need advice

[basso]

i wrote here last week ( about the injury and SD). well now i'm checking my whights (did 15 rm) and they're higher than i projected (which is weird because i didn't work for 12 days til then).
anyway, i'll soon start my first HST program and i've got a Q:
i'm doing-
chest - 3 sets
legs - 3 sets
calves - 2 sets
back - 4
shoulder - 2(+1 in upright cable row)
traps -1(+2 in standerd rows)
bicep -2
tricep -2
abs -2.

i've just finishrd a program with 30! chest sets per week, so i'm afraid that 3 sets a workout wouldn't be enough.
and another thing: is it o.k not working the abs with HST and maybe do 9 sets per week instead of 6?

 

[colby2152]

Quote[/b] (basso @ July 20 2005,12<!--emo&amp;

)]i've just finishrd a program with 30! chest sets per week, so i'm afraid that 3 sets a workout wouldn't be enough.
and another thing: is it o.k not working the abs with HST and maybe do 9 sets per week instead of 6?

Hmm, you may be shocked, but that seems like a bit too many sets.  I'm not sure what exercises you are doing or what your frequency is (I'll asume 3x a week MWF), but try to scale it down to this if so:

Chest - 2-3 sets
Legs - 2 sets
Calves - 1 set
Upper Back - 2 sets
Lower Back - 1 set
Shoulders - 1 set
Traps - 1 set
Biceps - 1 set
Triceps - 2 sets
TOTAL - 14-15 sets

30 sets/chest is insanely too many, but I'm not surprised you did that many, but doing 3 sets each workout day for chest is too many,you'll most likely goto failure unless your splitting it between exercises.. I'd recommend dips as they're a compound movement hitting your tris/chest.

When I did 15's, I did 1 set per each muscle group and then added dips, and even on the low weights I felt that &quot;burning sensation&quot; in my muscles. That ended up being only 10 exercises which was great (less time.)  It's good to follow the FAQ for beginners like you and I and do 1 set for 15's, 1-2 sets for 10's, and 2-3 sets for 5's (I'm just going to do 2 sets and see how that works).

It's fine to not work out your abs with HST.  Do whatever training you want.  If you want your abs to become larger (hypertrophy), then by all means do HST.

-colby

 

[jvroig]

Hello basso  
Wow, 30 sets a week for chest! Simply amazing dude, you are one tough dude.
But then again, you might be doing it a bit too much, like colby2152 mentioned.
You see, hypertrophy can be stimulated even by just very few reps, depending on factors like load and conditioning of the muscle. For very heavy loads like 80-90% of your 1RM, even as few as 4reps is enough to stimulate hypertrophy.
So you don't really have to go crazy on the chest sets per workout. Anything beyond 2 for the heavier loads would probably produce no significant results, and in fact would just burn calories. Have faith! Your previous program is no match against HST  
Hope this helps. Good luck!  
- JV

 

[basso]

i hope my cooment on 30 sets chest didn't came out as bragging. there's a lot of people who do even more and besides my previous prog didn't get me nowhere.
i just wanted to show my prevous volume compared to the HST.
i'm pretty confused because in all the articles and different HST workouts i saw it was clearly said to do about 4 sets per big muscle group and 1-2 for small ones.
i've just finished laying out my prog, so tell me what you think:
bench press - 2 sets
inline press - 1
leg press - 2
leg extension - 1
seated calves raise - 2 ( i just love this ex.)
pulley down wide - 2
Lying T-Bar Row - 2
upright cable row -1 (in another thread it was said that this ex. isn't advised, why?)
shoulder press - 2
biceps - 2 (any ex. DB/w-bar/machine)
Seated Triceps Press - 2 (and maybe once in awhile cable extension).
abs - 2

 

[jvroig]

Hello!

Quote[/b] ]i'm pretty confused because in all the articles and different HST workouts i saw it was clearly said to do about 4 sets per big muscle group and 1-2 for small ones.

Well, those 4 sets are generally for the lighter loads, usually meaning for the 15's and the first week of 10's and first week of 5's. On the heaveir loads, you do 1 set per exercise, so you end up doing just 2 sets total (which is why I said earlier that &quot;Anything beyond 2 for the heavier loads would probably produce no significant results&quot;.)  For example, if you are on the 4th week of 10's or 5's, you just do 1 set of incline press then 1 set of dumbbell flys).
Hope this helps.  
- JV

 

[jvroig]

Oh, one more thing:  

Quote[/b] ]i've just finished laying out my prog, so tell me what you think:
bench press - 2 sets
inline press - 1

Well, that's ok, but it would be better to drop the regular bench press, and instead just do the incline benchpress and add either dips or dumbbell flys.
You can even drop all kinds of benchpress to save you possible rotator cuff problems in the future, and instead just do dips and dumbbell flys and other chest exercises you would want. I personally didn't drop all benchpresses (I still do a set of incline aside from dumbbell flys), but a lot of guys have dropped benchpressing totally, and their gains are no less impressive as those who benchpress.
Don't worry, everything's going to be ok, just mind your diet, get enough rest, HST and SD all right, and you're solidly on the way to getting a great physique.
Hope this helps. Good luck!  

 

[colby2152]

JV,
Did you wake up from some slumber out of nowhere to start posting every ten minutes?

I'm just jaggin ya... useful insight!
-Colby

 

[basso]

what is &quot;possible rotator cuff problems&quot; exectly?
well i can't do DB flys on my gym for HST.
and what about the upright cable row?

 

[jvroig]

Quote[/b] ]JV,
Did you wake up from some slumber out of nowhere to start posting every ten minutes?    I'm just jaggin ya... useful insight!  
-Colby

hahaha. Well, I registered for the forum sometime around Jan 2005, but I was actually into HST and the forum way before that.

Lately however, the vets at HST (like O&amp;G, Dan) must be having a hard time because the members increased almost exponentially, and I saw a few posts from newbies (who are just a bit confused) which remain unanswered for a few days or even a week. If I were in their place, that would truly frustrate me. So I decided, hey, what the heck, might as well do my share to give back something to the wonderful HST community.

Quote[/b] ]what is &quot;possible rotator cuff problems&quot; exectly?
well  i can't do DB flys on my gym for HST.
and what about the upright cable row?

Bench pressing causes rotator cuff problems - just think of it as wrist problems. You see, the tiny muscles in your wrist can't catch up to the much larger muscles of your pecs and arms (which are all used in benchpressing). So when you get to benchpressing the really heavy weights, the strain gets too much for your wrists, and they start giving you problems.

Now, not everyone complains about them. Aaron (another member here in HST) said he has been benchpressing for 15 years and he doesn't feel anything. But almost all experts agree, Aaron is the exception, not the rule. Even with perfect form on the benchpress, you'll eventually get rotator cuff problems (yeah, benchpressing just sucks @$$ )  

Hope this helps. Good luck!  
-JV

 

[imported_daxie]

Quote[/b] (jvroig @ July 21 2005,11:39)]Bench pressing causes rotator cuff problems - just think of it as wrist problems. But almost all experts agree, Aaron is the exception, not the rule. Even with perfect form on the benchpress, you'll eventually get rotator cuff problems

I can confirm that...

I'm a lousy benchpresser (only do 8x80 in a very good day), and in an attempt to improve it, I did some two times a week failure training with bench press...

Results: after 3 weeks my shoulder was acking as hell (I do have a weak shoulder)

Conclusion: no benching for me anymore, only some incline bench press (which should be even tougher on the shoulders, but I tolerate it more for some reason)