Going to Start 1st HST cycle

S

smittynsmith

New Member
Hey my name is Matt Smith, I am currently 18 years old, I weigh 158lbs and am 5'8". I have been lifting on and off for the last 3 years of my life but gotten more serious the past year. I was on a 4 day split and made good gains but eventually came to a hault for the past month or so. I read some stuff on HST and even know it goes against everything I have done it sounds interesting and has amazing reviews so I thought I'd give it a shot, why not atleast try a cycle huh? I am so what of a health nut so I eat good foods especially the last year working on gettin in those proteins and good fats: whey, almonds, oatmeal, cottage cheese, greek yogurt, chicken, etc. I am looking to bulk and gain muscle but I want to gain and look good like hard, tight, defined, vascular not look like a big powerlifter.
Now here is the routine I have come up with and this is pretty much based off of the HST standard routine on this site, but what I have been reading in this forum would consider this to have too much volume so I would like your opinions. I would split it into an A/B routine for some variety. This would be a full body workout 3x week M/W/F alternating between routines A and B every workout.

Routine A:
Legs: Squat
SLDL
Chest: Incline DB
Dips
Back: Bent Row
Pull-Ups (wide and narrow)
Traps: Shrugs
Shoulders: Shoulder Press
Lat Raises
Delt Fly
Biceps: BB Curls
Triceps: Skull Crushers
Calves: Calf raises

Routine B:
Legs: Deadlift
Leg Curl
Chest: Bench
Incline Flys
Back: Bent Row
Narrow Grip Pullups
Traps: Shrugs
Shoulders: Military Press
Lat Raises
Delt Flys
Biceps: Preacher curls
Triceps: Tricep Extentions
Calves: Donkey raises

So my question is this seems like alot of exercises what do you guys think since it is pretty much the HST website standard routine? I really like the idea of A/B workouts and I read about doing an upper and lower split like Lower (M/W/F) and Upper (T/T/S) and then I would have Sunday off. What do you guys think any suggestions in how to incorporate this and ideas on routine. Thankssss
 
i would do it more like this.


Routine A:
Legs: Squat
Dips
Back: Bent Row
Pull-Ups (wide and narrow)
Shoulders: Shoulder Press
Biceps: BB Curls
Triceps: Skull Crushers
Calves: Calf raises

Routine B:
Legs: Deadlift
Chest: incline-Bench
Back: Bent Row
Narrow Grip Pullups
Shoulders: Military Press
Biceps: Preacher curls
Triceps: Tricep Extentions
Calves: Donkey raises
 
Faz's suggestion is good. You can also drop the isos if you start too feel fatigue buildup. This full-body A/B split is supposed to go like this: A routine on Monday, B routine on Wednesday, A routine on Friday, B routine on Monday and so on. Working out every day but Sunday as you mentioned on your last paragraph is not suggested unless you are assisted (on drugs), are a genetic freek and are getting plenty of calories. If you really want to split up (and have the time) try M/W/F workouts with legs on the AM and upper body in the PM of the workout day (or the other way around). That way you still give your body a full day of needed rest to do it's thing. Remember that you are not growing when you are working out, you are growing when you are resting.
 
Ok thank you for your advice. For the 15's cycle should I stick to doing 1 set of everything? or should I do 2 sets on compound exercises and 1 set on isolations?
 
smittynsmith said:
Ok thank you for your advice. For the 15's cycle should I stick to doing 1 set of everything? or should I do 2 sets on compound exercises and 1 set on isolations?
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Try to think in terms of total reps. Try to hit 30-60 reps depending on how close you are to your natural limits. Obviously this means 2 total sets for the 15s is the minumum for most people. If you get someone who has never lifted weights, or has not lifted weights in years, you can even get away with 1 sets for the first few weeks. But for most recreational lifters, 2 sets (30 reps) in the minumum.
 
im confused bryan..i thought around 15reps per workout is ok/good? 30 reps is 6 sets of 5 3 times a week and i thought that would be overtraining?? or should you progress to 30 reps per workout the more trained you are? i have been training for 4-5 years but i have always done 15 reps per workout. Any advice is appreciated
 
ok, so I have done my first two 15 workouts and my third is tomorrow (Friday). I am following the A/B routines Faz suggested. I am doing 2 sets of all exercises except on A days since I do dips and that hits the triceps I only do 1 set of Skull Crushers and I do 2 sets of BB curls. Then on B days I do Narrow Grip pullups which hits the biceps so I only do 1 set of preacher curls and 2 sets of tricep extensions because i did not do dips that day. Does that sound like a good idea?
 
looks ok to me, however i would still try to get 2 sets on each muscle group.

how have you liked the 15's so far?
 
Ok, yes I would be glad to do 2 sets, I was just worrying about overtraining, I'll try 2 sets of everything next time and see how it goes. Yes, I have like the 15's so far and I have found them surprisngly tougher coming off SD than I thought they would be. So far, so good though I'm liking the workouts and the principles of HST. Can't wait for the 10s!
 
good work mate, yer the 15's kicked my ass!

try to get some measurements if you can to monitor your improvements, i was suprised to gain on the 15's!

good luck with it all mate!
 
ratty said:
im confused bryan..i thought around 15reps per workout is ok/good? 30 reps is 6 sets of 5 3 times a week and i thought that would be overtraining?? or should you progress to 30 reps per workout the more trained you are? i have been training for 4-5 years but i have always done 15 reps per workout. Any advice is appreciated
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As faz mentioned, the heavier the weight gets the more potent the stimulus so fewer reps can be just as effective as higher reps with elss weight.

As far as overtraining goes, don't try to predict that you will overtrain simply by counting reps. Overtraining is a nervous system phenomena and is brought on primarily by fatigue. For the majority of the time, you are not taking each set to failure. You may be close, but you shouldn't really be fighting for your life just to finish the set. Should for 25-30 reps...and see how you feel. Don't be too agressive with the poundages. By that I mean select your weights conservatively. The higher frequency allows for less time training to failure, so don't get ahead of yourself, go ahead and let the weight itself bring on the gains without worrying like you didn't "feel" like you worked hard enough.
 
Just got done with my 3rd set of 15s and all I have to say is they are kicking my assss, and this is suppose to be the easy part of the HST program, haha. I did 2 sets of everything today and it was tough, but it felt good. I'm liking the higher frequency, lower volume and the program overall, looking forward to making some gains in the 10s and 5s. If i get ahold of a measuring tape I will take some mearsurments, maybe put up pics? Thanks for the advice so far guys, its alot of help.
 
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