New to HST ...little overwhelmed...help, advice or anything appreciated :)

[burnthiscorpse]

Hey guys, I just joined here. One of my bros at Elite Fitness recomended HST and here I am.
Heres a brief overview. Stopped training in december 09' was going to take a few months off to let some injuries heal. I had a tiny tear in my abdomen, shoulders had had it and needed a break, and the kicker was while i was doing rack pulls with 605 i got slightly out of form and later realized I had pulled every muscle on my left side from my waist up to my arm pit. I tried to go easy and work through it but it just wouldnt heal. It felt like broken ribs when i coughed.
So a few months off turned into 6 months of awful diet and no fitness thoughts at all. So after going from 6'0" 275 lb abround 19% bf in december, I am now 264 at around the same BF% just look fatter cause all the muscle is gone.
I started back training 2 weeks ago. But realized after the first week i had some tendon issues still. Rotator cuff (where the lats tie in is a big one) and rear elbow (tricep tie in). SO I took last week off. Got 3 deep tissue massages, and 2 accupuncture apt. since. 3rdaccupuncture is this afternoon. Feel like a million bucks compared to two weeks ago.
Got my first HST day in today. I like it. It also makes perfect sense. Especially with certain tendon areas that I want to be careful of. After a while , if i'm good about being careful, my tendons acclimate.
Since i'm just getting back into training too, I'm going to really ease into it right now.

So heres my HST questions.

1) with rear tri tie-in tendon issues I cant do dips yet. What would be a good substitute for dips right now? When I drop 20 lb of lard and build strength and tendons back up I will be doing dips

2) with one or two"work" sets for things like chest and large back movements...what is considered warming up??? warming up to me is lighter sets of the same movement, but I dont want to over work that group? Or am I over thinking it (probably)

I believe thats all I have for now. I know I will think of more. I really dig the philosophy behind HST and it makes alot of sense. I cant wait to get further into it. Oh, and as far as goals......same as always....for me personally its all about the size. Strength comes along but thats fine. Justr FYI for those who may have advice.
BTW, I'm 34. Been training off and on Year on, year off, type crap for 18 years or so. But very seriously for last two years.


***** Edit: I remember question # 3 now !!!
3) What are you guys doing for a) Rep speed at different rep weeks? 15-10-5 ect?
b) what are you doing for rest times between sets?

 

[burnthiscorpse]

Heres what I was thinking for now for a split.

M/W/F:

Chest: low incline DB or BB
????? (Dips soon but not yet, what to put here? )

Back: Pull downs (1x wide grip, 1x narrow underhand grip) **** Will do chins once I dropp some weight and get strength and tendon strength back)
Bent over BB rows (same grip split as pull downs) ****** Or shoould I do 1 arm DB rows here?

Shoulders: Seated Military BB press (thinking maybe standing BB press be better?)
Side raises
* I dont do anything for rear delts, anything involving back or shoulders blasts my rear delts. They are alot mor developed than front or side.

Traps : Not training traps currently, All I have to do is think about Iron and my traps grow like crazy. Anything I do makes them grow. Will add them in later on

Legs : Squats (after some reading on here I am thinking I will either do squats M & F and add deads on W. OR....alternate days and keep the deads lighter)
SLDL

Calves: Sorry, I dont train calves. Hate it, dont do it anymore. I have great calves. When I train them it creates huge knots in the sides and hinders my squatting. YES I stretch.

Bi's : either straight bar BB or wide grip camber bar curls. ( I hate single arm DB curls I get no isolation from it no matter how I vary the form to isolate it)

Tri: Press downs are fine. (I would like to alternate with bench dips. you know...feet up, plate on your lap ect.... this good idea?)

 

[Bryan Haycock]

So heres my HST questions.
1) with rear tri tie-in tendon issues I cant do dips yet. What would be a good substitute for dips right now?

By "rear tie-in" do you mean at the shoulder blade? You have pain at the origin of the long head of the triceps?

A good substitute would depend on what you rely on dips to do for you. If you do them for triceps anything else is goign to put even more stretch on the triceps and potentially agravate your injury. If you are still experiencing pain I would suggest you rely on whatever pressing movements you can do without pain to "maintain" your tricep mass while it heals.

2) with one or two"work" sets for things like chest and large back movements...what is considered warming up??? warming up to me is lighter sets of the same movement, but I dont want to over work that group? Or am I over thinking it (probably)

A warm up is anything you are doing for that muscle group that is below your target weight for that day. I personally require quite a bit of warm up for shoulders, triceps, and knees. My brachialis gives me trouble most of the time too (never arm wrestle a girl that rather than getting beaten, jumps up and "rows" your arm into an arm bar). So, warm up as long as you need and do whatever movements you feel get you ready to lift without pain.

3) What are you guys doing for a) Rep speed at different rep weeks? 15-10-5 ect?

Personally, when my weight feels a little light I will slow it down just to get more muscle "work" out of the set. When things get heavy I'm just focused on a comfertable tempo that allows good contractions without too much momentum.

b) what are you doing for rest times between sets?

During the 15s I suggest you keep rest periods shorter. When things get heavy take as long as is necessary to get all the reps done for that muscle group for that day.

 

[burnthiscorpse]

Thanks man. I'm actually 2 weeks in right now. Since I have been off for 6 months I am going to do another week of 15's. I spent the first week and a half feeling out what movements work best for me personally for this training concept.
By tie in, I mean where the tri connects to the back of the elbow. The longer I take to ease into things and if I keep up on deep tissue massage and accupuncture I do alot better. I dont do skull crushers and other than that, dips overwhelm the back of the elbow. Once I get the seated dip back up to my body weight I will try real dips again. Dips for me blast my tri's like nothing else. Thats why I like them. I can do press downs, close grip camber bar bench press, bench dips (feet up, hands behind you on bench, plates on lap, you know) all are great and dont murder that tendon spot for me.

I have modified my set order and excercise selection to something that I really think will work very well for me. I am really impressed with the amount of muscle volume I have gained back in the last two weeks. I look drastically different than i did 2 weeks ago.
I will also say that a HST workout kicks my A**!!! By the end I am certainly done! and drenched.