I’m looking to get in better overall shape - improve my conditioning and drop some of my considerable fat - so I’m slowly getting back into a running habit I had left behind and I’m aiming to adjust my strength training accordingly. Four days a week of lifting I had started doing recently isn’t going to be sustainable along with ramping up running and some increased demands from my job.
So, inspired Jim’s blog post “Krypteia - 2 Days/Week” I thought Krypteia 2 times a week might be a great fit for me and I’ve just started on doing that this week with an 80% TM.
But looking at the original program in Forever, I see after Part 1 it is suggested to drop Press and do a 3x week program for the other 3 main lifts. I was wondering with this modified 2 day version, would it still be suggested to drop Press after the twelve weeks it would take to run the first two cycles? Or is it suggested to just keep this four lift structure in place the whole way, due to the less frequent workouts?
I know I’m getting ahead of myself on this question because it is 12 weeks to a Part 2 if there is a separate Part 2. But just curious about how to program the schedule at that point. I might be able to shift to 3 days a week by that point and just run it like the book version. If not, is there a suggestion for how to approach it while keeping a 2 day schedule?
I haven’t run Krypteia before - I’m fairly new to 531, with only about five months experience using it. I think I had seen this K redux post at some point when I was running full body but forgotten about it, thanks for the suggestion! This tracks for me as maybe a better fitting approach and I can make a third gym day work.
Editing out my own misunderstanding about the emom stuff! I’ll try it - might still need longer rests for that part, but will work towards emom if i cant handle right away for all 5 circuits
Ok, krypteia is like ‘Big stick’ approach so honestly prob not ideal in your situation( by all means go for it but you will need to be really commited/push yourself to keep up the pace)
I appreciate the advice. To be clear, I do have a little more lifting foundation than I said prior - had been lifting for two years in my early 40s, then fell out of doing it a few months before pandemic started due to a job change, some family health crises and my own depression tbh and I didnt get back into a gym until June of last year (but not using 5/3/1 until fall.) But yeah, it’s still not all that much experience - just compared to five months.
I guess what I like about Krypteia Redux (which i’ve switched to after the suggestion above) is the conditioning emphasis with the supersets and lower TMs and the quick overall gym sessions. So far it has seemed manageable but I’m also just in week 1. I’m doing jogging on rest days but really thats more trying to build up running stamina at this point. I’m carrying a lot of extra fat and my conditioning stamina is poor. In a way being in running shape should be a req for lifting, I think I’ve seen Jim say as much somewhere.
I know this program will be a beast but I feel like I need some dramatic change and figured where I cant make it work, I’ll do as best I can. Are these other programs you shared well suited to fat loss? I’ll take a closer look at them in a bit. I know diet is the main key to fat loss but seen a lot of people mention Krypteia working well for their cutting routine and it makes sense to me how it would.
Prior to this, I had been trying to follow the old cutting advice Jim gave on this same forum re 5 pro’s + FSL and supersetting assistance on each lift. Did a cycle like that but it was really hard for me to keep up with and required a lot of resting time - Krypteia is not so different a program from that overall but with emphasis on barbell speed I’ve lowered TMs and bringing the assistance supersets to just the FSL sets is actually a relief from what I had been doing prior.
I’m starting pretty late in life with any real kind of effort at fitness whatsoever, so I know I have a long and hard road ahead. I had worked up to being a jogger years back and maintained it for a while and I want to work back to that - I think easing up on time in the weight room as a priority is going to be part of achieving that. Just to give an idea of overall shape - I’ve recently been having to build up my push-up capacity to even use them as bodyweight assistance, was doing incline pushups in order to hit sets of 10 until just recently. I’m still far away from being capable of doing a pull-up. My squatting strength is comparatively good though and i’m hungry to do the work to transform (as much as a 45 year old can.)
Mass Made Simple is about as “big stick” approach as I can think of, honestly. I know the article version is toned down, but it’s still pretty serious.