My Hst Log

benben2356

benben2356

Member
I completed my first HST workout yesterday and thought I'd might as well start a log.


Current weight : 84kg
Height : 6,2
Body fat : not sure but I have visible abs and I can see some striations when I flex so at a guess I'd say 10 - 12 %

Current 1RMs :
Deadlift - 220 kg
Bench - 115kg
Squat - 120 kg
Military press - 70kg


I did dabble with HST a few years ago, but now I'm older and a little bit wiser I'd really like to give it another shot.

I decided on an ABA type split but a couple of the exercises are being performed on both sessions, so those exercises will be incremented 6 times as opposed to the alternated exercises which will be incremented 3 times.

Workout A .....
Squat - 2- 3 sets
Lat pull down (15s & 10s only) - 2-3 sets
Incline bench - 2-3 sets
T bar row - 2-3 sets
Military press - 2-3 sets
Flat db press - 1 - 2 sets
Curls - 1 - 2 sets


Workout B ...

Deadlift - 1-2 sets (no more than 2 sets)
squat - 2-3 sets
Neutral grip lat pulldown (15s & 10s only)
Flat bench - 2-3 sets
T bar row - 1 - 2 sets
Db shoulder press - 2-3 sets
Curls - 1-2 sets

*The exercises performed in both workouts will be incremented in percentages of my rep maxes - 75% - 80% - 85% - 90% - 95% - 100%

*The exercises alternated every other workout will be incremented in larger jumps of 80% - 90% - 100% of the given rep max.

*I'll be training 3 days a week with cardio on the rest days

* I'm only doing lat pulldowns during the 15s and 10s weeks ... For the 5s I'll be switching to weighted chin ups instead - the reason for this is that i can do 5 perfect chins with a 20 kg plate but only 12 with just body weight. Generally I find it much easier adding weight to chins than reps so programming them into the 15s and 10s would be pointless.

*Im keeping volume low on my deadlifts with just 1 - 2 sets as I'm pretty strong on these and hitting a rep max wipes me out.

*Im going against the grain with squatting after deadlifting on workout B - Personally i've always found my squat strength feels much better straight after a couple of sets of heavy deads - same thing happens with benching - it's like I get a neural boost or something from the deads.

Ok so first 15s workout yesterday - Monday 3rd went as follows -

"Please note that I went a little crazy on the volume today because the weights felt so light and I was just full of energy"

I will be cutting down to just 2 sets for the rest of the 15s , 2-3 sets for the 10s and 3 sets for the 5s

Squat - 60kg - 4 sets of 15
Incline bench - 65 kg - 3 sets of 15
Lat pulldown - 4 sets of 15
Standing military press - 40kg - 4 sets of 15
T bar row - 30kg - 4 sets of 15
Flat db press - 27.5kg Dbs - 3 sets of 15
BB curls - 28.5 kg - 2 sets of 15

Today felt great ... Breezed through the whole workout really concentrating on form and feeling the burn.

Can't wait for Wednesday's workout...

My Supplements and diet currently :
#Wellman skin tech daily multi vit
# hion green powder
# lots of coffee
I don't use protein powders as I prefer to just eat real food.

Daily diet :

Breakfast : 6 whole eggs , 3 slices of wholemeal bread , tomato purée & vegetables - all baked into a big omelette

Lunch : whole bag of watercress & spinach with 220 grams of mackerel or salmon and some balsamic vinegar and olive oil

Dinner : 300 grams of brown rice with 250 grams of either chicken breast or Salmon with vegetables and Thai green sauce with coconut milk

Nighttime snack : 300 grams of cottage cheese with 6 oatcakes and big dollop of almond butter

I only ever drink water , black coffee or greens powder with water.

I usually have a cheat meal once a week - usually steak and fries or liver and bacon.

Anyways that's enough rambling .. I'll check back in after tomorrow's workout.

Feel free to critique my program ..... :)
 
Lol thanks "adpowah" I'm partial to some cheesy nachos maybe once a month along with some Ben and Jerrys cookie dough. But those are rare occasions.

Just finished day 2 of the 15s ...

Weight this morning - 84 kg

Here's how the workout went ...

Wednesday : workout B (day 2 of 15s)

Deadlift - 130kg - 2 sets of 20 reps (felt super easy hence ending up with 20 reps)

Squat - 62.5kg - 3 sets of 15
Bench press - 65kg - 3 sets of 15
Neutral grip lat pull down - 2 sets of 15
DB shoulder press - 3 sets of 15
T bar row - 32.5kg - 3 sets of 15
BB curls - 30kg - 2 sets of 15

Once again the workout was super easy and breezed through it very comfortably.

I'm enjoying the high reps - makes a nice change and wow ... The burn is insane lol

The other gym members were pretty surprised to see me banging out sets of 15-20 with baby weights.

Tomorrow is cardio day .... Usually consists of a 40 minute run on the treadmill and then some stretching and mobility work.

But aside from that I'm looking forward to Friday's workout :)
 
Hey benben, did you take a period of SD prior to starting your HST cycle? Hopefully, you did. This usually makes the first workout or two harder than expected (if you have the load progression figured out correctly based on actual RM loads) because your muscles will be relatively deconditioned compared to where they were prior to SD.
Particularly during 15s your goal should be to get a burn in the working muscles, so if you get to 15 reps and that hasn't happened then keep going. As you get further into the 15s, you should find things getting tougher. Be careful not to wham your CNS too much on your 2nd. No need to push to failure on these just to get your 15 reps.
I'm sure you know all this already but thought I'd mention a few things just in case. You sound like you know what you're doing. All the best for your cycle.
I appreciate that you say you find your squat strength improves after a couple of sets of heavy deads but I think it would be good to try training them separately too (e.g. You could squat first and deadlift last in a session, or put squat and deadlift on different days). Two sets of heavy deads will almost certainly impact on your squat strength to some degree and as your squat strength is way down compared to your deads you may want to try prioritising squats for a couple of cycles.
 
Thanks "LOL"

Prior to starting this I had just come back from a weeks holiday in Croatia. So that was about 10 days of no training.

However I did mess up a little bit by testing my maxes on the week I came back. (I know your supposed to do that before the SD but I was just eager to get started)

Next cycle I will most definitely test the maxes before the SD.

Before my holiday I had been running a pretty basic upper / lower split for about a year which focused on just compound lifts in the 6-10 rep range - sometimes cycling in weeks of 3-5 rep ranges.

And pretty much all of the year before that I had been on wendler 531.

You make a good point regarding the deads and squats so I will probably switch them around on the workout B and prioritise the squats - I've really gotta get that squat strength up like you said.

I could even drop deadlifts all together to be honest as it seems to be something that I easily progress at without even training them that often.

I guess I must just have good leverages for it.

I've just finished today's workout so I'll post the results below in a separate post.

Today was the 3rd workout of the 15s ... Definitely felt a bit tougher today as I had to take longer rests between sets than the previous 2 workouts and there was definately a much more noticeable burn.
 
Workout A - (3rd workout of the 15s)

Weight this morning - 84.5 kg

Squats - 65kg - 4 sets of 15
Incline bench press - 70kg - 3 sets of 15
Lat pull down - 3 sets of 15
Standing military press - 42.5kg - 1 set of 15
1 set of 14
1 set of 13
T bar row - 35kg - 3 sets of 15
DB bench press - 30kg DBs - 2 sets of 15
BB curls - 31kg - 2 sets of 15

Breezed through today's workout easily again and got a great pump.

My first set of military presses I got a beautiful set of 15 with picture perfect form - but on the second and third set I started to fatigue and didn't quite make the 15.

That's officially the first week of 15s done ...

Looking forward to Mondays workout :)
 
The reason your squats are stronger after the deads, for my money, is because you've got your bracing cues worked out for that day.
 
Your probably right there Jester ...

My core and stability feels much tighter after deadlifting and I find it much easier to stay braced.
 
Today's workout ...

Monday 11th October (week 2 of the 15s)

Workout B ..

Deadlift - 141 kg - 1 set of 20
1 set of 18

Squat - 67.5 kg - 1 set of 16
1 set of 15
1 set of 15

Bench press - 70kg - 1 set of 18
1 set of 17
1 set of 16

Neutral grip lat pulldown - 2 sets of 15

DB shoulder press - 20 kg dbs - 3 sets of 15

T bar row - 36kg - 3 sets of 15

BB curls - 32.5 kg - 2 sets of 15


Another thoroughly enjoyable workout today.

Although it definitely took the wind out of me a lot more today and i found myself resting quite a long time between sets.

Really been enjoying the 15s but I'm looking forward to the 10s
 
Today's workout ... Halfway through the second week of 15s

Wednesday - Workout A

Squats - 70kg - 4 sets of 16 (beautiful form)

Incline bench press - 75kg - 1 set of 17
1 set of 16
1 set of 15
Lat pull down - 3 sets of 15

Military press - 45kg - 1 set of 15
1 set of 13 + 5 (cluster)
1 set of 12 + 5 (cluster)

T bar row - 38.5 kg - 2 sets of 15

Flat db press - 32.5 kg Dbs - 1 set of 12
1 set of 11
1 set of 10

BB curls - 23.5 kg - 1 set of 15


Ok so today's workout was half brilliant and half terrible :(

I started off great with beautiful strong form on my squats , incline bench , and lat pull down.

But my military presses were god awful today..... I hit 15 reps on the first set but it was a real grinder. Then I did a couple of cluster sets just to add some extra volume.

T bar rows were fine ....

My flat db presses also took a nosedive as I only got 12 reps and failed to hit my 15 ... (Which is usually easy on the 32.5kg Dumbbells)

Seems like my energy levels crashed or something right around the time I got to the military presses.


This was my own fault though ... too much volume on the inclines and the squats which I'm sure is what caused the energy crash by the time I got to my military presses.

And at this point - halfway through the 2nd week of 15s I should've kept everything at 2 sets maximum.

On friday I will be sure to adjust the volume accordingly as I think I've found my tipping point now.

on the plus side ... it seems my incline benches I either underestimated or have gained a tad.

Also the squats were picture perfect :)

Lat pull downs and t bar rows I hit the 15 reps easily.

Just need to adjust the number of sets and remember not to blow all my energy on the first few exercises lol
 
You can also try and keep your volume and add in some more food, particularly near or during the workouts.
 
Today's workout ... LAST DAY OF 15s

Friday 14th - Workout B

Ok so here I am on the last day of 15s ...

I added a nice big chocolate flapjack to my usual daily diet about an hour before my workout today along with a pint of milk as I didn't want another energy crash like Wednesday.


Deadlift - 155kg - 1 set of 19 reps
1 set of 15 reps

Standing military press - 45kg - 1 set of 16 reps (making up for Wednesday)

Flat Bench press - 75kg - 3 sets of 15 reps

Squat - 72.5kg - 3 sets of 16 reps

Neutral lat pulldown - 2 sets of 15 reps

(10 minute banana break lol)

DB shoulder press - 22.5kg Dumbbells - 2 sets of 15 reps

T bar row - 40kg - 2 sets of 15 reps

Barbell curls - 36kg - 2 sets of 15 reps


Wow today's workout really kicked my ass lol

I hit 2 amazing sets on the deadlift which left me gasping for air afterwards - my upper and mid back are still crazy pumped now.

Also in a fit of rage over Wednesday's workout I snuck in 1 set of military presses for a perfect set of 16 reps. Now I feel I've totally redeemed myself for Wednesday.

Half way through the workout when I reached my lat pulldowns I could feel my energy levels starting to dwindle ... So I took 10 Minutes to eat a couple of bananas then continued lol

It seemed to do the trick as I completed the rest of the workout getting 2 sets of 15 for the rest of the exercises - lat pulldowns , db delt presses , t bar rows and curls.

All in all it was a great end to the 15s if you can ignore the 10 minute halftime banana break lol

I need to sort out this energy crashing issue... I thought the extra pre workout carby meal would have helped.

I got crazy chest , back and shoulder pumps today which felt great ...

I reckon for my next cycle I could easily increase my 15 rep maxes on most of the exercises....

But for now I'm eager to hit those 10s on
Monday.
 
Today..... 1st workout of the 10s phase.

Monday 17th October 2016...

Workout A ....

Okay so today was a morning workout and I really wasn't feeling too good - had a terrible nights sleep and my stomach felt a bit unsettled.

So i was really glad it was the start of the 10s phase when the weights are at their lightest.

Having said that it actually turned out to be a really good workout once I got started.

Squats - 68.5kg - 5 sets of 10

Incline bench press - 75kg - 4 sets of 10

Lat pull down - 4 sets of 10

Standing Military press - 45kg - 4 sets of 10

T bar row - 38.5kg - 4 sets of 10

Flat db press - 32.5kg DBs - 3 sets of 12

Barbell curls - 32.5kg - 3 sets of 12


Okay so despite feeling pretty rough this morning I actually breezed through this and had a good workout....

There is a slight bit of zig zagging from the 15s but i figured that would be good for me after killing it pretty hard at the end of the 15s

On some of the sets I did push out an extra couple of reps just because I couldn't help myself .... So some of those sets of 10 were actually sets of 12.

Is it considered detrimental to go beyond the prescribed reps ? Because I do find it very difficult to end a set when there's still plenty left in the tank ....

Overall though I would say it was a brilliant start to the 10s phase ..

I hate morning workouts with a passion but being a shift worker they do come around now and then .... So I just put up with them when I have to.

Some strange observations I've noticed after the 15s is that my muscles appear bigger but less hard.

I'm sure it's probably all In my head ... But previously I'd been training mostly in the 4 - 10 rep range with really heavy weights and quite low volume...

And my muscles were like solid granite with visible striations.

Now they seem to look bigger but softer and I can barely see the striations....

I have gained about 2 lbs over the last 2 weeks though so I'm sure it has more to do with that than the training lol

Roll on Wednesday for workout B
 
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It doesn't hurt to do a few extra reps here and there but just remember that the start of each mesocycle is designed to allow some accumulated fatigue dissipation so just don't push to failure.
Higher reps encourage muscle glycogen storage so that may be partly what you are experiencing as a short-term effect.
 
Lol said:
It doesn't hurt to do a few extra reps here and there but just remember that the start of each mesocycle is designed to allow some accumulated fatigue dissipation so just don't push to failure.
Higher reps encourage muscle glycogen storage so that may be partly what you are experiencing as a short-term effect.
Click to expand...


Thanks "LOL"

I thought that would be the case ... To allow fatigue to dissipate.

I'll make sure I stick to the prescribed reps just for good measure ...

Don't wanna be wrecked before I even get to the end of the 10s.

And hopefully the glycogen thing is the case with the puffier looking muscles ...

I didn't realise how long it has been since I'd used high reps and high volume ...

Usually I follow more of a H.I.T approach with just 1 or 2 really hard killer sets to failure.

It's definitely refreshing change ....
 
Today's workout ... (10s week)

Wednesday 19th October 2016

Workout B ... 10s week

Deadlift - 150kg - 3 sets of 10 (very easy)

Flat Bench press - 75kg - 4 sets of 10

Squats - 72.5kg - 4 sets of 10

Neutral grip pulldown - 4 sets of 10

DB shoulder press - 22.5kg Dbs - 4 sets of 10

T bar row - 40kg - 3 sets of 10

BB curls - 33.5kg - 4 sets of 10


Okay so today was a very nice easy workout as you'd expect for the 2nd workout of the 10s phase ....

I seemed to look very flat and depleted today ..... Not quite sure why but it didn't seem to effect my performance.

Not really too much to add today as everything went as planned.

Volume is still on the high side but I will be dropping it to just 2 sets per exercise on week 2 as things get heavier...

Roll on Friday for workout 3 of the 10s
 
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