What do you hate about HST most?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Alek
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Alek

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I've noticed a lot of people seem to hate going to the gym and having to lift with sub-optimal weights (pink weights anyone) most of the routine.

For me... Its the empty days. It's like if I'm going MWF, on tuesday thursday and the weekend I spend all my day pacing back and worth like... Errrrrruuuugh, why can't I just go PUMP some weight till my nose bleeds, I wanna, i wanna, i wanna! Lol.

I have no problem with the suboptimal weights though. What aspect annoys you. Vote and comment.
 
"What do you hate about HST most?"

I hate that it doesn't turn me into Steve Reeves, adding twenty pounds of solid muscle in 30 days, or my money back...
 
I guess I don't hate anything about it, I have my days of course but that has nothing to do with HST per se!
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So I cannot vote with the options given unless of course, one options says I don't hate it I love it!
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<div></div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">First couple of days of 15s after SD. </div>
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Gotta agree with that! Man...I hate staircases then...and sitting down!
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Not that they have to be a part of an HST routine, but for me, 15 rep deads are the worst. Squats not so bad, but deads. Man. A 15RM attempt is just pure evil.
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Hey Alek, I like the way you changed sub-maximal to suboptimal!
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Im not so sure that HST is still up to speed on some of the research is out.

For example SD is still up in the air and also we don't know for sure if 3 days a week is any better if at all than 2 days a week of training per muscle group.

Other than that...it has and always will be my favorite routine.
 
The SD kills me, especially now that I try to hold to two weeks. After that first week, I start to feel like a total slug. If research proves that 2 months is optimum, I'm switching routines  
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It’s definitely 15 reps of deadlifts. The second set is like round-trip to hell, even if it’s “light”. I use a heart rate monitor during lifting, and 15 deadlifts get my pulse to near 190 – about on par with 400m sprints. It takes about 3 minutes to get back to a normal heart rate.
 
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(Lol @ Feb. 24 2009,3:21)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Hey Alek, I like the way you changed sub-maximal to suboptimal!  
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HAHAHA, I swear that wasn't on purpose. I didn't even notice I wrote that lol. It must have been some weird freudian slip, hmmm I guess my subconcious is influenced by other routines, lol. Maybe mentzer is playing tricks with my mind, lol.


Btw, guys we all love HST here, so that's why I opened this thread. We always talk about what's great about it, so I thought it'd be interesting to see what's less-than-perfect in it for you.
 
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(omega99 @ Feb. 24 2009,9:54)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">The SD kills me, especially now that I try to hold to two weeks. After that first week, I start to feel like a total slug. If research proves that 2 months is optimum, I'm switching routines  
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Haha, same here. If they now tell me I need to SD for 2 months, i'd probably flip out by week 3 and start lifting people and random objects and acting like a total freak show.
 
IMO instead of SDing there is nothing wroing with cutting down volume to minimal levels and doing a DELOAD if you are anal about missing the gym.
 
I have confession to make  
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that is what I am doing
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Barbell only, super high-circuit trainings instead of SD, more like cardio. Swinging empty bars around or doing empty-bar benches or olympic lifts with just the bar. Its really good  
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Preserves my sanity during sd.

Anyone else do something similar?
 
I haven't done HST in a few years and only did one, poorly executed cycle when I did but I've always used SD's with all my routines. I think it's one of the most important aspects of continued growth and plateau busting. I dislike the weeny weights during the start of 15s. I just go crazy strict and slow with form and tell myself it's part of the process. Today will be day2 of 15s of this cycle after not being in the gym properly for most of a year.
 
First few days of 15's... (which I am in now in my 20th cycle) however, hate may be the wrong word. Relatively, it brings on the most excruciating workout to my body despite the light weight. However, that is the point of a workout, isn't it?
 
I find myself missing the volume and variety sometimes. A fullbody split routine working a muscle once per week lets me really beat a muscle into submission from many different angles. On a full body routine I tend to not have the same focus and sometimes I feel as though I have cheated myself by not taking it to the max. The results are still there so I know the frequency is making up for the lack of volume. I just feel like I get a better overall result with more angles of resistance.

To this end I am planning a run of HST using more variety of lifts. I cannot really get much more volume into my routines and still recover. So I am planning on reducing the set counts and spreading the work over more different lifts instead. To do this I will simply use a single working set per lift while trying to maintain a slightly higher intensity. So no sandbagging the first set on this just so you have gas in the tank for the last set. Yet still not to failure, at least until the end of each meso-cycle.

An example would be to split chest work over more compounds than just a flat press.

Staring with a couple of warmup sets using the barbell bench press followed by the following sample work sets.

Set #1: Flat Bench Barbell Press (Work set)
Set #2: Incline Dumbell Press (Work set)
Set #3: Peck Deck Fly (Work set)

I will post up this routine once I finish it up. I am on a cut at the moment using a full body split but will be back for more HST soon. I am down 17# pounds from the cut btw.
 
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(Wildman @ Mar. 25 2009,1:01)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">An example would be to split chest work over more compounds than just a flat press.

Staring with a couple of warmup sets using the barbell bench press followed by the following sample work sets.

Set #1: Flat Bench Barbell Press (Work set)
Set #2: Incline Dumbell Press (Work set)
Set #3: Peck Deck Fly  (Work set)

I will post up this routine once I finish it up. </div>

Good deal! I'd like to see your program. Now that I'm unable to do any squats or deads for a while, I'm looking at some extra work sets (but I confess I don't know what I'm doing).


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(Wildman @ Mar. 25 2009,1:01)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">I am on a cut at the moment using a full body split but will be back for more HST soon. I am down 17# pounds from the cut btw.</div>

Whoa, 17# pounds! That's a heckuva cut.
 
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(Wildman @ Mar. 25 2009,1:01)</div><div id="QUOTEHEAD">QUOTE</div><div id="QUOTE">Set #1: Flat Bench Barbell Press (Work set)
Set #2: Incline Dumbell Press (Work set)
Set #3: Peck Deck Fly  (Work set)</div>
Real curious to hear how this works out. I've been sticking mainly to &quot;simplify and win&quot; compound routines. However, when I substitute a different exercise for a particular bodypart during a routine (i.e tricep pulldowns for dips), I get serious DOMS. Therfore, makes me wonder if my workouts could be a little more comprehensive using the above strategy.
 
Pretty easy to set up.

Just do HST 4 days a week upper / lower / upper / lower

If you want more variety...do something like this.

upper body day during the 10 rep range.

Bench press 2-3 sets 10 reps
Pec deck with 12 to 15 reps (pump work metabolic work)
Row 2-3 sets of 10 reps
Maybe pulldowns or some other back exercise for pump work.
lateral raise 2 sets of 10 reps
arms

Basically you are still using a progression like normal no matter if its the 10 rep range or 5's...but then you are throwing in some metabolic work or pump work to get in sufficient volume to make up for the decreased frequency.

I personally love to train full body 3 days a week...but when i can only make it 2 a week...I just do upper body workouts with more volume and leg press just for maintenance.

As long as there is some progression over time and adequte calories..i grow a little here and there.
 
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