Starting HTII - substitution suggestions?

Lynn46 · 11-12-2006, 07:37 PM

Just finished HTI. It was a great 24 workouts. Ended strong with the superset Bulgarian and Step-ups not blowing me away. Really noticed significant gains in strength in my legs, which I'd never included in training. What a mistake.
Am going to start HTII after a weeks rest. The variety of exercises and the very interesting tempo variations look to be fun and challenging. I know NROL downplays arm exercises, but I like dips and I've never tried towel curls and can't wait to try them.
I'd like suggestions for two exercises. First, workout A, the Dumbbell incline press (palms facing each other). My problem with that is that I don't really want to go and buy additional dumbbells, but to challenge myself I'd need heavier dumbells for the sets with only 3 or 6 reps. I assume the idea is to use heavier weight with the fewer reps. Maybe with the slower tempo I won't need more weight, but I'm wondering if I could just used a Barbell incline press instead. Obviously, I won't be able to have the palms facing each other with a barbell and that is my question: how important is this grip change?
The second substitution is for the close grip chin-up. I just dont have a chin bar in my basement. I guess I could drill some holes in the beams and rig up some bar to chin on, but I wondered if a pull down would work. I've got the equipment to do pull down and a weight stack that exceeds my body weight which is more than I will need. Does a chin-up use different muscles or supporting tissue than a pull-down?
Thanks for any suggestions. By the way, whomever suggested the 5 minutes of stationary bike riding as a warm-up as a way to eliminate knee soreness, another thank you.

cdkrug · 11-12-2006, 08:10 PM

Lou notes that if you can't do chins (I can't) to substitute pull-downs.

I'm now winding up H-II, I did the rack on my last workout of 6x3--which means I'll need to move to the chin bar.

That will be my project for between the end of H-II and Christmas.

Lisa~ · 11-12-2006, 08:15 PM

Lynn,

Great to get an update from you and congratulations on the progress and your consistency.

I can see your dilemma with the palms-facing incline DB press. If you choose not to purchase more DB's, then I'd suggest doing that lift when the program calls for higher reps and doing a regular incline barbell bench press on the low rep days.

For chin-ups, a chin-up bar is just so easy and inexpensive to put up. A piece of pipe and two brackets from Home Depot and 10 minutes of work. A chin-up feels a lot different from a lat pulldown, even though the target muscles are similar. The chin-up is much more of a whole body lift. In the meantime, do the lat pulldown with either a V-handle (so you can use a close grip) or an underhand chin-up grip until you get your chin-up bar set up.

Have fun with those dips and towel curls.

MindPower · 11-12-2006, 09:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynn Pierson

I'd like suggestions for two exercises. First, workout A, the Dumbbell incline press (palms facing each other). My problem with that is that I don't really want to go and buy additional dumbbells, but to challenge myself I'd need heavier dumbells for the sets with only 3 or 6 reps.

Lynn,

I had the same problem whilst doing HT2, my solution was to use my curl bar instead of a barbell, it may not be perfect but my hand position was at least closer to a neutral grip than with a barbell and allowed me to use heavy enough weights..

Mark

Lynn46 · 11-13-2006, 05:58 PM

Thanks to all who responded. Again, I can't believe I didn't think of Lisa's practical and thoughtful suggestion re: the dumbbell incline presses. I plan to take her suggestion and do the dumbells I already have on the high rep days (I may find the tempos make the exercise more challenging than I anticipate) and the barbell on the low rep, heavy weight days. And, OK, OK, OK . . . I will build a chin bar (thanks for the encouragement and the KITA, Lisa).
Mindpower, good suggestions but I don't have a curl bar so since I was trying to save a few bucks I'll use what I have for now.
And CDKrug, I'll let you know if I am able to do the chin ups. My problem for the moment was the lack of equipment to find out.

cdkrug · 11-13-2006, 07:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lynn Pierson

Mindpower, good suggestions but I don't have a curl bar so since I was trying to save a few bucks I'll use what I have for now.
And CDKrug, I'll let you know if I am able to do the chin ups. My problem for the moment was the lack of equipment to find out.

My problem is an overabundance of girth, though that situation's improving slowly.