Perfect HST Program ...

N

nasmpes

New Member
Hey guys been a trainer for 5 years mainly in the sports field developing athletes. My career ( semi pro never made it to the show) has ended and for the first time in training want to focus more on physique and getting bigger rather then athletic performance. Any way this is what my HST is going to look like after reading the article.

6 TOTAL WEEKS
2 week cycle of 15reps, then 2 weeks of 10 reps, 2 weeks of 5 reps. SD. Do new 1RPMS and repeat
Day 1 (monday), Day 3 (friday) and Day 5 (Wednesday)
[TABLE="width: 162"]
<colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Legs[/TD]
[TD]Squat[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]RDL[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Chest[/TD]
[TD]DB Incline[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]DB Fly[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Back[/TD]
[TD]BB Row[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD](N) Pullup[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shoulder[/TD]
[TD]DB Press[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Trap[/TD]
[TD]BB Shrug[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Bicep[/TD]
[TD]DB Incline Curl[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tricep[/TD]
[TD]Pressdown[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

Day 2 (wednesday). Day 4 (monday) Day 6 ( Friday)
[TABLE="width: 162"]
<colgroup><col><col></colgroup><tbody>[TR]
[TD]Legs[/TD]
[TD]Deadlift[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]SL Leg Press[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Chest[/TD]
[TD]DB Decline[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]DB Fly[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Back[/TD]
[TD]Tbar Row[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD](W) Pullup[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Shoulder[/TD]
[TD]DB Press[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Trap[/TD]
[TD]BB Shrug[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Bicep[/TD]
[TD]DB Incline[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Tricep[/TD]
[TD]Pressdown[/TD]
[/TR]
</tbody>[/TABLE]

* All done with 2 sets of each exercise. off days (tuesday, thursday one weekend day) will consist off either purely off or 45minutes of slow cardio 3.4mph at 7.0 incline (heart rate stays at 135) and core work. I will be doing 1Rpms next week so i can determine what weight to use and go forward. Also i did not add a "negative" week in. Should i? and if so where would i ? Thanks for your responses and critics guys
 
I am not a huge fan of isolation exercises. I focused my training recently on just Squats, Dips, Chin-ups/Rows and sometimes Shrugs. Progress on these basic exercises. Keep it simple. You don't need 10 exercises.

Why would you do Pressdowns or any other triceps isolation movement and not do just a few more reps of Dips? Same with Incline Curls and Chin-ups.
Dips and Chin-ups are far superior, work more muscles, joints, involve more CNS activity, higher load possible. Both should work your arms sufficiently. If your arms won't grow after doing and progressing on these exercises, then I am sure they won't using isolation exercises. Dips, Rows and Chin-ups also use lot of shoulder muscles.

Also, if I remember correctly, the force-length relationship is optimal in these compound movements. So I don't see the point in doing curls or triceps isolation exercises. Just my opinion.
 
Thanks guys. Yea Explosions the reason i added isolation arm exercises is mainly because I really never did any isolation for arms as a baseball pitcher, it was not necessary. So now that im transitioning towards focusing on physique and getting the arms bigger i added the simple arm exercise to help better promote muscle growth in the arms. If from experience you or any of the other guys think thats just a waste il consider dropping them, arms are just one of my weakest ( in terms of physique and look ) then the rest of my body.

Dan, Thanks il see where im at once that week comes. I would need someone on my level to spot me on eccentric which would be nice or else i would just do 5's one more week. YOu guys dont think 8 weeks straight will promote overtraining? Many experts ( esp in sports conditioning ) would suggest a deload week after 3-4 weeks. thoughts
 
Hi, and welcome to HST.

Firstly, re arms; I, as suggested above, fully agree that chin ups and dips work the arms significantly. That's all I've ever really done for mine, and I got some good size (when I was younger)
That said, it can be a mental boost to do one or two iso sets, as bodybuilders have the mentality of curls and skullcrushers as necessary exercises kind of 'inbred' since we all started training - and, lets be honest, they're enjoyable exercises to do!
Within HST, I would only do isos for 15s and 10s, as I reduce exercises during 5s and negatives.

As Dan said, re negatives. So long as you keep load/volume and frequency in check, then you can keep going with 5s, if you cant do negatives.
Personally, I reduce number of exercises for negatives and just do leg press (I dont squat anymore for health reasons) rack pulls, chin ups and dips.
Leg press and rack pulls are 5s extended, and dips and chins are negative only.
I aim for 3 - 5 sets of heavy load, and add a pulse set (15 pulses) to increase activation at the end of the last set.


Hope this helps

Brix
 
Brix,

What does a pulse set involve and what are the benefits?

I've been cutting successfully but I also think I've been doing to many ISO's. I do the compounds

Leg Press
Bench
Weighted Pullups
Military press
Weighted dips

but I also do one arm rows on the cable machine (barbell rows too dangerous for my back), side lat raises, and a giant set of hammer rope curls, overhead tri extension and ab preacher crunches all on the cable machine.

Workout always feels good and on the weeks of 5's I still keep the Iso's at 7 reps for 3 sets.
I think I'm happy with this routine so does it need tweaking?
 
Hi Wwazza

Your exercise selection looks fine. Its pretty much what I do/would do.

Pulsing are essentially partial reps with very short ROM (like 1-3 inches.) Pulsing with peak contraction exercises is a very effective way to generate metabolic stress. A variation of pulsing, by hitching the myotatic reflex, exists in order to accentuate strain as well.
I do them immediately at the end of my last set of 5's and negatives.

A pulse is done at near peak-contraction (but not lock-out.) The idea is to just get enough ROM in order for the target muscle to palpably shorten. A pulse is performed slowly (but not so slow as to turn it into a static contraction) during the concentric and quickly at the eccentric. You should be doing pulses of roughly 1-2 second concentric and ~0.5 seconds. You'd use a load that's fairly low (for isolation movements, that's somewhere in the 15s range) to produce 15 pulses. In a short 30-40 seconds, you can an excruciating burn.

They seem to work best with isos and pulling compound movements. Partial reps work better with pushing compound movements - from 50% to near lockout.

Hope this helps.

Brix
 
Cheers for that Brix, I'll give them a try.

Does this look right.

Bench complete 3rd set of 5RM (85kg) then drop weight maybe to 55kg and do about 15 partial reps.
Pullups complete 3rd set of 5RM (BW+25kg) then drop to BW and do 15 pulses near peak contraction.
Military Press complete 3rd set of 5RM (55kg) then drop to maybe 35Kg and do about 15 partial reps.
One arm cable rows complete 3rd set of 7RM (40Kg) and drop to maybe 25Kg and do 15 pulses near peak contraction.
Side Lat raise complete 3rd set of 7RM (16Kg) and drop to 7.5Kg and do 15 partial reps. (Sounds Hard)
Dips complete 3rd set of 5RM (BW+37.5kg) and drop to BW and do 15 partial reps.

After this would I really need to do my arm ISO's I think maybe not. However I would still do cable crunches 3 sets of 20.
 
Hi

Yes, that sounds good. Give them a try. I do them at the end of the 3rd set for 5's and often negatives aswell, as sets of 5 dont last very long, so I use them to increase TUL.
Personally, as I'm quite heavy, I really struggle with the partials/pulses on dips and chin ups, so I tend to cluster them - I aim for the 15 reps, but break it down into smaller 'clusters' of 3 or 4 or 5, with a second or so rest between each cluster.

Yes you're right, after that, you shouldnt need - or want - to do Isos for arms, esp if you are doing full ROM chin ups, and tbh, you risk overtraining them at that rate. I would only bother with isos as 'pump' sets, at the end of with 15s and 10s.

Cable crunches and core stabilizer work is always worth adding in, time permitting.

Give it a try for a few cycles and see how you get on

Brix
 
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