Starting a highly modified HST routine

[Zander1983]

Basic summary:
- 3 times a week
- off days include boxing and rope work (not too much, no more than 20 minutes at a timid intensity) or indoor soccer games (intense!)
- 3 x 2 week cycles (1x10 reps, 2x5 reps and 3x3 reps)
- 1 week off after six weeks (still perform the 3 cardio workouts)
- I'm cutting, so my diet includes plenty of protein and reduced carbs, with extra carbs pre-soccer

Here's my routine, starting my 10-rep cycle (weights are in kgs!):

Bench Press: 80/82.5/85/87.5/90
Close-grip Bench Press: 70/72.5/75/77.5/80
Overhead Press: 50/52.5/55/57.5/60
Front Squat: 50/52.5/55/57.5/60
Straight-leg Deadlift: 70/72.5/75/77.5/80
Rocking Calf-raise: 60/62.5/65/67.5/70
Rack Deadlift: 100/102.5/105/107.5/110
Reverse Pushups (bodyweight rows): BW+0/2.5/5/7.5/10/12.5

I haven't tested my maxes for 10, 5 and 3 reps. I'm just guestimating and will adjust accordingly. Some of the weights will be a long way off.

So, tear it to pieces

 

[Zander1983]

Sidenote... the front squat weight is nice and low because I'm just getting back into them post-injury. I'm concentrating on form and steady progression, which kinda makes HST an ideal experiment for my legs, given the circumstances!

 

[PolishHammer1977]

Basic summary:


So, tear it to pieces

That's exactly what your gonna do.

Hit it hard.

 

[Zander1983]

Okay, first workout done. My weight selections weren't brilliant, but from now on I should be able to adjust to make consistent increases.

10 rep sets were REALLY odd. I'm not used to going higher than 5. These weights aren't huge, but neither am I. We will be though.

Bench Press - 176lbs x 10
Close-grip Bench Press - 143lbs x 10
Overhead Press - 110lbs x 10
Front Squats - 110lbs x 10
Straight-leg Deads - 154lbs x 10
Rack Deads (knee height) - 220lbs x 10
Reverse Pushups (supinated shoulder-width grip) - BW x 10

My quads are jelly from one light working set of front squats! Fortunately my injured ankles have recovered very nicely, and I could get relatively deep.

 

[casualbb]

Here's some advice...

Increment sizes...5% of the total works really well, we've found. So for your bench press, instead of 2.5 kg increments, that'd be 5 kg increments, etc.

I'd start at the biggest compound movements (front squats, SLDL) and work your way down to isolation. You won't feel as pooped when you do them. Also, when you do isolation stuff before compound, it can keep you from hitting your weights on the compound. For instance, I'd move close-grip bench to the end of the workout.

Also, I'm curious why you chose the rep scheme you did.

-casualbb

 

[Zander1983]

Here's some advice...

Increment sizes...5% of the total works really well, we've found. So for your bench press, instead of 2.5 kg increments, that'd be 5 kg increments, etc.

I'd start at the biggest compound movements (front squats, SLDL) and work your way down to isolation. You won't feel as pooped when you do them. Also, when you do isolation stuff before compound, it can keep you from hitting your weights on the compound. For instance, I'd move close-grip bench to the end of the workout.

Also, I'm curious why you chose the rep scheme you did.

-casualbb

Thanks for the advice.

Given the 5% increase suggestion, I'm going to have to adjust some of my weights so I can manage consistent increases. Having done one workout with 10 reps, I'm going to pick a point where I think I can realistically be at after 6 workouts and work backwards. I'll treat this workout as a test run and start from scratch tomorrow.

How about this exercise order...
Front Squats
Rack Deads
SLDs
Bench Press
Reverse Pushups
Overhead Press
Close-grip Bench Press

I'm not doing this specifically for hypertrophy, which has to be the most stupid statement I've ever made given the name of the program I've adapted some of its main ideas into what I thought would make a good cutting program. I wanted to be sure I'd still be doing some heavy weights, and low reps have always worked the best for me. If I were after more hypertrophy, I'd probably start at the 15 rep sets, but that's not my main goal.

 

[casualbb]

I'm not doing this specifically for hypertrophy, which has to be the most stupid statement I've ever made given the name of the program I've adapted some of its main ideas into what I thought would make a good cutting program.

Good luck then. It's a great cutting program.

-casualbb

 

[Lee]

looks like a good routine, i wish i could cut up, but i would have to completely deprive myself of calories to do so

 

[Zander1983]

I've got my new weights sorted out and will be hitting the gym in a few hours time to get this thing started.