Chins - 10,10,10,10*,10* *= rest pause
KB 1 arm Press - 28kg x7, 24kg - 4x12
Pullaparts x125
Main work inside 40
Kind of feel that this is the week the previous 11 have been leading up to. A 5/3/1 week with FSL 5x10 and the last week on this cycle of the template.
Not going to lie, this was tough. My daughter woke up after the 3rd set so last 2 sets were done with absolute minimal rest between deadlifts and press. Chins were a struggle, my elbows are feeling a bit cranky at the moment need to remember to try the ultrasound gun on them. Tried moving up to the 28kg bell on the press but wasn’t really moving, the 24kg bell is too easy so might swap to DB’s next week and stick 26kg on as a halfway house
Easy Conditioning
3.5 mile run at steady pace, done in 31 mins. Majority of the run was about 08:40 a mile, no issues and felt more comfortable than last week.
With all that grip work and everything else involved in the movement, they can take a beating with chins - especially in the volume you’re doing them. People often seem not to realize how much grip work can impact the elbows. It may be worth using straps on a few of the sets to ease it a little. When I had similar troubles it really helped me recover.
I took them away when it felt good, but since I’ve started incorporating straps on all my rows I’ve been able to re-add in overhead tricep extension work with no elbow pain even on a cut.
I’m not expecting that my chins are going to be as good as they usually are when paired with a deadlift. tbh I think the elbow issue have arisen after playing rugby. I personally find that with Trap Bar Deadlifts straps are more of a hindrance then a help.
I can empathize with that so much. I used to tell myself feeling the connection on the bar was everything to me, I love working my grip strength and that people using straps are just making up for their lack of grip strength. And they were uncomfortable to use!
I got up to 200kg without straps but then dropped an easy 210kg 'cause my grip failed. Shortly after my volume work started to fail on my 6+ rep sets. I pursued for a while but it was clear that grip had become a limiting factor. I could not live without them now. Stay without straps, that’s absolutely great. Just don’t do what I did and let it hinder my progress. It might not be at the moment but eventually it’s very likely it will, especially on the higher rep sets. There are many ways to train your grip if it’s important to you.
Grip is incredibly taxing on your CNS which is also worth thinking about.
DB SLDL 42.5kg - 2x11,3x10 (more than last week)
DB Goblet Squat 47.5kg - 4x11,1x10 (more than last week)
Face Pull x145
All work done inside of 37 mins, followed by the below:
Train4Pain Triceps
Swiss Bar Hammer Curls 5kg a side x10
HLR x10
x2 rounds
I genuinely don’t have an issue with grip on TBDL’s, I’ve tried using straps before and I find I can actually lift more as I can grip the bar properly without. I’m not against straps and don’t subscribe to the argument straps are for the weak, I just don’t find them useful on TBDL’s.
Double overhand BB deads I have a different view on.
Honestly dude as I said, that’s great. Just saying if it starts becoming a limiting factor, try not to make the same mistakes I did. It happened for me around where you are now on them, but hopefully you can continue on the road you’re on. I’ve heard of people lifting 300kg and more before doing any training with straps so it’s definitely entirely possible.
Easy conditioning
20 mins weighted vest walk, planned for more but kids got up.
Did second session:
Neck harness raises 10kg x12
Pallof press x12 each side
Banded neck extensions 360 x10
Med ball Vups x10
Zombie squats x10
Calf raises x20
Banded good mornings x15
3D pullaparts x25
Unilateral DB Incline Press 32.5kg - 3x12,2x11 - last 3 sets were rest/pause sets on the weaker side
DB Chest Supported Row 30kg - 2x11,3x10
Pullaparts x160
All work done inside 40 mins
Only did FSL 5x5 as I’m playing on Saturday and think 5x10 would slow me down a bit, having said that I probably shouldn’t have pushed the incline press as much as I did. Right side was playing catch up and progress sorting the imbalance out seems to be stalling a bit. As much as Jim says that lower body FSL 5x5 is fine if doing plenty of running content I feel like I owe some squats to the program so will catch back the 5x10 next week.
Time to up the TM’s and head into the last cycle. Will be deciding on the next template at some point next week.
Weekends conditioning:
Friday - 45 mins weighted vest plus pullaparts
Saturday - 30 mins walk, 60 mins rugby. Was going well until some twat tugged on the back of my shirt and span me round in a tackle which led me to hit the deck head/shoulder first. Initial pain was in my shoulder after I heard a crunching sound. Onset of concussion followed last night with migraine like symptoms and a massive headache. Woke up this morning with a headache and pains when I’m just picking my daughter up so this weeks lifting plan may be revised if symptoms don’t improve by tomorrow.
Thanks for all the concern and comments, genuinely grateful.
Was zero symptoms till I got home and then I had splitting headache and nausea. Should be a one week stand down but I’m not planning on playing until another few weeks anyway.
Took me until late last night till I felt human again, with that in mind I planned to see how I felt in the morning and make a decision. Felt ok when I got up so back at it.
5/3/1 Krypteia Week 13, 3’s Week, Session 1 - Into the PR lift phase
Warmup:
HLR 1x10
KB Swing into High Pull 20kg 1x5, 24kg 1x5
Trap Bar Deadlift:
134kg x5 (should have been 3 but force of habit)
153kg x3
172kg PR Set x8, estimated 1rm 218kg
FSL 134kg 4x5
The PR set was as good as it was going to be with some lingering effects from Saturday, still miles away from my lifetime PR from last year was 6 reps at 211kg
Was another child disturbed workout so only hit the 4 FSL sets. All main work done inside of 35 mins, I just ran out of time before heading out to work.
Swiss Bar Bench
61kg x3
69kg x3
78kg PR set x10, estimated 1rm 104kg New PR
FSL 61kg 5x5
DB SLDL (shrug at top) 42.5kg - 5x11 (more reps than last week)
DB Goblet Squat 47.5kg - 5x11 (more reps than last week)
Pullaparts x150
Main work done inside 35 mins, followed by the below:
Train4Pain Biceps routine x3 rounds,
superset with 1 arm band pushdowns - 17,19,18 (each arm)
DB 1 arm Incline Bench 32.5kg x12, 30kg 2x12
Banded Pressups 2x12
DB chest supported row 30kg - 2x12,3x11 (more than last week)
Face Pull - plenty
Main work done in about 37 mins.
Yesterday I got up late, my daughter was up and mrs was tired. Ended up watching over my daughter whilst she went back to sleep then nodding off myself. For reference her epilepsy is worse first thing so requires constant monitoring although she is under 24 hour care.
I felt rough as yesterday so decided to rest up, eat quite well until dinner time when the chicken I’d taken out of the freezer was still not thawed out so opted for a chippy dinner. Orange chips and chicken meat IYKYK it’s a black country thing (for my American friends this is a region in the UK named so as it was the forefront of the industrial revolution and thus named due to amount of factory smoke/smog) this actually perked me up quite a bit. I’ve been a bit off all week in part due to the concussion on Saturday I think.
Today’s session was split into 2 as my boss was ringing me before 6, split quite nicely between the ramp up and PR set and second session was the FSL. Incline bench wasn’t working with my shoulder after the injury on Saturday.
This week’s PR’s sets on deads and squat have seen an improvement on pre Krypteia PR’s, bench was a new all time PR.