To say that tonight’s workout kicked my booty would be an understatement. This was the last of the 10 rep workouts for the HST.

I tried to get myself mentally prepared for tonight but alas I do believe I have reached my current physical potential at this rep range. Although I would have loved to have performed all of the exercises on the agenda 10 times each; I remind myself that my goal is hypertrophy and not necessarily achieving specific strength marks. I do realize the two do go hand in hand to a certain extent. I think the weight amounts from the last workout and tonight’s workout will be good strength goals or benchmarks for the future.

Like I said, this workout was a killer. I could only complete 10 reps on three of the eight exercises. I went a bit out of order tonight because I really wanted to accomplish benching the 225lbs 10 times. I started with the bicep curls and then went to the bench. I think I now understand what those supplements ads are saying when they talk about “neuro support. Those curls took a lot out of me. Those last two reps had me shaking like I was about to go into convulsions.

For the upcoming 5 rep workouts I have dropped the weight down just a hair. I have included 2 warm-up sets that will be more working sets than actual warm-ups. The reason I am doing this as opposed to specifically striving for higher weight amounts is that tonight’s workout has showed me that I really need to focus on doing good form at these higher weight amounts. With that said, I have never workout consistently with this heavy of an amount of weights. So, nevertheless it is good training for me. Tonight I could feel the heaviness of the weight all up in my joints, spine, testicles, pancreas, liver, spleen, ovaries and uterus. It was a good workout. I anticipate and look forward to the next two weeks.

As always, my workout log is updated in the links section of this blog and open for review and critique. Any feedback is welcome. I have the weights I will be using for the 5 reps listed. I think the two sets prior I will go at 50% then 75% of the stated weight. That is just an idea at this point.

OK, I gots to go: it Mardi Gras time and parades and revelry awaits! Happy Mardi Gras!

Good workout yesterday. This was the second to last 10 rep sets on the HST one more left at that rep range.

My wife done went and bought some plane tickets to Hawaii for May 2007.  Yes, it’s good-by FEMA campers, illegal aliens, and psycho drunks for a week.   This is a great thing but as I write this I am sitting at >20% body fat.  What is a Hawaiian vacation without a 6 pack, I would even settle for a 4 pack.   So, now I have a goal, and a specific deadline.  12-15% BF by May.  Is this possible? 

 Now just to inform you about my genetic predisposition, I have always been a skinny guy with a belly.  I have never had a 6 pack and would not be too terribly disappointed if one does not make an appearance but I am going to go for it.  It seems that the men in my family do carry their excess weight on their belly.  My dear ole’ dad looks like he’s 10 weeks pregnant.  So I don’t know if it is even possible for me to get close to that six pack look.

What do I think of the HST program?

This workout represented the mid-point of the two week period of the 10 rep range.  So far so good.  I feel like I am gaining a bit of weight and loosing some body fat.  I feel like I am “Tighter around the belly.  I attribute some of the weight gain to doing the squats every other day.  I have done squats on and off but never this frequently.  The tape measure agrees that the thighs are growing as well.  I’ll wait till the program is over before I post any changes. 

Concerning my diet, it is not too extreme.  I am just avoiding fast foods basically.  I am eating sandwiches on wheat bread and maybe a plate of fish when I get a chance.

Getting adequate rest is the most challenging aspect of the workout.  I have to schedule everything and keep to it aggressively.

The weight mounts are do-able at this juncture.  I have adjusted the order of exercises because changing the weights out was becoming a bit of a hassle.  The new order seems to be working out fine.  I am going from the straightbar curl to the overhead press then to the bench press.   I do find that after the stiff-leg deadlift I am getting some tightness in the lower back.   I don’t know if the weight is a bit too much but I believe my form is OK and I am doing the exercise in a nice controlled manner.  Maybe I need a lower weight to warm-up with.  One of the drawbacks I have noticed of the HST program is the difficulty from going from one exercise to the next and switching all kinds of weights and moving the bench around, not to mention adjusting and re-adjusting the weight rack.  It would be nicer to be in a real gym; but it would mess me up a bunch if someone was doing what I need to do.  Our local gym here in Picayune does not offer many workout stations and you never know when it’ll be crowded or not.

I am looking forward to the next three workouts and the ever increasing weights.  The weight amounts at the end of the week 4 are pretty intimidating to me.  I can tell you right now that I have never even came close to doing a full body workout with those amounts.  I’ll have to be well rested, well hydrated, and prepared for that last workout in the 10 rep range.  It will be a doozy.

Great workout today.

I had to add the warm up sets in the log.  It was something that some of the warm-up weight amounts were close to are the same as the weight mounts from workout #1 which really kicked my butt.  

Like I said, it was a great workout.  I think I am really getting into the meat and potatoes of the program now.  Although I was working on some limited sleep I was really looking forward to the workout and staying on track.  It paid off because I feel pretty good. 

One thing that I have changed is post workout I am mixing a scoop of my regular protein and a scoop of casein protein together.  I read that some researchers did a double-blind study in Transylvania and said it was good for you.  So I will try it. 

Peace be with you all, no time to right I am running late to get to work.  There are crazy people in FEMA trailers that need me!

Today was supposed to be an easy workout.  Although it wasn’t as easy as I anticipated; it wasn’t a killer or anything like that.  The reps are no down to 10 a piece and most of weight amounts are down from the last workout.  I can only speculate the reason for the level of difficulty was because I did not have adequate rest after my last workout.  These full body workouts can be rough.  I would have taken he prescribed two days off but I have class today, class tomorrow, work tomorrow night, class the day after tomorrow, work the day after tomorrow night, and a class the next day.  So today was about the only day I could fit in a workout. 

I am anticipating having some real good workouts in this 10 rep range as the program progresses.  Work is kind of being a pain in the rear due to being short staffed.  Everyone is working lots of extra shifts since Katrina:I must say everybody is about tired.  But I digress, as I said I am really looking forward to the upcoming workouts; I just have to coordinate them to mesh with all of the extra shifts.

This was the last 15 rep workout on the program.  I believe it went well.  Some exercises such as the squat were still pretty easy.  I am not upset about that because a month ago I could not do those weights at 15 reps.  So although the HST program is supposed to have you basically going to failure on the last workout of the two week period; I don’t think one can complain when obvious strength gains keeps you from doing so.  In the middle of today’s workout I thought maybe I should have continued to do reps on all the exercises to failure but maybe next time.

I really got the weight on right on the bench press.  I came about 1 away from finishing of the last rep with good form.  The weight on the curls probably was a bit too high.  I had to bust those reps out pretty fast, not as slow and controlled as I would like.

It also may need to be pointed out that on the shrugs I used a pair of lifting straps.  I should have done that from day one.  They allowed me to really get some good reps in.

I have gone ahead and filled out the weight amounts for the next two weeks.  I threw out the weight amounts that I had figured out prior to starting the program based on my 10 rep max.  I based the weight amounts over what I feel comfortable with from doing the 15 rep exercises and what may be some obvious gains in strength.  The weight amounts that I feel to be very surprising to me are the straight bar curl, bench press, and bentover row.  There is no way I would have even conceived of making an attempt at doing those weights for up to 10 reps.  The key word here is still attempt; it is not in the books yet.

We will see as the next workout goes to the 10 rep range.

Today was the 5^th workout of the HST program.  There is one more workout left at the 15 rep level.  This workout was the most fulfilling thus far.  Really felt pumped after it.  The weights are significantly higher now compared to workout number 1.

I am really looking forward to the next workout, which will be on Sunday. So I have a whole 2 days to recover from today and get ready for it.  In all actuality the weight amounts for workout number 6 actually exceeded my 15 rep maxes prior to starting off.  I am still concerned about the curls; today I had to use a bit of momentum to get rep number 15 up.

A word about warm-up sets.  So far, other than for the squats, I have not been doing any actual warm-ups for the specific exercises.  I tried to set this program up so that the preceding exercise warmed me up for the next one.  So far it has workout fine.  No tweaks or strains to speak of. As I look into the future at the 10 rep range and the 5 rep range it is obvious that warm up sets will have to be included.  I will adjust the workout log to show those when they are incorporated. 

Looking into the future at the weight increases from workout to workout I think some adjusting may have to be made there as well.  I’ll see what I am going to do as the program continues.

I am feeling a bit nausiated as I write this.  I was running tight on time so I really had to hustle between sets.  With that said I guess it was a pretty good workout.  I was able to get the straight bar curls for 15 reps without veering from the schedule; so I am happy about that.  

My energy was pretty depleted today.  Coming off the nightshift, didn’t get very many carbs yesterday, limited sleep, and I only had a protein shake and a hot pocket for breakfast.  My wife cooked me up plenty of fish and rice to take to work tonight so I will be able to get caught up on the nutrition.