Critique my HST routine, round 2

[celc5]

This is my second time using an HST routine. The first time I ran HST, I found myself being able to complete the entire routine during the "light" week but ended up overtraining with push/pull splits in the "heavy" week. I've made the adjustments below in hopes to pro-actively address that problem. I also found that my body doesn't really respond to low rep power ranges like it used to, so I switched the rep ranges.

-3 full body workouts per week

-2 weeks per "rep range"

-I will swap out the traditional 15, 10, 5 and use 16, 12, 8 instead

-1 warm up set at around 50 or 60% of the desired weight for each movement; 2 working sets

-A and B swapping for the noted movements will be utilized to keep the workout length reasonable. In other words, each A/B movement is performed 3 times every 2 weeks.

1. (A)Squats
...(B)SLDL

2. BB Flat Bench

3. (A) Pullups
...(B) BB Row

4. (A) DB Shoulder Press/ Lateral Raise
....(B) BB Shrug/ Posterior Delt

5. Lying EZ Bar Triceps Extension

6. BB Curl

*Abs and calves will be performed on off days with light cardio starting week 2.
*My legs are definately strong points, which is why supplementary movements are not included for legs. This should be more than enough to continue growth with my legs.

This is a planned 6 week routine used for post cycle therapy of a phera cycle, which was ran 20/30/40/40/40

Suggestions are encouraged

 

[sfearl1]

alright brotha i'm in!

so your (a) workout for two weeks will be..

squats
bb flat bench
pullups
db shoulder press/lat raise
tri extensions
bb curl

then your (b) routine for the next two weeks will be...

deadlift
bb flat bench
bb row
bb shrug/post delts
tri extensions
bb curl

am i reading that correct? looks pretty damn solid to me. i'm actually gonna be doing something similar very soon. i'm in week three of post cycle for a 12 week test cycle i just did. i'm gonna keep to a volume routine (although its lower than when i was on) for two more weeks then i'm switching over to hst again. the only i thing i see is you have deadlifts with your shrugs. i don't know about you, but the day after deadlifts my traps are sore like i had done shrugs so i feel they are getting worked directly from those (i do deadlifts for my legs, not back btw). maybe throw shrugs into your (a) routine?

 

[celc5]

You're close. The A and B are alternated each workout for the entire 6 weeks.

For the sake of simplicity, let's look at it like this:

M- A
W- B
F- A

M- B
W- A
F- B

Repeat and progress to the next rep range

Let's get this point clarified first, then we'll discuss the movement pairings.

Edit: but it's still 3 times every 2 weeks for the A/B movements. The movements that are NOT A/B are performed 6 times every 2 weeks as per traditional HST philosophy.

 

[EctoPower]

Subbed. I am considering HST for my upcoming PCT as well.

SF, have you ever run into the overtraining problems with HST that Celc did? If so, how did you work around that?

I think that's my biggest fear with doing HST in PCT. I'm typically a MaxOT guy, so HST (at least in the higher rep ranges) is a major departure my norm.

Thanks.

 

[EasyEJL]

I was flipping between HST + PRRS for my next round

 

[celc5]

I was flipping between HST + PRRS for my next round

Easy, have you seen the 2 articless on PRRS on the Iron Man Website? I like PRRS except for 1 issue. Doing heavy power moves once every 3 weeks was hard on my joints. I also believe that power movements have a strong aspect of skill involved. In which case, once every 3 weeks doesn't give you enough "practice" to keep the skill perfect. I'm planning on tweeaking PRRS for a cut this summer.

Ecto, a typical HST routine has 1 lift for quads, hams, back, lats, chest, shoulders, bis, tris. It's definately doable in the "light" week. As you approach your PR, it is tough on your body but doable.

What the problem is, when things get heavy, you have to take more time between sets which makes the workouts absolute marathons. The suggested ways to manage this are create a push/pull split or upper/lower split. Now the problem is frequency with 6 sessions per week.

My personal "tweak" is to run an A/B split based on which movements have been hard on my joints in the past. Movements that aggravate my shoulder are squats, pullups, shoulder presses. They are all paired TOGETHER so that when/if I irritate my shoulder, I have a longer break for recovery than the 2 days as normally suggested by HST.

I'm interested also interested to see what Sfearl's response is to your overtraining question, because his strategy might be different than mine.

Sfearl, actually shrugs and deadlifts are my bread and butter lifts. I completely see where you're coming from with splitting those 2 up and your logic makes perfect sense. But, my body is a strange beast because traps and hams are strong points for me. I'm confident they'll be able to handle the pair without a problem.

 

[sfearl1]

to be quite honest, i felt good through my first 6 weeks of the routine if i remember correctly. when i repeated my 5's rep range weeks i didn't start back at the first week of the two week minicycle if that makes sense. i continued to lift my max for 5 reps and, on top of that, i tried to push through and make some new pr's. i did make some new pr's, but i felt like i did that at the expense of overtraining. my joints were sore and my body was just telling me it was time for a break. i took my week off, calculated in my new rm's, and started a new hst routine with 12's the following week.

i remember that i still felt a little overtrained and two weeks off is probably a better idea in between. i stuck it out though but i feel with more time off, and slightly better planning (for the second round), it could have been much more successful than what it was. i was a little cocky with my new pr's i made and calculated A LOT of my weights wrong which really had a negative effect on my workouts.

basically, it all comes down to proper planning for hst. if you can calculate your lifts correctly, and have a good routine setup, all you have to do is show up and lift. hst is by far the most fun i've had with a workout routine ever.

celc, i see now what you've got planned and it looks solid. it's all about what works for you. my new hst is going to be another 6 day split i think, but only because i have the time (currently working part-time, looking for a job out of college sucks!). i'm thinking about centering my workouts around my squats and deadlifts like you have them. i've found great synergy with pairing my bi's with my deadlifts and tri's with my squats, both on different days, in my current high volume routine. i'm going to try to carry this concept over to my hst planning somehow although your split looks pretty damn good. i'll let you know what i can come up with.

 

[EasyEJL]

Doing heavy power moves once every 3 weeks was hard on my joints. I also believe that power movements have a strong aspect of skill involved. In which case, once every 3 weeks doesn't give you enough "practice" to keep the skill perfect.

Luckily for me, I think the power moves still are with pretty light weights, so I wont hurt myself as bad

 

[celc5]

Easy, as always, a humble response. I've sifted through some of your past posts and see how far you've come in cleaning up your body. IMO it's time to start gettin cocky brotha because you are gettin there :head:

Sfearl, yes explanation of the "extra" 5's with continued use of your PR makes perfect sense. Actually, the way you did it is the "suggested" way according to that HST novel you linked. That thing took me like 2 weeks to read but it really sold me on the routine.

Anyway, those "extra" 2 weeks of 5's were an absoute waste for me and it just broke my body down as well. That's another reason why I'm runnin 16, 12, and 8's. 6 weeks is it and then 7-14 days off.

I'm REALLY glad you brought up your over aggressive weight calculation error. I was thinking that I wanted to reach my last PR by the end of the first week or beginning of the second week of each microcycle. But on second thought, that's NOT what HST is about. It's about the progressive load within the cycle, not where your body has been before.

 

[firefighter2032]

Celc,

I understand how you feel about the 5's. I did multiple HST cycles with the 5's and the 2 weeks and found that I got nothing out of them.

Can't explain truly what it is but 5's in general do nothing for me and I've found that a rep scheme of 7 is what works best for me.

As far as overtraining goes, I've found that when I start to feel like my body is overtraining, I cut it back to 2 sets of 7's instead of the normal 3 sets. If that isn't enough, I'll eliminate some of the exercises, but I never eliminate what I consider to be my core exercises (squats, deads, bench, pull/row, shoulder press).

I've also found that when I take the week or so off at the end of a cycle and my first day back to lifting comes, I have to kick myself in the rear to go and do the lifts, but as soon as I do my first set I'm geeked up about it all again.

One last...I've found that doing a super set style helps me to get my workout in a lot quicker. I'll take two exercises that use different muscle groups and jump back and forth between the two for my sets. So I'll start with Squats/Bend, then Pullups/SLDL, Dips/Rows.....keeps the pace of the workout a bit higher but it gets done quicker. I also have a home gym so I'm not competing with anyone else for the equipment, don't know if my style would work at a gym or not.

Good luck, keep up the good work

 

[celc5]

Firefighter, I've personally outgrown my meathead agenda with powerlifting in exchange for recomp/asthetics. I believe this to influence my dislike for 5's. Also, as I suggested with the PRRS discussion with Easy, I believe that if you're training for power, just do it. You gotta be consistent with heavy asss weight to lift heavier asss weight.

FANTASTIC suggestion with keeping the core moves when you feel burnt out. I really like that idea, but will only use that strategy if I absolutely have to. Reason being, my tris seemed to be the body part that really benefited from HST the most with the frequency. All these injuries and surgeries make for sometimes unexpected response to different training strategies

When I run HST, I use my power rack in my garage. So, yes, the supersetting IS an option. I'll keep that in mind, but probably not this time around for this post cycle therapy routine.