Starting my first HST cycle, any advice would be appreciated

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dirtnap

New Member
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I posted this in the beginners forum also, but I figured it might get a few more views here:


This will be my first foray into HST, and while I think I understand the basics, I do have a few questions. First a little background on me:

I'm a 45 year old male. From August 2012 to April 2013 I did Lyle McDonalds generic bulking routine, after which I began a cutting cycle which just ended (October 8, 2013) .Before that I did about seven months of general circuit training. That is the extent of my resistance training. In that time I have gone from 176 lbs and approximately 20 to 25% bf to my current 152 and approx 11 to 13% bf.

I am planning on doing the basic 3 day HST routine set out in Totentanzs ebook, the only change being close grip bench instead of triceps extensions. I have figured out my max reps for each rep phase, and I will be doing a SD from today until Oct 21, while eating at maintenance.

First question: Should I stick with the basic routine or should I try an intermediate routine?

Second question : Regarding increments, 5lbs doesn't quite get me to 75% RM but 10lbs is too much, taking me into the 60 -65% rep max. Should I err on the side of caution or should I go with the 5lb increments?


Third Question: The starting weight for my 15's in weighted dips and chins is lighter than my body weight. I don't have access to an assisted dip or pull up machine to mitigate this. Any ideas?


Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.​
 
dirtnap said:

First question: Should I stick with the basic routine or should I try an intermediate routine?

Second question : Regarding increments, 5lbs doesn't quite get me to 75% RM but 10lbs is too much, taking me into the 60 -65% rep max. Should I err on the side of caution or should I go with the 5lb increments?


Third Question: The starting weight for my 15's in weighted dips and chins is lighter than my body weight. I don't have access to an assisted dip or pull up machine to mitigate this. Any ideas?


Thanks in advance for any thoughts or advice.
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1. If you're new to hst basic would be the best
2. 5 pounds may sound like nothing but when you get into the heavy weights 5 is quite a bit. 5-10 for bigger muscles chest, back, legs, I shoot for 2.5 for smaller shoulders, bis, tri's is what I do, although dbs for curls go up by 5s. If you plan on doing bar rows, try to find an easy curl bar that you can add weights on. That way you can add 2.5s on.
3. Work on a pull down machine
 
Don't worry, I went ahead and deleted that duplicate thread for you.

1. Stick with the basic first time around until you get a feel for HST.

2. Yes.

3. Pulldowns or do bodyweight the whole time until you can start adding weight.

You gave us your history and mentioned your weight (152 lbs) but what is your height? 152 lbs on a 5'0 guy would be jacked and someone highly advanced who would have to change their training from the basic HST to something for someone that far along. On someone 6'0 that would be a beginner's size and you could do the basic routine for several cycles before you'd need to start changing things.
 
Totentanz said:
Don't worry, I went ahead and deleted that duplicate thread for you.

1. Stick with the basic first time around until you get a feel for HST.

2. Yes.

3. Pulldowns or do bodyweight the whole time until you can start adding weight.

You gave us your history and mentioned your weight (152 lbs) but what is your height? 152 lbs on a 5'0 guy would be jacked and someone highly advanced who would have to change their training from the basic HST to something for someone that far along. On someone 6'0 that would be a beginner's size and you could do the basic routine for several cycles before you'd need to start changing things.
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Thanks for deleting that. I am fairly new to these forums and didn't realize that it would show up in this "what's new" forum.

1) I will stick with the basic then

2) Yes, err on the side of caution and go with 10 lb increments or yes go with the 5lb increments? I don't have access to 1lb plates, although I suppose I could purchase some and take them to the gym with me. Or am I over thinking this?

3) I'll do pulldowns then, I hadn't thought of that. Thanks manimal and Totentanz.

Sorry, I am 5'7". So no not jacked by any stretch, but I have seen some results from my 21 months in the gym, certainly compared to what I started with.


Thanks for the responses. Much appreciated.
 
As for your final question, it doesn't hurt to repeat a weight over 2 separate sessions as long as you do keep the progression over the mini cycles. Without knowing your exact weights, I cannot see why you could t work BW over 2 sessions and then increase and work at that rate for 2 sessions and repeat (thinking if you start at a higher % of RM them you'll hit your RM before the end of your mini cycle).

I quite often repeat if I feel I'm dropping to low at the start of an exercise.

The other option would be to continue past your RM, but cluster. And each session try to increase the reps in each cluster until you can complete all 15/10/5 etc.
 
AderynGlas said:
As for your final question, it doesn't hurt to repeat a weight over 2 separate sessions as long as you do keep the progression over the mini cycles. Without knowing your exact weights, I cannot see why you could t work BW over 2 sessions and then increase and work at that rate for 2 sessions and repeat (thinking if you start at a higher % of RM them you'll hit your RM before the end of your mini cycle).

I quite often repeat if I feel I'm dropping to low at the start of an exercise.

The other option would be to continue past your RM, but cluster. And each session try to increase the reps in each cluster until you can complete all 15/10/5 etc.
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Basically my 15 rep max for weighted chins and dips is 165, which is body weight plus 10 lbs. I could do 2 lb increments, but that isn't close to the 70 to 75% starting weight recommended.

As for clustering I'm not sure I understand what you mean?

Sorry about dumb questions but I just don't want to end up screwing this up.
 
If you're doing 2 weeks of 15's then I'd do 2 sessions at BW, then 2 sessions BW+5 then 2 at BW+10. If one week then 1 of each over the week. You don't have to increase ever workout, just ensure you do increase over the mini-cycle at least twice is the rule I go by.

Also clustering, if you cannot complete the required sets in good form then do as many as you can in good form, rest for a short period of time (5-20seconds) and continue. As far as I understand it, you don't get full muscle activation on the first few lift of a set weight dependent. Some sets of 10 exercises only get full activation on the last 2-3 rep's, so by only having a short rest it allow the muscle a brief time to recover (shift lactic, etc) but not long enough to lose near full muscle activation, thus more fibre recruitment. It also allows you to lift more over all volume.

I'm currently lifting BW+3.75kg's for 7 then 3 in my "10" sets as. I cannot complete 10 in a bounce x 3 sets. Each session I increase the initial rep count, so on Monday I'll need to do 8 and then 2 x3. Once I get to the full 10x3 I increase the weight. Then if I cannot do 10x3 on the new weight, I start at 6 then 4 and continue... Keeps me on a natural progression.

I'm sure if my explanation is out someone will chirp in and correct me.
 
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