Questions About Possible New Routine (HST) - Please Help

[Harrison486]

Hey guys! What's up? First, let me give you some background. I am 18 years old. I am a high school senior. I am about 5'10 and weigh about 165. I have no idea about body fat. Anyway, last July I weight about 179 with 22% body fat. As you can see, I have definitely lost weight but I have also gotten bigger muscle wise.

Anyway, due to commitments with school, a job, family, and a girlfriend, I am only able to lift three days a week: Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Do to this fact, I do not do a muscle group split. Instead, I do the same workout routine on each of those three days. My workout routine is as follows:

Squats
Deadlifts
Bench
DB Bicep Curl
Tricep Pushdown
Flys
Lat Pulldown
Leg Press
Calf Raises
Shrugs
Bent DB Row
Shoulder Press
Hammer Curls

Now I have a few questions:

1) Since I am doing a full-body routine, a lot of people have suggested doing HST. I have heard that it is a very good routine for putting on muscle size. Is this true?

2) For HST I have come up with the following routine:

Squats
Bench Press
Lat Pull Downs
SLDL
Tricep Pushdowns
Shoulder Press
BB Shrugs
BB Bent Rows
Dips
DB Curls
Lateral Raises
Leg Curls
Calf Raises

How would this routine be for HST? Any exercises I should add, subract, or change? Is the order okay?

3) I am having trouble with a few exercises. With dips, I am having trouble getting 10-15 with just my body weight. How would I use this in HST if I cannot go any lower than my BW? Also, with Leg Curls, with the machine I would be using, it hurts my knees and I have trouble doing them. Are there any substitute exercise for that?

4)For HST, I have been advised to do 1 set for the 15 reps, 2 set for the 10 reps, and 3 sets for the 5 reps? Is this right or is there a better way?

[bmanderson]

I wouldn't do tricep pushdowns before shoulder presses. It would hurt my pressing ability to have tired triceps.

[bmanderson]

This is straight outta the first Nautilus Bulletin:
It's pretty old, but you'll notice that exercises for the arms kind of alternate between using triceps and biceps (which I think helps a lot).


1. 2 sets of 10 repetitionsfull squats :06 (minutes)

2. 3 sets of 20 " one-legged calf raises :06

3. 2 sets of 10 " barbell standing presses :06

4. 2 sets of 10 " behind-neck chins :06

5. 2 sets of 10 " bench presses :06

6. 2 sets of 10 " regular-grip chins :06

7. 2 sets of 10 " parallel dips :06

8. 2 sets of 10 " barbell curls :08

9. 2 sets of 12 " pulley triceps-curls :06

10. 2 sets of 15 " wrist curls :02

11. 1 set of 10 " regular-grip chins :03

12. 1 set of 10 " parallel dips :03

13. 2 sets of 15 " stiff-legged deadlifts :06

14. 2 sets of 10 " dumbbell side raises :06