Making a 4 Day/Week HST Routine

I was thinking on doing a push/pull progam based on HST principles. It would go like this:
Push:
Box squat
Bench
Military press
CGBP
Incline db press
Dips
Pec dec
Shoulder db press
Side raise
Overhead tricep db extension
Cable tricep extension

Pull:
Sumo deads
Leg curl
1 arm db row
Pull ins
Standing db curl
T bat row
Pull up
Cable lat pullover
Preacher curl
Hammer curl
Face pull
Reverse pec dec
Shrug

Monday push, Tuesday pull, Wednesday push, Thursday pull.

This would be done in this manner for all exercises:
Block 1: 2x15
Block 2: 2x10
Block 3: 2x5
Block 4: 2x5 negatives if possible

I would increase 10 pounds in sumos and squat from workout to workout and 5 pounds in all other exercises

My questions are: Would this work as good as the original 3-day/week version?
Is there too much volume or anything that I could change to make the program better?

Thanks

What was your thought process with this?

It looks awfully lot like you just crammed in every exercise imaginable for the sake of more exercises

The original HST was put together the way it is for a reason, you should probably try running it instead.

Why is it bad? I’m using the HST principles. Also, I want to work out at least 4 times per week. What’s wrong with it? Too much volume? What could I change

I think we can refine and improve your routine, but first

What is HST, and what are it’s principles?

What are you trying to Get from the weights? Is your only goal to go to the gym 4 times per week?

This answer is written with the thought that the only thing that you’ll allow is a push/pull HST variant - but do consider that you could just do a regular upper/lower split, full body training either with HST or some else program, or really anything imaginable

The original HST follows a well thought layout;

Squat
Leg curl
Bench
Chins
Delts
Shrugs
Arms
Calves

It’s logical, it starts with the legs and goes from a bigger movement to a smaller one

What you seem to have done is that you have picked a shitton of exercises and put them in with little thought of order and reason

Do you really need bench, CGB, Incline dumbbell bench, dips and pec deck on your push day?

Why is there a bicep curl wandering in the middle of your pull day?

Both days look decent for the first couple of exercises (say 3-4) but after that you seem to have lost interest and you just showed a bunch of stuff in

What I’d suggest us that you take a good look on how HST was laid out originally and go from there.

If you want to split it up to two days you can afford to do 2 exercises for certain muscle groups instead of one. So, for example your push day could be:

2 Quad movements
1-2 Chest movements
1-2 Shoulder movements
1 tricep movement
1 calf movement

Here I’d have you choose wether you have a poor chest or poor shoulders. The weaker one gets two exercises

And your pull day could be

2 Hamstring movements
2 Back movements
1 trap/rear delt movement
1 Bicep movement
1 ab movement

So as an example (modify as needed)

Push:
Front squat
Leg press
Dips
Incline press
Lateral raise
Skullcrusher
Seated calf raise

Pull:
Sumo deadlift
Leg curl
T-Bar row
Chin up
Face pull
Hammer curl
Cable crunch

Now again, this is just one example. It may not work for you and you should modify it to fit your needs. It’s here just to show how you could put such program together

1 Like

The bicep curl is at the begging so I can get the most out of my biceps before I hit them with back work. So if I understood, your point is that I have too many exercises? 1 bicep and tricep movement would be 4 weekly isolation sets, isn’t that too low?

What he is saying is you did not follow the principales.

Pre exhaust is a bad idea for one, too many fluff exercices as another. You did get the reps right!

3 days a week, not 4

My phone freaked out.

If you are doing 4 days a week, follow the damn guide lines. You literally have double the amount of exercises recommended.

What you posted was the 3 days a week template into four. Don’t do that.

So how many exercises would you recommend me doing each workout for the push/pull split?

I don’t.

Follow the HST guidelines.

What’s wrong with going 4 times instead of 3 if the volume and the principles are the same

Back work is supposed to hit your back, and nobody has a big enough back. Besides - if you’re going to absolute failure with your bicep work you will get everything out of them, wether or not you bit back beforehand

It’s one thing, another thing is the way they are set up - their order is not optimal

Remember that you are hitting your biceps and triceps every time you press and pull,

Holy shit dude. Learn to read.

The above are the guidelines. Do you actually know what your Maxes are?

What @danteism wrote is way better then what you came up with.

I did the original 3 days a week way back when. I just did not like staying in the gym for over 1.5 hours. I changed it up to U/L and enjoyed it more. But, I followed the guidelines. You have 3 direct bicep exercises and 5 indirect. You only need one direct and 2 indirect. Look at the amount of tricep exercise! 3 direct and 4 indirect.

plain english. Your set up sucks. Do not use it.

Or use it and complain the program doesn’t work…

If I cut the exercises by about half would it still ”suck”?

All your questions were answered.

Just do it and post a progress report after 8 weeks.

What about this:
Monday pull : 7 exercises 2 sets
Tuesday push : 7 exercises 2 sets
Wednesday pull : 7 exercises 2 sets
Thursday push : 7 exercises 2 sets
Saturday full body : 14 exercises 1 set

Ends up being 70 weekly sets

The traditional HST routine has about 22 sets 3x/ week = 66 weekly sets so I’ll just be doing 4 more weekly sets. Also, fixed the exercise order