The next HST cycle

H

Hstudent

New Member
My last HST cycle burned me out 2 weeks before time and each training day took
way too long time to get through.
I read the "setting up" article by Ridgely and thought I understood the works
of not letting the volume drop with the reps. But I can tell you 4 sets of heavy
5's are NOT to be trifled with :) that I've learned now.
So the next cycle will be different in many ways.
main focus is cutting exercises and rest between sets down. I've read the HST
faq. and my resulting next cycle looks something like this:

Calf raise
Chinups wide and narrow
bent over or T-bar Rows wide and narrow
Dips
incline dumbell benchpress
Lat raise
rear lat raise
triceps ext.
incline dumbell bicep curls
crunches of some sort
captains of crush
(leg press and leg curls)
squat
deadlift

full body each workout. one workout every other day. standard 15, 10, 5 and 5neg. where possible.
This time I'm really trying out the "less is more" HST concept but I'm a bit in a tight spot about the amount of work. I'd like to reduce the time in the gym, but I like putting on mass. I really like doing both squats and deads and would'nt miss 'em for the world. I find it a bit odd I don't see the deads on everyones exerciselist anymore?
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should i cycle the squats and deads every other workout and fill the gaps with the press and curls?
what about the volume on such a program like this? 2 sets of the main big ones and 1 of the isolators? currently 2 weeks left of my SD before I venture out to break my 170kg. deadlift PR and test my rm's for the upcoming cycle. so I have plenty of time to consider the exercises and the volume. I just hope all this has inspired you to fire a few comments at me :)
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]should i cycle the squats and deads every other workout and fill the gaps with the press and curls?
Click to expand...

Most likely that is what you should do.

Exercise selection - "less is more"
Take out the lat raises

Volume: Do as much as you can, but since you have a lot of exercises, keep in mind you don't want to over work your muscles on dips to the point you can't do bench press.

You're young (I read the age post), so eat a lot and lift.

-Colby
 
I would drop the isolations and split the workout into A & B workouts. Alternate the compounds i.e., A: squats, B: deadlifts etc.
 
Hstudent

Follow the guys advice it is right.

Drop isolations, or minimize drastically.

Volume: sets

15's 2 first week - 1 second week
10's 2 right through
5's 3 first week, 2 second week
negatives 2 first week, 1 last week

This is not written in stone, but just a guideline, usually the second week gets heavy and harder toi handle, thus the reduction.

Shoulder's - if you are doing the lat raises as well as military press, do 1 set each, I used to do the same and worked well for me.
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Fausto and the guys gave you perfect advice.

You just have way to many exercises...and the more science I read about hypertrophy the more I realize is building muscle is not that hard as far as training goes. Its the food.

If I were you I would for next 6 month to year pick one exercise per muscle group and really concentrate on progressive load and eating. I promise you at young age that kind of lifting with food and maybe a little creatine and you will be dangerous...lol.
 
I haven't put together more than a few HST cycles. I used to follow my last partner_in_workout's ideas. Now I workout alone mostly. My last few cycles used to have like 14 exercices each workout but after studying the faq and this board and spending time reading stuff written by Bryan, Blade, Lyle, Berardi and a few great danes I got inspired to try a different approach.
I thought about doing an A/B workout before posting and now I revised it quite a bit. Here's what it looks like:
Workout A:
Compounds or semi: *Squat
*Dips
Bent over rows wide and narrow
Chinups wide and narrow
Calf raises
Isolations: Triceps extensions
Incline dumbell curls
Rear lateral raises
Leg curls
Workout B:
Compounds or semi: *Deadlifts
*Incline dumbell press
Bent over rows wide and narrow
Chinups wide and narrow
Calf raises
Isolations: Triceps extensions
Incline dumbell curls
Rear lateral raises
Leg curls
* Exercises cycling every other workout.
Since my goals were to cut back on the number of exercises I'm still not there yet I feel. Loose the iso's you say.. hmm.. thought about loosing the tricep and bicep iso's. I can do that. tri will get hit along with chest and bi along with back. My rear lats are indeed very much smaller than the front lats and I feel they need a bit of focus this time. Same thing goes for my calves and hams. they haven't been focused on the last few years.
Can I keep the grip on the chins as "upperhand" and still expect my Bi's getting enough focus?
Will there be enough focus on the Tri's with only 2 sets of either dips or press each workout?
Lastly I just want to thank you for your comments on my next cycle. Very good brainfuel you provide here :) Thanks
 
Baah nice formatting of the program cycle !
I assure you it looked very nice here in my *.txt document but somehow it failed to transfer...
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Can I keep the grip on the chins as "upperhand" and still expect my Bi's getting enough focus?
Click to expand...

Yes, you can do wide grip overhand and it will still hit your bi's. What I do is that I also do a set of close grip that will hit your biceps big time.

[b said:
Quote[/b] ]Will there be enough focus on the Tri's with only 2 sets of either dips or press each workout?
Click to expand...

Yes, but you also have the extensions in there (whether they be pushdowns or skulls.)

It looks like a good WO now. My first cycle was a similar split, and I had great results.

-Colby
 
I would advise you to do standing military press instead of/in addition to rear lateral raises. It's a great exercise that strengthens the core.
 
So if I'm too mistaken here I should be fine with this example:
Workout A:
Squats.
Dips.
Bent over barbell rows. wide and narrow
Chinups. wide and narrow (overhand grip)
Calf raises.
Leg curls.
Rear lateral raises.
Captains of crush.
Workout B:
Deadlifts.
Incline dumbell chest press.
Bent over barbell rows. wide and narrow
Chinups. wide and narrow
Calf raises.
Leg curls.
Rear lateral raises.
Captains of crush.
I have never used so little focus on Bi's and Tri's and I am a bit concerned. At least until I get to try it out and see if it works for me :)
About the foodintake: i'm currently holding back on the intake until my BF% reaches a more satisfying level than 20%
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but my protein intake is about 200g daily divided evenly among 6-8 meals.
 
Regarding the military: I think it's a great exercise and it has been in my last 4 cycles. The only thing for me not to like at the moment is it's ability to grow everything in the shoulder/back/neck area - except the back shoulder.
 
is there any way to incorporate the back head of the shoulder in the cycle without being forced to throw in some isolation for that area?

Besides, what kind of increments do you usually use? percentages seem to be the way since a 10kg. progression in squats will be a lot in the first few 15's and very little during the last 5's. the overall tonnage of the cycle will be higher with the set progression than it would be with the percentages I guess. Burnout and CNS taken into to consideration that would be a bad thing right?
 
why do bb rows wide narrow and the same with chins do this

a)chins wide bb rows narrow
b)chins narrow bb rows wide

drop leg curls full squats and deadlifts work the hammies

you dont have to use 10k increments use 5k for the big muscle groups 2.5k for the smaller muscle groups.

(quote)
is there any way to incorporate the back head of the shoulder in the cycle without being forced to throw in some isolation for that area?

try clean and jerks instead of millatary press
 
hmm. why didn't I think of chin/row splitup :/ wicked but a great idea. I'll do chins and rows as A/B workouts as well.

I have never done full squats before. I suppose you mean a$$ to the grass squats?

Increments in the size of 5kg/10lbs for the big musclegroups does not sound like much to me. I have never used less than 10kg/20lbs on bechpres, squats and deads since loads are so big here. I mean doing a 120kg/240lbs squat and increasing the load to 125kg/250lbs doesn't seem like much to me.

I remember doing powercleans or just cleans for fun for a few months but I have never seen the full clean and jerk exercise as a mass-builder. Let's say I have never seen it done in real life and have no one to show or guide me. would it be stupid to start practising an exercise looking that complicated or will I be fine just concentrating on strict form?

I'm having some really great input here. I really appreciate it :)
 
Hstudent

You getting there mate!

Greatly reduced your w/o, now let us thorw in another spanner in the works.

Try to do your workout, superset style, choose antagonist or same muscle combinations, and along with this reduce your rest slightly (say 45 - 60 seconds max, 30 if you can manage).

It make sthe workout quicker and more aerobic, great for getting that 20% down quick.

On that note, since you read and follow Berardi's instructions why not take up his instruction on Nutrition?

Keep it up
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(quote)
120kg/240lbs squat and increasing the load to 125kg/250lbs doesn't seem like much to me.
remember you increase every or every other workout so in 6wks that is 18 increases 120k to 210k
clean the weight up to your chest shoulders then do a millatary press.. :D
 
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