I think his life stuff appeals to me most. Wouldn’t mind sliding into his style of training at a later age “come to my gym at these hours and we’ll train”.
@dagill2 thank you for your tips
@Bagsy thank you for your tips
I’ll look them up and see where I’ll start
A couple of comments:
It looks like you’re in the “ease in” phase where you are doing 5x5 FSL. You will move to doing BBB supplemental sets, which add a lot of volume and require more rest time.
Yes, you really need to push the assistance to get a lot out of this program. If possible, you will doing weighted dips and weighted pull ups in sets of 10. If you can’t, you should instead do DB incline presses and DB rows to make the assistance equally challenging. I think that’s a main thing with Krypteia: make the assistance really challenging.
Once you are on the BBB weeks, it is a challenge (but doable) to finish in 45 minutes. The squats and DL days are the hardest.
You may want to check you TM to make sure it is right. You don’t raise it at all for the first few cycles if I remember right, and the challenge is to up the assistance level, and then move to BBB. Still, you don’t want the main lift to be too light it’s no challenge at all.
I ran it first exactly as written. I have had to adjust later and like to use the TB for the DL, and need to watch the weighted pull ups which hurt my elbows. I also now prefer to do zercher squats for the 531 sets and back squats for the BBB sets.
@Bagsy I’ve literally just copied the workout straight out of the book, had a random deadlift workout to do and thought I’d try it out. It’s fun as a stand alone workout, but I think it would get really boring for 4 months.
@Voxel dips and pull ups are pretty key to any 531 program, to be honest. I can’t imagine I’ll find many workouts next year where I don’t do at least one, if not both.
@antiquity Thanks for your input. I literally just picked out the first deadlift workout of the program so it was very much part of the “ease in” part. I can’t (currently) do sets of 10 of chin ups, so that might be where the “ease” of the program comes from. I may well give the full program a run through next year though, it’s probably the kind of training I should be doing at this stage in my lifting life.
I know you have no intention of doing so, but I wouldn’t consider BtM until you can do sets of 10 chins, the Monday is brutal even if you are okish at them.
I’ve done BtM… 1.5 times and don’t think that’s necessary so long as one is supersetting movements. Monday is definitely longer, but the brevity of the other days makes up for it.
Hmm fair enough, I giant setted everything and even doing that it was ridiculous, it’s not just time, it’s fatigue as well.
@alex_uk @Bagsy I had no intention of doing it until then, to be honest. I need to start basic and get back in lifting shape first, then worry about the fun stuff later.
“Fun” is one way to describe it. Although I’m not very strong at pull ups or dips, it doesn’t take long for me to recover between sets of them. Probably depends on one’s work capacity. Not to discredit anyone who completes it, but I think people make BtM seem more impossible than it really is. Give yourself some credit.
Yea I might be guilty of that, it sucked but Jim’s quote on the program ran through my head when the suck set in:
“So this template is not easy but it is very doable”.
Work for today:
Press:
5 x 40kg ss. 10 x SLDL (36kg)
5 x 50kg ss. 10 x goblet squat (20kg)
5 x 55kg ss. 10 x SLDL (36kg)
6 x 60kg ss. 10 x goblet squat (20kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x SLDL (36kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x goblet squat (20kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x SLDL (36kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x goblet squat (20kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x SLDL (36kg + 24kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x front racked squat (20kg + 16kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x SLDL (36kg + 24kg)
3 x 60kg ss. 10 x front racked squat (20kg + 16kg)
Giant set (5 rounds):
10 dips
12 lateral raises
20 band pull aparts
Notes:
I think I ran through a workout of Krypteia and alternated between right and left leg on RFESS.
That would work. I was considering just doing front squats towards the end for the squat sets. Wouldn’t even need to put the bar down then. Not sure what I’d do for a hinge variation.
I think Matt Rhodes has a version of Krypteia featured on Jim’s blog that might be worth checking out. Called Krypteia Redux or something.
@Bagsy I’ve tried Jim’s version of Krypteia Redux at the start of Coronavirus. I liked it, and it may well make a reappearance next year. I hadn’t read the Rhodes version previously because I saw it, read one of the first sentences which said “this might get complicated” and stopped. On rereading, I think I like it more although i may remove some of the complications to start with.
Edit: for the record, I think you’d probably enjoy the blend of conditioning and basic strength work found in either.
I like it!
I haven’t defeated the simple things so I definitely don’t need complicated things.
Yeah, I did the full Krypteia a couple summers ago. I don’t own DBs and can’t do as much supersetting with my current setup, so I couldn’t properly do it again even I wanted. Not a fan of dropping press as a main lift.
I don’t think I’ll do the full Krypteia for exactly those reasons: I don’t want to drop press as a main movement and I don’t think I can load my dumbbells heavy enough to make it challenging.
I think I read somewhere that Jim started using the press as an assistance lift on deadlift days. Not heavy enough to program it like a main lift though. Makes sense since he works with a lot of kids who initially struggle to press an empty barbell.
I’m 100% sold on the idea of the press as a superior movement for physique and general awesomeness, especially in a program already heavy in dips and/or press ups.
Work for today:
Press:
3 x (5 x 1) @ 65kg
Incline bench machine: 350 set
Machine row: 350 set
JM press: 3 x 8
JM “6 rep tricep workout”
Shoulder circuit (2 rounds each side):
12 x cable lateral raises
10 x dumbell lateral raises
10 x db press
Notes: