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Mule86

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Wow. Just stumbled on HST yesterday and am trying to get through everything on here. I've been an active weightlifter for the past 12 years. First started with weight training for College Football, lot's of squats/cleans/bench/etc... After I got done playing I've just kind of kept up with lifting. No real, specific goal, just trying to maintain and not lose all the muscle I developed.

I don't take any supplements, except the occasional protein shake. Used to be on Creatine when I played football. I am looking to maintain/cut a little bit of weight, but still keep strength. Is this program going to allow that? I'm not looking to bulk up and add 20+ of muscle. Currently at 6'3'' about 195-198. Would like to stay around 195 but maybe cut some body fat. I've seen so many different workouts on here that I don't really know where to start. I'm stuck in that myth of ''training every muscle group for 20+ sets once a week'' camp. I guess I fell that if I don't kill my chest/back/arms/shoulders, etc... one day a week then I'm not gaining. I'm learning quickly that that logic is majorly flawed.

So, I guess my main question is how to set up a program to maintain/cut where I am today. I like my physique, less a few pounds off the midsection that I could stand to lose. Any input/help would be greatly appreciated!
 
So I've gone through and come up with a workweek that I think will work for my first phase. I plan on doing this same weekly workout for all weeks. 2 weeks at 15 reps, 2 weeks at 10 reps, 2 weeks at 6 reps, and 2 weeks at 5 reps then a week of SD. Does that sound like a good timeline? Below is the exercises I plan to use each week and the order I plan to do them:

Workout A - Monday
Bench Press - 2 x 15
Bent Over Barbell Row - 2 x 15
DB Shoulder Press - 2 x 15
Standing Barbell Curls - 2 x 15
BW Dips - 2 x Failure
Squat - 2 x 15
Leg Curl - 2 x 15
Seated Calf Raises - 2 x 15
Shrugs - 2 x 15

Workout B - Wednesday
Leg Press - 2 x 15
Leg Press Calf Raises - 2 x 15
Leg Curls - 2 x 15
BW Chinups - 1 x Wide Grip to failure, 1 x Narrow grip to failure
Incline Barbell Bench - 2 x 15
Alternating DB Curls - 2 x 15
Behind Neck Press - 2 x 15
Close Grip Bench - 2 x 15
Shrugs 2 x 15

Workout C - Friday
Bench Press - 2 x 15
Bent Over Barbell Row - 2 x 15
BW Dips - 2 x BW Failure
DB Shoulder Press - 2 x 15
Preacher Curls - 2 x 15
Squat - 2 x 15
Leg Curl - 2 x 15
Standing Calf Raises - 2 x 15
Shrugs 2 x 15

I will progressively increase the weight on all of the lifts over the cours of the two weeks at 15 reps. I will then adjust, use the same lifts and increase the weight some more and go to 10 reps for 2 weeks. I will then drop the reps to 6, increase weight, and do this for 2 more weeks. Finally, I'll drop to 5 reps for the final 2 weeks before SD. Any input or critiques would be appreciated!
 
Welcome Mule86,

If you are going to cut some fat then you'll need to reduce your cals to below maintenance (easy way to start is by dropping out some of the starchy carbs from your diet). As far as training is concerned, you need to give your body a reason to keep hold of all the lean tissue. That means using heavy loads. Some folks start an HST cycle with 10s if they are cutting. One week of 15s is probably ok if on sub-maintenance cals but personally I wouldn't do more than that. If my joints were all fine I'd start with 10s.

Maintaining mass is easier than gaining it in the first place; as long as you keep your cals at maintenance and lift heavy for all muscle groups at least once a week you should be fine.

I don't see any deads in your routine. They are a great mass maintainer (and builder). Cleans are great too but you might want to program them a little differently to get them to fit into a regular HST routine (eg. 5 rep sets during 15s, triples during 10s, and doubles/singles during 5s).

All the best.
 
Lol said:
Welcome Mule86,

If you are going to cut some fat then you'll need to reduce your cals to below maintenance (easy way to start is by dropping out some of the starchy carbs from your diet). As far as training is concerned, you need to give your body a reason to keep hold of all the lean tissue. That means using heavy loads. Some folks start an HST cycle with 10s if they are cutting. One week of 15s is probably ok if on sub-maintenance cals but personally I wouldn't do more than that. If my joints were all fine I'd start with 10s.

Maintaining mass is easier than gaining it in the first place; as long as you keep your cals at maintenance and lift heavy for all muscle groups at least once a week you should be fine.

I don't see any deads in your routine. They are a great mass maintainer (and builder). Cleans are great too but you might want to program them a little differently to get them to fit into a regular HST routine (eg. 5 rep sets during 15s, triples during 10s, and doubles/singles during 5s).

All the best.
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Thanks for the reply. I didn't include any cleans in my first round for two reasons. First, the gym I go to doesn't really have a good place to do them, nor the bumper plates that I prefer. Also, in my 5 years of training for football I did more cleans than I care to remember. I kind of swore them off when my playing days were over! I know they are a great lift, though. However, at this point in my lifting, I'm not really trying to gain as much strength as possible, just maintain and keep strength. As for deadlifts, I'm trying to get back into my lower body routine slowly. I've neglected my lower body for a while b/c of a back issue that I have (fracture in a facet of my spine in my lower back). Heavy squats/deadlifts can sometimes aggrivate my back.

Do you think that the schedule I have is good? 2 weeks of 15's, 2 weeks of 10's, 2 weeks of 6's, and 2 weeks of 5's instead of negatives? I won't have a workout partner so this is why I'm doing the last 4 weeks like I am. Also you mention starting with 10's, if I did this, would I do 4 weeks of 10's, or 2 weeks of 10's, 2 weeks of 8's, 2 weeks of 6's, and 2 weeks of 5's?
 
Mule86 said:
Thanks for the reply. I didn't include any cleans in my first round for two reasons. First, the gym I go to doesn't really have a good place to do them, nor the bumper plates that I prefer. Also, in my 5 years of training for football I did more cleans than I care to remember. I kind of swore them off when my playing days were over! I know they are a great lift, though. However, at this point in my lifting, I'm not really trying to gain as much strength as possible, just maintain and keep strength. As for deadlifts, I'm trying to get back into my lower body routine slowly. I've neglected my lower body for a while b/c of a back issue that I have (fracture in a facet of my spine in my lower back). Heavy squats/deadlifts can sometimes aggrivate my back.

Do you think that the schedule I have is good? 2 weeks of 15's, 2 weeks of 10's, 2 weeks of 6's, and 2 weeks of 5's instead of negatives? I won't have a workout partner so this is why I'm doing the last 4 weeks like I am. Also you mention starting with 10's, if I did this, would I do 4 weeks of 10's, or 2 weeks of 10's, 2 weeks of 8's, 2 weeks of 6's, and 2 weeks of 5's?
Click to expand...

For an 8-week cycle when cutting you could do two mini-cycles (sans 15s) back-to-back. Eg:

2 weeks 10s, 2 weeks 5s, 2 weeks 10s, 2 weeks 5s

If your joints still felt okay at the end of that, you could do a further two weeks of 5s (or increase loads a little and do some triples) and then take a week off from dieting and eat at maintenance cals. I'd also do some metabolic work while doing 5s; you could do a set of 15 reps with a load ~25% lighter than your last set of 5s for each exercise in your program.

Hope that helps.
 
Lol said:
For an 8-week cycle when cutting you could do two mini-cycles (sans 15s) back-to-back. Eg:

2 weeks 10s, 2 weeks 5s, 2 weeks 10s, 2 weeks 5s

If your joints still felt okay at the end of that, you could do a further two weeks of 5s (or increase loads a little and do some triples) and then take a week off from dieting and eat at maintenance cals. I'd also do some metabolic work while doing 5s; you could do a set of 15 reps with a load ~25% lighter than your last set of 5s for each exercise in your program.

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...


It does help, thank you. I may consider that on my next cycle. I'm going to try and do the ''standard'' cycle first to see what results I get from it, and then I will change it up if I need to. Excuse my ignorance, but what do you mean when you say "(increase loads a little and do some triples?)"
 
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