New to HST....

B

bigmex

New Member
i just subscribed to this forum and my stats are the following:
26 yrs old, 6'3", 270lbs, 25% bf
i'm a hard gainer and i've done a couple of workouts and have not seen the acquired results. i've been doing my reading and i stumbled on this website and after reading up on the HST articles, i decided to give it a try. my question is this, i'm doing the sample routine that's posted on the HST article but i can't do dips because of my shoulder and i can't do a single chin to save my life. what two exercises can i use to substitute these? or do they have to be specifically these two that i MUST do. i'm following the routine as it is supposed to be. starting with the 15 rep scheme and working my way down the reps. i would appreciate the help. thanks.
 
If you have access to a machine, do lat pull downs. Instead of dips, you could try decline bench press. That way, you'd be doing incline and decline. You could do flies too, although they are more of an isolation exercise.
 
Welcome aboard. Have a read of this for some sound advice on setting up a simple routine:

Simplify & Win!

Dips are great but if you can't do them stick to some kind of benching. A slight incline is usually more favourable if you have shoulder issues. If you can't do even a single chin then you can substitute pull-downs and do a progression with that until your strength is up enough to start chinning.
 
that's alot of help man, i really appreciate it. thanks again and i'll post later in the future how this routine worked out well for me. again, thanks alot.
 
Welcometo HST bigmex!

A good and wise decision, takin on HST, you will not be disappointed!

Yes,simplify and win is the way to go!

I doubt that you are a hard gainer, usually these people (hard gainers) struggle to get over 10% body fat, you on 25%, your problem was bad training programes I'm pretty sure!

I also struggle with dips because of an old trapinjury, but I keep at it anyway, DIPS are really good,alternatively though, do benching so long but get your shoulder sorted out so long!

Chins, once you get your strength up with lat pulldowns, start dopiung them with body weight then progress, it is worth every minute, believe me.
 
<div>
(Fausto @ Jan. 18 2007,13:57)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Welcometo HST bigmex!

A good and wise decision, takin on HST, you will not be disappointed!

Yes,simplify and win is the way to go!

I doubt that you are a hard gainer, usually these people (hard gainers) struggle to get over 10% body fat, you on 25%, your problem was bad training programes I'm pretty sure!

I also struggle with dips because of an old trapinjury, but I keep at it anyway, DIPS are really good,alternatively though, do benching so long but get your shoulder sorted out so long!

Chins, once you get your strength up with lat pulldowns, start dopiung them with body weight then progress, it is worth every minute, believe me.</div>
i appreciate the welcome and hopefully with the hardwork and dedication i'm going to give this program my all. thanks again for the advice and i'm already comfortable at this site.
 
i have a quick question, you mentioned in the simplify and win thread the following:

Volume - again for begginers
15 x 1 set / 10 x 2 sets / 5 x 3 sets, other variations can be used but this one seems to cause the most gains overall.

does this mean that for the whole hst cycle whenever i see an exercise that consists of one set do i do 15 reps for 1 set during 15s, 10s and 5s 2 week blocks? i'm kind of confused.

because i am using the sample that's on the second page of the hst article. the workout that starts out with legs using squats and sldl.
 
The idea is that the total reps are roughly constant throughout the cycle. So if you do 1 x 15 for each exercise during 15s, 2 x 10 during 10s and 3 x 5 during 5s you are doing 15-20 total reps for each session of each mesocycle.

I happen to prefer around 20 total reps per exercise for each workout during my cycle. That means doing 1 x 15 reps + 1 x 5 reps (same load) during 15s, 2 x 10 reps during 10s and 4 x 5 reps during 5s (if possible, although usually I have to cluster to get the rep count after the first week).

Hope that helps.
 
i'm still trying to work the kinks. so if i just started the 1st cycle during my 1st week of the 15s, an example would be like: squats 1x15, sldl 2x10? because on the sample routine it has doing 3 sets of legs and if i were to do the 15 reps for each set then that would overwork my legs? that's 45 reps in just those 3 sets to begin the workout. i might be missing the picture but i'm just trying to clarify so i won't overdo it.
 
Stick with the chins - try doing negatives with a towel wrapped 'round the bar; control the descent and gradually (with the aid of the pulldowns) your grip and back strength will improve until you can do &quot;full uns&quot;
Do a couple of sets of 2 or 3 at the end of your workouts, and it'll stretch out your back as well
wink.gif
 
i'll do the negatives but like i said at the beginning of the thread, i can't do chins so i'll substitute 'em with the pull downs.
 
<div>
(bigmex @ Jan. 20 2007,11:35)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">i'll do the negatives but like i said at the beginning of the thread, i can't do chins so i'll substitute 'em with the pull downs.</div>
Pull downs do not successfully simulate the effect of the Chin Up/ Pull Up.

Look here.
 
the link doesn't work, i was given the advice of doing lat pulldowns in place of chinups because i can't do one. that's why.
 
<div>
(the_dark_master @ Jan. 21 2007,07:02)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Stick with the chins - try doing negatives with a towel wrapped 'round the bar; control the descent and gradually (with the aid of the pulldowns) your grip and back strength will improve until you can do &quot;full uns&quot;
Do a couple of sets of 2 or 3 at the end of your workouts, and it'll stretch out your back as well
wink.gif
</div>
so basically just hang by grasping the towel and try pulling myself up?
 
All the links seem to be broken now.
It was just a link to the post called Chin up Assistance.

Lat pull downs are better than nothing but not as good as regular chin ups or pull ups (even with band assistance) for a variety of ergonomic and form reasons.
 
<div>
(bigmex @ Jan. 20 2007,13:52)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">so basically just hang by grasping the towel and try pulling myself up?</div>
I believe that DM means to wrap the towel around the pull up bar to, in effect, make it thicker and then, using a chair or whatever, start in the &quot;up&quot; position and lower yourself down, then step back up, repeat, etc. until you're strong enough to do 'full range' pull ups.

You can also do it without the towel if the problem is just in your lats and not your grip.

That is not a bad compromise although I personally find negatives to more helpful with hypertrophy than with strength. I find concentrics, in this case the pulling up motion, to be better for strength which is, apparently, your problem with doing pull ups.

Enough chatter. Go do some! And doing them everyday for just 1 or 2 sets is a good way to overcome weak areas. Innovate and experiment.
 
i have a real problem doing chin ups as well, but the gym i belong to has the chin-up / dip assist machine. Would that be a good way for me to go?

thanks.
 
So last night i did day 1 of my HST program. All went well, but when i went to do the chin ups, i really really struggled. I was not able to get close to my body weight. So i used the chin assist machine, and was really only able to pull about 100 lbs of my own weight to get through the 2 sets of 15 reps. My problem seems to be a range of motion thing as well as a complete lack of stregth, but it is really uncomfortable on my shoulders to do the chin ups. Maybe i need to look at my grip.

Any anvice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top