Too many exercises/sets?

N

nativetroutbum

Member
Notwithstanding crowding at my small "office" gym, I've noticed that my workouts are probably taking too long, which probably means I'm either doing too many sets or too many exercises (or both).

I basically took all of the recommended excercises from the HST site and plugged them into a workout, and I do either 1 or 2 sets based on how "important" I feel the exercise is... ie, I do 2 sets of squats and only 1 set of leg extensions...

Anyhoo, I just finished 2 weeks of 15's, I've done this workout M/W/F and have done 25 minutes of walking incline cardio on T/T/Sat... Planning to start 10's next week, but then I go on vacation for a week and an half, so I plan on starting 15's over when I get back, then running through a full 8 week HST "cycle".

Can one of the more seasoned HST experts help out a HST newb? (Not a workout newb, but HST newb here). I'm having a tough time figuring out what I can/should cut. Maybe cut all to 1 set ensuring at least 45 seconds TuT? Maybe cut all isolation movements? Maybe I'm overthinking this?

Squats x 2
Leg Press x 1
Leg Curl x 1
Stiff Leg Deads x 2
Leg Ext x 1
DB Inc Bench x 2
Weighted Dips x 2
Weighted Chins x 2
Bent row x 2
BB Shrugs x 2
Should Press x2
Lateral raise x1
BB curls x2
DB curls x1
BB skull crushers x2
DB skull crushers x1
(smith) Standing calf raises X 2
Weighted decline Crunches x2
 
If your goal is to increase your strength and build muscle mass over your entire body in the least amount of exercises I would do the following:

Deadlift
Squat
Chins
Overhead Press
Dip
DB Row
Shrug
Bench Press

If you want to and have the time you can add in Calf Raises and Lateral Raises. You can also add in some core work if you’ve been lifting for a while and already have a big Deadlift and Squat but now you’d be moving more into a specialized powerlifting routine.

That takes you down from 18 to 8 or 10 (if you include calf and side shoulder work) with most of the exercises being compound movements which will give you more of a workout for time spent.

If you can’t Deadlift and Squat every workout then alternate Squat/Deadlift/Squat M/W/F.

If you Deadlift and Squat with a wide stance your Hamstrings and Glutes will get worked well and you won’t need any additional exercises for them like Leg Curls or SLDLs.
 
grunt11 said:
If your goal is to increase your strength and build muscle mass over your entire body in the least amount of exercises I would do the following:
Thanks for the reply/help!

I'm really trying to ensure that what I'm doing is not counter-productive due to too many sets/exercises... or too long in the gym overall. I also don't want to neglect anything.

So I'm guessing 2 sets for each of the exercises you've listed?
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Just a little aside here, but Bryan has addressed issues with the size of the workout, personal goals, etc before, and trimming things down is perfectly acceptable. Here is his answer to someone concerned about lagging arms:

Fatigue is not a bad thing; its simply not the goal as it is in all other bodybuilding methods. When fatigue becomes the goal of a training method, it leads to exhaustive workouts with little adherence to the principles of muscle growth and growth inevitably stops even in light of some strength-endurance gains. Cumulative fatigue is a different matter. This type of fatigue builds over the course of several days or weeks and can effect training motivation (e.g. burnout) and strength levels. Your concern about muscle fatigue is justified only on the grounds of cumulative fatigue, however, bis and tris being relatively small muscle groups, it is unlikely doing an extra set of curls or triceps extensions would significantly lead to burnout.

Do I drop out some of my compounds and add in some more arm exercises? Well, it really depends on how many other exercises you are doing. There is nothing wrong with using only 3 core lifts such as bench, chins, and squat for everything but shoulders and arms. This leaves quite a bit of room to add volume to your other body parts.
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So you can see that if you feel your workouts are too long, it is totally fine to trim down to some core exercises, then just add in whatever lifts you need for the muscle groups you want/need to focus on.
 
Thank you for the input (and patience)!

I've been "lifting wrong" for so long that the idea "the muscle must be exhausted in order to have a 'good' workout" is hard to shake. I'm sure this will change as I begin to see/feel results using HST.

New workout plan:

Squats x2
Deadlifts x2
Overhead Press x2
Weighted Chins x2
Weighted Dips x2
DB Bent Rows X2
BB Flat Bench X2
Shrugs X2
Standing Calf Raises x2
Weighted Decline Crunches x2

Will monitor over time and possibly add in:
BB Curls x1
BB Skull Crushers x1
DB Incline Bench x1

If anyone has any comments/concerns please share. I really want to get this right...
 
If you plan to “add” in those extra exercises it’s best to use them at the start of the cycle when the weights are light, you need less time between sets and will recover easier for the next workout. I and many others here have used things like arm isolation exercises early in the cycle and then dropped them later like half way through the 10s to focus on the compound movement.

Also note that if you add in those extra exercises you will be doing 4 pushing movements pretty much all targeting the same muscle groups. You’re Triceps in particular will get hammered with 5 exercises if you also add in Skull Crushers. That adds up to a hell of a lot of volume.

As a general guideline I find that shooting for about 40-60 reps per muscle group/workout is optimal when doing a 3/week full body workout. Within that range the higher number would be for a priority body part or something that recovers and responds to volume well like Calves and in my case Traps. Also more reps when the weight is lighter and fewer reps as it gets heavier. So a good plan would look something like:

Dips + Overhead Press 20-30 reps each
Chins + Rows 20-30 reps each
Squats + Deadlifts 20-30 reps each (probably less as they get heavy)

Those would be good “primary” exercises to which you could add some finishers like Calf Raises, Shrugs, etc. . . . Also, though not necessary my preference to maintain balance if doing core work is to alternate between things like Crunches and Side Bends to balance out your abdominal work.

I know it seems counter intuitive to simplify things down so much since we are bombarded by all sorts of complicated workout routines but if you look at all the best basic strength programs they are based on one exercise each for Push/Pull/Squat with maybe something else added in for balance. It’s just that you’re not going to sell many magazines if all you ever publish is the same simple basic routine just because it happens to work.
 
grunt11 said:
I know it seems counter intuitive to simplify things down so much since we are bombarded by all sorts of complicated workout routines but if you look at all the best basic strength programs they are based on one exercise each for Push/Pull/Squat with maybe something else added in for balance. It’s just that you’re not going to sell many magazines if all you ever publish is the same simple basic routine just because it happens to work.
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Huge help, gentlemen, thank you! I think I know what I need to do now. Ironic that the thing that is so attractive and compelling about HST; simplicity, fundamentals, effective/efficient; is the same thing that is causing me to guess/2nd guess...

Tomorrow would start day one of my 10's, but then on July 5th I'm heading to Florida for a week and a half with the family (Disney). I'm going to "start over" with 15's on July 16th and then roll through a full 8 week cycle. I think tomorrow I will do some max fine-tuning to ensure everything is "dialed-in" when I get back.

Again, thank you for your assistance!!
 
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