on the traps instead of shoulders for this excercise)</div>

Upright rows are not the savy for shoulder building, if you want to add on use incline lateral raises and bent over raises, much better isoaltors for the shoulder area specially when mixed up with mil presses.

Upright rows reck most people's shoulders, the only safe way to do them is with dumbells and ensuring that the weight only reaches under your nipples.
 
this looks good stick with it
Squat
Deadlift
Bench Press....incline
Chinups
Bent over rows
Dips
notice i put incline that will work your front delts bor work the back so good to go
cool.gif
biggrin.gif
 
Another $.02.

Incline Bench/Dips
Military Press/Shrugs
Chin Ups/Seated Rows
Squats/Leg Press or regular deadlifts
Staright Legged Dead Lifts/Good Mornings

Kill the upright rows. Bad for the shoulder girdle.

You might want to add in one set of a tricep movement such as close grip bench press and one set of BB or DB curls.

For rep schemes I find the following the best for me:

15's 1 set
10's 1 set plus one drop set of 10's
5's 1 set plus 2 drop sets of 5 each
 
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Kill the upright rows. Bad for the shoulder girdle.</div>

O &amp; G shoots from the hip
laugh.gif
typical cowboy, but true it is! Bad news! More injuries than results there!
laugh.gif
 
I agree about the upright rows. Some people can do them without problems (me for instance, what bugs my shoulders is going too heavy on overhead presses, weird eh??) but those people seem to be in the minority. It's safer just to avoid them completely, since other exercises will cover the shoulders without worrying about possible injuries.

If you plan to not do dips and chins after all, I would suggest that you add them in when you hit the 5s or the post-5s and do negatives with them. Negatives on dips and chins are excellent for pec and lat development and they are probably the easiest exercises in the world to do in a negative fashion.

Deads and squats - I don't think doing them in the same workout is a big deal. Go ahead, but realize that once you gain enough strength, you will have to split them up. I was always a big advocate of doing them in the same workout if you could handle it, but my deads have gone up a lot and now I find it hard to do deads more than once a week if I am squatting on the other days. So just listen to your body and watch your strength progression.
 
<div>
(Fausto @ Aug. 16 2006,03:57)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE"> <div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I'm going to take out dips (already have bench press) and chinups because they're not as easy to calculate gains in weights as barbells. </div>

Dips are way better than bench to build the chest, but the best is still to use both alternated, it is a bad choice to &quot;dump&quot; dips.
sad.gif


<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Instead I will add military presses and upright rows (with a focus on the traps instead of shoulders for this excercise)</div>

Upright rows are not the savy for shoulder building, if you want to add on use incline lateral raises and bent over raises, much better isoaltors for the shoulder area specially when mixed up with mil presses.

Upright rows reck most people's shoulders, the only safe way to do them is with dumbells and ensuring that the weight only reaches under your nipples.</div>
As I learn from advice given to others, I ask: what about db upright rows? Are those bad too?

Thanks,
BG
 
They are better because it allows for internal/external rotation of the shoulder girdle. However, as a shoulder exercise, they are still quite inferior to military press movement or side/front/rear DB raises.
 
DB overhead presses are great but you will probably not be able to press as much weight as with a barbell and you will find it harder to make a good progression with dumbells (you will probably have to add at least 5lbs a db for each increment which means at least a 10lb total increment). You can always use the same loads for a few workouts though.
 
Upright rows should be banned.
biggrin.gif


They're really only for people who don't want to do power cleans and heavy pulls. Six months of power cleans is probably more effective than 3 years of upright rows.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top