please review my first HST cycle excercises?

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bamx

New Member
Hello guys, thanks for reading. So my first HST cycle is going to be like this:
Monday, Wednesday , Friday : (upper body)
Chest
Bench Dips
Back
Chins, barbell rows
Traps
Shrugs
Shoulder
Shoulder Press, Lateral Raise, Rear Delt
Biceps
Dumbell curls
Triceps
Lying Tricep Extensions
Calves
Calf Raise
Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday : (lower body)
Legs ( deadlift here because I like them with the least interference of other excercises)
Squat,Deadlift, abs
Is this an Ok program?
Using the common 15,10,5 and 5’s again for week 7 and 8 using the previous 5RM all throughout.
2 sets for all or by feel one or two but no more. Do I need to add another leg exercise? I don’t like the Stiffed Leg deadlift, could I instead do lunges? I have not progressed in the last 2 years or more out of the 5 years with normal body building routines. Thanks for the help, much appreciated.
 
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deadlifts/squats are enough,you could dd calves, also remember doing deadlifts will work our bac/bis also
 
Try to workout only 3 times per week or if you really must do the different day upper/lower split try Mo/Th upper, Tu/Fr lower so that you have some room for rest. Resting is fundamental for growth. Actually I would recommend that you run one or two cycles using a full body 3x a week routine. Then you can access how your body responded to that and choose if you want to continue that route or not. If you have the time and want to split your routines upper/lower try doing it AM/PM style. For example, you workout 3 times per week, do your lower body routine in the morning and your upper routine in the afternoon of the workout days. That way you split your routine but still get a full rest day between workout days.
If your haven't progressed much in the last 2 years maybe you should take a step back and try a different approach. Maybe the reason your have been stuck is exactly due to too much volume, frequency or load. That usually is a quicksand problem because you get no results and end up doing even more to get results. Taking a SD and starting a vanilla HST usually is the best bet for these cases.
 
Thanks for all the answers. Yes electric, I can do a full body workout 3 times a week , I am just preoccupied that I am doing a lot of exercises in one day and since abs for me takes a long time (about 20 minutes) I see myself finishing in 2 hours. I don't have a problem being 2 hours in the gym but I don't know if that would be counter productive. I could split in the same day upper and lower, but I don't know if after a while the idea of going 2 times to the gym will bother me (plus spending more gas). I chose 13 exercises, that is 26 sets at most in one day plus abs which take a lot of time.I can do abs in my off days. Still, I don't see many HST practitioners doing that many exercises so I don't know if am doing it wrong. Thanks
 
this is my program, it has been tweaked but the HST experts on here and i believe its solid, you could add in calves if you wanted as faz mentioned.

Decline bench
Close Grip Pull down
DB shoulder Press
barbell bicep curl
Lying tri press
Dead lifts
BB shrugs

Im on the 10's and can do a session in around 50 mins with 2 sets of weighted crunches at the end. Something like this may suit you better.
 
Try this for abs:

3 x 10 x toes to bar (ie. hang from an overhead bar and bend at the waist, raising legs until your feet touch the bar. Lower and repeat. 3 sets of 10 should take you around 5 mins tops. When that's easy (I expect it won't be for a while unless you have skinny legs) hold a small db between your feet. For variety and to add some extra work for obliques, you can try to twist your legs to either side on the way up.

The great thing about this kind of exercise is that as your legs grow bigger, stronger and heavier, your abs and hip flexors (Psoas major & minor, iliacus) also have to get stronger to help lift the extra load.

If you like to go for a bigger ab stretch, try weighted GHD sit-ups. Again, try 3 sets of 10 and then get out the door!

I would skip crunches and all the high-rep, fatigue based ab work that seems so common in gyms these days. Big waste of time in my book. Heavy deads and squats (front and back) work your abs pretty hard in their capacity as mid-line stabilisers. Weighted chins work your abs hard too.
 
Ok I took Lol and LDU suggestions and made some changes. I have to detox from all the years of doing a lot of exercises. Now the program would look like this (what it appears to be 10 excercises)
M/W/F scheme 2x15,2x10,2x5,cont 2x5RM
Legs: Squat Deadlift
Chest:Bench
Back: Chins
Traps:Shrugs
Shoulder: DB Shoulder press
Biceps: Dumbell curls
Triceps: Tricep Extensions
Calves: standing Calf Raise
abs: what Lol said (sounds hard,lets see)

What you guys think? add something? remove something? thanks a lot
 
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that looks alot better to me, plenty of compounds.

Bryan suggested i go with decline bench as it hits the shoulders less. You can then hit shoulder press hard without pre fatigue im guessing. Also helps create that "shelf" look for the chest.

Maybe start a log if you got the time, be great to see how you get on!
 
Hi bamx

I don;t have much to add here, I see you have adjusted your program down!

Good...initially you had too much! My opinion.

Just some suggestions:

Chins/arms - do your chin hands facing you with a close grip (it has more sterctch and therefore better fibre involvement) then for biceps you don't need much, your curls which if you do you should do them in a incline bench, (again the stertch is better) will be or can be highly reduced, so do them at the end if you have strength left!

I don't see dips, which again is a big help for chest but hits triceps very well, especially if you do them with extra weight.

Finally allow enough rest and eat properly and intelligently and you will grow!

Cheers bud!
 
Yes, I had too much before for one session and I knew it. I'll add dips and do close grip facing me as suggested. I'll check my maxes today. Do I have to SD for 9 days after today even if I have been resting for 8 days already? I took this week off as routine, but dreaded to come back doing the same things with no progress. That is when I decided to read up again on HST and try it. I'll take some measurements and photos the day before I start. Lets see how it goes. Thanks.
 
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bamx said:
Yes, I had too much before for one session and I knew it. I'll add dips and do close grip facing me as suggested. I'll check my maxes today. Do I have to SD for 9 days after today even if I have been resting for 8 days already? I took this week off as routine, but dreaded to come back doing the same things with no progress. That is when I decided to read up again on HST and try it. I'll take some measurements and photos the day before I start. Lets see how it goes. Thanks.
Click to expand...

no just start
 
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