First HST draft workout!

[TridentRush]

So iv been researching HST and it seems to work well for people so i figured i might aswell give it a blast! My only goals really are to get bigger, put on mass, hopefully everything will be proportionate. Iv read that its best to stick to compound style movements so this is what i found/altered to my liking:

Squat
SLDL
Calf raise
Incline Bench Press
Chest Dips
Chin-ups
Flat bench rows
Shoulder press
Lateral raise
EZ bar curls
Shrugs
Tricep pulldowns

I plan to run a 1/2/3 set amount across the different rep variations with the final two weeks at my 3RM. So my questions are, What do you think of this routine? Do you think there is anything missing? and Are there any improvements that could be made?

~ Thanks!

 

[grunt11]

Your exercise choices are solid but if your goal is to maximize muscle mass in the shortest time possible I would consider dumping the isolation and abdominal exercise and stick with compounds until you build a solid foundation and or see that some body part is lacking in which case you and target that for a cycle or two.

In light of that I think these are the best exercises to use prioritized in the order listed: Deadlift, Squat, Supinated Grip Chin Ups, Shoulder Press, Dips, DB Row, Shrug and Bench Press (I prefer incline). Add in a movement for your side delts, and calves and you’re pretty much hitting everything.

For Deadlift and Squat you and alternate between them or do Squats Monday and Friday and Deadlift on Wednesday all depending on how you recover. If you use a wide stance for both Deadlift and Squat it will target your hamstrings pretty well eliminating the need for the Leg Curls, however conventional stance is probably better for hypertrophy do to the greater range of motion in which case I would add in either SLDL or Good Mornings to target the hamstrings rather than using Leg Curls. Supinated Grip Chins allow most people to use more weight and a greater range of motion both optimizing hypertrophy. Shoulder Press because big shoulders make you look big no matter what you are wearing and doing an overhead pushing or extending movement is the best way to hit the long head of the triceps. Dips because of range of motion and most people can use more weight on Dips than Bench Press. DB Row because of greater range of motion over other Rowing exercises. Shrugs because the traps are a huge muscle and will make you look much thicker not to mention big traps show with or w/o a shirt on and make your neck look less long giving the illusion it’s thicker than it is. And Incline Bench because it does seem to help most people develop the upper chest a little bit which gives the chest a flatter look creating the illusion it’s bigger.

Note there’s nothing wrong with the exercises you’ve chosen especially if you know you already have a particular weakness but unless you’ve already established that by doing these compound exercises for a while you will gain more overall mass by sticking with compounds at least for the first few cycles.

Doing 1/2/3 sets and moving to 3RMs is a solid plan.

 

[TridentRush]

Thanks for the response! I have taken into account what you said and altered my routine, better/worse?

 

[grunt11]

I think you will get more out of it with the changes you’ve made. Also, keep in mind that when things get heavy especially during the 5s you might want to drop the arm isolation exercises to save time, ensure recovery and to avoid injury. Anything below about 8 reps on most isolation exercises is dangerous for tendons and ligaments. If you really must keep them all the way through the 5s I would just keep incrementing the weight from your 10RM a little bit at a time until you drop down to 8 reps. at that point I wouldn’t add any more weight until you can get back up to at least 10 reps.