HST with calisthenics

B

BigL

New Member
Hey all I am looking to move away from the weights for a while and just do some calisthenic workouts at the gym like pull ups, push ups, crunches etc.

Since I love HST so much i was wondering if you can incorporate teh HST priniciples into doing a calisthenic workout.

Could some of you provide me any ideas how to lay out the sets/reps?

Thanks
 
One of the most important principles behind the HST program, or any other good program, is progressive overload. That will be hard to accomplish with calisthenic work but lets give it a try.

Perhaps to do this we could choose several movements and order them by level of difficulty. Also we could take some of the traditional movements and do variations to make them more difficult. We can layout the movements in two week progressions starting with the easier work and progressing to the more difficult towards the end.

So you will want to do each movement to determine your max reps first. With that number in mind we can then subtract reps for each session to form a starting rep count to progress from. Example: You can do 50 push-ups. With six workouts over two weeks we could layout the number of reps for each workout as 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50.

Some of these will take a bit of balance and athletics to do. If you find one too hard to do simply try to extend one of the earlier movements again through the mesocycle instead and practice the movement for the next run through in the future.

Week 1 - 2:

Incline push-up (Feet down, head up)
Bench dips

Underhand pull-up
Two hand hang (overhand grip)
Alternating toe touches
Deep knee bend
Horse stand
Lunge
Two legged calf raise
Jumping jack
Shoulder circles (windmills)
Bicep isometric squeeze (5 seconds per rep)
Crunches
Knee raise

Week 3 - 4:

Push up (Level)
Dips
Diamond push-up
Overhand pull-up
One handed hang (Underhand grip)
Goodmorning
Jumping squat
Bootstraps
Step-up
Two legged calf raise (Raise up with two legs, lower by one leg alternating)
Shoulder press-up
Traps isometric squeeze (10 seconds per rep)
Bicep isometric squeeze (10 seconds per rep)
V-up crunch
Knee to chest crunch

Week 5 - 8:

Decline push-up (Head down, feet up)
Hindu press up
One handed push-up
Underhand pull-up (Pull up with two arms, lower with one arm alternating)
One handed hang (Overhand grip)
Hyper-extension (Isometric squeeze for 5 seconds)
Pistol squat
Burpees
Platform jump
One legged calf raise
Handstand press-up
Farmers walk with wheel barrow or dumbell
Bicep/tricep plyometrics (Resist the curl with the tricep of the other arm)
Jack knife crunch
Knee to elbow crunch
 
Thanks for lengthy response, i was thinking what you mentioned, to get my maxes first than work my way up to it like HST. Though i didnt plan on doing the amount of excerises you mentioned. Just maybe 5 to 6 at most.

Ill give it a shot, thanks again.
 
Oh no problem. I figured you would want to do it like a circuit of one set for each. You could certainly trim it down easy enough and do multiple sets of one movement if you like. I grouped them by body part. I tried to choose more difficult movements as it progressed. More difficult for one guy might not be so for another. Hopefully it gives you some ideas.

Why are you deciding to do this? Nothing wrong with it but I am curious.
 
<div>
(Wildman @ Oct. 13 2008,2:22)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Oh no problem. I figured you would want to do it like a circuit of one set for each. You could certainly trim it down easy enough and do multiple sets of one movement if you like. I grouped them by body part. I tried to choose more difficult movements as it progressed. More difficult for one guy might not be so for another. Hopefully it gives you some ideas.

Why are you deciding to do this? Nothing wrong with it but I am curious.</div>
I just want to do something a little different. In addition I want to start doing some High Intensity interval training and there is no way I can do that plus HST. My legs would be shot with all the running and squats.

HST is awesome though, I got so many compliments while I was doing it.
 
you could always strap on a backpack with a thick cloth bag inside and add some sand increasing the amount as you progress through your training cycle.
 
BigL,

If I were you I would do one heavy maintenance day a week; just some basic compounds with emphasis on load rather than fatigue - 3 x 3 with your 5RM for a handful of exercises should be enough to help you keep your hard earned muscle.

If you have access to some oly rings at your gym, there are a number of workouts you can do which will progressively tax your upper body.
 
<div>
(Lol @ Oct. 13 2008,9:56)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">BigL,

If I were you I would do one heavy maintenance day a week; just some basic compounds with emphasis on load rather than fatigue - 3 x 3 with your 5RM for a handful of exercises should be enough to help you keep your hard earned muscle.

If you access to some oly rings at your gym, there are a number of workouts you can do which will progressively tax your upper body.</div>
Hmm, good idea. Thanks!
 
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