New to HST.
- Thread starter Prodigy
- Start date
I think you'd be better served by a program like 5x5 concentrating on the volume portion of the workout, which is along HST principles generally speaking but is more focussed on developing strength. As a new comer to the whole thing you should concentrate on developing your strength which will likely allow reasonable enough weight increases over time to lead to what is by default an HST like approach anyway.
More importantly you should use this introductory time to focus a lot on your approach to diet and nutrition as it's best to have that dialed in rather than spending time getting the hang of it once your new comer gains stall.
As for equipment, that's all you really need. Check out this site for exercises utilizing that equipment: www.exrx.net
More importantly you should use this introductory time to focus a lot on your approach to diet and nutrition as it's best to have that dialed in rather than spending time getting the hang of it once your new comer gains stall.
As for equipment, that's all you really need. Check out this site for exercises utilizing that equipment: www.exrx.net
i dissagree with xahrx .
when i started training in the 70s i did a fullbody 3x a week and got great gains.
do HST but instead of increasing the weight every workout increase it every 2wk cycle so you get used to the exercises .
so you would do
2wk 15s
increase weight
2wks 10s
increase weight
2 wks 5s
sd then start a real HST cycle and you should have your maxes.good luck
when i started training in the 70s i did a fullbody 3x a week and got great gains.
do HST but instead of increasing the weight every workout increase it every 2wk cycle so you get used to the exercises .
so you would do
2wk 15s
increase weight
2wks 10s
increase weight
2 wks 5s
sd then start a real HST cycle and you should have your maxes.good luck
Like Faz, my advice would be to do an HST cycle but only after you have spent a month or so learning good form in all the exercises you intend to use in a program. Good form is vital if you are to avoid injuries later on and will be time well spent. It takes time to develop the required muscular coordination for many free weight exercises.
Assuming you are going to do a full body workout three times a week, I would spend a month doing exercises with 15 reps and a month doing the same exercises with 10 reps.
Start with weights you can handle very easily for the required 15 reps (do more reps if you like but stop when you think you could manage one or two more) and then increase by 5lbs each workout until it is hard to get the required number of reps. Hopefully, that'll keep you busy for about a month. Don't be in a hurry to train heavy. Keep working on your form.
After a month of 15s, drop the weight about 10lbs and do 10 reps per exercise. If you feel that you have plenty left in the tank do 2 sets. Again, increase the weights by about 5lbs a session until you are using weights that you can just manage to use for 10 reps in good form (ie. you are not going to failure).
At this point you should be pretty well practiced in each movement so you could take a week to calculate maxes for 15s, 10s and 5s and then SD for a week before starting your first HST cycle.
Few tips:
When using dumbells for exercises, make the weight increments smaller if possible or just use the same weight for a few workouts before increasing it. Use barbell exercises wherever possible to allow for easier increments.
If you can afford it, get a decent pair of adjustable stands so you can do squats. You could also use them along with a bench for bench pressing. Also, get a bench that you can adjust for incline bench press. It only needs to be able to incline slightly so you could always chock up one end if you have already bought a non-adjusting one.
I have nothing against a 5 x 5 program but I think at this stage it would be too much too soon and unnecessary for great results. You will get good results anyway as you are new to all this. HST will give you great strength gains.
It is very important that you pick a good selection of exercises and that you get your eating right. Do a search for this info and you should find what you need.
All the best.
Assuming you are going to do a full body workout three times a week, I would spend a month doing exercises with 15 reps and a month doing the same exercises with 10 reps.
Start with weights you can handle very easily for the required 15 reps (do more reps if you like but stop when you think you could manage one or two more) and then increase by 5lbs each workout until it is hard to get the required number of reps. Hopefully, that'll keep you busy for about a month. Don't be in a hurry to train heavy. Keep working on your form.
After a month of 15s, drop the weight about 10lbs and do 10 reps per exercise. If you feel that you have plenty left in the tank do 2 sets. Again, increase the weights by about 5lbs a session until you are using weights that you can just manage to use for 10 reps in good form (ie. you are not going to failure).
At this point you should be pretty well practiced in each movement so you could take a week to calculate maxes for 15s, 10s and 5s and then SD for a week before starting your first HST cycle.
Few tips:
When using dumbells for exercises, make the weight increments smaller if possible or just use the same weight for a few workouts before increasing it. Use barbell exercises wherever possible to allow for easier increments.
If you can afford it, get a decent pair of adjustable stands so you can do squats. You could also use them along with a bench for bench pressing. Also, get a bench that you can adjust for incline bench press. It only needs to be able to incline slightly so you could always chock up one end if you have already bought a non-adjusting one.
I have nothing against a 5 x 5 program but I think at this stage it would be too much too soon and unnecessary for great results. You will get good results anyway as you are new to all this. HST will give you great strength gains.
It is very important that you pick a good selection of exercises and that you get your eating right. Do a search for this info and you should find what you need.
All the best.
Fausto
HST Expert
Welcome Prodigy
Lol has given you a pretty good run down of what to do. I am afraid I also disagree with Xahrx as HST would be better for you for starters, IMHO.
Without wanting to confuse you I'd say learn the movements properly, use exrx it is a great site, but you'd probably be alright with standard Vanilla HST, at least once you have learnt how to do things properly.
Go for basic exercises:
Squats/Deadlifts/Stiff legged deadlifts for legs
Inclined Barbel Bench Press/Dips for chest
Chin-ups and rows for back
Military Presses for shoulders
Inclined Curls for biceps
Skullcrushers (A.K.A. Tricep overhead Extensions) for Triceps
Abdominal exercises - Decline Crunches/Leg Raises/Russian twists.
As LOL pointed out learn these well using thetime frame he gave you, then switch to HST as recommended in the main article.
Lol has given you a pretty good run down of what to do. I am afraid I also disagree with Xahrx as HST would be better for you for starters, IMHO.
Without wanting to confuse you I'd say learn the movements properly, use exrx it is a great site, but you'd probably be alright with standard Vanilla HST, at least once you have learnt how to do things properly.
Go for basic exercises:
Squats/Deadlifts/Stiff legged deadlifts for legs
Inclined Barbel Bench Press/Dips for chest
Chin-ups and rows for back
Military Presses for shoulders
Inclined Curls for biceps
Skullcrushers (A.K.A. Tricep overhead Extensions) for Triceps
Abdominal exercises - Decline Crunches/Leg Raises/Russian twists.
As LOL pointed out learn these well using thetime frame he gave you, then switch to HST as recommended in the main article.
mostlyallan
New Member
Someone who is new too lifting should make great gains quickly. That time period will also be a great learning experience in terms of getting familiar with the exercises, how to do them, and what you need in terms of nutrition.
Vanilla HST all the way.
Vanilla HST all the way.
<div>
(faz @ Aug. 10 2006,11:57)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">i dissagree with xahrx .
when i started training in the 70s i did a fullbody 3x a week and got great gains.</div>
Just a couple of points and I'll bow out, being out voted.
1) Basic 5x5 is a full body workout, 3 times a week.
2) As a newbie for him strength will progress naturally for a while. It makes little to no sense in my opinion to use a vanilla HST program when basic training will get you a consistent weight increase and a default HST set up of consistently increasing loads anyway. It also makes no sense for him to SD, or anyone else to SD for that matter until it's necessary, and that is when gains start plateauing.
3) When he does start using a more traditional HST approach in terms of setting a predetermined load increase and SDing beforehand, the range of weight between his beginning and end load will be fairly important, and he will need to develop his strength to take advantage of that. HST isn't optimal for strength for most people. And as a newbie, his maxes are likely not that big off the bat. He can expect reasonable strength gains for a while so it makes little to no sense in my mind to have him working with submaximal weights, except for practicing form, when he can get away with using a more effective weight because his gains are likely to be pretty speedy in the beginning.
And finally in the end I think a designed strength routine would be of more benefit to someone starting out than a full body routine they design themselves or snark off the web. I just think the volume phase of a five by five serves a lot of purposes. It introduces lifters to the basic core lifts everyone should know. The manipulation of workload gives an idea of how to handle volume much better than any other program I believe. The workout is very complete in that the core lifts hit all major muscle groups so people can learn how to balance their training along those lines.
For all those reasons I think the 5x5 would be better, and better to use as a general workout approach until he decides what his goals are, which incidentally none of us bothered asking him. What if he's an olympic ice skater?
That said, HST to me is a more advanced routine that people who have a good diet and all their basics dialed in can use to great effect if their goal is gaining mass. For newbies I always start them basic, and you can't get more basic than the volume phase of a 5x5 approach. And assuming he does want to gain mass, why has no one but me mentioned the importance of diet?
(faz @ Aug. 10 2006,11:57)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">i dissagree with xahrx .
when i started training in the 70s i did a fullbody 3x a week and got great gains.</div>
Just a couple of points and I'll bow out, being out voted.
1) Basic 5x5 is a full body workout, 3 times a week.
2) As a newbie for him strength will progress naturally for a while. It makes little to no sense in my opinion to use a vanilla HST program when basic training will get you a consistent weight increase and a default HST set up of consistently increasing loads anyway. It also makes no sense for him to SD, or anyone else to SD for that matter until it's necessary, and that is when gains start plateauing.
3) When he does start using a more traditional HST approach in terms of setting a predetermined load increase and SDing beforehand, the range of weight between his beginning and end load will be fairly important, and he will need to develop his strength to take advantage of that. HST isn't optimal for strength for most people. And as a newbie, his maxes are likely not that big off the bat. He can expect reasonable strength gains for a while so it makes little to no sense in my mind to have him working with submaximal weights, except for practicing form, when he can get away with using a more effective weight because his gains are likely to be pretty speedy in the beginning.
And finally in the end I think a designed strength routine would be of more benefit to someone starting out than a full body routine they design themselves or snark off the web. I just think the volume phase of a five by five serves a lot of purposes. It introduces lifters to the basic core lifts everyone should know. The manipulation of workload gives an idea of how to handle volume much better than any other program I believe. The workout is very complete in that the core lifts hit all major muscle groups so people can learn how to balance their training along those lines.
For all those reasons I think the 5x5 would be better, and better to use as a general workout approach until he decides what his goals are, which incidentally none of us bothered asking him. What if he's an olympic ice skater?
That said, HST to me is a more advanced routine that people who have a good diet and all their basics dialed in can use to great effect if their goal is gaining mass. For newbies I always start them basic, and you can't get more basic than the volume phase of a 5x5 approach. And assuming he does want to gain mass, why has no one but me mentioned the importance of diet?
jvroig
Active Member
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Im new to weightlifiting, would I see good results with HST?</div>
Yes.
(And just so you know, you'll also see great results with HIT, or DC, or 5x5... or even just by lifting what you think is your 10RM every session, and adding weight when you think it becomes too light. Being a total newbie, anything will actually work great for you.)
ONE CONDITION: DIET.
If you screw up on diet, you'll get less satisfactory gains. If you gain anything at all.
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Also, I would be working out at home, I have a barbel, dumbells, and will buy a weight bench, will I still be okay?
</div>
Perfect. If you have something you can use for chin-ups (any bar high enough and strong enough to support you), then you can use that if you can do a few reps with your bodyweight.
Good luck!
-JV
Yes.
(And just so you know, you'll also see great results with HIT, or DC, or 5x5... or even just by lifting what you think is your 10RM every session, and adding weight when you think it becomes too light. Being a total newbie, anything will actually work great for you.)
ONE CONDITION: DIET.
If you screw up on diet, you'll get less satisfactory gains. If you gain anything at all.
<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Also, I would be working out at home, I have a barbel, dumbells, and will buy a weight bench, will I still be okay?
</div>
Perfect. If you have something you can use for chin-ups (any bar high enough and strong enough to support you), then you can use that if you can do a few reps with your bodyweight.
Good luck!
-JV
stevejones
Member
<div>
(Prodigy @ Aug. 10 2006,09:50)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Hey,
Im 18 years old, roughly 10.4 stone.
Im new to weightlifiting, would I see good results with HST?
Also, I would be working out at home, I have a barbel, dumbells, and will buy a weight bench, will I still be okay?</div>
Still okay for what ?
What are your goals ?
(Prodigy @ Aug. 10 2006,09:50)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Hey,
Im 18 years old, roughly 10.4 stone.
Im new to weightlifiting, would I see good results with HST?
Also, I would be working out at home, I have a barbel, dumbells, and will buy a weight bench, will I still be okay?</div>
Still okay for what ?
What are your goals ?
<div>
(faz @ Aug. 11 2006,11:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">xahrx.. i did not say workout submax i said
2wk 15s
increase weight
2wks 10s
increase weight
2 wks 5s
and i said sd after he has finished this not before
</div>
I know, I didn't mean to imply you said otherwise. But likely if he just finds his 10 rep max and lifts at that weight he's gonna be able to increase it often enough and get results for a while without needing an SD of any kind. SD is an as needed part of working out. And just personally I think the 15s are over rated and submaximal.
With the 5x5 there's a lot more I just think he'll learn, plus make good strength increases in the mean while. 5x5 more or less conforms with HST principles, and when he does hit a plateau and his newbie gains stop his maxes will likely be high enough to make for a more effective HST cycle to follow an SD at that point.
(faz @ Aug. 11 2006,11:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">xahrx.. i did not say workout submax i said
2wk 15s
increase weight
2wks 10s
increase weight
2 wks 5s
and i said sd after he has finished this not before
I know, I didn't mean to imply you said otherwise. But likely if he just finds his 10 rep max and lifts at that weight he's gonna be able to increase it often enough and get results for a while without needing an SD of any kind. SD is an as needed part of working out. And just personally I think the 15s are over rated and submaximal.
With the 5x5 there's a lot more I just think he'll learn, plus make good strength increases in the mean while. 5x5 more or less conforms with HST principles, and when he does hit a plateau and his newbie gains stop his maxes will likely be high enough to make for a more effective HST cycle to follow an SD at that point.