Reg Park+ HST = Bruce Lee Physique?

[FistOfFury]

As you can guess from my handle, I'm a big Bruce fan. I've always admired his symmetry. Wouldn't mind more size though while retaining said proportions (perhaps like Stallone in RamboIII)
I'm now finally ready to embrace a back to basics plan and get rid of a lot of these isolations I've been doing as I don't see them really necessary (and most likely counter-productive) for my goals. I find the bodybuilder look with larger arms and shoulders overpowering the back/chest not to my taste.
With that in mind, what do guys think of running Reg Park's Beginner 5*5 template HST style?

Workout A

Back Squats
Chin-Ups or Pull-Ups
Dips or Bench Press
Wrist Work
Calves

Workout B

Front Squats
Rows
Standing Press
Deadlifts
Wrist Work
Calves

Week 1: A, B, A
Week 2: B, A, B
Week 3: A, B, A etc

The focus is on the major muscle groups back/chest/legs. I'll most likely increase volume for back exercises and train them first (as that is my weakest body part and Bruce's strongest). Drop the front squat and maybe replace calves with abs in one of the workouts. Direct arm work seems totally unnecessary for my goals.


I won't be wearing the sunnies or bandanna anytime soon...

 

[Jester]

Wrist work? Cut it.

Any time you're gripping the bar you're doing 'wrist work'. Chins, deads, rows, bench, dips etc. All better than stuff for the wrist or forearms. I'll give you tennis ball and/or caliper squeezing if you're rehabbing etc.

 

[dempsey]

Have you not seen the 'Simplify and Win' thread!? lol

Yes it would be a great way to train using mainly heavy compounds with an alternating routine using the HST progression.

 

[Totentanz]

I used to do wrist work for my kung fu training (wing chun, ip man lineage who is the same guy who taught Bruce wing chun btw...) but found that simply using my hands to deadlift, row, etc, did a lot more for me than any wrist curls or etc that my sifu had us doing. I would drop that.

If you are after a more functional physique, then I would focus on back, legs and maybe a little for chest and forget about any isos. I don't think you need to hit the calves, you could do incline bench on one day to hit the front delts and then do something for shoulders directly on the other day. I see nothing for hams in your routine, you ignore them but hit the calves? Add in romanians on squat day, then on dead day you should do leg press or front squats for the quads. Bentover rows for back on squat day, you don't want to be rowing on deadlift day, and rows will help your core strength which obviously is important if you want to be bruce lee. Chins pair best with deads, in my experience, and dips pair well with chins. Since you aren't getting a lot of shoulder stimulation that day, do overhead press. I prefer something on a machine so the risk of dying is minimized but military press is a viable option and will also help with core strength and stabilizer strength.

So something more like this, with volume distributed as noted:

Workout A

3 x Back Squats (warmup)
2 x Romanian Deads
3 x Bentover Rows (warmup)
2 x Incline Bench (warmup)

Workout B

2 x Conventional Deads (warmup)
2 x Front Squats or Leg Press (warmup)
3 x Weighted chins
3 x Weighted Dips
2 x Military or Machine Press (warmup)

During the 15s, anything that says 2 sets, do 1 set and anything where I said 3 sets, do 2. During the 10s and 5s, do the sets as I noted above. Do warmups for the lifts I noted at a bare minimum. You don't need to do the warmups during the 15s but once you hit the 10s, they are important. Follow Bryan and Blade's advice for warmups until you learn what is necessary for you personally to be able to perform. Remember that too much warmup is bad for performance.

Begin with a general warmup – stationary bike, treadmill or similar for 5 mins at low-moderate intensity – just enough to break a sweat. Then do some light, dynamic stretching – arm rotations and similar.

Continue to:

Specific warmups for first exercise of major muscle groups (legs, chest, back)

15s don't really require warm-ups.

10s - 1 set 5 reps @ 70% of working weight on main exercises. Later exercises for same or auxillary muscle groups don't require warm-ups unless you feel you need it.

5s - 1 set 5 reps @ 50% of working weight

1 set 3 reps @ 70% of working weight

1 set 2-3 reps @ 80% of working weight

1 set 1 rep @ 90% of working weight (optional)

Although it looks like a lot, it is low-volume compared to those that use 20+reps on their warm-up sets. The warmup only serves to increase the core- and local temperature, thus elevating various enzymes and activating the neural system, thus making the muscles work more efficiently. Don’t make the warm-ups into a workout of its own. The above should at most require 15 minutes.

- Blade


The reps should be easy, producing more of an "active stretch" than a strength challenge. You will find that when you train a body part more frequently, it requires less warm up to feel ready to perform.

- Bryan

 

[FistOfFury]

All good points guys, thanks for the input. Bruce was well known for doing a lot of forearm/grip work (for lop sau technique) so I thought it made sense but yeah holding on to a heavy ass bar is probably more productive. As for hammies, I thought the deadlifts would be enough as most 'strength' guys call them a hip dominant movement and pair them with squat as a quad dominant movement. Was trying to hit two birds with one stone there and keep the workout as short as possible by alternating them. But again, doing direct calves but not direct hams Going to run Tot's routine hard for the next few cycles. Thanks again.

 

[Totentanz]

To be honest, improving lop sau technique in my experience requires lots of dummy work and plenty of chi sau with a good partner/partners, if you are actually interested in working on that. I'd volunteer to chi sau with you if you lived nearby.

 

[FistOfFury]

Would be awesome but I live in Australia I'm in my 40's now so don't take it too seriously any more. Just some heavy bag work in the backyard etc. I started training wing chun back when I was 15. I used to train at Sigung Jim Fung's Wing Chun Academy, then under Sifu Felix Leung (Futshan wing chun from mainland china and ip chun lineage) and later in Jun Fan chinese boxing.