I can't do HST in 45 - 60 minutes

[Guest]

Guys,

I'm new to HST.  I'm in my second week of 15s.  I searched the forum for previous posts regarding the 45-60 minute guideline...

I'm finding that I cannot get my entire circuit done in less than 60 minutes.  What am I doing wrong?  

Currently I'm doing 15s as follows:
2 sets of the following:
squats, stiff-leg-deadlift, dumbbell press, dips, pull-ups, chins, rows, shrugs, shoulder raise, lateral raise, rear delts, curls, tri-extension, calf raises and abs.  

Basically I'm doing the routine as outlined in the HST article.  

I'm typically getting to rear delts and my 60 minutes have passed.  I'm taking a 1-2 minute break between sets.  I don't want to spend 90 minutes in the gym but I do want to make sure I'm doing HST as outlined.

Any advice for this newbie?

 

[Lol]

Welcome mast!

You're not really doing anything wrong but a few changes now will probably help.

That's 15 exercises or thereabouts which will be around 30 sets. I'd do fewer exercises or just do single set of 15s for isos. In fact, barring squats, you could do single sets for all the others.

Super-setting some exercises can help cut down time too.

Your routine is probably going to take longer as you progress through the cycle because you will need more rest between sets when the loads are heavy.

Check out the Simplify & Win thread for more ideas.

You might find something like this works well:

Squat
SLDL
DB Press/Dips*
Pull-ups/Rows*
Shrugs/Press*
Curls (1 set)
Tri-extensions (1 set)
Calf Raise
Abs (1 set)

*alternate each workout

That's around fifteen total sets during 15s which you should be able to blast through. By the time you are in the 5s it'll still probably take you an hour if you do 3 or 4 sets for each compound and one or two for isos.

All the best.

 

[Guest]

Thanks a bunch! Ok, so I will probably cut down the sets to one (aside from squats) since I love the variety I'm getting.

I do find that so far with 15s one set is quite effortless and I hardly get a burn even if I slow down and really stretch it out... of course, I'm not at my 15 rep max yet so (duh) it's going to be easy. I just keep thinking I'm not getting a good workout because I'm so used to killing myself to failure as with most other programs out there.

I have noticed that as I approach the maxes of my 15's I find I start to feel the burn and by rep 10 I need to really concentrate.

I'm definitely going to read the simplify thread and appreciate you taking the time to help me.

 

[Franko]

I think when you get to the 5s you are going to find that you have way too many exercises / sets.

For me, a workout simply consisting of deads/chins/dips/military press can to be pretty exhausting when I get to the 5s.

If you love doing all the exercises then I definitely do not think you need to be doing two sets of each in the 15s.

I would recommend cutting out some exercises though. You really only need one exercises per muscle group in each workout.