My Next Cycle

Totentanz

Totentanz

Super Moderator
Staff member
I'm currently SD'ing after my first cycle, and I'm trying to decide how to do my next cycle.

Some of you may recall that I work out at home, with only a bench and a set of weights. I am going to build a dip station, chin up bar and some other stuff in my parents garage this spring, since my dad wants to start working out using HST in the spring (after seeing my results, heheh) and I don't mind driving over there to work out, but until then... I'm a little limited in some things. I.E. no spotter, etc.


I also briefly considered cutting the 15s down to only one week this time, but thinking back, I really enjoyed the 15s, so I'll probably keep them in. I'm just kind of impatient to get back to the heavier weights of the 10s and 5s.
I'm likely just going to stick to the standard 3x a week setup, with the only exception being that I don't plan on taking two days off on the weekend, so I'll just be working out every other day.

During the 15s, I'm thinking about doing these exercises:

rows
Incline bench
squat
military press

Then during the 10s, I want to add in incline bicep curls, skullcrushers, flys, good mornings, maybe shrugs. I'm not entirely sure yet... I might skip the incline curls, since my arms are pretty solid.
Last cycle, I made some great gains, but I'm still disappointed in my back, especially my lats, so I'd like to target them more.

For dips, I hear people just use two chairs and put weights on the seats to keep them from tipping over? I'm not very strong at dips, my 10 RM is my body weight, so I wouldn't be able to do them during the 15s.

I cruised around on exrx, but I didn't see a lot of back exercises that would be easy to add in. Any advice on this part?
 
Barbell Bent Over Rows are great for upper back development as dkm stated. So long as you stretch the back and maybe do a light and brief warm up set, you can go to your 5RM with them as well.

Chins should be enough for the lats - try using 2 grips in your cycle, or even 3 (close, hands facing and wide)....just depends how results work.

Also lat thickness won't be terribly evident until you lose the fat of the spinal column area...I know this b/c I can see my lats now
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I would go with chin ups and/or pull ups over rows any day. I'm doing a variation of the Big 4 twice a day, 5 times per week and loving it.
 
I agree: the bent-over row, either with a barbell or a dumbbell, is a terrific mass-builder. My back is one of my best bodyparts, and I attribute that to years of heavy rowing. Chins, another favorite of mine, are also superb.

I alternate between rowing and chinning every other workout.
 
Yeah, I planned on using dumbbell rows. I did bentover barbell rows last cycle, but wasn't satisfied with how well they hit my lats. Dumbbells seem to get a better reaction from me. I guess it could be poor form on my part regarding BB rows. DB rows give me a lot more tightness in my lats, and more soreness the next day.

I really want to put chins and dips into my routine, but I can't chin at home. There is nowhere to mount a bar. There is some shelving at work that I can do chins on, but that would also mean that I can only do chins at work, not during my workout. I used to do this, just a few times a day when I was working, I'd do a set of 10 chins or pullups, but I haven't been doing that since I started HST.

I was doing regular pullovers a while back, but not during my HST cycle. The ones you linked to look kind of fun. I might try them out today, just to find my maxes for it.

Thanks for the help. I'll probably be posting my finalized workout plan for scrutiny later on.
 
I really want to close up the disparity between my right and left arms. They are still an inch apart in size, regarding upper arm size, with the left being the smaller one. So, I'm considering doing incline bicep curls, but only for my left arm, not hitting my right arm directly at all. I think my arms get some decent work from the other exercises, so I wasn't even planning on hitting them directly... but I hate the size difference and I want to close it up.

This idea seems to make sense to me, but I figured I would run it by the forum and see if you all think it is a good idea.
 
Makes sense to me.

BTW, are you left handed? My experience has shown that quite often the dominant arm will be smaller than the other. Probably because it is used more and becomes more resilent to exercise stimulated growth, like calves, wrists, etc. Howver, a one inch difference is huge.
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Well technically I'm abidextrous but I do favor my left hand for most tasks.

Anyway, glad to hear that you agree. It sounded good to me, but I thought maybe people would be saying "what the heck are you thinking, boy??" or something like that.

At this point, I think the hardest part of HST is SD... I want to workout so bad right now, it's hard not to.
 
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