Routine critique please!

P

philheath

New Member
Hey guys, this is the first time posting on a forum for fitness, but I have been working out for a year now. So I read up on HST, and since I am working out for aesthetic reasons this seems ideal for me!

So this is my routine, please tell me what you think:
Squat
Dips
DB Incline Press
Deadlift
Pull-Ups
Military Press
EZ Bar Curl
DB Shrug

What do you guys think? Since it follows the rule of HST that one should use mainly compound exercises I think this is a pretty good routine. I already found my 15 RM for these exercises. Only the 10 and 5 RMs to find and then I'm off into SD. Will keep it to 9 days.
Oh, and how many sets should I have for these exercises? Sry I am kind of a newb to this :(

Thanks in advance!
 
Welcome, Phil!

There are a helpful bunch of people here who are very willing to give some time to help new folks set up their routines etc. but do take the time to read through the HST FAQ's as lots of your questions will have already been answered there.

With a year of training under your belt, you should be in a good place to get some good results from a well set-up HST cycle. The exercises you have listed are all good, however, I would suggest something along the lines of this:

A)
Squat: eg. front, back (high-bar or low-bar)
Bench: eg. flat, incline, bb or db
Row: eg. seated, bent-over, Kroc
Press: eg. standing, seated, bb or db
Any extras you fancy: eg. arms, abs, calves

B)
Dip: weighted as soon as possible
Chin or Pull-up: ditto
Press: same as in A or an alternative (OR Power-cleans/Clean & Jerks if you like the idea of doing some O-lifting)
Deads
Any extras

Alternate between workouts A & B. You will be doing four main compound movements each session. Add in anything else you fancy for arms, abs, calves according to your energy levels on the day.

If you like you can do the heaviest movements (squats or deads) first when your energy levels are highest; or, as some people prefer, you can do them last: as you get stronger you may want to do them later in your routine because of the overall drain on your CNS. If you start with something that is very draining you may just want to go home afterwards! :)

With an abbreviated routine like the one above, you'll be able to do a few more sets for each exercise which will really help you to work on your form. I would aim to get 30 reps for each exercise at the start of the cycle and about 15 by the end of the 5s. During the heavy end of the cycle (ie. the 5s) it's a good idea to finish up each exercise with an extra higher-rep set (10-15 reps) with a lighter load (say ~75% of your work-set load) and go for a burn (not to failure though). This is to get your body to maintain muscle glycogen stores which the heavy low-rep work is less likely to do.

Hopefully some of these ideas will be useful to you. All the best with your first cycle.
 
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Thanks man, really appreciated!
This is one of the awesome things of fitness - the community! That was really nice of you to create that routine for me, it looks good, and I will definitely use it :) Just another question so I got this right - when you say that I should have completed 30 reps per exercise per workout in the 15s, do you mean that I should use 2 sets? And then 3 sets of 5 in the 5s so I get 15 reps? Then, should I use like 2 sets of 10 in the 10s so I get 20 reps? Thanks :D

So, I know I have said thanks many times now, but THANKS again, seeing that somebody cares and helps is much appreciated!
 
philheath said:
Thanks man, really appreciated!
This is one of the awesome things of fitness - the community! That was really nice of you to create that routine for me, it looks good, and I will definitely use it :) Just another question so I got this right - when you say that I should have completed 30 reps per exercise per workout in the 15s, do you mean that I should use 2 sets? And then 3 sets of 5 in the 5s so I get 15 reps? Then, should I use like 2 sets of 10 in the 10s so I get 20 reps? Thanks :D

So, I know I have said thanks many times now, but THANKS again, seeing that somebody cares and helps is much appreciated!
Click to expand...

Yup, 2 sets of 15s, 2 sets of 10s, and 3 sets of 5s (plus a single, higher-rep set to finish up each exercise, as I mentioned in my previous post) is a good place to start. Try it like that for a cycle and see how you get on. When you have a bit more experience and you've made some good gains you may decide to increase the total reps per exercise.

All the best and why not keep a log? :)
 
Lol's advice is spot on and I'd like to second his suggestion about keeping a log.

Good luck with your cycle. Just remember to lift heavy and eat big.
 
Eat big is probably the hardest part for most (not me). Herd a funny thing on iron radio . "There is nothing so anabolic as a calorie"
 
Thanks everyone for the kind and helpful answers! I think I am going to be well prepared when I start my cycle! And regarding the training log, I have started one which I simply named "philheath's Training Log". I will be finding my RMs next week, otherwise it'll mess my W/F/Sun split up. Then I will do Strategic Deconditioning for 9 days as said before.
Regarding your post caramba, that is true, I don't have problems eating, it's just I have to eat a ****load of cals to grow ;)

HST here I come :D
 
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