My First Go At Hst - Review My Program

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geckoman

New Member
Been weightlifting for 2 years. Typically I will do a strength or Olympic lift followed by a circuit or cross fit type finisher. This got me stronger and lean but am still pretty skinny with. Looking to add some mass now and decided on a HST cycle.

Setting up a A/B workout. Here is what I have for the A/B workouts. Thoughts?

Workout A
Legs: Squat
Chest: Flat Bench
Tricep: Dips
Lats: Pull Ups
Shoulder: Seated Shoulder Press
Back: BB Bent Over Rows
Abs: Toe to bars
Bicep: DB Bicep Curls
Traps: Upright Cable Row

B Workout
Legs: Deadlift
Chest: Incline Bench
Tricep: Tricep Pulldown
Lats: Lat Pull Down
Shoulder: DB Lateral Raises
Back: Lat Tower Low Row
Abs: Sit Up Wall Balls 14lb
Bicep: Lat Tower Curls
Traps: BB Shrug

Thoughts on the programming?
 
Welcome @geckoman to HST,

Personally I would drop the bicep curls from Routine A and Lat tower curls and tricep pushdowns from Routine B as arms will get plenty of work from the compound exercises (I would leave dips in as too good an exercise to drop IMO) you have selected, I would also drop upright cable row from A and move shrugs from B to A as your traps will be getting worked doing deadlifts. I would also add another squat movement to Routine B as I feel that deadlifts is more back related than legs although others may not agree with me.

Assume that you are training 3 days a week, so how are setting up your incrementation.
 
Thanks for the reply!

Yes, 3 days per week.

week 1: 15 x (1 or 2 sets, not sure as I see different things)
week 2: 15 x (1 or 2)
week 3: 10 x 3
week 4: 10 x 3
week 5: 5 x 5
week 6: 5 x 5
week 7: 3 x 5 (not sure on sets for weeeks 7-8. Picked 3x5)
week 8: 3 x 5

Thanks for your suggestions.
 
I feel that weeks 5 onwards maybe a bit ambitious, I would start at 3 sets of 5 reps and see how you feel.
 
I'll plan on adjusting volume as I go based on how I feel and if I can complete the sets. I'll start with something like this.

week 1: 15 x 1 (Volume = 15)
week 2: 15 x 1 (Volume = 15)
week 3: 10 x 2 (Volume = 20)
week 4: 10 x 2 (Volume = 20)
week 5: 5 x 4 (Volume = 20)
week 6: 5 x 4 (Volume = 20)
week 7: 3 x 5 (Volume = 15)
week 8: 3 x 5 (Volume = 15)
 
I agree, deadlifts, althought a great exercise, and they do work pretty much every muscle in your body, and it does work your legs well, I find its better at developing the back, and traps. Also I don't add full deadlifts until the 10 rep stage, mainly because its a very taxing exercise, and find it very draining on the CNS, also I can hardly breathe by the time I get to the 15th rep, no matter how light I go. So for the 15 rep cycle I substitute with SLDL.

I would also drop the isolation work on the arms as Mick said. they get tons of work from most push and pull movements. Even things like shrugs develop your forearms. If your looking for another squat movement, I would suggest front squat, zercher squat, or hack squat.

Good luck. Keep us posted!
 
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