New to HST, hows my routine?

D

DennisRB

New Member
Hi, I think I will give HST a try. Do you think it will be good for me?
Previously I have been doing weights with no real plan or direction. I may have been over training, but I was in inadvertently following a HST like plan anyway as I would do a full body workout 3-5 times a week and continuously add more weight. But because I was a beginner, I could get away with adding more weight quite often. I have been training on and off for about 4 months, and have lost about 10kg of over all body mass, but I reckon I lost at least 15kg of fat and put on 5kg of muscle. I just ordered some body fat scales. My weight is now 80kg (roughly double for puounds 10kg = 22lbs)

I have a home gym which consists of bench bar/dumbells.

Please view attachment for routine of 2 weeks of 15's.
 
HST will definately be good for you

There are some things I'd change if I were you: the ABs should be trained like all other muscles - i.e. not doing a billion reps like most people can do in airbiking. Do fx a weighted crunch and follow the progression suggested by HST - the same goes for calves (remember, as Arnold S says, your calves are used to carrying around your bodyweight, so you'll have to lift more to develop them). For squat, I'd use barbell instead of dumbbells
 
Thanks.

I will certainly take your advice into consideration. I can't use a barbell for squats as I fell its too dangerous without a power rack or spotter.

I also have never trained my legs, besides a bit of ACL surgery rehabilitation. (injured about 18 months ago) Which is why my squat figure is low.

I want to do weighed calf exercises as you suggest, I just need to find some sort of step I can use. I don't have a step around my house (well not one that won't endanger my glass doors while holding dumbells) All I need is a solid block of wood which I am sure I can find somewhere. I might just start with 5kg dumbells and add 1.25kg to each one per session, what do you think? Remember I have never trained my calves.

I want to follow your suggestion for abs too, but I am quite weak in that spot. I can only do about 25 ab bikes (I only just discovered it, so I am extra weak at it) I figured, because I am so weak at it I could get away with HST principals of increasing load by doing extra reps and then move to weighted crunches after to increase load more??? (I have also never done weighted crunches)
 
Your right with the abs - it's probably the most difficult group to target with HST, I think, especially because the best excercises are so difficult to perform, that it's hard to add weight, especially in a home gym. What you could do is this (if you don't have back problems). Lie on your back on the floor with your heels on the bench. Then, roll up a towel or whatever, place it under your lower back(about right under your belly button - you'll figure it out), and then do normal crunches - the towel acts like a med-ball, strssing your obliques more etc. Then you can add weight each time, about 1.25/2.5 kg...

Regarding the calves: the donkey press is performed sitting, either with the toes on some step or simply just at the floor. Then you place a dubbell on top of each of your knees, and press... This way, you dn't use your own bodyweight, which of course calls for heavier weights, but it makes it easier to perform (if I didn't have a smithmachine, lifting 300 pounds with my calves as I can do would be dangerous standing - doing the donkey might prevent that, then you can also be close to your glass doors without endangering them :D ) The increments should prob. be bigger, like in squats...

By the way, because your lack of power rack for squats, you might consider deadweightlift...
 
Thanks, I'll figure something out for it.

I want to do some before and after comparisons. What measurements and photos should I take and how should I take them? Before or after workout? Flexed non flexed?

I want to make as good of a comparison as I can to gauge HST's effectiveness. That's another reason I want my routine to be OK, so if I fail, I can't blame that. I'm confident that it will work well though :)

My friend has also decided to try HST after I told him about it and we will both do the before and after comparisons.
 
I'm not too much into measuring and photos, but a good guideline is to measure around the chest (about nipple height), around the arms and the thighs... Where on the specific bodypart you do it is not too important just make sure that it's the same spot each time. Also make sure that it's not too near the joints (ex the thigh shouldn't be measured near the knee) and if you can, avoid fat also, since a fat loss will make your measurement decrease... Do it un-flexed...

Pictures should prob. be both flexed and relaxed, and, if you can, make a friend take em... Again, the position/angle/light is not important, but it should be the same each time
 
I'm not really into measuring and photos either. (once I show my pics, you will certainly know I am not displaying them to show off
tounge.gif
) I have never measured or taken and body shots of myself before. I just think its a good way to see how well my hard work is paying off. If there are no decent changes, its time to try something else. But even without measuring or photos, I was absolutely able to tell the difference after my past few months of training. People would also comment on how much better I looked etc. I really wish I had some photos I could look at myself now and back then. I lost 10kg in total, so I must have lost a fair bit of fat when you add any muscle gains. I don't have a great deal of flab now besides some on my gut that covers my abs.

HST should help burn fat shouldn't it? I plan to use whey protein shakes and creatine to put on maximum lean weight. Last time I used creatine only, but had a very poor diet (not eating enough) which probably helped loose a lot of weight, but limited muscle growth.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (DennisRB @ Oct. 17 2005,7:01)]I'm not really into measuring and photos either.  (once I show my pics, you will certainly know I am not displaying them to show off
tounge.gif
) I have never measured or taken and body shots of myself before.   I just think its a good way to see how well my hard work is paying off.  If there are no decent changes, its time to try something else.   But even without measuring or photos, I was absolutely able to tell the difference after my past few months of training.   People would also comment on how much better I looked etc.  I really wish I had some photos I could look at myself now and back then.   I lost 10kg in total, so I must have lost a fair bit of fat when you add any muscle gains.    I don't have a great deal of flab now besides some on my gut that covers my abs.  
HST should help burn fat shouldn't it?   I plan to use whey protein shakes and creatine to put on maximum lean weight.   Last time I used creatine only, but had a very poor diet (not eating enough) which probably helped loose a lot of weight, but limited muscle growth.
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[b said:
Quote[/b] ]HST should help burn fat shouldn't it? I plan to use whey protein shakes and creatine to put on maximum lean weight. Last time I used creatine only, but had a very poor diet (not eating enough) which probably helped loose a lot of weight, but limited muscle growth.
Click to expand...

When building muscle, it is hard to get rid of bodyfat at the same time. However, if you're relatively new to training, and if your bodyfat is somehow high, both things should be possible. After a while, when you feel that either your muscle gains or your fat loss stops, try to look for some articles about "cutting" and "bulking"
 
Thanks for helping me out Arhnold. I think I will just follow the normal recommendations for protein and carbs and monitor my fat and adjust it accordingly.

Has anyone else got any tips to add?
 
I started my routine Monday. I changed it a bit. I swapped the DB squats for straight legged deadlifts as they were too much like the normal deadlifts. The normal dead lifts does the same as the DB squats plus it does glutes. The stiff legged deadlifts does hams and lower back so I think its a better mix. I also mixed the order a bit to provide more rest between muscle groups. I added weighted crunches and flies. This many exercises only takes my about 45min. Not all the weights are fine tuned for 15RM because I have not tested every exercise, but I will be able to see my real RMs closer to toward the end of the 15's and adjust accordingly.
 
if your worried about not having a spoter for squats use a bench but dont bounce of it..good luck :D
 
Squats are too much for my year old ACL reconstruction. I hope to be able to do them at a later time. Do you think HST will help my leg?
Hey can I do my routine 4-5 times a week? On some of my days off I just feel like doing more. I have gained a bit of fat after my SD and I feel that this amount of training is not enough to burn my fat compared to my previous 4-5 day full body work out.
I would do less at the end of a heavy week though. It seems I could go more days on the lighter stuff without overtraining?
 
You can do your rutoine 4-5-6 times a week if you like working out more often.

Take the same volume as ur 3-per week program, and spread it out over 4-5-6 workouts, (this may mean you're doing up to 3 or 4 more total sets per week).

Alternatively you could create an A-B split, performing 2 workouts a week 2-3 times a week.

Workout A.

Chest BB Bench press (bit of incline)
Back BB Rows
Quads DB Squats
Delts DB press
Hams BB deadlifts
Bis DB incline curls
Tris DB Standing ext
Calves Standing calf raises

Workout B.

Chest - Dips/DB bench
Back - Weighted chin ups (whichever grip you prefer)
Quads - same
Hams - same
Delts - Standing military press
Bis - BB curls
Tris - bench dips/close grip bench press
Calves - same


That's just an example..


Important to note is to look @ the total volume you're doing. If you don't grow, THEN start to increase volume per workout (more sets).
 
Thanks. I finished my 15's and according to my scales it's not promising.

Mon 24 Oct 81kg 22%
Mon 31 Oct 81.3 23%
Sun 6 Nov 79.9 21.9%

Maybe I need to work out more often? There is so much less volume than what I am used to. I used to do a full body workout everyday.
 
Doing a full-body each day might be possible for a newbie, but it's not a very good idea - you simply stress the body too much. If your goal is weight loss, then you might increase your cardiovascular training, if your goal is musclemass, you should stick with the routine,perhaps increase the number of sets over time. An example:
week1=1set of each exercise
week2=2sets
week3=3sets
and so on. This will result in a very large workload in week 8, and would call for a heavy round of SD. The advantage is, that not only do you increase the weights, you also increase the sets - normally there is a possibility that the increased weight lowers the number of reps, and thereby decreasing your workload per training session, but that won't happen here
 
I would not mind a bit of extra fat if it is a trade off for a nice muscle gain. Or I would not mind some fat loss with a smaller muscle gain. Losing muscle and gaining fat is NOT what I want.

I have 6 weeks to go hard before I will have 4 week off while holidaying well away from any gym equipment. Can I use my 4 week holiday to my advantage by doing a very hard couple of weeks before I go?
 
Would it be better to perform the same routine 5 times a week instead of increasing reps by that much? I think the workout will take too long if I do more than 2 sets per exercise. I think 2 sets of 10 will make it about an hour. I have heard that going for more than one hour is detrimental?

Here is my updated plan. I added heaps more weight to everything. I found a lot of what I was doing was to light. Mainly in the exercises I was new to.
 
Can't you do push-ups and stuff on your holiday??? I'd do that for sure, and pistols (one-legged squats) too... ANd then do the SD the last two weeks of your holliday

Working out 5 times in a week wouldn't do you much good. Remember, the principle for HST is to work out each 48 hours. So doing a larger workload every 48 hours instead of a smaller more often is better. Working out more than an hour is NOT detrimental - it's a myth. Of course, you shouldn't workout for 10 hours straight, but increasing your workload a little and thereby the time to complete is okay. (doing ex 4 sets of each exercise would less than double your time in the gym, so it should be pretty possible to do that.)
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (DennisRB @ Nov. 06 2005,4:05)]Thanks.  I finished my 15's and according to my scales it's not promising.
Mon 24 Oct 81kg 22%
Mon 31 Oct 81.3 23%
Sun 6 Nov 79.9 21.9%
Maybe I need to work out more often?   There is so much less volume than what I am used to.   I used to do a full body workout everyday.
Click to expand...
This is thankfully a very simple problem to solve :)


Q. How to BBers and fat people get big...?

A. They eat too much.


This is all you have to do :) Make sure you're getting enough protein ~1-2gms/lb or 2-4gms/kg of bodyweight, and then stack up the cals until you start to gain weight.

Remember, the more muscle you have the more cals you will need. The more muscle you put on, the more you will need still.
 
Yeah I will try and to find a gym in Thailand.

I have been eating heaps more. My fat % has been going up. But my weight hasn't. Its strange. I think I look like I have more muscle? Maybe I am just in denial. I will increase my protein intake dramatically.
 
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