Much newbie confusion

[ButchCoolidge]

Hi all,

I joined the forum a long time ago after stumbling across HST. I tried it with much luck, though I'm not sure I was doing it right.

I started lifting again a few months ago, and after some Rippetoe's SS, have been doing a standard 3 way split. I've been pleased with my catch-up gains, but I'm ready to transition to HST.

So I'm going through my old workout calculator sheets, and some of my numbers are off. I decided to read up on "proper" HST workouts, and the more I read the more I get confused. Some of the things that are getting to me...

Exercise choice: Looking at everyone's workouts, I see much variation in the exercises. One person does the basics (squat/DL/bench) and someone else does 15 different iso exercises.

Number of sets: When I originally read on HST, everything said do one set of each. Since then I've seen people say do 2 sets, and also seen people say do a few warmup sets. Difference between 1 set and "2 warmup 2 work" sets is 400%...

Blocks of reps: Originally understood 2 weeks of 15RM, 2 weeks of 10RM, 2 weeks of 5 RM, Negs, then SD. Got that, but then started reading about changes, going to 8RM, adding in few weeks of different RM counts, etc.

Workout schedule. Originally read that there should be one workout that works whole body and that's done every other day. Later finding people suggesting AM/PM workouts, a/b alternating, and other changes.

There were others, but this is a start... Since I can no longer find anything in common with the variations that I'm seeing, my question is... HOW do you do HST?

 

[Lol]

Hey Butch,

Seeing that you are coming to this after Ripp's SS I'd go with something like:

Weeks 1&2: 1-2 x 15

Weeks 3&4: 2-3 x 10

Weeks 5&6: 3-4 x 5

Weeks 7&8: 3-4 x 5

Weeks 9+: if you can still progress the load, can keep good form, haven't got joint issues etc. then feel free to carry on for as many sessions as you feel makes sense. Don't progress the load to the point where you get injured.

SD/deload for a week (9 days works well because it fits in with weekly scheduling) at the end of your cycle.

AFA movements go: stick to the big compounds like you did for SS (ie. squat, dead, press, bench & cleans). Add in accessory work (maybe some isos) as you fancy and as your energy levels allows.

If you want to do negs at the end of a cycle for some exercises, where it makes sense to do so, go ahead. Dips and chins/pull-ups work well for this.

HST really is very flexible which is why you will see so many variations tried by different folks. Most important thing is to progress the load over the course of the cycle and, assuming you want to grow, keep increasing the weight on the bar cycle on cycle. Things like incorporating zig-zag are up to you. If you don't know how you feel about something, try it and learn what works (or not) for you.

There's a good section on warmups in the FAQ.

All the best.

 

[imported_electric]

As Lol said HST is flexible and most anything that follows HST principals can be called HST or at least are reasonable workout schemes. The downside to that is that it can be overwhelming to someone new to it. Because of that I like to suggest a template that newbies to HST can follow for one or two cycles before then can get a better feel of it and start tweaking.
First measure your 15RM, 10RM and 5RM. I suggest you do that on a week: 15RM on Monday, 10RM on Wednesday and 5RM on Friday. The exercises I suggest: Squat, Deadlift, Bench press, Dips, Chins and BB Rows.
After taking your RMs take one week off before starting the cycle.
For the cycle you should set up 3 mesocycles that last 2 weeks each for a total of 6 weeks. Monday/Wednesday/Friday workouts.
The first mesocycle should use 15 rep sets and 1 or 2 sets per exercise. The first day of the mesocycle you use 75% of your RM for the mesocycle (since the first mesocycle is for 15reps, day one = 75% of your 15RM). The next day you use 80% then 85%, 90%, 95% and on the last day of the mesocycle you go for 100% of your RM. If you started on Monday your 6th workout should have been on Friday. On Monday you start the next mesocycle just like the one before, 75% of your RM (10RM for the 2nd mesocycle and 5RM for the 3rd) and keep increasing until 100% of the RM. You should use 2-3 sets of 10 reps on your second mesocycle and 3-5 sets of 5 on your 3rd mesocycle.
I suggest you do your workouts like this:
A)
Deadlifts
Bench
Chins

B)
Squats
Dips
BB Rows

So on one workout you use A and on the next you use B and so on. That will have you using, for example, 75% of your RM on deadlift and then 80% of your squat on the next workout and 85% of your deadlift on the third workout. That's the idea.

After the 3rd mesocycle you have a few options. If you are too tired or your joints are sore, take a week of SD and start all over bumping all weights up a little bit. If you can keep going I suggest you do your 3rd mesocycle again but instead of starting with 75% of your 5RM start with 80% increasing 5% every workout until a final workout with 105% of your 5RM (which should yield you a new 5RM).