First time HST - please help critique my exercise selection

alam906

New Member
Been doing split training for 1 year. This will be my first time doing a HST cycle and I am really excited about it. I will be doing a 8 week cycle with 2 week blocks 15s, 10s, 5s, 3s or negatives. I also plan to work out MWF and will be alternating workouts ABA BAB in each 2 week block.

Here are my exercise selections:

Workout A:
Squats
SLDL
Inc. Barbell Bench
Wide Grip Bent Over Barbell Rows
Standing Barbell Overhead Press
Barbell Shrugs
Lying Tricep Extensions
Barbell Curls
Calf Raises
Wrist Curls
Weighted Decline Situps

Workout B:

Deadlifts
Leg Presses
Inc. Dumbbell Press or Weighted Dips (if i can access a weight belt)
Close Grip Chins
Seated Dumbbell Overhead Press
Dumbbell Shrugs
Lying Tricep Extensions
Curls
Calf Raises
Wrist Curls
Weighted Decline Situps

Main questions of mines are:
Is this too many exercises in each workout? (I feel like I don't want to neglect any parts of the body.)
Is there too many variations between workout A and B? (Like should I just do Standing Barbell Overhead Press all the way instead of switching back and forth, as well as the other exercises.)

Any other comments or tips will be highly appreciated.

Also during SD phase, can I pig out and eat whatever or even eat less? Although I am a hardgainer.
 
Looks pretty good overall. The main thing I would change if anything is to dump the Wrist Curls and substitute Side Lateral Raises for your middle deltoids. Right now none of your exercises are really hitting them and besides maintaining muscle balance wider shoulders will make you look bigger with or without a shirt on.

It would probably be simpler to not to switch the shoulder press exercises but can if you want. However, if you want to use both DB and BB Presses during your cycle it might be more effective to start out with the DB version and progress it quickly until you can’t add any more weight and then switch over to the BB version which should allow you to keep adding more, but in the bigger scheme of things I don’t think you will gain much more than just using a BB straight through.

As far as having too many exercises you will only know that based on how long it takes to complete your workout and how well you recover from it. By supper setting you can keep the time down but for recovery only time will tell. The main area you might have a problem with here is that you are hitting your lower back with Deadlifts, SLDL and Squats several times a week. When things get heavy your lower back might not recover completely.
 
First off, thank you Grunt11 for your input and detailed information, I really appreciate it. You gave me some really good pointers as I thought about it, I don't think I can complete all those exercises when I get to the 5s, since I'll be doing 3 sets of each. I'm now thinking about just doing this.

Workout A:
Squats
Leg Curls
Inc. Barbell Bench
Wide Grip Bent Over Barbell Rows
Standing Barbell Overhead Press
Barbell Shrugs
Calf Raises
Weighted Decline Situps

Workout B:

SLDL
Leg Presses
Inc. Dumbbell Press or Weighted Dips (if i can access a weight belt)
Close Grip Chins
Standing Barbell Overhead Press
Dumbbell Shrugs
Calf Raises
Weighted Decline Situps

Will do isolation workout for bicep and tricep for the 15s and possibly 10s, if time permits.

I have one more question if you can help me with. Since I am doing alternating workout A/B. Will I be hitting my max for Squats AND Leg Presses at the end of my 2 week block?
Example:
Squat 15rep max = 185lbs.
Leg Presses 15 rep max = 360lbs.

Monday - Squat 1x15 165lbs
Wednesday - Leg Press 1x15 320lbs
Friday - Squat 1x15 175lbs
Monday - Leg Press 1x15 340lbs
Wednesday - Squat 1x15 185lbs
Friday - Leg Press 1x15 360lbs

Is this how my 2 week block will look like for the 15s?
 
Good idea on the isolation work. I’ve done that before where I did isolation work up through the 10s and then dropped it during the 5s to save time and my joints.

I would start both your Squats and Leg Presses at around at around 75% of your RM and progress them to your RM separately so you would end up with 3 increments of each rather than 6 buy I would keep the starting weights and ending weights the same as if you were doing 6 increments.
 
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