HST workout program

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sayw0rd

Member
So I see on the program the HST website provides, it has biceps and tricpes in every workout.. is that ideal?

It has led to making this workout and I wanted to know what everyone thought (Poor Fausto, I think I bothered him enough
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) I tried to simplify it.

I would be alternating between workout A & B.
2x15,2x10,2x5,2x5 w/ negs on dips and chins.

Workout A

Squats
Bench
Rows
Chins
Shrugs
Calf Raises
Biceps
Triceps

Workout B

Squats
Military Press
DeadLifts
Dips
Bent over Lat raise.
Calf raises
Biceps
Triceps

So my concerns are

1. Are my exercise routines in the right order?

2. Am I putting some exercises in the wrong workout day?
a) should I switch shrugs with bent over lat. raise
b) is it okay to do bench press & rows on same day? Should I switch rows with deadlifts?
c) should I do dips on bench press days and chins on the other?

- I mainly just don't want to fatigue my muscles too much so I can't progress.

3. Should I not squat every workout session? I used to squat 3x a week for my 5x5. I do not like the leg presses as it just seems to be an ego trip on how much weight you can do. Rather just squat if possible.

4. Am I doing too much? (the first day I did it, I felt great afterwards- didn't seem to be too tiring but that could've been the weights)

I apologize for being too curious and again, thank you for your time & effort!
 
sayw0rd , I'd probably do something like this:

Workout A

Squats
Bench
Rows
Shrugs
Calf Raises
Biceps
Triceps

Workout B

Deadlifts
Dips
Chins
Military Press
Bent over Lat raise.
Calf raises
Biceps
Triceps

If you have been lifting consistently for a year or so, squatting and deadlifting 3 times weekly can really take its toll on your lower back. If this is the case for you then deadlifting just once a week seems to work well in most cases. You could squat on Mondays and Fridays and deadlift on Wednesdays.

Front squats can help to reduce the lower back strain as you will have to use a more upright stance to do these.

My favourite schedule to date has been to do front squats (sometimes with SLDLs) on Mondays, deadlifts or cleans on Wednesdays and back squats on Fridays.
 
Some may disagree but I rarely do bent over lateral raises. You just can't use enough weight to do much good. I consider that more of an advanced bodybuilding exercise for competitors. They also tend to put your neck in a position that makes it suceptible to injury, even with light weights. I like LOL's w/o plan but would probably put military press and shrugs in both workouts. Well developed traps are one of the few muscles people will notice even when you have a long sleeved shirt or a jacket on. Don't overdue the bis and tris as you will be giving a goodwork with presses, chins and rows. Stick with more compound-type arm exercises like hammer curls and french presses or close grip bench presses.

I also found the following rep scheme to work well when I first started HST:

15 reps   1 set   1 week
10 reps   2 sets  2 weeks
5 reps     3 sets  3 weeks
Then another week continuing my 5 rep max each workout.

As you progress and get into heavier and heavier weights, the 15's will become more important to keep injury free. However, your body will be trying to trick you into going just for the muscle building 10's and 5's. Don't do it. You will regret later in life.

Good luck!    
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Thanks Grey for the tip.

A few questions though, you said

15reps 1set 1week
10reps 2sets 2weeks
5reps 2sets 2weeks
then 1week continuing my 5 rep maxes.

My question is, do you ramp weights upwards each workout?
I'm confused on what you mean about continuing my 5rep maxes for another week.
Let's say my 5rep maxes for bench press is 185. I should do 2x5x185lbs. for the whole week?
And finally, do you mean 2sets for the continuation of my 5s rep maxes?

I'm always going to keep 15s because I would like to keep myself from injuries.
I also like your set up you advised, just confused about how you set up the weights.

You said when you FIRST started HST, you used that set up. Why did you specifically pick those sets and reps?
When would you switch the sets and reps scheme?

I was just following the instructions on the HST website, that's why I did 2x15,2x10,2x5,2x5 w/ negatives.
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Lastly, you said stick to compound arm exercises. (working out more than one specific muscle)
For Biceps = Hammer curls
For Triceps = French Presses
Would that work?

Again, thanks for your input. It's always appreciated.
 
<div>
(sayw0rd @ Nov. 07 2008,8:45)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">My question is, do you ramp weights upwards each workout?    Yes, same as regular HST.
I'm confused on what you mean about continuing my 5rep maxes for another week.
Let's say my 5rep maxes for bench press is 185. I should do 2x5x185lbs. for the whole week?   Yes.

And finally, do you mean 2sets for the continuation of my 5s rep maxes?   Yes.


You said when you FIRST started HST, you used that set up. Why did you specifically pick those sets and reps?  Trial and error.
When would you switch the sets and reps scheme? 6 months to a year.

I was just following the instructions on the HST website, that's why I did 2x15,2x10,2x5,2x5 w/ negatives.
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 Nothing wrong with that program either.  I just tweaked it to take into account my personal requirements.</div>

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Thanks for the quick reply Grey. I actually edited my last post to add in some questions about compound arm exercises, but I'll post it here again just to save you the trouble
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You said stick to compound arm exercises. (working out more than one specific muscle)
For Biceps = Hammer curls
For Triceps = French Presses
Would that work?

Thanks, I'll probably have to finish this first HST cycle and then test my weights again in order to find out my 1week of 15s, 2weeks of 10s, 3weeks of 5s, 1week of 5s RM.
 
Hammer curls are a good semi-compound isolation for biceps.

French presses are good but i think close grip BB bench presses are even a little better.

You should have a pretty good feel for your maxes at the end of the first cycle and can guesstimate the maxes for the next cycle. If you are a little low, just add another workout or even two at the end of the rep range until you hit your true max. If you are high on your estimate, just repeat that weight until you finish that one or two week cycle for that rep range.

HST is a systematic approach to hypertrophy. You can be a little off here and there and still make about the same gains as if you did the &quot;perfect&quot; scenario.

Also, I would get started and don't second guess yourself. Everyone has a slightly different approach. Most of them are valid for the general or somewhat new trainee. Don't overanalyze! Spend that time working on your nutrition ar learning to control stress levels. Both are equally important to maximize gains.
 
Thanks Grey,

My concern is on my bench days, wouldn't I be working out my chests too much if I was to do closegrip BB bench press?

Thanks for the tip though. I'll do hammer curls for Biceps and Close Grip BB benchpress for triceps.

Also, I wanted to ask you more indepth about this part of what you said

You should have a pretty good feel for your maxes at the end of the first cycle and can guesstimate the maxes for the next cycle. If you are a little low, just add another workout or even two at the end of the rep range until you hit your true max. If you are high on your estimate, just repeat that weight until you finish that one or two week cycle for that rep range.

What do you mean add another workout or two if it's a little low at the end of the rep range until your true max?
Let's say my weights for 10s for Bench is 150 and it seems a little light for me, do you mean I should add couple of more reps or another whole set?
Sorry, it's just confusing to understand what you mean online.  
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I do close grip benches with my hands just wide enough apart for my thumbs to touch. It takes most of the load off the chest. Squeeze your triceps at the top of the movement. Lift the weight up fast and lower it slowly (actually that advice is good for hypertrophic exercises.)

Using your example of 150 being your max for a bench press and you get to your 6th workout and you find that you can could do more than 10 reps in good form, then I would suggest adding another 5 pounds or whatever you think would be a good incremntal weight to hit your max and doing a 7th workout and if that still does not hit your max, add more weight and do an 8th workout. Don'r do these workouts the same day. Continue on for the next two workouts with your whole HST program and repeat all the exercises at your maxes except for BP which you will increase accordingly. No one says you have to do only 6 workouts per rep range. When you are at or near your maxes you can actually continue at the max weight for several more workouts before the repeated bout effect (RBE) will start to show up. The lower the rep range you are in, the longer you can keep going at max weight and still reap excellent results.

I am not sure that is clearer.
 
I think what I'm getting confused at is about the 7th workout and 8th workout and etc.
You mean the 7th workout Day right?

and by 6th workout you mean at the end of my 2week block, which is the 6th workout day I'm assuming.

If it doesn't get through to me, you can give up. I can just put more weights if it is easy on the next cycle or something =D

Thanks A LOT for the help, I really appreciate it. Sorry to be a bother!
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Yes, just extend your two week block of 6 workouts until you hit maxes on all your exercises. This is more important with the 10's and 5's than it is with the 15's.
 
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