Drew Baye Project Kratos Program Handbook and Timed Static Contraction Training

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TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents Introduction Changes

Repetition Cadence / Speed of Motion Resistance Scaling and Progression

Repetition Ranges, Time Under Load, and Time to Failure Removal of Unilateral Exercises

Removal of Isochronal Progression

Leg-Supported, Leg-Assisted, and Short-Lever Exercise Variants Pre-Exhaustion

Intentional Antagonistic Co-Contraction Straps for TSC

Kratos Resistance Scaling and Progression System Kratos Resistance Levels Table

Determining Starting Resistance Level

Workouts

Changes to Kratos Changes to Zelus

Consolidated Workouts Static Workouts

Equipment

No Gym? No problem

For Travel and Outdoors Training:

For Home Training with Limited Space: For a Small Home Gym:

For a Large Home Gym:

Kratos Exercises and Alternatives Chin-up

Pike Push-up Squat

Compound Row Push-up

Trunk Extension

1 4 5 5

5 6

6

7

8

11 11 11 12 12 12 15 15 16 16 17

18 18 18

18 19 19 21

21 21 21 22

22 22

2

Crunch

23

TSC Dorsiflexion

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Plank

Heel Raise

TSC Neck Extension and Flexion SH Support Grip TSC Crush Grip

Zelus Exercises and Alternatives Pull-up

Parallel Bar Dip

Sisy (Sisyphus) Squat

Underhand-Grip Row

Incline (Feet-Elevated) Push-up Hip Raise

TSC Torso Rotation TSC Shrug

TSC Wrist Extension TSC Wrist Flexion TSC Pinch Grip

Questions and Answers

Partial Range of Motion, TSC, and Flexibility

Suspension Trainers and Compound Pushing Exercises Stability Balls and “Balance Trainers”

Prone Trunk Extension/Superman Exercise Crush, Support, and Pinch Grip Finger Extensor Exercises

Direct Arm and Thigh Exercises TSC Neck Rotation

Variable Repetition Cadence

Virtual Breakdowns/Drop Sets Pre-Exhaustion

Classical (Max Effort/Short Duration) Isometrics Sisy Squat or Sissy Squat?

Resistance Scaling and Progression with SuperSlow Repetitions Alternate Resistance Levels Table for SuperSlow Repetitions

24 24 25 25 26 27 27 27 28 28 29

30 31 31 32 32 33 34 34 34 34 35 35 36 36 37

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38

38 39 40 40 41

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Alternate Starting Level Test for SuperSlow Repetitions

Acknowledgements

Consultations and Online Training

Presentations, Seminars, and Workshops

42 43 43 43

Copyright © 2019 by Drew Baye: [email protected]

Web: www.baye.com

Drew Baye’s High Intensity Training Logo by Andre Jolicoeur http://www.andrejolicoeur.com/

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews. This book is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of the guidelines herein is at the sole choice and risk of the reader. All web addresses and phone numbers were accurate at the time of publication. Please send notification of changes to [email protected]. Any changes will be posted on www.baye.com and corrected in future editions of this book.

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INTRODUCTION Over the past six years I’ve been constantly refining the Kratos workouts, protocols, and resistance scaling and progression system, as well as experimenting with better ways to perform exercises using timed static contractions (TSC) with little or no equipment. With your feedback along with input from Ken Hutchins, Steve Maxwell, and others I’ve made the best bodyweight exercise system even better and it is now time to start writing a comprehensive book on bodyweight high intensity training incorporating all these improvements.

When I wrote Project Kratos I had already experimented with the original system long enough to know it was superior to any other method of bodyweight training for improving overall muscular strength, fitness, and health, but had doubts about how it compared to proper high intensity training using external resistance.

I worried that body weight alone might not provide sufficient resistance for some lower body exercises for some very strong trainees even with the most difficult levels of the system. However, we now know that if you train to momentary muscle failure you can get the same results with loads as low as 30–50% 1RM as you can with loads over 70% 1RM. 1 2 When performed correctly the difficulty of most bodyweight exercises in Project Kratos is comparable performing a free weight exercise with significantly more than 40% 1RM for most people. Now, with this information and the impressive results the Kratos system and TSC have produced for myself and others, I have absolute confidence in its effectiveness and that the improvements to Kratos will give you even better results, more safely and more efficiently.

A recent study also showed even training with no external load, using only the resistance provided by intentional contraction of the antagonistic muscles, can stimulate strength and size gains similar to training with loads equal to 70% of 1RM. 3 While performing exercises using only intentional antagonistic co-contraction (IAC) for resistance may not be as effective for all muscle groups due to greater strength differences in some agonist-antagonist pairs like the hip flexors and extensors, this suggests it can be used in combination with proper bodyweight exercise performance to make almost any exercise challenging enough for even the strongest trainees. For example, if you are able to exceed the target repetition range or time to failure for the squat at the hardest resistance level despite using perfect form and pre-exhausting with other hip or thigh exercises like a wall squat or TSC hip ADduction (PK 124) and TSC hip ABduction (PK 125) you can make them much harder with IAC by focusing on contracting your glutes and hamstrings while tilting the pelvis posteriorly. The updated IAC protocol is explained in the next section.

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Fisher, James and Steele, James. Evidence-Based Resistance Training Recommendations For Muscular Hypertrophy. Medicina Sportiva, 17 (4), pp. 217-235 2

Morton, Robert & Colenso-Semple, Lauren & Phillips, Stuart. (2019). Training for Strength and Hypertrophy: An Evidencebased Approach. Current Opinion in Physiology. 10.1016/j.cophys.2019.04.006.

3 Counts BR, Buckner SL, Dankel SJ, et al. The acute and chronic effects of "NO LOAD" resistance training. Physiol Behav. 2016;164(Pt A):345-52.

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CHANGES The following are the major changes to the Kratos and minimalist TSC systems. Each one of these and many minor refinements and additional exercises and workouts will be covered in even more detail in the next Kratos book. Although TSC is a distinct exercise protocol (developed by Ken Hutchins), TSC exercises performed with either no equipment or with only a strap or common structures (e.g. tables, benches, chairs) are part of the system, along with static holds (SH).

Repetition Cadence / Speed of Motion

The positive and negative phases of dynamic repetitions should each be performed slowly enough to each take at least four seconds to complete (eight seconds total) and not three to four seconds.

A three second cadence results in a movement that is slightly too fast over the full range of motion of many exercises. Four seconds is just slow enough without being so long to be too difficult on the lower levels of the resistance scaling and progression system.

A slower repetition cadence is just as effective if the repetition ranges are adjusted to maintain the same time to failure but results in changes to the difficulty of each level because of the increased ratio of dynamic time (average resistance) to static rest (min resistance) and hold (max resistance) times. With a slower repetition cadence levels with rest-pauses become slightly harder because the rests are less frequent, while levels with static holds become easier. To perform Kratos with a slower repetition cadence like 10/10 I recommend recording time to failure instead of the repetition count. I am experimenting with this but need to test more before recommending it as a replacement for the current system. I explain the alternate resistance scaling and progression system in more detail in the Questions and Answers section. To maintain an accurate and consistent repetition cadence and rest-pause and static hold times you should use a metronome set to 60 beats per minute during your workouts. A metronome is also useful for counting seconds during TSC without having to look at a stopwatch.

Resistance Scaling and Progression

The original five-level scaling and progression system has been replaced with a thirty-five-level system with rest-pause and static hold times ranging from 1 to 8 seconds instead of only 3 seconds. This increases the range of strength levels covered for each exercise while allowing for smaller increases in average resistance between levels for smoother progression. The updated resistance scaling and progression system table can be found in the Kratos Resistance Levels Table section.

The target muscles should be unloaded as much as possible during rest-pauses without significantly altering the exercise. For example, when performing a rest-pause during chin-ups or parallel bar dips you should set down and transfer your weight to your feet for the duration, then gradually transfer back as you begin the next repetition. This requires a step high enough or bars or handles low enough to allow for a proper grip to be maintained while standing.

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When performing a rest-pause during exercises like push-ups and compound rows you can transition to a kneeling or sitting position during the last second of the negative and transition back to the proper body position during the first second of the positive. It is important to always transfer load to the target muscles in a gradual, controlled manner and to not move quickly or abruptly.

The target muscles should be contracted as hard as possible during static holds starting with the third repetition. On compound pushing exercises like push-ups and squats where the static hold is performed at the bottom position this requires antagonistic co-contraction which may take some practice.

Repetition Ranges, Time Under Load, and Time to Failure

The repetition ranges and time to failure for the dynamic exercises for the lower body and trunk are now approximately 25% higher than for the upper body exercises.

In the Kratos system the term time to failure should be used to refer to set duration instead of time under load, because the target muscles are not meaningfully loaded during the rest-pauses used in some resistance levels. For example, a set of ten eight-second repetitions with seven four-second static holds has both a time under load and a time to failure of 116 seconds because the static holds count towards both the time under load and the time to failure. However, a set of ten eight-second repetitions with seven four-second rest-pauses has a time under load of 80 seconds but a time to failure of 116 seconds because the rest-pauses do not count towards the time under load but do count towards the time to failure.

In previous versions of the thirty-five-level system the repetition ranges for levels including rest times were the same as for continuous repetitions to maintain a consistent time under load but these resulted in a time to failure at lower levels that was excessive and resulted in workouts that were too long for some beginners. These have been adjusted so the time under load decreases with lower levels by up to 25% while the time to failure only increases about 30% to 50% instead of nearly doubling. Repetition ranges and corresponding time to failure for both upper body and lower body and trunk exercises are listed in the progression and scaling system table below.

Removal of Unilateral Exercises

Including most unilateral exercises and variants in Project Kratos was a mistake. If you are performing them stop and switch to the bilateral version. I no longer recommend performing most unilateral exercises unless a limb injury or amputation makes bilateral performance impossible and there are no bilateral exercises that can be substituted, in which case you should perform the unilateral variant of the exercise very cautiously using TSC to minimize risk of injury.

The obvious exceptions to this are trunk and neck rotation and lateral flexion, which can only be practically performed unilaterally (I know performing these bilaterally is possible infimetrically using IAC but it is incredibly difficult to perform correctly and not necessary).

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The primary problems with unilateral bodyweight exercises—especially for the lower body—are increased fall risk and uneven loading of the spine which increases the risk of muscle strains and/or spasms.

When I wrote Project Kratos I was concerned many trainees would eventually become too strong for normal, bilateral exercises for the lower body and that progression to unilateral exercises would be required to increase the difficulty enough for them to be able to achieve momentary muscle failure within a reasonable time. However, every time a reader told me an exercise (usually the squat or hip raise) was not challenging enough if they sent me a video of themselves performing the exercise to review the problem turned out to be their form. Once their form was corrected, they were usually surprised at how difficult the exercises were.

Steve Maxwell, a black belt senior world and Pan American jiu jitsu champion who has been using, teaching and contributing to the development of the Kratos system for a few years, shared the following about a group of personal trainers and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners he recently taught in Munich, Germany, “Some were a bit skeptical at first. Most had never heard of nor experienced high intensity strength training before. Many people there came from a bodybuilding and weightlifting mentality. Many had trouble getting past weight and reps as the measure of progress...

...Afterward, everyone was utterly shocked at how hard and effective the workout was. Many were particularly surprised at how cardio it was. Several expressed how difficult simple body weight squats and pushups were. Everyone ended up with keen respect for this type of training.” Although if you are very strong and healthy with very good motor control and form you may be able to perform unilateral exercises relatively safely, and I have received no reports of injuries despite thousands of trainees following Project Kratos in the six years since it was published, I want to make the system as safe as possible for everyone. As Ken Hutchins recently stated,

“Exercise has the potential to greatly enhance the quality of one’s life. It also has the potential to greatly diminish it. We must endeavor to obtain the first while minimizing the latter. And minimizing does not mean making it safe for merely the majority of subjects, but safe for every subject regardless of position on the statistical bell curve of risk.” If performed correctly with the updated protocol and repetition range/time to failure guidelines the normal, bilateral exercises are challenging enough for the vast majority of people. Even if you are extremely strong you can make these exercises as challenging as necessary to be effective with preexhaustion and/or IAC, or TSC.

Removal of Isochronal Progression

I no longer recommend using isochronal progression (PK 23) as an alternate progression system due to various problems both with ending an exercise before achieving momentary muscle failure when the target time is reached and with continuing an exercise after achieving momentary muscle failure multiple times to reach the target time. There are some situations where occasionally continuing an exercise post-failure by adding or increasing the rest-pause time may be beneficial, but it is probably counterproductive to do this for

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most exercises on a regular basis. For more on this read Virtual Breakdowns/Drop Sets in the Questions and Answers section.

Leg-Supported, Leg-Assisted, and Short-Lever Exercise Variants

If you are starting with below average strength and/or above average body weight the standard method of performing some of the upper-body exercises in Project Kratos may be too challenging even at the easiest resistance level.

You can make vertical pulling and pushing exercises like chin-ups and dips easier by supporting the weight of your legs on the floor (leg-supported) or by assisting with your legs (leg-assisted).

You can make horizontal pulling and pushing exercises like compound rows and push-ups easier by performing the exercise with your knees flexed to reduce both the length of the lever and the weight lifted (short-lever).

To perform leg-supported or leg-assisted chin-ups or pull-ups (pictured next page) you need a bar or handles at approximately shoulder height. You should be able to reach the bar or handles with your fingers while seated on the floor. Although your grip is less likely to fail during leg-supported chinups or pull-ups due to the reduced load, if you begin to lose your grip you can quickly and easily set yourself down and if your grip does fail you will only fall a short distance onto your butt instead of several feet onto your back and/or head. Do not use a bench, chair, suspension trainer, or any other object to elevate the feet to perform legsupported chin-ups or pull-ups with a bar or handles at normal height.

When performing leg-supported chin-ups or pull-ups you will need to position yourself slightly further back relative to the bar or handles to compensate for the slight forward movement of your pelvis as your legs rotate about your heels. Keep your glutes and hamstrings relaxed and do not attempt to assist by extending your hips. Let your legs just hang off your body, resting on your heels.

The same method can be used to perform dips between a pair of sturdy chairs or benches. I do not recommend performing bench-style dips with your hands behind your torso as these can be harmful to your shoulder joints unless your range of motion is strictly limited.

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To perform a leg-supported dip with parallel bars (pictured below) you will need to place a bench, chair, or step about two feet behind you. This does not involve the same fall risk as using a bench or chair to perform leg-assisted chin-ups or pull-ups because you are supported on your hands instead of hanging and you can easily step forward onto the floor from this position to catch yourself if needed.

Allow your hips and knees to flex during the negative and to extend during the positive to maintain a consistent torso angle. Do not attempt to assist with your legs when lifting. Let your legs just hang off your body, resting on the balls of your feet. If you are starting out with very low strength and/or very high body weight you may still find the legsupported variants of these exercises too difficult and require leg-assistance to perform them dynamically.

When performing leg-assisted chin-ups, pull-ups, (pictured above) or dips (pictured below) your feet are placed flat on the floor or a short step and your legs are used to assist the target muscles during both the positive and negative phases of each repetition. These are not negative-only repetitions.

The difficulty of leg-assisted exercises is self-determined, so it is not necessary to use the Kratos resistance scaling and progression system. Instead, perform the repetitions using SuperSlow protocol with a 10 second positive and 10 second negative (20 seconds per repetition). Perform five repetitions.

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Provide just enough assistance with the legs so the first repetition is easy, the second is moderately hard, the third is very hard, the fourth is almost as hard as you dare, and the last repetition is as hard as you dare—as hard as you believe you can safely contract.

Compound rows and most push-up variants can be made easier by flexing your knees to shorten the lever and reduce the load slightly (your lower legs and feet are about 12% of your body weight). To perform a short-lever compound row flex your knees approximately 90 degrees so your feet are directly below them (pictured right).

To perform a short-lever push-up pivot on your knees instead of your feet. Flex your hips slightly so your body does not lay flat on the floor in the bottom position. Let your feet rest on the floor. If you hold them up the weight of the lower legs acts as a counterweight reducing the difficulty further.

When performing short-lever push-ups on a hard floor place a pad or rolled up towel under your knees to reduce discomfort. The foam kneeling pads used for automotive work and gardening work well for this. When performing an exercise using these variants record the corresponding abbreviation before the resistance level on your workout chart; LA for leg-assisted, LS for leg-supported, and SL for shortlever variants. For example, a leg-supported chin up at level M+4 would be written LS M+4 and a short-lever pushup at level E-2 would be written SL E-2.

For exercises without leg-supported, leg-assisted, or short-lever variants outside of the Kratos progression system, such as hip raise, trunk extension, crunch, heel raise, etc. substitute TSC if you are unable to perform at least the lower target repetition number using the easiest resistance level.

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Pre-Exhaustion If you are already extremely strong the standard method of performing some of the exercises in Project Kratos may not be challenging enough for you even at the hardest resistance level. Rather than progress to unilateral exercises for the reasons stated earlier, pre-exhaustion and/or IAC should be used to increase difficulty. Pre-exhaustion sequences for most muscle groups are included in the body part specialization workouts in Project Kratos (Ares, Zeus, Hermes, Bia, Adonis) and new and improved sequences will be covered in detail in the next book.

Intentional Antagonistic Co-Contraction

When you perform an exercise using IAC the effort of antagonistic co-contraction should start out moderate and increase in stages similar to TSC protocol.

When performing repetitions with a 4/4 cadence you should contract the antagonists moderately hard during the first two repetitions, almost as hard as you dare during the third and fourth repetitions, and as hard as you dare for the rest of the exercise. When performing repetitions with a 10/10 cadence you should contract the antagonists moderately hard during the first repetition, almost as hard as you dare during the second repetition, and as hard as you dare for the rest of the exercise.

Straps for TSC

In Timed Static Contraction Training I explained and demonstrated how to perform static exercises for all the major muscle groups using a strap that is approximately two to three inches wide and at least one and one-half times as long as you are tall. I recommended a towing strap since these could be purchased inexpensively at any home improvement or automotive supply store. They worked well for most exercises but adjustable handles and/or loops for the feet would have made them much better. I do not recommend suspension trainers for TSC exercises where the strap is looped around any part of the body because the straps are usually too narrow and would result in excessive pressure.

A few years ago, a client showed me the Forearm Forklift furniture moving strap they bought which is the correct width and length and has multiple loops sewn into the ends with light padding. These loops can be used as handles, placed over the forearms or upper arms to perform some exercises hands free, or placed around the feet instead of under them to secure the strap for exercises like belt squats and trunk extensions.

The Forearm Forklift also folds up much smaller than the towing strap, easily fitting into a small pocket in a backpack or gym bag.

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KRATOS RESISTANCE SCALING AND PROGRESSION SYSTEM Kratos Resistance Levels Table The table on the next page is the updated resistance and progression scaling system. From left to right the columns contain: ● Rest-pause and static-hold times

● Levels performed with easy partial range of motion or body position (E-8 to E)

● Levels performed with full range of motion or medium body position (M-8 to M+8) ● Levels performed with hard partial range of motion or body position (H to H+8)

● Repetition ranges for each level for the upper body and the lower body and trunk

● Time to failure ranges for each level for the upper body and the lower body and trunk

Levels are labeled with a letter indicating the portion of the range of motion or position the exercise is performed in, followed by a minus sign if there is a rest-pause or a plus sign if there is a static hold, and the duration of the rest-pause or static hold in seconds. If there is no minus or plus sign after the range of motion/level letter the exercise is performed continuously without a rest-pause or static hold.

The levels progress in difficulty from E-8 to E, then from M-8 to M+8, then from H to H+8, indicated by the numbers next to each level. For simplicity and ease of memory use the range of motion or position letter, minus or plus sign, and rest-pause or static hold time number when recording exercise performance instead of the level number.

Determining Starting Resistance Level

Before your first workout perform a test session.

To determine your starting resistance level for each exercise, perform a test at level M (full range of motion or medium difficulty position). Perform as many repetitions of each dynamic exercise in the workout in strict form. Only count strict repetitions. Use a metronome set to 60 beats per minute to ensure accurate cadence.

● If you are able to complete between 8 and 12 repetitions for upper body exercises and between 10 and 15 repetitions for lower body exercises stay at level M. ● For every repetition below the lower target repetition number go down two levels.

● For every repetition above the upper target repetition number go up half as many levels (rounded up).

If you are unable to complete a single repetition of an exercise repeat the test with an easier variant after a brief rest (e.g., if you are unable to perform a single normal chin-up at level M repeat the test with leg-supported chin-ups at level M).

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Timing (Rest- Easy ROM / Full ROM / Hard ROM / Rep Range: TTF (seconds): Pause or Static Position Medium Position Upper Body / Position Hold) Lower Body & Upper Body / Lower Body & Trunk Trunk 8 second rest

E-8

(1)

M-8

(10)

6 second rest

E-6

(3)

M-6

(12)

7 second rest 5 second rest 4 second rest 3 second rest 2 second rest 1 second rest Continuous

1 second hold 2 second hold 3 second hold 4 second hold 5 second hold 6 second hold 7 second hold 8 second hold

E-7 E-5 E-4 E-3 E-2 E-1 E

(2) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)

(9)

M-7 M-5 M-4 M-3 M-2 M-1 M

M+1 M+2 M+3 M+4 M+5 M+6 M+7 M+8

6-9 / 8-12

90-130 / 110-180

(13)

7-10 / 9-13

80-120 / 100-160

(15)

7-11 / 9-14

70-110 / 90-140

(17)

8-12 / 10-15

60-100 / 80-120

(11)

(14) (16) (18)

(19) (20) (21) (22) (23) (24) (25) (26)

H

(27)

H+2

(29)

H+1 H+3 H+4 H+5 H+6 H+7 H+8

(28)

7-11 / 9-13

(30)

6-9 / 8-11

(31) (32) (33) (34) (35)

6-10 / 8-12 5-8 / 7-10 5-7 / 7-9 4-6 / 6-8

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If you are unable to complete a single repetition of an exercise using the easiest dynamic variant perform the static version of the exercise. Repeat the test with the easiest dynamic variant of the exercise after six to eight weeks.

Starting with your first workout after the test and for all subsequent workouts only go up one level when you are able to complete a number of repetitions equal to or above your upper target repetition number. If you are able to complete this many repetitions… Upper Body

Lower Body & Trunk

0

0

1

1

2

3

3 4 5 6 7

8-12

13-14 15-16 17-18 19-20 21-22

2 4 5 6 7 8 9

10-15 16-17 18-19 20-21 22-23 24-25

…start at this resistance level

Retest with an easier variant of the exercise after a short rest E-8 E-6 E-4 E-2 E

M-8 M-6 M-4 M-2 M

M+1 M+2 M+3 M+4 M+5

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WORKOUTS The following are updated versions of both the Kratos and Zelus workouts from Project Kratos Bodyweight High Intensity Training. I have also included consolidated versions of these workouts and static-only versions which replace the A and B workouts from Timed Static Contraction Training. These workouts are designed to effectively train all the major muscle groups in the body. The next Kratos book will cover the performance of each of the exercises included in more detail.

Changes to Kratos

Kratos has worked very well as a basic workout (compound pushing, pulling, and lower body, plus abs, legs, neck, and grip) and has only required slight changes: 1. Chin-up

2. Pike Push-up 3. Squat

4. Compound Row 5. Push-up

6. Trunk Extension 7. Crunch or Plank

8. Heel Raise

9. TSC Dorsiflexion

10. TSC Neck Extension 11. TSC Neck Flexion

12. SH Support Grip or TSC Crush Grip

Pike push-ups are now the first pushing exercise because most trainees found these more difficult than regular push-ups when performed correctly and because performing them earlier in the workout reduced the pressure felt in the head due to it being positioned below the torso and thighs.

The plank was added as an alternative to crunches along with other exercises like seated TSC trunk flexion for trainees who experienced neck discomfort due to insufficient neck flexor strength when starting out. TSC dorsiflexion has been added to provide work for the anterior leg. I previously only included dorsiflexion in workouts for trainees involved in sports, martial arts, and other activities where there was a higher risk of injury to the ankles, for trainees with neurological conditions or injuries resulting in foot drop, and for rehabilitation of ankle injuries, but it should be performed by everyone who wants to improve overall muscular development. SH Support Grip and TSC Crush Grip were added to help increase grip strength for trainees who had difficulty maintaining a secure grip during pulling exercises and because of the benefits of greater grip strength for the many martial artists, climbers, and athletes using the program.

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Changes to Zelus I made several changes to Zelus to improve the safety and efficiency and to more closely follow the basic template of Kratos while including compound exercises in different planes or with slightly different emphasis and simple exercises working smaller muscle groups not covered in Kratos (compound pushing, pulling, and lower body, plus obliques, upper traps, forearms and grip): 1. Pull-up

2. Parallel Bar Dip

3. Sisy Squat or Wall Squat 4. Underhand-Grip Row 5. Incline Push-up 6. Hip Raise

7. TSC Torso Rotation (Right and Left) 8. TSC Shrug

9. TSC Wrist Extension 10. TSC Wrist Flexion 11. TSC Pinch Grip

Sisy squat or wall squat replaces the stationary lunges. These are safer and more efficient and a better match with the more the glute-and-hamstring-focused hip raise.

Incline push-up (feet elevated) replaces the leg-supported handstand push-up. The incline push-up is much safer and has a different plane of movement from the other pushing exercises while the legsupported handstand push-up is very similar to the pike push-up. TSC torso rotation replaces leg raises to provide direct work for the obliques. TSC torso rotation should be performed in place of all torso rotation exercises in Project Kratos. TSC shrug has replaced TSC neck lateral flexion to provide more direct work for the upper traps, levator scapulae, and other muscles involved in shoulder elevation. TSC wrist extension/flexion has been added to provide direct work for the forearms and increase crushing grip strength (pressing something against your palms by flexing your fingers and thumb).

TSC pinch grip has been added to increase pinch grip strength (pressing something between the pads of your fingers and thumb) which more directly works some intrinsic hand muscles than the crush and support grip exercises.

Consolidated Workouts

If you have difficulty completing or recovering from the standard Kratos and Zelus workouts they can be consolidated as follows. Alternate between the first and second exercise listed each time you perform the workout:

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Kratos (Consolidated)

Zelus (Consolidated)

1. Chin-up / Compound Row

1. Pull-up / Underhand-grip Row

3. Squat

3. Sisy Squat or Wall Squat

2. Pike Push-up / Push-up 4. Trunk Extension 5. Crunch or Plank

6. Heel Raise / TSC Dorsiflexion 7. TSC Neck Flexion

8. TSC Neck Extension

Static Workouts

2. Parallel Bar Dip / Incline Push-up 4. Hip Raise

5. TSC Torso Rotation (Right and Left) 6. TSC Shrug

7. TSC Wrist Extension / TSC Crush Grip 8. TSC Wrist Flexion / TSC Pinch Grip

If you prefer or are limited to performing only static exercises due to joint or motor control problems or other conditions or safety concerns the workouts can be done with only statics: Kratos (Static)

Zelus (Static)

1. TSC Close Underhand Grip Pulldown

1. TSC Wide Grip Pulldown

3. TSC Belt Squat

3. SH Sisy Squat or Wall Squat

2. TSC Shoulder Press

4. TSC Compound Row 5. TSC Chest Press

6. TSC Stiff-Leg Deadlift or TSC Trunk Extension 7. TSC Trunk Flexion or Plank 8. TSC Heel Raise

9. TSC Dorsiflexion

10. TSC Neck Extension 11. TSC Neck Flexion 12. TSC Crush Grip

2. TSC Seated Dip or TSC Decline Press 4. TSC Underhand-Grip Row 5. TSC Incline Chest Press

6. TSC Deadlift or TSC Hip Raise

7. TSC Torso Rotation (Right and Left) 8. TSC Shrug

9. TSC Wrist Extension 10. TSC Wrist Flexion 11. TSC Pinch Grip

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EQUIPMENT No Gym? No problem The only equipment required to perform the standard Kratos and Zelus workouts is a high and low bar or a suspension trainer or wide heavy-duty strap for the compound pulling exercises. The rest of the exercises or variants of them can be performed with no equipment or on common items like chairs and benches. If you do not have a high or low bar or suspension trainer the compound pulling exercises can be replaced with three TSC exercises requiring no equipment; TSC pullover (PK 41), TSC simple row (PK 56), and TSC arm curl (PK 42).

For Travel and Outdoors Training: ● Suspension trainer

● Forearm Forklift strap

● Rubber exercise mat (for outdoors)

● One or more large carabiners rated for at least 2x your body weight

These are light, compact, and can easily fit in a large pocket on a backpack or travel bag. The carabiners can be used to securely attach a suspension trainer or Forearm Forklift strap to a variety of structures or as a door anchor. When using a door to mount a suspension trainer or Forearm Forklift use the side the door that opens away from you whenever possible and always lock the door so that nobody attempts to open it while you are performing an exercise.

Before suspending your body from or supporting it on any structure cautiously test it to determine whether it will support your weight. If a structure begins to deform, tip, or otherwise fail during an exercise, immediately unload.

For Home Training with Limited Space: ● Portable doorway pull-up bar ● Suspension trainer

● Push-up handles

● Forearm Forklift strap ● Ab pad

● Yoga blocks

● Rubber thick-bar adapters

Portable doorway pull-up bars be quickly and easily set up and taken down and many double as pushup handles, although the grip width and angle may not be ideal for all individuals and types of push-

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ups. These can also be used as a mount for suspension trainers to be used for compound row and other exercises requiring lower handles. All of these can be stowed out of the way on a closet shelf or under a bed when not in use.

A bed, couch, or sturdy chair can be used in place of an exercise bench to support your shoulders or elevate your feet for exercises where this is preferred or required.

Yoga blocks can be used to perform TSC hip ADduction and TSC chest fly and other exercises that will be covered in more detail in the next Kratos book.

For a Small Home Gym:

● Chin-up and dip station with push-up handles

● Suspension trainer

● Adjustable bench

● Forearm Forklift strap ● Ab pad

● Yoga blocks

● Wide adjustable belt with side-release buckle ● Rubber thick-bar adapters

Most chin-up and dip stations designed for home use take up relatively little space and can easily fit in the corner of your bedroom, living room, or home office.

Some chin-up and dip stations may also be used to mount a suspension trainer but may not be stable for all exercises. Before performing any exercise with a suspension trainer mounted to a bodyweight exercise station not designed for that purpose cautiously test to determine whether it will support your weight. If the station begins to deform, tip, or otherwise fail during an exercise, immediately unload.

For a Large Home Gym:

● Chin-up and dip station with push-up handles or a power rack with pull-up bar and dip bar attachment ● Suspension trainer

● Adjustable bench

● 45-degree trunk extension/oblique station ● Forearm Forklift strap ● Ab pad

● Yoga blocks

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● Wide adjustable belt with side-release buckle ● Rubber thick-bar adapters

If you have a larger space and budget these allow you to perform every variant of every exercise included in this report and the upcoming book.

Most power racks work well as suspension trainer mounts, and the J-hooks and safety bars can also be used to hold a barbell or sturdy bar at different heights for pulling exercises.

Some power racks have dipping bar attachments that can be set at different heights to be used for dips, push-ups, or balance support. Most dip handles are too large to be used for rowing or pulling exercises unless you have very large hands and/or a very strong grip. Some of the specific equipment I recommend for home training can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/shop/drewbaye?listId=2UX0V94RFTDAJ

Before purchasing any equipment for bodyweight exercise please review the guidelines on page 32 of Project Kratos.

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KRATOS EXERCISES AND ALTERNATIVES Chin-up Chin-ups can be performed dynamically or statically using a high bar or suspension trainer (PK 38). The static alternative is TSC pulldown with a close, underhand grip (TSC 25). Easier dynamic variants included leg-supported (easier) and leg-assisted chin-ups (easiest).

Pike Push-up

Pike push-ups can be performed dynamically with no equipment however sturdy push-up handles increase the possible range of motion (PK 57). The static alternative is TSC shoulder press with a suspension trainer or strap (TSC 28). Easier dynamic variants include short-lever pike push-ups (knees elevated). Do not perform pike push-ups with a suspension trainer.

A set of angled push-up handles works best for pike push-ups and can be easily made from PVC pipe (pictured below).

Squat Squats can be performed dynamically with no equipment (PK 45). The static alternatives are the TSC belt squat using a strap anchored under or around the feet or dipping belt anchored to a stable platform (TSC 24) and the SH squat.

If you work out at home and have the space, ability, and basic woodworking tools I recommend building yourself a platform for TSC belt squats. All that is required is a stable platform with a nonslip surface large enough for you to comfortably stand on with a hook or carabiner to attach a dipping belt to.

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Compound Row Compound rows can be performed dynamically using a low bar or suspension trainer (PK 52). The static alternative is TSC compound row with a suspension trainer or strap (TSC 27). Easier dynamic variants include short-lever compound rows.

Push-up

Push-ups can be performed dynamically with no equipment however sturdy push-up handles increase wrist comfort and increase the range of motion for trainees with larger bellies (PK 43). The static alternative is TSC chest press with a suspension trainer or strap (TSC 26). Easier dynamic variants include short-lever push-ups. Do not perform push-ups with a suspension trainer.

Trunk Extension

The trunk extension (pictured right) can be performed dynamically with only a stable object to brace the feet (to minimize risk of lower back injury due to pelvic instability the pelvis and legs must be kept on the floor with only the upper body rising). This can be performed on an ab pad positioned under the iliac crests or on a 45° trunk extension station to increase the range of motion (PK 61). Do not perform these without your feet braced and your pelvis stable.

The static alternatives are a TSC reverse plank (shoulders supported on a bench, chair, or pad, pictured right), a TSC stiff-legged deadlift with a suspension trainer or strap (pictured right), and TSC trunk extension on a bench or chair (pictured next page). These alternatives should be used by pregnant women and people with very large bellies to avoid putting too much pressure on the abdomen.

The TSC strap stiff-legged deadlift should be performed (pictured next page) with the strap over the back of your shoulders and looped under your feet and not with the strap or handles held in your hands (as in TSC 29) or looped over your forearms (Zercher style) to avoid the greater

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blood pressure increase that comes with intense gripping and to avoid the risk of injury to your biceps. This also allows you to better focus on contracting your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Your hips should be flexed approximately 90 degrees and the knees should be flexed only slightly.

To perform TSC trunk extension on a bench or chair (pictured right), sit on the edge and carefully move your feet back until they are under or behind your hips with your pelvis anteriorly tilted and lower back slightly extended. If you feel your hamstrings begin to cramp, stop and move your feet back forward slightly.

Allow your arms to hang relaxed at your sides. Without leaning back, extend your lower back by pushing your belly and tilting your pelvis forward while raising your chest and pulling your scapulae straight down towards your glutes, focusing on contracting the muscles in your lower back.

Crunch

The crunch can be performed dynamically with no equipment however a curved ab pad increases the range of motion (PK 64). The static alternatives include planks (PK 131), TSC pullover (TSC 30) with abdominal emphasis, and seated TSC trunk flexion on a bench or chair (pictured right).

Do not perform crunches on a stability ball or “balance trainer” or any other unstable object.

To perform seated TSC trunk flexion sit on a bench or chair with your pelvis tilted posteriorly, your lumbar spine flexed, and your arms straight with your palms on the edge of the bench or chair in front of your hips. Focus on contracting your abdominal muscles, flexing your spine against the resistance provided by your arms bracing against the seat. Increase effort cautiously, as some trainees may experience cramping in their abdominal muscles when performing this.

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If a bench or chair is unavailable the TSC trunk flexion can be performed seated on the floor or on your hands and knees with your arms and thighs parallel, flexing your trunk while posteriorly tilting your pelvis.

Plank

The plank can be performed with no equipment however you may want to use a rubber exercise mat for outdoors workouts (PK 131). Instead of holding your body perfectly straight, slightly flex your spine and posteriorly tilt your pelvis. The plank can be performed as a SH or as TSC.

Heel Raise

The heel raise can be performed dynamically with no equipment however a low step increases the range of motion and a wall or other stable object should be held for balance (PK 67).

When performing the heel raise dynamically with a rest-pause a low step should be used to allow your heels to rest on the floor to unload your calves. The static alternative is TSC heel raise performed at the top position (pictured right).

TSC Dorsiflexion

TSC dorsiflexion should be performed seated with your knees slightly bent (pictured right). Pull your insteps towards your shins, focusing on contracting the muscles in your anterior legs.

Do not perform TSC dorsiflexion by pressing the tops of your feet against a bar or any other hard, unpadded object. The skin and soft tissue on top of your feet is relatively thin and you can damage the superficial peroneal nerve which is directly underneath.

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TSC Neck Extension and Flexion TSC neck extension and flexion can both be performed with manual resistance, against a padded bench or the floor, or against a strap secured to a bench or post (PK 70-71, TSC 33).

The curved ab pad used for crunches can also be used as a head pad for TSC neck extension and flexion.

These can be alternated with TSC Neck Lateral Flexion to the right and left (PK 101) but it is not necessary, since extension and flexion work almost all the same muscles except the anterior and middle scalenes which are worked during the TSC shrug in Zelus.

SH Support Grip

SH support grip, also called a two-arm hang, can be performed using a bar or suspension trainer that can be reached from a standing position with your arms extended overhead. When starting out you should use a fixed bar, because these are much more difficult with a suspension trainer with revolving handles or a bar that rotates freely.

Grip the bar or handles with your palms facing forward and your arms straight. Gradually transfer your weight from your feet to your hands, slowly allowing your knees and ankles to bend until your feet are just barely touching the floor.

Hold this position for as long as you can. You can measure the duration using a stopwatch positioned directly in front of you (where you can see it while keeping your head and neck in a neutral position) or counting the seconds using a metronome.

As soon as your grip begins to fail transfer your weight back to your feet. Do not wait until your grip fails and attempt to catch yourself.

When you are able to maintain your grip for longer than two minutes increase the difficulty by squeezing the bar or handles like a TSC instead of only attempting to hold on. Contract moderately hard for the first 30 seconds, almost as hard as you dare the next 30 seconds, and as hard as you dare for as long as you are able to hold on after.

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If you are unable to perform the standard SH support grip for at least one minute perform legsupported SH support grip instead.

To perform leg-supported SH support grip use a bar or suspension trainer that you can grip from a seated position with your arms extended overhead. This is usually about shoulder height. Grip the bar or handles and sit on the floor with your legs extended straight in front of you. Gradually transfer your weight from your butt to your hands and heels by slowly extending your hips until your butt is just barely touching the floor. As soon as your grip begins to fail transfer sit down onto the floor and transfer your weight back to your butt. Do not wait until your grip fails and attempt to catch yourself. When you are able to maintain your grip for longer than two minutes progress to standard SH support grip.

If you are unable to perform leg-supported SH support grip for at least one minute perform TSC crush grip instead.

TSC Crush Grip

TSC crush grip can be performed with a thick (approximately 2–2½” diameter) piece of pipe, a tightly rolled towel, or a pair of rubber thick-bar adapters. Grip the pipe, towel, or thick-bar adapters by closing your thumbs and fingers around it or them (pictured below) with both hands and squeeze.

Focus on contracting the muscles flexing your thumbs and all four fingers equally hard.

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ZELUS EXERCISES AND ALTERNATIVES Pull-up The pull-up can be performed dynamically or statically using a high bar or suspension trainer (PK 74). The static alternative is TSC pulldown with a wide, neutral or overhand grip (TSC 25). Easier dynamic variants included leg-supported and leg-assisted pull-ups.

Parallel Bar Dip

The parallel bar dip can be performed dynamically using parallel bars or sturdy chairs (PK 77). The static alternative is TSC dip on a bench or chair (pictured below, left) or TSC decline chest press with a strap (pictured below, right). Easier dynamic variants included legsupported and leg-assisted dips.

Parallel bar dips should be performed with the hips flexed (tuck position) and the torso angled forward and not with the torso upright.

Do not perform dynamic or static dips with a suspension trainer.

Sit on a bench or chair leaning forward 45 degrees with your palms on the front or sides and your elbows bent approximately 45 degrees (mid-range position). Press your hands down against the bench focusing on contracting your chest, anterior deltoids, and triceps. TSC decline chest press with a suspension trainer or strap is performed exactly like TSC chest press (TSC 26) but you press downwards 45 degrees instead of straight forward.

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Sisy (Sisyphus) Squat The Sisy squat (pictured right) can be performed dynamically or as a static hold, using a low bar, suspension trainer, post, or sturdy doorknobs at approximately waist height to assist with balance.

Test the floor where you will be standing to make sure your feet will not slip during the exercise. Test whatever you will be using to assist with balance to make sure it will support your weight and not move. Securely grip the bar, post, or handles and step back until your arms are straight.

Stand with your feet close together. Keeping hip flexors and abdominal muscles tight and your hips and torso straight, allow your knees to slowly flex and move forward while leaning your torso back and rising onto the balls of your feet. Do not extend your back or your neck. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position throughout the exercise.

When you are almost as low as you can go without feeling any discomfort in your knees or without your groin pressing against the post or door if you are using one for balance, gradually slow to a stop. Then, slowly extend and move your knees back while raising your torso until your knees are almost fully extended. Focus on contracting your quadriceps throughout the exercise.

Throughout the exercise keep your arms straight and use them only as much as necessary to maintain your balance. This is the full range of motion (M). The top ⅔ of the range of motion is the easy portion (E). The bottom ⅔ of the range of motion is the hard portion (H). The static alternatives are the Sisy squat static hold with the knees flexed approximately 90 degrees and the wall squat.

Underhand-Grip Row

The underhand-grip compound row can be performed dynamically using a low bar or suspension trainer (PK 87). The static alternative is TSC underhand-grip compound row with a suspension trainer or strap (TSC 27). Easier dynamic variants include short-lever underhand-grip rows.

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Incline (Feet-Elevated) Push-up The incline push-up can be performed dynamically with a knee to hip height bar, bench, or sturdy chair to elevate the feet. Push-up handles are not required but increase wrist comfort and range of motion. The static alternative is TSC incline chest press with a suspension trainer or strap (pictured below, right). Easier dynamic variants include shortlever incline push-ups.

These are often referred to as decline push-ups in reference to the body position, however I use the term incline push-up because it describes the angle of the arms relative to the torso which is similar to the incline chest press.

If using a bench, chair, or other piece of furniture make sure it will not move when you place your feet on it. If using push-up handles make sure they will not move during use. Stand next to and facing away from the bar, bench, or chair. Take one small step forward then crouch down and place your hands on the floor or push-up handles slightly outside shoulder width. Your upper arms should be angled out from your body about 45 to 60 degrees.

Place one foot at a time on the bench or chair or over the bar. Straighten your legs and flex your hips slightly so your torso is angled down approximately 30 to 45 degrees. Maintain this angle by allowing your hips to flex as you press yourself up, and to extend as you lower yourself.

Keep your head and neck neutral through as much of the range of motion as possible, and only allow the neck to extend slightly as you approach the bottom position to avoid touching the floor with your head. Do not use a suspension trainer or any other unstable object to support your feet.

TSC incline chest press with a suspension trainer or strap is performed similar to TSC chest press (TSC 26) but the strap is wrapped under the arms rather than around and you press upwards 45 degrees instead of straight forward.

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Hip Raise Hip raises can be performed dynamically with no equipment however a knee-high bench or stable chair increases possible range of motion (PK 95). The static alternatives are a TSC hip raise (performed at the top position) and a TSC deadlift with a suspension trainer or strap. Instead of progressing from performing the exercise bilaterally to unilaterally the resistance is adjusted by changing the position of your arms like the crunch (your arms, forearms, and hands are about 10% of your body weight).

The medium difficulty position is the same, with your arms crossed above your shoulders. The easy and hard difficulty positions are reversed, however, because of the change in position of the fulcrum.

For the easy position your arms are extended above your shoulders acting as a counterweight (pictured above, right).

For the hard position interlace your fingers and hold your arms over your torso with your hands resting on your abdomen (pictured right).

Do not perform hip raises on a stability ball or “balance trainer” or any other unstable object. The TSC strap deadlift should be performed with the strap over the back of your shoulders and looped under your feet and not with the strap or handles held in your hands (TSC 29) or looped over your forearms (Zercher style) to avoid the greater blood pressure increase that comes with intense gripping and to avoid the risk of injury to your biceps. This also allows you to better focus on contracting your glutes, hamstrings, and lower back. Your hips should be flexed approximately 90 degrees and your knees should be flexed about 45 degrees.

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TSC Torso Rotation To perform TSC torso rotation sit on a chair or bench with your torso vertical and your arms folded across your chest and held up. Allow your pelvis to tilt posteriorly slightly to flatten your lower back.

Your arms are folded across your chest and held up for two reasons. The first is to avoid active insufficiency and possible cramping of the latissimus dorsi on the side you are rotating to (the latissimus dorsi assist in laterally flexing and rotating the torso). The second is the center of the X formed by your forearms provides a visual reference for keeping your head and neck in a neutral position.

Keeping your neck neutral, slowly rotate your torso as far as you can with a moderate effort and hold, focusing contracting your obliques. After thirty seconds gradually increase to a hard effort. After another thirty seconds increase your effort until you’re contracting as hard as you dare. Do not hold your breath. After another thirty seconds gradually ease off. After a short rest repeat in the opposite direction. Each time you perform TSC Torso Rotation alternate between starting with right or left rotation.

TSC Shrug

TSC shrug can be performed using a suspension trainer or strap braced under the feet while standing or a chair while seated, however it is safer to perform TSC shrug with no equipment to avoid the greater increase in blood pressure that comes with gripping, and to avoid the risk of biceps injury and increased compression of the spine. To perform TSC shrug with no equipment sit with your arms hanging relaxed at your sides, flex your neck slightly, and gradually shrug your shoulders up and slightly back, focusing on contracting your upper trapezius.

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TSC Wrist Extension TSC wrist extension can be performed without any equipment (pictured below) or with a fixed bar or towel or short length of pipe.

To perform TSC wrist extension without any equipment let your arms hang at your sides with your elbows slightly flexed, palms down, and hands relaxed.

Extend both your fingers and wrists as far as you can, focusing on contracting the extensor muscles of your forearms.

To perform TSC wrist extension with a fixed (non-rotating) bar (pictured below, left), grip it securely with your palms down and wrists slightly extended (mid-point of your range of motion). As you contract your wrist extensors harder you will also need to grip harder to maintain position. To perform TSC wrist extension with a rolled-up towel (pictured below, right), grip it vertically with your palms facing towards each other and twist the towel in the direction of extension until it cannot be twisted any further. Grip the towel tightly with your wrists slightly extended (mid-point of your range of motion).

TSC Wrist Flexion TSC wrist flexion can be performed without any equipment (pictured below, right) or with a fixed bar or towel or short length of pipe.

To perform TSC wrist flexion without any equipment let your arms hang at your sides with your elbows slightly flexed, palms down, and hands relaxed.

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Flex your fingers into a tight fist and flex your wrists as far as you can, focusing on contracting the flexor muscles of your forearms. To perform TSC wrist flexion with a fixed (nonrotating) bar (pictured below, left), grip it securely with your palms down and wrists slightly flexed (mid-point of your range of motion). As you contract your wrist flexors harder you will also need to grip harder to maintain position.

To perform TSC wrist flexion with a rolled-up towel (pictured below, right), grip it vertically with your palms facing towards each other and twist the towel in the direction of flexion until it cannot be twisted any further. Grip the towel tightly with your wrists slightly flexed (mid-point of

your range of motion).

TSC Pinch Grip

TSC pinch grip can be performed with any hard, flat, thick (approximately 2–3”) object like a piece of lumber, the edge of a door, or a thick book.

Grip the object with the pads of your thumbs and fingers (pictured below) with both hands and attempt to pinch it between them, focusing on flexing at the metacarpophalangeal joints (where your fingers and thumbs are connected to your hands) rather than the interphalangeal joints (where your fingers and thumbs bend) like TSC crush grip.

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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Partial Range of Motion, TSC, and Flexibility If I perform most or all my exercises with partial range of motion and/or TSC do I need to also stretch to improve flexibility? If so, which stretches should I do? Most people will not need to perform supplemental stretching. Consider many of the TSC exercises for the trunk muscles are performed at or near the end point of the range of motion resulting in a stretch for the antagonists, and most trainees will eventually progress through the full range of motion levels of the dynamic exercises. Steve Maxwell has already been experimenting with the TSC trunk exercises here for a few weeks and commented,

"It’s been stated that TSC doesn’t increase mobility or flexibility. I think that there are a couple of exceptions. I’ve noticed that since performing the seated TSC torso rotations, seated TSC spinal extension and seated TSC spinal flexion, my spinal mobility has improved. I’ve had issues for years with thoracic spine tightness and discomfort from injuries sustained in martial arts and from doing “stupid” training. The TSC neck and now this newly added spinal protocol has my back feeling young and spry. It’s like medicine!" I have also suffered neck injuries in several car accidents which I previously managed effectively with dynamic neck flexion and extension and shoulder elevation with SuperSlow protocol. I have maintained full range of motion with no pain with just TSC neck exercises for several years.

Suspension Trainers and Compound Pushing Exercises

Why shouldn’t a suspension trainer or strap be used for push-ups, dips, and to suspend the feet during leg-supported exercises? You should not use suspension trainers and straps for dynamic compound pushing exercises or for leg-support because they reduce the effectiveness of these exercises and increase your risk of injury.

Reduced stability decreases activation of the target muscles and compromises your ability to focus on intensely contracting them. It is not necessary to perform exercises with reduced stability to increase the demands on the stabilizing muscles in your trunk because these muscles are effectively targeted by other exercises in the workouts. Suspension trainers and straps are safer and less problematic for TSC compound pushing exercises because your weight is not supported on them.

Stability Balls and “Balance Trainers”

Why shouldn’t crunches and hip raises be performed on a stability ball or balance trainer? Doesn’t that increase activation of the trunk muscles? You should not use stability balls and “balance trainers” for crunches or hip raises or as a seat or bench for any exercise for the same reasons you should not use suspension trainers for dynamic

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compound pushing exercises. Instability reduces the effectiveness of these exercises for the target muscles and increases your risk of injury. Instability during exercise does not improve balance during other activities. Balance skills are specific and do not transfer from exercises performed on unstable surfaces to other activities in daily living or sports.

Prone Trunk Extension/Superman Exercise

Why do my feet need to be braced during trunk extensions performed on the floor? Shouldn’t I be lifting my legs, too? If your feet are not braced and your legs and pelvis are allowed to rise off of the floor your pelvis may be unstable in both the frontal and transverse planes resulting in lateral tilting and/or rotation and uneven loading of your spinal extensors, increasing your risk of injury. This is also one of the reasons I do not recommend exercises like “bird dogs” or “dead bugs” for the lower back and abs.

Crush, Support, and Pinch Grip

If I am already doing chin-ups, pull-ups, and rows why do I need anything else for my grip? Why are there so many different gripping exercises? While your grip is worked during the pulling and forearm exercises it is not the target of these, and unless your grip is consistently failing before your arm, shoulder, and back muscles it is not being stimulated to improve as much. If it is limiting your ability to effectively perform these other exercises direct strengthening will help. There are only two direct gripping exercises, one at the end of each workout. Kratos ends with TSC crush grip or SH support grip (perform one or the other, not both) and Zelus ends with TSC pinch grip. This is relatively well balanced with the proportions of exercises for other muscle groups.

Grip strength is important because it limits how effectively you can use the strength of your other muscle groups during a variety of physical activities. No matter how strong your arms, shoulders, back, hips, and thighs are you won’t be able to pick up, pull, carry, tear, bend, or twist something if your hands aren’t strong enough to hold it securely.

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You would probably be surprised at how strong your grip can become with direct exercise and how effective TSC is for this purpose. Scott Burr (pictured right, photo courtesy of Steve Maxwell) performs primarily bodyweight and static exercises, and his only grip exercise is TSC crush grip. He can pick up and hold 45-pound Olympic barbell plates by the hub and perform a single arm hang for over a minute and a half (measured at 1:43 by Steve Maxwell) which is incredibly difficult.

Finger Extensor Exercises

The workouts each contain exercises for the grip but none for finger extension. Shouldn’t I also be performing a finger extension exercise? The workouts do contain exercises that work the finger extensors. The extrinsic finger extensors are worked during TSC wrist extension, and the lumbrical muscles in the hand that flex the metacarpophalangeal joints during TSC pinch grip also extend the fingers at the interphalangeal joints. If you want to work finger and thumb extension directly you can do so using TSC with a loop of a strap or belt just large enough to fit around your fist at the level of your knuckles. Place the ends of your fingers and thumb inside the loop and press out.

This can be performed one hand at a time using part of a suspension trainer strap held together by the opposite hand. You can also have a loop sewn into the ends of the adjustment strap on a suspension trainer or two loops in a figure-eight sewn from a single two-foot strap.

While there are elastic bands and other devices made specifically for this exercise, TSC with a strap is just as effective but simpler and safer.

Direct Arm and Thigh Exercises

Why are there direct exercises for my forearms and legs but not my biceps, triceps, quadriceps and hamstrings? What about direct work for my chest, delts, and lats? The muscles of your torso, upper arms, hips, and thighs are worked very effectively by the compound exercises in these workouts. If you perform compound exercises that target these muscle groups,

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additional simple exercises don’t appear to make a significant difference to your strength or size gains. 4 5

Direct, simple exercises for these muscle groups will be discussed in more detail in the next Kratos book, including how they can be used to work around injuries or other physical limitations and in pre-exhaust sequences to increase the difficulty of dynamic compound exercises.

TSC Neck Rotation

Can TSC neck rotation be performed the same way as TSC torso rotation? I do not recommend performing TSC neck rotation this way because cerebral blood flow is significantly reduced when holding the neck at the end point of rotation and this is compounded by sustained, intense muscular contraction. 6 7 8 9 10 You are already effectively working all of the muscles involved in rotation except the small obliquus capitis inferior with TSC neck flexion and extension. I do not believe it is necessary for most trainees to perform neck rotation specifically to target the obliquus capitis inferior, however some might find relief from some types of headaches by working and fatiguing them. This can be done without equipment with TSC or with manual resistance through a conservative ROM. If there is enough interest in these exercises, I will include them in the next Kratos book. Some readers familiar with older Nautilus training protocols have asked about using infimetric IAC for this purpose. While infimetric neck rotation with intentional antagonistic co-contraction is possible it is extremely difficult for most people to perform correctly.

4 Gentil, P., Soares, S.R., Pereira, M.C., Cunha, R.R., Martorelli, S.S., Martorelli, A.S., and Bottaro, M. 2013. Effect of adding single-joint exercises to a multi-joint exercise resistance training program on strength and hypertrophy in untrained subjects. Appl. Physiol. Nutr. Metab. 38(3): 341–344. doi:10.1139/apnm-2012-0176. PMID:23537028. 5

Barbalho, Matheus & Coswig, Victor & Raiol, Rodolfo & Steele, James & Fisher, James & Paoli, Antonio & Bianco, Antonino & Gentil, Paulo. (2018). Does the addition of single joint exercises to a resistance training program improve changes in performance and anthropometric measures in untrained men?. European Journal of Translational Myology. 28. 1-8. 10.4081/ejtm.2018.7827. 6 Arnold

C , Bourassa R , Langer T , et al . Doppler studies evaluating the effect of a physical therapy screening protocol on vertebral artery blood flow. Man Ther 2004;9:13–21.doi:10.1016/S1356-689X(03)00087-0 7 Mitchell JA . Changes in vertebral artery blood flow following normal rotation of the cervical spine. J Manipulative Physiol

Ther 2003;26:347–51.doi:10.1016/S0161-4754(03)00074-5 8 Mitchell

J , Keene D , Dyson C , et al . Is cervical spine rotation, as used in the standard vertebrobasilar insufficiency test, associated with a measureable change in intracranial vertebral artery blood flow? Man Ther 2004;9:220– 7.doi:10.1016/j.math.2004.03.005

9 Rivett DA , Sharples KJ , Milburn PD . Effect of premanipulative tests on vertebral artery and internal carotid artery blood

flow: a pilot study. J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999;22:368–75.doi:10.1016/S0161-4754(99)70081-3 10 Moser

N, Mior S, Noseworthy M, et al. Effect of cervical manipulation on vertebral artery and cerebral haemodynamics in patients with chronic neck pain: a crossover randomised controlled trial. BMJ Open. 2019;9(5):e025219.

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Variable Repetition Cadence Shouldn’t I reduce my repetition cadence when performing exercises with a partial range of motion to maintain a consistent speed of movement? No, you should not.

There is no disadvantage to moving more slowly during partial range of motion repetitions using the same repetition cadence. I want to keep the resistance scaling and progression system as simple as possible and having different repetition cadences for the partial and full range of motion levels adds unnecessary complexity.

Virtual Breakdowns/Drop Sets

If I reach momentary muscle failure before achieving my lower target repetition number or TTF should I continue the exercise by performing repetitions at a lower difficulty level? If you reach momentary muscle failure two or more repetitions or 20 or more seconds below your target repetition or time range you can continue by either adding a 4–6 second rest-pause or increasing the rest-pause time by 4–6 seconds between repetitions or performing a static hold in the mid-point of the range of motion.

When you perform additional repetitions with added or extended rest-pause or a static hold after failure record the number of additional repetitions or seconds performed after a plus sign and followed by RP for rest-pause or SH for a static hold.

For example, if you complete six repetitions of a chin up at level M and then perform three more using additional or extended rest-pause you would record it as M / 6+3RP

If you continue with a 30 second static hold instead of additional or extended rest-pause repetitions, you would record it as M / 6+30SH

If you fail to perform your lower target repetition number or time under load for an exercise on consecutive workouts reduce the resistance level the next time you perform it.

Pre-Exhaustion

If I can consistently perform or exceed the upper target repetition number or time to failure for the hardest variant of a compound exercise at the hardest resistance level but should not perform these exercises unilaterally should I use pre-exhaustion instead? If so, what are the best exercises to pre-exhaust the compound exercises in Kratos and Zelus? First, check your form; most readers who contacted me to ask about making specific exercises harder—usually squats and hip raises—were not performing them correctly.

If you are performing an exercise correctly and consistently perform or exceed your upper target repetition number or time to failure you should first, try to make the exercises more difficult by intentionally contracting the antagonistic muscles throughout the full range of motion. Depending on

39

your motor control this may be more difficult and/or take longer to learn to perform effectively for some exercises. If you add exercises for pre-exhaustion you will need to remove others to avoid increasing the total workout volume. Project Kratos includes pre-exhaustion sequences in the specialization workouts, and all of these will also be updated in the next Kratos book.

Classical (Max Effort/Short Duration) Isometrics

I have read it is more effective to perform static contractions for only ten to twenty seconds because the muscles can contract with more force and generating more tension. Wouldn’t this be better for improving both muscle and bone strength? Why do you recommend such a long time for TSC? The studies I cited earlier show a broad range of loads from as low as 30–50% 1RM to over 70% 1RM can be equally effective for increasing muscular strength and size when exercises are performed to momentary muscle failure. Regardless of the load used or the maximum net force and tension produced, if you perform an exercise to momentary muscle failure and/or fatigue the target muscles deeply enough, the tension on the individual fibers will be the same. 11

Studies also show lower loads are effective for improving bone mineral density. 12 13 14 Even if there was a significant difference in effectiveness this difference would become smaller over a longer period of time, eventually becoming zero (there is a limit to the potential for improvement of any factor of functional ability), while the negative effects of short, maximum effort static contractions would continue to accumulate and become larger.

In addition to stimulating improvements in muscular strength and size and bone and connective tissue strength we want to improve cardiovascular and metabolic efficiency. A longer average TUL increases the metabolic and cardiovascular demands of each exercise and the overall workout.

11 Morán-navarro R, Martínez-cava A, Sánchez-medina L, Mora-rodríguez R, González-badillo JJ, Pallarés JG. Movement Velocity as a Measure of Level of Effort During Resistance Exercise. J Strength Cond Res. 2019;33(6):1496-1504. 12

Petersen BA, Hastings B, Gottschall JS. Low load, high repetition resistance training program increases bone mineral density in untrained adults. J Sports Med Phys Fitness 2017;57:70-6. DOI: 10.23736/S0022-4707.16.05697-8

13

Bemben DA, Bemben MG. Dose-response effect of 40 weeks of resistance training on bone mineral density in older adults. Osteoporos Int. 2011;22(1):179-86.

14 Maddalozzo, G.F., and Snow, C.M. 2000. High intensity resistance training: Effects on bone in older men and women. Calcified Tissue International, 66, 399-404.

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Do not perform classical (max effort/short duration) isometrics. Re-read Safety Considerations for TSC on page 10 of Timed Static Contraction Training for a more detailed explanation.

Sisy Squat or Sissy Squat?

Why do you spell Sisy Squat with only one “S” instead of two? Because Sisy is short for Sisyphus, a figure from Greek mythology and not the word “sissy” meaning a weakling or coward.

King Sisyphus was punished for angering Zeus, Thanatos, and other Greek gods by being forced to roll a massive boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down again, every day for eternity. As a result of this labor he is often depicted with massive thighs.

Resistance Scaling and Progression with SuperSlow Repetitions

How should I scale and progress resistance using SuperSlow repetition cadence (10/10) and how many repetitions should I perform? When using a 10/10 cadence instead of 4/4 I recommend using a range of rest-pause and hold times from 0–10 seconds (from a 1:0 to a 1:1 dynamic to static ratio) and a cumulative time under load of 60 to 100 seconds for upper body exercises and 80 to 120 for lower body and trunk exercises not counting rest-pause time, rather than the total set duration, or time to failure.

When using resistance levels with a rest-pause you should not perform fewer than 3–5 repetitions for upper body exercises or 4–6 for lower body and trunk exercises regardless of the time to failure. I have listed the approximate time to failure for these repetition ranges with different rest-pause and static hold times in the alternate resistance levels table for SuperSlow repetitions below. When using resistance levels with continuous movement or a static hold/squeeze you should increase resistance levels whenever you exceed 100 seconds with upper body exercises or 120 with lower body exercises regardless of the repetition count.

41

Alternate Resistance Levels Table for SuperSlow Repetitions Timing

Easy ROM Position

10 second rest

E-10 (1)

M-10 (12)

8 second rest

E-8

M-8

9 second rest 7 second rest 6 second rest 5 second rest 4 second rest 3 second rest 2 second rest 1 second rest Continuous

1 second hold 2 second hold 3 second hold 4 second hold

5 second hold 6 second hold 7 second hold 8 second hold 9 second hold

10 second hold

E-9

(2)

E-7

(4)

E-6 E-5 E-4 E-3 E-2 E-1 E

(3) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9)

(10)

(11)

/ Full ROM Medium Position

M-9

(13)

M-7

(15)

M-6 M-5 M-4 M-3 M-2 M-1

/ Hard ROM / TTF (seconds): Position Upper Body/ Lower Body & Trunk 80-140 / 110-170 80-135 / 105-165 75-130 / 105-160

(14)

75-130 / 100-155 70-125 / 100-150

(16)

70-120 / 95-145

(17)

70-115 / 90-140

(18)

65-110 / 90-135

(19)

65-110 / 85-130

(20) (21)

M

(22)

H

(33)

M+2

(24)

H+2

(35)

M+1 M+3 M+4 M+5 M+6 M+7 M+8 M+9

(23) (25) (26) (27) (28) (29) (30) (31)

M+10 (32)

H+1 H+3 H+4 H+5 H+6 H+7 H+8 H+9

(34) (36) (37) (38) (39) (40) (41) (42)

H+10 (43)

60-105 / 85-125 60-100 / 80-120

42

Alternate Starting Level Test for SuperSlow Repetitions The following guidelines for determining the starting resistance level when using SuperSlow repetitions have not yet been thoroughly tested. I am including these as a very rough starting point for those interested and will adjust this based on feedback and experimentation over the next few months. When testing to determine your starting resistance level with SuperSlow (10/10) repetitions;

● If you are able to complete between 3 and 5 repetitions for upper body exercises and between 4 and 6 repetitions for lower body exercises stay at level M. ● For every repetition below the lower target repetition number go down five levels.

● For every repetition above the upper target repetition number go up two levels.

If you are unable to complete a single repetition of an exercise repeat the test with an easier variant after a brief rest (e.g., if you are unable to perform a single normal chin-up at level M repeat the test with a leg-supported chin-up). If you are able to complete this many repetitions… Upper Body

Lower Body & Trunk

0

0

5

1

2

3

1 3-5 6 7 8 9

10

2 4-6 7 8 9

10 11

…start at this resistance level

Retest with an easier variant of the exercise after a short rest E-5

M-10 M-5 M

M+1 M+2 M+3 M+4 M+5

43

If you do perform this test, please let me know how many repetitions you completed of each exercise, how many repetitions and/or what time to failure you were able to achieve using the starting resistance level during your first workout, and as much additional information as you are willing to provide (age, sex, starting bodyweight, approximate body composition, years strength training, etc.)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to SuperSlow and SuperStatics founder Ken Hutchins (www.seriousexercise.com) and to strength and conditioning expert Steve Maxwell (www.maxwellsc.com) whose help developing and improving the Kratos bodyweight high intensity training system and TSC exercises and workouts has been invaluable, and to Doug McGuff, MD, co-author of Body by Science, for his feedback and support (http://www.drmcguff.com/).

Thanks to all the readers who have provided feedback on their experience with and results from my Kratos and TSC training programs, and to all my personal training and online training clients who helped test and refine these methods and systems over the past few years.

CONSULTATIONS AND ONLINE TRAINING

If you need help adapting these workouts to your body and your goals or need help learning to perform the exercises correctly or modifying them to accommodate physical limitations, I am available for consultations and online training by phone and video conference. For more information or to sign up for and schedule an appointment visit http://www.baye.com/training/.

PRESENTATIONS, SEMINARS, AND WORKSHOPS

I am available for presentations, seminars, and workshops on the Kratos bodyweight exercise principles, programming, performance, and instruction. For more information contact me via e-mail at: [email protected]

PROJECT: KRATOS Program Handbook Bodyweight High Intensity Training

by Drew Baye

When people talk about having “a body like a Greek god” they are usually thinking of Adonis, the god of beauty and desire who is depicted in statues and paintings as a lean, muscular, handsome youth. The body dysmorphic disorder of excessive preoccupation with muscularity is even named after him; it’s called the “Adonis Syndrome”. But, as Greek gods went, Adonis was more show than go, and despite being portrayed as an expert hunter he couldn’t even defend himself from a wild boar sent to kill him by the jealous goddess Artemis. Kratos, on the other hand, was the Greek god of strength and power. He was the son of the Titan Pallas (elder god of war) and Styx (goddess of the underworld), and one of the winged enforcers of Zeus along with his brother Zelus (god of rivalry) and sisters Nike (goddess of victory) and Bia (goddess of force). When Zeus wanted the immortal shit kicked out of another god but didn’t feel like doing it himself he sent Kratos. While it’s great to be lean and muscular, you don’t just want to look strong and powerful, you want to be strong and powerful, so forget Adonis; the Greek god you really want a body like is Kratos. Teaching you how and helping you to get that body is the goal of this project, thus the name Project: Kratos.

Project: Kratos Copyright © 2013 by Drew Baye

E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.baye.com Cover illustration by Carlos Cabaleiro: cabalieroart.blogspot.com Photos by Drew Baye, Emma Baye, and Luke Baye Thanks to Adam Nelson, Kasey Terry, and Joseph Ross for modeling for many of the photos in this book.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any other information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the author, except brief quotations embodied in articles or reviews. This book is not intended for the treatment or prevention of disease, nor as a substitute for medical treatment, nor as an alternative to medical advice. Use of the guidelines herein is at the sole choice and risk of the reader. All web addresses and phone numbers were accurate at the time of publication. Please send notification of changes to [email protected]. Any changes will be posted on www.baye.com and corrected in future editions of this book.

Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 General Exercise Guidelines .......................................................................... 5 Speed of Movement and Turnarounds ............................................................ 5 Breathing ......................................................................................................... 6 Neutral Head and Neck Position ...................................................................... 6 Exertional Discomfort versus Pain ................................................................... 7 Momentary Muscular Failure (MMF) .............................................................. 7 The Five Level Dynamic Protocol .................................................................. 10 Range of Motion ............................................................................................ 11 Timing ............................................................................................................ 12 The Timing and ROM Matrix ......................................................................... 13 Modifying Leverage for Short ROM Exercises................................................ 14 Bilateral to Unilateral Progressions ............................................................... 15 Determining Your Starting Level .................................................................... 16 Changing Levels during an Exercise ............................................................... 17 Isometrics ...................................................................................................... 18 Static Holds .................................................................................................... 18 Timed Static Contraction (TSC) ...................................................................... 19 Self-Timing Static Holds and Timed Static Contractions ................................ 20 Exercise Progressions..................................................................................... 21 Pre-Exhaustion............................................................................................... 22 Isochronal Progression................................................................................. 23 Couples and Small Group Training ................................................................ 24

The Workouts .............................................................................................. 25 Exercise Selection .......................................................................................... 25 Basic Workout Structure ................................................................................ 27 Specialization Workouts ................................................................................ 28 Workout Volume and Frequency ................................................................... 28 Workout Names............................................................................................. 29 What You Need ........................................................................................... 31 Basic Bodyweight Training Setup .................................................................. 31 Buying Bodyweight Equipment...................................................................... 32 DIY Bodyweight Equipment ........................................................................... 33 Kratos (The Basic Workout).......................................................................... 36 Chin-Up .......................................................................................................... 38 TSC Pullover ................................................................................................... 41 TSC Arm Curl .................................................................................................. 42 Push-Up ......................................................................................................... 43 Squat ............................................................................................................. 45 Unilateral Squat............................................................................................. 48 Inverted Row ................................................................................................. 52 TSC Simple Row ............................................................................................. 56 Pike Push-Up .................................................................................................. 57 TSC Lateral Raise ........................................................................................... 60 Prone Trunk Extension ................................................................................... 61 Crunch............................................................................................................ 64 Upper versus Lower Abs ................................................................................ 66 Heel Raise ...................................................................................................... 67 TSC Neck Extension ........................................................................................ 70

TSC Neck Flexion ............................................................................................ 71 Zelus (The Alternate Basic Workout) ............................................................ 72 Wide-Grip Pull-Up .......................................................................................... 74 Parallel Bar Dip .............................................................................................. 77 Triceps Push-Up ............................................................................................. 81 Lunge ............................................................................................................. 84 Underhand-Grip Row ..................................................................................... 87 Half-Handstand Push-Up ............................................................................... 90 Hip Raise ........................................................................................................ 95 Leg Raise ........................................................................................................ 98 TSC Neck Lateral Flexion .............................................................................. 101 Infimetric Neck Rotation .............................................................................. 102 Cerberus (The 3x3 Workout) ...................................................................... 104 3x3 Workouts for Small Group Training ...................................................... 105 Heracles (Alternate 3x3 Workout) .............................................................. 106 Inverted Curl ................................................................................................ 108 Body Part Specialization Workouts ............................................................ 111 Ares (Arms and Shoulders) ......................................................................... 112 Zeus (Chest and Back) ................................................................................ 114 TSC Chest Fly ................................................................................................ 115 Hermes (Legs) ............................................................................................ 116 UXS Leg Curl................................................................................................. 117 UXS Leg Extension ....................................................................................... 120 Bia (Glutes and Thighs) .............................................................................. 123

TSC Hip ADduction ....................................................................................... 124 TSC Hip ABduction ....................................................................................... 125 Adonis (Abs and Obliques) ......................................................................... 126 Hanging Reverse Crunch.............................................................................. 128 Plank ............................................................................................................ 131 Prone Trunk Rotation................................................................................... 132 Hanging Trunk Rotation .............................................................................. 135 Side Plank .................................................................................................... 136 Grip and Forearm Exercises ........................................................................ 138 Diet and Supplements................................................................................ 141 Losing Fat .................................................................................................... 141 Building Muscle ........................................................................................... 142 Supplements ................................................................................................ 142 The ECA Stack and Yohimbine ..................................................................... 143 Tracking Progress....................................................................................... 145 Weight ......................................................................................................... 146 Body Composition ........................................................................................ 146 Body Part Circumference Measurements .................................................... 149 Comparison Photography ............................................................................ 150 Workout Charts ........................................................................................... 153 Diet .............................................................................................................. 155 Online Resources ....................................................................................... 156 Workout and Measurement Charts ............................................................. 156 Bodyweight Exercise Equipment.................................................................. 156 Useful Smart Phone and Tablet Apps .......................................................... 156

Introduction The original goal of Project: Kratos was to develop a bodyweight high intensity training protocol and program for improving overall strength, conditioning, and physical appearance for use with the UXS multiexercise station. As I found myself teaching bodyweight training to more and more of my gym and phone clients I decided to expand this to a program that could be done by anyone, anywhere, with or without the UXS or conventional bodyweight training equipment. My decision to focus more on bodyweight training and develop this program was influenced by several advantages it has over equipmentbased training including: Mobility: The requirement for little or no equipment and very little space makes bodyweight training practical for people who travel frequently and don’t have regular access to suitable equipment, or who just want the freedom to be able to work out wherever they want, whenever they want. Cost and Space Efficiency: The low equipment and space requirements are ideal for people who want to work out at home and personal trainers to reduce overhead and start up costs considerably. Commercial bodyweight stations cost a small fraction of the price and take up a small fraction of the space of all the free weight stations or machines they replace. Low Tech: While many home and commercial bodyweight exercise stations of varying quality and price are available, the most useful ones can be easily and inexpensively constructed out of readily available materials or improvised with common structures. 1

Time Efficiency: You can perform an entire bodyweight workout in the same spot without needing additional time between exercises to load and unload weight plates, or set up, enter, and exit machines or move from one station or machine to another. The only limitation to how quickly you can move between most bodyweight exercises is your level of conditioning. You can work out at home any time you want and not waste time driving to and from the gym. Confidence Building: Bodyweight training appears to improve confidence in one’s physical capabilities more effectively than equipment-based training. I think this is because it is easier to relate your ability to perform a bodyweight exercise to the performance of similar physical activities and tasks. For example, you know you can pull yourself up repeatedly while climbing a wall, tree, or other structure if you are capable of performing several chin-ups in strict form, but it would be difficult to relate this to your ability to use a pull down machine. In addition to these advantages I have found when your body weight is all you have to work with you learn to use it a lot more effectively. The better I get at doing and teaching bodyweight exercise the more I realize how inefficiently most people use free weights and machines. Learning to do these exercises well helps develop a mindset and habits that allow you to work harder and more effectively when training with weights. Bodyweight training is not without its disadvantages, however, and the goals of Project: Kratos include overcoming or minimizing these and making the program as simple and practical as possible: Scaling and Progression: Resistance selection and progression with free weights and machines is relatively straight forward; you add or remove weight plates from the bar or move the selector pin up or down the weight stack, and as you become stronger and better conditioned you increase the loads used. When your body weight is the load it’s not quite so simple; you must change other factors like leverage and timing 2

to increase or decrease resistance or choose exercises that are easier or harder depending on your strength. It was necessary to develop a scaling system to accommodate different starting strength levels and increases in strength over time without relying on external assistance devices or weighted belts or vests and which was simple to perform, teach, and track. Going to Extremes: Many people have expressed doubts about bodyweight exercise being either too hard for people who are weak and deconditioned or too easy for people who are extremely strong. I’ve put some very weak and very strong people through these workouts and the protocol has scaled well, but with feedback from people using the program I hope to improve it even further. Zero-Equipment Workouts: Although Project: Kratos was started with the UXS in mind I also wanted to provide alternate workouts for when suitable equipment is unavailable and can’t be improvised. The release of this handbook is part of the second of three phases of Project: Kratos. The first was my own experimentation and refinement. The goal of this second phase is getting feedback and case studies from as many people as possible and further improving the program and how it is taught. The third will be developing a detailed program manual and support web site for everyone using and teaching the program. If you want to participate all you have to do is provide feedback on your experience with and progress on the program and ask any questions you have about it. All questions will receive detailed responses. If you ask a question please provide as much relevant information as possible. I also encourage you to contribute a case study with before and after photographs. The case studies which are most informative or demonstrate the most dramatic improvements in strength, conditioning, or physical appearance will appear in the Project: Kratos program 3

manual and everybody who contributes one will receive a free digital copy. Case studies submitted after publication of the first edition of the manual may appear in future editions. The more information you can provide the better, but the minimum required for a case study is: •

Summary of your previous training and diet along with any relevant health or medical information (prior injuries, surgeries, health conditions, etc.)

•

Your specific goals and motivation for achieving them

•

Your starting and ending body measurements (using the body data chart provided)

•

Your starting and ending static hold times for squats, chin-ups, push-ups, and planks

•

Your before and after photographs (using the photography guidelines provided)

•

Description of your training environment and available equipment

•

Detailed workout records (using the workout chart provided)

•

Summary of your experience following the program

Additional information like food journals, blood tests, bone density scans, scores on standardized physical fitness tests, or any other measures of changes in health or functional ability are also helpful and appreciated but not a requirement. To contact me with questions or provide feedback on Project: Kratos e-mail me at [email protected]

4

General Exercise Guidelines How you perform each repetition of an exercise is far more important than how many you do. From the beginning to the end of every exercise keep in mind your goal is to make the exercise as demanding as possible while minimizing your risk of injury, and not to just do reps. Don’t think of a bodyweight exercise as using your muscles to move the weight of your body, think of it as using your body weight to work your muscles. While this may seem like a minor difference in semantics it is one of the most important concepts in exercise and one you should keep in mind every time you work out.

Speed of Movement and Turnarounds When performing dynamic repetitions you should move slowly enough to take three to four seconds to complete the positive (lifting movement) and three to four seconds to complete the negative (lowering movement). For the majority of people, this is just slow enough to reverse direction smoothly, maintain proper body position throughout the full ROM, and focus on intensely contracting the target muscles. If you are unable to do these three things well using a three to four second lifting and lowering cadence, move even more slowly. Reversing direction smoothly keeps the tension on the muscles worked consistent and within reasonably safe levels. During both the positive and negative as you approach the end of the range of motion (ROM) you should gradually slow to a stop, and when you reverse direction you should attempt to barely move at first. This is one of the hardest things for many people to learn to do, but one of the most important. If you bounce or swing up or drop down in a quick, jerky manner you reduce the effectiveness of the exercise and increase your risk of being injured 5

or developing joint problems over time. This is one of the most important elements of form, and one that people seem to have the most trouble with. Make learning to reverse direction as smoothly as possible and doing it consistently one of your highest priorities.

Breathing Don’t hold your breath. Don’t grunt or groan. Don’t yell. Don’t hiss or blow. Let your mouth hang open and breathe as relaxed and naturally as possible. Don’t try to time your breathing to your movement and inhale during the negative and exhale during the positive as is often recommended. If you’re moving slowly enough you’ll only complete around eight to ten repetitions per minute, but if you’re working hard enough you may need to take four to five times that many breaths per minute. Don’t chew gum or have anything else in your mouth while you work out. You risk aspirating and choking on it as you start breathing more heavily. If your mouth and throat feel dry during your workouts because of the breathing sip water between exercises instead.

Neutral Head and Neck Position Don’t move your head and neck around. During exercise maintain a neutral head and neck position to minimize the risk of straining or pulling a muscle in your neck. Look straight ahead and down slightly, with your chin about fist-distance from your sternum. Don’t reach with your chin during chin-ups and pull-ups. Don’t tuck your chin while rowing. Don’t look forward and extend your neck during push-ups. When performing exercises lying on your back your head should be resting on the ground and your neck should be relaxed and 6

not forcefully extending or bridging. It is normal for your neck to flex and extend slightly along with the rest of the spine during trunk extension and flexion exercises, but this movement should be very short and not forced.

Exertional Discomfort versus Pain Don’t grimace, clench your teeth, make faces, or do anything else that might distract you from focusing on contracting the target muscles. Cut out the histrionics, be stoic, and try to keep your face relaxed. Accept that to be effective exercise must be intense and if it is intense it will be uncomfortable, but the discomfort is temporary and harmless. If you are working hard enough your muscles will burn, your heart will race, and you will be breathing very heavily after only a few exercises. These are normal and harmless and the better you learn to push yourself through them the more you will get out of your workouts. However, if you feel any sharp or sudden pain, if you begin to feel lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseous, or if you begin to feel a headache coming on, stop the exercise immediately. If you still feel a sharp pain after stopping, stop the workout and get it checked out before you work out again. If you are feeling light-headed, dizzy, or nauseous, or think you might feel a headache coming on, sit or lie down, breathe, and try to relax and wait for it to pass completely before attempting to continue your workout.

Momentary Muscular Failure (MMF) Perform each exercise until you are physically unable to continue in good form. When you think you are not able to continue positive movement continue to try for an additional five to ten seconds, but do not alter your body position, do not bounce, heave, jerk or loosen your 7

form in any other way to complete the repetition. Remember that how you perform each repetition of is far more important than how many you do. During exercise you are trying to send the message to your body that your current level of functional ability is inadequate to cope with some demand your environment is placing on you, and that it needs to improve that ability so you are able to better handle similar demands in the future. If you do not work much harder than you are accustomed to you are not giving your body a reason to improve your existing level of functional ability. While training to momentary muscular failure is not absolutely necessary to stimulate increases in muscular strength and size and other factors of functional ability, doing so ensures you are training intensely enough to do so. Training to momentary muscular failure also helps you more objectively compare exercise performance between workouts. If you do not perform an exercise to the point of momentary muscular failure you don’t know how many repetitions you might have been capable of performing or, in the case of static holds, how long you might have been capable of holding a position, and can’t be as certain whether an increase in repetitions or time on an exercise was due to a strength increase or whether you just pushed yourself a little further than you did previously. Contrary to popular misconceptions, training to momentary muscular failure is neither dangerous nor will it “burn out” your central nervous system. Both of these beliefs stem from improper exercise performance and programming. Momentary muscular failure occurs when fatigue has reduced the strength of the muscles you are working to just below the level necessary to continue positive movement in good form. This fatigue reduces rather than increases the risk of injury, however, since by reducing the force they are capable of producing you increase the 8

difference between the force that can be produced and the force that must be produced to cause an injury, as long as proper form is maintained. You do not risk falling or dropping yourself when you reach momentary muscular failure. Your muscles are significantly stronger when holding or lowering your body or a weight than when lifting due to differences in how your muscle fibers function when shortening versus lengthening. When you fatigue your muscles to the point where you are unable to continue positive movement in good form you will still be able to hold and lower yourself under strict control. Training to momentary muscular failure will not cause your central nervous system to “burn out”. While very intense training does place a demand on the peripheral and central nervous systems, the effects (neurotransmitter depletion, effects on calcium, sodium, potassium, etc.) are transient and the body recovers from them relatively quickly provided you are not overtraining. Overtraining – consistently performing a volume and frequency of exercise which exceeds what your body can recover from and adapt to – causes an immune system response involving an increase in circulating cytokines which negatively affect the central nervous system and overall physical performance. The problem is not caused by training to failure, however, but by attempting to perform too much exercise, too often.

9

The Five Level Dynamic Protocol Project: Kratos uses both dynamic (moving or isotonic) and static (motionless or isometric) repetition protocols and exercises. The dynamic protocol has five levels of varying difficulty, and which one you use for a particular exercise depends on your strength. If you are unable to perform the minimum number of repetitions for a level you should use the level below it, and if you are able to exceed the maximum you should use the level above it. When you perform an exercise your muscles work against resistance, which is the product of weight, lever, and numerous other factors. Since you can’t increase or decrease your body weight the way you can add or remove weight plates from a barbell or move the selector pin up or down a machine’s weight stack, you have to alter other factors to change the resistance you work against during exercise. As you move during an exercise the change in the angles of your joints and position of your body changes the length of the moment arms or leverages your muscles work against. In some positions these moment arms and the resulting resistance is smaller and the movement is easier, in other positions the moment arms and resulting resistance are larger and the movement is more difficult. While there are different ways to take advantage of this to increase or decrease the difficulty of an exercise, the easiest is to alter the portion of the range of motion performed or the amount of time spent in different positions, or both. When pushing or pulling the straighter your arms or legs get the smaller the moment arm you are working against and the easier the exercise becomes. The more you bend them, or more specifically the closer the moving limbs or body segments get to being parallel to the ground (or perpendicular to the direction you are pushing or pulling on certain 10

movements) the larger the moment arm and the harder the exercise becomes. This is why you can stand for extended periods of time with little fatigue, but if you squat down until your thighs are parallel to the ground you can only hold that position for a few minutes.

Range of Motion As a general rule, on pushing exercises like squats and push-ups the lower half of the range of motion is harder and the upper half is easier, while on pulling movements like chin-ups and inverted rows the upper half of the range of motion is harder and the lower half is easier. If you want to make these exercises harder you can limit your movement to the harder portions of the range of motion and if you want to make them easier you can limit your movement to the easier portions. These are called partial repetitions. When you use the full range of motion the levers average out resulting in a difficulty about mid-way between the two. While you can divide the range of motion of an exercise into an infinite number of positions or portions of varying length or degrees along a continuum from easiest to hardest, it’s simpler and more practical to divide it into a small number. The Project: Kratos level system uses three: •

Easy range of motion partials

•

Full range of motion

•

Hard range of motion partials

The recommended ranges for each level for each exercise are discussed in the exercise guidelines in the workout chapters. Regardless of the portion of the range of motion over which you 11

perform the exercise, the duration of the positive and negative movements should be about the same, each taking about three to four seconds to complete. While the same cadence results in different speeds of movement for partial and full ranges of motion it is adequately slow for full range without being too slow for the partials.

Timing You can also change the difficulty of an exercise by changing the time spent at or near the positions where the target muscles encounter more or less resistance. This could also be spread out along an infinite continuum with varying amounts of time spent at varying positions along the range of motion, but for simplicity and practicality I have divided these into three as well: •

Three-second hold or rest-pause at the position of minimum moment arm

•

Relatively continuous movement with only a brief pause at the top of pulling movements and the bottom of pushing movements

•

Three-second hold or squeeze at the position of maximum moment arm or the end point on pulling exercises

Because the three second hold or squeeze at the position of maximum moment arm increases the time under load (TUL) per repetition, a lower repetition range is used to maintain the desired cumulative time under load of approximately sixty to ninety seconds. Although the three second hold or rest-pause also increases the set duration, it does not increase the time the target muscles are under meaningful load, so the repetition range is kept the same.

12

The Timing and ROM Matrix The different timing and ranges of motion can be combined into several methods of performing an exercise of increasing levels of difficulty, as shown in the matrix below:

The five levels were chosen based on experimentation with trainees of varying size and strength, from weak to very strong, and the goal of keeping progression as simple as possible (only one factor – either range or timing – changes between each level). Starting with easy ROM partials, at level one you hold and rest for three seconds at the position of minimum moment arm. At level two you continue to perform easy ROM partials but drop the hold. At level three you increase to full ROM repetitions. At level four you add a hold and/or squeeze at the hardest position. At level five you reduce the ROM to hard ROM partials. Most people who could not perform more than a few continuous, full ROM repetitions were able to perform ten or more at levels one or two, and a few who could perform more than fifteen repetitions of exercises like squats and lunges found levels four and five much more challenging. 13

The numbers are also used for tracking exercise performance. For example, if you perform twelve repetitions of an exercise at level three you would record “L3/12” in the box for that exercise (row) and workout (column). The full, easy, and hard ranges of motion and the positions for the holds are described in the guidelines for each exercise.

Modifying Leverage for Short ROM Exercises The standard five level system works well for most exercises, but is difficult or impractical to implement with some exercises, particularly those with a relatively short range of motion like crunches and prone trunk extensions. For these exercises the body position is changed to move the center of gravity of the body segments acting as the load to change the length of the lever and the resistance against the target muscles. For example, during many trunk exercises like prone trunk extensions and crunches the range of motion is very short, so the resistance is modified by changing the position of the arms. Assuming average proportions, the portion of your body above your abdomen that acts as the load during these exercises (your thorax, head, and arms) is around forty percent of your total body mass. Your arms are over a quarter of the body mass above your abdomen and their center of mass is near the elbows so their position significantly affects the center of mass of the load and its distance from the average axis of rotation (which varies over the range of movement during lumbar flexion and extension). If you move your arms down towards your abdomen you reduce the lever and the resistance against the target muscles, making the exercise easier. If you move your arms up away from your abdomen you increase the lever and resistance against the target muscles, making the exercise harder. 14

In the matrix below different lever lengths are substituted for the different ranges of motion to provide an alternate five level protocol for exercises with a relatively short range of motion:

These are used with the crunch, prone trunk extension, and prone trunk rotation. The recommended body positions for each level for discussed in the exercise guidelines.

Bilateral to Unilateral Progressions During some leg exercises with a relatively short range of motion like hip raises and heel raises it is not possible or practical to modify the lever. For these exercises you progresses from a bilateral to a unilateral version at level four rather than changing the range of motion or leverage. In the matrix on the next page whether the limbs are worked bilaterally or unilaterally is substituted for the different ranges of motion to provide an alternate five level protocol for exercises where it is not practical to modify either the range of motion or the leverage. Whether the limbs worked should be changed instead of ranges of motion or leverage is discussed in the exercise guidelines in the workout chapters. 15

While this protocol does not allow you to progress resistance as accurately or precisely as you can with plate loaded free weights or selectorized machines it is a practical way to scale the difficulty of a variety of bodyweight exercises to your current strength level and to increase it as you get stronger. In many cases it would be simpler to increase resistance by adding weight with a belt, vest, backpack, etc., or to modify the resistance using elastic tubing or bands, however this defeats the purpose of making the system highly mobile. If you perform these workouts at home, however and want to use these I recommend adding weight only after you are able to pass level four, and continuing to perform the bilateral level four protocol (full ROM, three-second hold at hardest position, five to eight reps).

Determining Your Starting Level To determine your starting level for an exercise perform the exercise at level three completing as many repetitions as possible in strict form and follow the guidelines on the next page. Only count good repetitions. If you perform a repetition too quickly, if you bounce or jerk when changing directions, or if you use improper body positioning during a repetition don’t count it. 16

•

0 Reps: Retest the next time with an easier variant of the exercise or an easier exercise, or perform static holds and retest after you are able to hold the mid-range position for at least ninety seconds.

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1-3 Reps: Go to level one

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4-7 Reps: Go to level two

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8-12 Reps: Stay at level three

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13-15 Reps: Go to level four

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15+ Reps: Go to level five

Changing Levels during an Exercise It is possible to change levels during an exercise if you find it either too difficult after the first few repetitions or too easy as you near the upper repetition number. For example, if you are over halfway to the upper repetition number and the exercise feels too easy you can go up a level for the rest of the exercise. Or, if you are less than halfway to the lower repetition number when you reach momentary muscular failure you can go down a level and continue the exercise. If you change levels during an exercise you should record the repetitions for both levels. For example, if you perform ten repetitions at level one and go up to level two and perform eight more you would record “L1/10, L2/8” in the box for that exercise and workout. I don’t recommend going up or down more than one level during an exercise. If you are still unable to complete the lower repetition number in strict form or if you go way over the upper repetition number then go down or up a level the next time you perform the exercise. 17

Isometrics While the level system and repetition ranges above have done a pretty good job of covering a broad range of strength levels with the standard exercises, some people may still have difficulty with these or find them too easy. If you are unable to perform the lower repetition guide number at level one, or if you are able to exceed the upper repetition guide number at level five you may need to perform a different exercise for the muscle group which is more appropriate to your strength level. If you are very strong on a particular exercise or want to focus on a specific muscle group you can also incorporate pre-exhaustion sets. These are covered in the chapter on body part specialization workouts If you are unable to complete the minimum number of reps for an exercise at level one and are unable to reduce the difficulty by other means you can perform the exercise isometrically, using the static hold protocol.

Static Holds Differences in how muscle fibers function when contracting concentrically (shortening to produce movement) and eccentrically (resisting lengthening to stop or slow movement) make you much stronger when holding a position or performing the negative phase of an exercise than you are when performing the positive. Because of this, you are capable of holding a position in an exercise much longer than you could perform the same exercise dynamically. To perform a static hold you move to a position in the range of motion of an exercise which is challenging for the target muscles to maintain, and attempt to hold that position for as long as you can. To perform a static hold on pushing exercises (push-ups, squats, etc.) start at the top or end point and slowly descend about half way, then hold yourself there perfectly motionless. 18

To perform a static hold on pulling exercises use your legs to position yourself approximately midway between the start and end point, then slowly, gradually pick up your feet (chin-ups, pull-ups, etc.) or move your body into position (inverted rows, curls, etc.) transferring your weight to your arms while holding yourself perfectly motionless. To perform a static hold on simple exercises (exercises involving rotary movement of a body part or parts around a single axis, for example heel raises, leg raises, etc.) and quasi-compound rotary movements (hip raises, crunches, etc.) slowly rise from the bottom or start point, gradually stopping approximately halfway up, then hold yourself perfectly motionless. Attempt to hold that position for as long as possible, aiming for at least sixty seconds. Focus on the contraction of the target muscles, and when you can no longer hold the mid-range position gradually lower yourself. If you can’t hold the mid range position for at least sixty seconds, rest for a few seconds then carefully move back into position and repeat until your cumulative hold time is sixty seconds. When you are able to hold the mid range position of the exercise for more than ninety seconds without resting attempt the level one protocol the next time you perform the exercise. To track your performance write “SH” followed by the number of seconds you are able to hold the position in the box for that exercise and workout. For example, if you perform a static hold on an exercise for sixty seconds you would record “SH 60” in the box for that exercise (row) and workout (column).

Timed Static Contraction (TSC) Unlike a static hold where you attempt to resist the downward pull of gravity, during timed static contraction you contract against an immovable object. For example, standing in a doorway and abducting 19

your arms against the doorframe to work your shoulders. It is also possible to perform TSC for some muscle groups by working them against other parts of your body which are stronger, like working your neck muscles against your arms. TSC is an effective way to directly work the muscles of the upper torso and hips in opposing movements like lateral raises, chest flyes, and hip ADduction and ABduction without the need for specialized equipment. TSC is the safest and most practical way to work the muscles of the neck without equipment. To perform a TSC, gradually begin to contract the target muscles, slowly building up to a moderate effort. After thirty seconds gradually increase your effort until you are contracting almost as hard as you can. After another thirty seconds, gradually increase your effort until you are contracting as hard as you feel you can safely contract, or, to borrow a phrase from SuperSlow founder Ken Hutchins, “as hard as you dare”. Maintain this effort for another thirty seconds, until you have reached a total of ninety then slowly, gradually ease off. When you perform an exercise using TSC the only thing you need to write on the workout chart is “TSC” to indicate how it was performed. Unlike static holds the time is always the same, so there is no need to record it.

Self-Timing Static Holds and Timed Static Contractions To time yourself during exercises when you don’t have a hand free to work the stopwatch, start it and place it somewhere you can see it clearly while maintaining a relatively neutral head and neck position then make a note of the start time. If you are performing a static hold subtract the start time from the time on the stopwatch when you achieve momentary muscular failure. If you are performing TSC just add thirty, sixty, and ninety seconds to your start time to know when to increase effort and when to end the exercise. 20

If you are unable to position the stopwatch where you can see it when performing a static hold, start the stopwatch then count the seconds until you are in position, then when you reach momentary muscular failure count the seconds until you can stop the stopwatch and subtract all the seconds counted from the time. For example, if it takes you five seconds to get into position for the static hold after starting the stopwatch, and another five seconds after reaching momentary muscular failure to stop the stopwatch, you would subtract ten seconds. If you are unable to position the stopwatch where you can see it when performing a TSC I recommend using a metronome set to sixty beats per minute to help you accurately count off the seconds, or better, a round timer which can be set to alert you at thirty second intervals.

Exercise Progressions If you find an exercise too difficult to perform as a static hold or too easy when using the level five protocol you will need to perform an easier or harder variation of the exercise or an easier or harder exercise for the same muscle group. Some exercises can be made more or less difficult moving the fulcrum or the center of gravity to change the lever the target muscles work against. For example, during push-ups you can move the fulcrum to reduce the lever by pivoting from your knees instead of your feet, and during crunches and prone trunk extensions you can change the center of gravity by altering the position of you arms. Some exercises can be made easier by assisting with other muscle groups. For example, standing on a bench or stool or using a low bar and using the legs to assist during chin-ups or holding or leaning on something and using the arms to assist during leg exercises.

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If you are very strong you may have to perform some exercises unilaterally – one side of the body at a time – but you should only progress to unilateral exercises after having exhausted all bilateral options. If you are strong enough to perform a very high number of repetitions of an exercise normally at level five but not strong enough to perform the exercise unilaterally at level one perform unilateral static holds using the opposite limb for balance if necessary as an intermediate step. If you perform an exercise unilaterally write an “R” for right or “L” for left followed by the number of repetitions performed on that side, in the order of performance and separated by a comma. For example, if you performed nine unilateral squats with your left leg then eight with your right using the level three protocol you would record it as L3/L9, R8. If you perform an exercise unilaterally using a static hold write an “R” for right or “L” for left followed by “SH” and the number of seconds you are able to hold the position in the box for that exercise and workout. For example, if you perform a static hold on an exercise with your right side for sixty seconds and your left for sixty five you would record “R SH 60” and “L SH 65” in the box for that exercise (row) and workout (column).

Pre-Exhaustion Some compound exercises can be made harder for a specific muscle group by performing them immediately after a simple exercise for that muscle group. This is called pre-exhaustion. Examples include performing an isometric pullover followed immediately by chin-ups, isometric chest fly followed immediately by push-ups, and hip raise followed immediately by squats. The body part specialization workouts make extensive use of preexhaustion and contain several more examples. 22

Isochronal Progression In most cases you should use the standard double progression system; when you are able to complete the upper number of repetitions in the target range for an exercise, increase the resistance (in this case, the protocol level) you use for that exercise the next time you work out. Or, if you are able to perform the upper number of repetitions at level five, progress to a more challenging version of the exercise or a more challenging exercise for the same target muscle groups. If you have difficulty keeping track of your repetition count or would rather not count reps at all, or if you want to consistently use a higher time under load to emphasize cardiovascular and metabolic conditioning you may want to use isochronal progression instead, however. Isochronal progression differs from standard double progression in that exercises are continued past the point of momentary muscular failure using rest-pause – unloading and resting for a few seconds to allow the target muscles to recover just enough to complete an additional repetition – until the exercise has been performed for a fixed amount of time (“iso” means equal, and “chronal” means “of or relating to time”). You increase the resistance when you are able to perform the exercise continuously without rest for the target time (or without having to rest longer than three seconds between repetitions using the level one protocol). For example, if your target time is ninety seconds and you achieve momentary muscular failure after only sixty seconds, you would continue to perform rest-pause repetitions for the remainder of the 23

time. If you exceed your target time without achieving momentary muscular failure you should continue until you do. Although post-failure rest-pause repetitions can be extremely demanding most people should be able to handle them as long as the target time is not excessive. I recommend a target time of ninety seconds. Use a timer with suitably loud alarm to let you know when you’ve reached the target time. There are many interval training apps for smart phones and tablet computers which work well for this. I recommend the Seconds Pro app which is available on iOS and Android.

Couples and Small Group Training The five level dynamic protocol and isochronal progression allows you and a training partner or a group of people with different strength levels to go through a workout or rotate through a circuit of bodyweight exercises together at the same pace. Isochronal progression also makes it possible to accurately estimate workout time for scheduling.

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The Workouts The workouts in the Project: Kratos program are designed to safely, efficiently, and effectively improve muscular strength and size, metabolic and cardiovascular conditioning, bone and connective tissue strength, flexibility, and contribute to improvements in body composition (in combination with proper nutrition). The workouts include exercises for all major muscle groups, generally in order of most to least difficult. In most workouts when there is significant overlap in the muscles targeted by two or more exercises they are alternated with exercises for other muscle groups to reduce the effect of local muscular fatigue on subsequent exercises. This is particularly important for hanging exercises to minimize grip fatigue. While individuals vary in their response to exercise and goals and no single workout or exercise program will be optimal for everyone, the workouts here are highly effective for the majority of people and are a good starting point for adaptation and optimization based on individual response.

Exercise Selection The exercises were selected based on effectiveness, safety, and simplicity. You do not need dozens of different exercises for each muscle group for overall muscular development, just a few good ones. You also do not need to constantly vary movement patterns to avoid injury if you are performing a reasonable volume of exercise and performing the exercises properly to begin with. The workouts do not include exercises which require you to focus more 25

on balance than muscular effort. These are less effective for improving general strength and conditioning and balance skills are specific and do not transfer to other activities (e.g., anything done on a ball or other unstable surface). You should be focusing on intensely contracting the target muscles during exercise, not worrying about falling over. If you are strong enough to have to perform leg exercises unilaterally (one side at a time) but find balancing difficult you should use a handhold to aid balance so you can focus more on muscular effort (e.g., squats and heel raises). The workouts do not include exercises which require you to move quickly to generate high momentum or for the purpose of maximizing mechanical work (as opposed to metabolic work). These load the muscles less efficiently and carry a much higher risk of injury due to the greater acceleration and higher forces that result (e.g., anything involving jumping, kipping, or clapping). You should move in a slow and controlled manner during exercise so you can maintain strict body positioning, reverse direction smoothly, and focus on intensely contracting the target muscles. The workouts do not include exercises which alternate between movements for different muscle groups. These load the target muscle groups inefficiently and tend to also require quick transitions between movements (e.g., burpees and other exercise “complexes”). You should focus on intensely contracting and thoroughly fatiguing the target muscles of one exercise before moving on to the next. When unilateral exercises are included in a workout you should perform separate sets for your right and left sides to more efficiently load the targeted muscles rather than alternating sides every repetition. Unless otherwise noted, perform the exercise for your weaker side first. If you have roughly equal strength on both sides, then alternate the side you start with each time you do the workout.

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Basic Workout Structure The basic workouts consist of ten exercises performed for one set each, or two sets when performed unilaterally for both right and left sides: •

Two pulling exercises

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Two pushing exercises

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Two leg exercises

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Two trunk exercises

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Two neck exercises

This may seem like too little volume – and if you do these exercises the way most people do (quick and sloppy over a very short portion of the ROM) it won’t be very challenging – but, if you move slowly and focus on continuously contracting the target muscles for the recommended number of repetitions each exercise should take at least sixty to ninety seconds to complete. Your total TUL for these workouts should average at least twelve minutes, which is a longer time than most people spend under load doing thirty to forty sets at typical repetition cadences. Additionally, your total workout time shouldn’t be more than three minutes longer than your cumulative TUL if you are moving between exercises quickly enough, and closer to one minute longer after a few weeks. At first you should rest just long enough between exercises to avoid becoming light-headed, dizzy, or nauseous, then as your conditioning improves you should attempt to gradually reduce your rest between sets until you are able to move from one to the next in only a few seconds. The result is a much higher work to rest ratio or density of work than conventional workouts where long rests are taken between exercises. 27

To track this for comparison over time, you may want to record the start and end times of your workouts and total time along with the difficulty level and number of repetitions or time for each exercise. Remember not to compromise your form, rush through exercises, or quit before achieving momentary muscular failure to reduce your overall time. A workout is not a race. Your goal is to maximize your ratio of work time to rest time, not to finish the workout as quickly as possible. As a general rule, move slowly during exercises, quickly between them. Several workouts are included in this handbook and you may be tempted to alternate between several of them right away, but I recommend starting with just the basic workout for your first six to eight weeks. After that you can alternate it with one or two other routines, depending on your goals and available equipment.

Specialization Workouts In addition to the basic workouts there are several specialization workouts for specific muscle groups. Unlike body part workouts in a split routine these contain exercises for all the major muscle groups, but are designed to place a greater demand on the targeted muscle groups than the basic routines. While the basic workouts effectively work all the major muscle groups you may want to alternate them with one or more specialization routines if you want to focus on a particular body part or muscle group for athletic, vocational, or aesthetic purposes.

Workout Volume and Frequency If you train intensely enough very little exercise is required for best results. Exercise does not directly produce any improvements in functional ability. The stress of exercise stimulates your body to produce adaptive responses like increases in strength and conditioning so you are able to 28

better handle similar physical demands in the future. Your body requires time off between workouts to recover from and adapt to the stress of exercise. If you do too much exercise too often you can interfere with this process and compromise your results. While the optimum volume and frequency varies significantly between individuals most people seem to do best training two or three times a week. I recommend working out three times per week on nonconsecutive days for the first six weeks because the higher initial frequency will provide more practice which benefits learning and skill improvement. After that you should cut back to only two workouts per week, or one workout every three to four days, since most people will not experience significantly better results from three workouts a week than two after this initial learning phase, and you are better off giving your body more time than it needs to recover between workouts than not enough. Some people’s bodies don’t recover or respond as well or as quickly as others, and they may have difficulty progressing without a further reduction in workout volume and frequency. If you are unable to make progress on a workout after several weeks – either increasing the repetitions you are able to complete in good form or going up in levels on most of your exercises – and there are no other factors which may be interfering with recovery and response (lack of sleep, more stress than normal, eating poorly, etc.) you should skip a workout or take a full week off to rest – whichever is longer – then resume with an extra day of rest between workouts.

Workout Names Adopting the current trend of naming workouts and keeping with the theme of Greek mythology, I have named each of the workouts after an appropriate Greek god, goddess, or mythological figure (the basic workout is named for Kratos, the alternate basic for his brother Zelus, 29

the three-by-three for Cerberus, etc.). The names make the workouts easier to remember than letters or numbers.

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What You Need The only thing you really need for an effective workout is a stable surface with adequate space to move around. Many floor exercises involve more muscle groups than people realize, and the muscle groups like upper back and biceps which are difficult to effectively target with floor exercises can be worked using TSC if you don’t have a bar or other suitable handhold to hang from. That’s great if you frequently travel or are confined to places where you don’t have access to equipment and can’t find anything to hang from, or just feel like getting a workout in while at the beach. However, if you have the space and budget I recommend the following:

Basic Bodyweight Training Setup •

A chin-up bar at a height you can reach from a standing position

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A rowing bar at approximately waist height

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Push-up handles

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Parallel bars for dipping

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A low, stable step or platform for heel raises

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A thick, “grippy” yoga mat or similar rubber mat for floor exercises

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An adjustable belt or strap for some isometric exercises

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If you do not have the space or budget for a heavy duty commercial bodyweight station like the UXS, you can purchase bars which can be mounted on walls, ceilings, or inside doorways, as well as portable systems which can be placed inside of a doorway at different heights for different exercises. If you have a secure place to mount it overhead you can substitute a suspension trainer (a pair of handles on straps or ropes which of adjustable length) for the chin-up bar and rowing bar. Several commercial models are available or you can easily and inexpensively make your own that work just as well. Although they are more difficult for some people to grip, the chains on some playground swings can be used in place of a suspension trainer for rows, inverted curls, and other exercises. If you don’t have room for equipment and are not able to mount or suspend equipment on the walls, ceiling, or doorways, or if you are traveling where you don’t have any of these, a large bath towel or beach towel that is about as long as you are tall can be used to perform isometric (TSC) pulldowns, rows, and other exercises. Your hotel doesn’t have a gym? No problem, ask for an extra bath towel. If you don’t have stairs or a step where you work out for heel raises you can purchase a heel raise step, or make your own out of a length of twoby-four. I don’t recommend using step stools or step ladders for this as some have too small of a base and can be unstable if your weight is not properly centered over them. If no step is available you can still perform partial range of motion heel raises from a standing position without the stretch, or leaning against a wall to angle your body to increase the range of motion somewhat.

Buying Bodyweight Equipment A comprehensive guide to buying bodyweight exercise equipment is beyond the scope of this handbook, but there are a few things you 32

should look for when shopping for equipment: •

Keep It Simple: You don’t need anything fancy or complex, and often the more moving parts and adjustments equipment has the more that can go wrong with it.

•

Durability: Don’t buy flimsy equipment. If it bends or flexes under your weight, if moving or adjustable parts move sloppily, if it uses cheap fasteners, grips, or upholstery, don’t buy it. Considering all the money you’ll save on gym memberships, gas, etc. working out at home you can afford to spend a little more to get something sturdy.

•

Stability: Any piece of equipment that has to support your weight during exercise should be extremely stable. Training on an unstable surface or equipment reduces the effectiveness of exercise and increases risk of injury. If it wobbles, shakes, rolls, rocks, tips or moves in any way it shouldn’t under your weight, don’t buy it.

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Space: Equipment must not only fit in your available space, you have to be able to get it into the space and have enough room to use it. Measure your space before shopping for equipment and bring a tape measure if you buy locally.

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Environment: If you plan to set up a gym outside consider your climate. Depending on the temperature and humidity you may require a more durable finish for frames and marine-grade upholstery.

DIY Bodyweight Equipment If you have the tools and some basic woodworking, metalworking, or sewing skills you can build your own bodyweight exercise equipment 33

relatively easily and inexpensively. Most of the considerations for building your own are the same as for buying. While a comprehensive guide to building bodyweight exercise equipment is also beyond the scope of this handbook, the following are a few things you should consider when designing or buying materials for your DIY projects: •

Keep It Simple: Figure out what you need and design it to be as simple to build and/or install and use as possible. The less complex and the fewer moving parts the less that can go wrong with it.

•

Durability: Don’t buy flimsy materials or fasteners. You shouldn’t build equipment using materials that bend or flex under your weight or use fasteners that won’t hold securely. When in doubt, overbuild. Better to spend more on stronger or more weather resistant materials than you need than to save a little money and have your equipment fail during use or wear down quickly.

•

Stability: Design stations to have a broad, stable base or to be securely fastened to a strong, stable structure like a load bearing wall or beam. If you’re building something more permanent set it in a few feet of concrete. If it wobbles, shakes, rolls, rocks, tips or moves in any way it shouldn’t under your weight, fix it or rebuild it.

•

Space: Consider your available space, the space you need for use, and how you will get your equipment into that space when designing it.

•

Environment: When designing and purchasing materials for outside use consider your climate. Better to spend a little more on weather and corrosion resistant materials, finishes, and upholstery than a lot more to rebuild after a few years. 34

If you’re not sure what materials or tools to use, bring your plans to your local home improvement store and the people there should be able to help you choose the right materials and fasteners and which tools to use and how for whatever you’re building, as well as teach you where and how to best mount it to the walls or ceilings in your home or secure it in the ground to support your weight during use.

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Kratos (The Basic Workout) The basic workout is named for Kratos, the Greek god of strength and power. It is the bodyweight workout I start clients with, and the one I do most often. I recommend doing only this workout for at least six to eight weeks before alternating it with any of the other workouts here. To perform it as written, you will need a chin-up bar, a row-bar, a step for heel raises, and I suggest using a rolled up mat or towel for neck flexion and extension. An adjustable suspension trainer mounted overhead can be used for the chin-ups and rows. The guidelines for each exercise contain instructions for alternate equipment or substitutes for when these are not available. 1. Chin-Up 2. Push-Up 3. Squat 4. Inverted Row 5. Pike Push-Up 6. Prone Trunk Extension 7. Crunch 8. Heel Raise 9. TSC Neck Extension 10. TSC Neck Flexion 36

The guidelines for each exercise begin with the level three protocol (full ROM or average lever, and continuous movement) followed by the modifications for levels one, two, four, and five. Depending on the exercise there may also be directions for static holds, TSC, or unilateral variants.

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Chin-Up

The chin-up is a compound pulling movement which targets your upper back, the back of your shoulders, and your biceps. The muscles in your forearms and hands also work isometrically to grip the bar and your abdominal muscles work to stabilize your lower body. You need a bar at least high enough for your legs to clear the ground with your knees bent when you hang from it, but not so high you can’t reach it while standing. If you can’t reach the bar and you can’t lower it don’t jump to grab it; use a bench or step stool so you can grip the bar properly and at the correct width. Use an underhand (supinated) grip. Your grip should be slightly inside of shoulder width to accommodate the natural movement of the elbows and allow for a comfortable wrist position. A wider grip can require the wrists to supinate to an uncomfortable degree and strain the elbows. With the narrower grip it is important to keep your chest up to minimize stress on your shoulder joints, especially when you are near the start point. Try to keep your chest pointed at the bar throughout the exercise and don’t allow your torso to hang straight down. 38

To begin, gradually pick up your feet, transferring your weight from your legs to your arms. Slowly pull yourself up until your chest touches your forearms, and pull your elbows into your ribs. Hold very briefly, and then slowly lower yourself until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction, trying to barely move at first. Keep your chest pointed up at the bar. Keep your biceps and upper back muscles tight and do not go into a “dead hang” at the start. Level One Only lift yourself until your upper arms are approximately parallel to the ground, then immediately but slowly turnaround and lower yourself. When you reach the start point maintain your grip, but set your feet down and transfer your weight from your arms to your legs. Rest for three seconds, then gradually transfer your weight back from your legs to your arms and repeat. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but when you reach the start point immediately but slowly turn around and repeat. Level Four When you reach the end point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly lowering yourself. Starting with the third repetition and for all the rest, while holding squeeze your biceps and the muscles in your upper back and back of your shoulders as hard as you can. Level Five Perform the hold and squeeze the same as level four, but after holding 39

only lower yourself until your upper arms are approximately parallel to the ground, then immediately but slowly turnaround and repeat. Alternate Equipment If you do not have a bar you can perform chin-ups using a suspension trainer if you are able to securely mount it high enough overhead. If you have a strong enough grip you can also do these using a climbing rope or towel looped over a beam, pipe, tree branch, etc. Static Hold Use a bench or step to raise yourself to the end point, and then gradually pick up your feet, transferring your weight from your legs to your arms while holding your upper body completely motionless. Attempt to maintain that position as long as possible. Timed Static Contraction Use a bench or step so you are able to hold the bar with your upper arms parallel to the ground without raising your feet. Focus on contracting your biceps and the muscles in your upper back and the back of your shoulders and pulling the bar down and in towards the top of your chest. No Equipment If you have nothing to hang from you can substitute TSC pullovers and arm curls for chin-ups.

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TSC Pullover

The pullover is a simple movement which targets your upper back, the back of your shoulders, and your chest and abdominal muscles. To perform a TSC pullover with no equipment sit with your feet flat on the ground in front of you, shoulder width apart, and knees bent so they are level with the bottom of your chest . Place the backs of your elbows on top of your knees and press down against them, focusing on contracting your lats. A rolled up mat or towel can be placed between your elbows and knees to minimize elbow discomfort. This can also be done using a table, desk, countertop, or similarly stable surface instead of the knees by sitting or kneeling so it is level with the bottom of the chest. A rolled up mat or towel can be placed under your elbows to minimize elbow discomfort. The TSC pullover can also be done immediately before chin-ups, pullups, or rows to pre-exhaust the lats.

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TSC Arm Curl

The arm curl is a simple movement which targets your biceps and other arm flexors. To perform a TSC arm curl with no equipment bend your elbows placing your wrists on your chest and press them against it, focusing on the contraction in your biceps. Squeezing a rolled up mat or towel between your wrists and chest as pictured above places the elbows at a more comfortable angle for most people. TSC arm curls can also be performed using bar between waist and elbow height or a suspension trainer anchored from below or looped under the feet with the handles positioned so the elbows are bent approximately ninety degrees. The TSC arm curl can also be done immediately before chin-ups, pullups, or rows to pre-exhaust the biceps.

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Push-Up

The push-up is a compound pushing movement which targets your chest, the front of your shoulders, and your triceps. The abdominal muscles, hip flexors, quadriceps and neck extensors also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. Squat down and place your hands on the ground or on push-up handles if you have them, just outside of shoulder width. Step back with both feet until your body is straight, and your hands are even with the bottom of your chest. Your elbows should be close to your body, pointing back and only slightly out. Your feet should be approximately shoulder width apart. Your back should be straight and your head and neck neutral. Slowly lower yourself until your shoulders are only slightly below your elbows. Hold that position briefly, and then slowly press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Keep your abdominal muscles tight and your back straight. Do not raise your hips. Do not allow your body to sag. Keep your head and neck still. Do not move your head or look around. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly 43

reverse direction. Press yourself all the way up until your elbows are completely straight instead of only almost straight, and then hold there for three seconds before repeating. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half to two-thirds of the way back up, turning around while your elbows are still thirty to forty five degrees away from full extension. Static Hold Lower yourself to the start point and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible.

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Squat

The squat is a compound movement which targets the muscles of your hips and thighs, primarily your glutes, hamstrings, and quadriceps. Stand with your feet shoulder-width and angled out slightly. This foot spacing allows you to squat down between rather than on top of your thighs making it easier to keep your back straight as you descend. With this foot spacing the knees will tend to travel outward and the feet should point in the same direction so the legs do not rotate medially relative the thighs and twist the knees as you squat down. Keep your chest up and back straight. Hold your arms out in front of you to move your center of gravity forward to maintain a more upright posture. Slowly squat down, moving your hips back while keeping your knees and shoulders over your feet as though you are sitting on a very low bench. If you do this correctly no part of your body other than your arms should break a vertical plane only a few inches in front of your toes. To get a feel for this, squat facing a wall with your toes only two inches away from it. The balance will be more difficult without your arms in front of you but it is possible. 45

Go all the way down until the tops of your thighs are parallel with the ground. If your flexibility prevents you from going this low at first, just go as low as you can while keeping your back straight. Your range of motion will improve over time. Do not go down so far you are sitting on your calves. If your thighs and calves are large enough to touch when the tops of your thighs are parallel with the ground and your knees are over your feet then only descend until they just barely touch but do not rest. Briefly hold this position then very slowly begin to press back up. You should barely move at first, taking almost a full second just to go the first few inches. Do not bounce. Only go up about three-quarters of the way, until your knees are about fifteen to twenty degrees away from full extension, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Do not pause or rest for an instant. If you do this correctly you should reach a point where you are momentarily unable to stand back up. Because of this it helps to have something stable nearby to hold to assist with standing and balance after. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Stand all the way up until your knees are completely straight and hold there for three seconds before repeating. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only stand yourself back up until your knees are almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four 46

When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half of the way back up, turning around while your knees are about forty five degrees away from full extension. Static Hold Lower yourself to the start point and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible. This can also be done against a wall (wall squat) to aid in balance, and allowing you to move your center of gravity back further increasing the difficulty of the hold.

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Unilateral Squat

The unilateral squat is extremely challenging when performed correctly and should only be attempted if you are able to consistently perform more than eight perfect repetitions of the squat at level five, and you should start at level one. Unilateral squats should be performed as two sets, one for each side, rather than a single alternating set. Unless otherwise noted you should alternate the starting side between workouts. Do not perform unilateral squats if you have any lower back, hip, knee, ankle, or foot injuries. If you experience pain in any of these areas during unilateral squats stop and do normal squats instead, using a higher repetition range or pre-exhausting with hip raises. If you have difficulty maintaining balance during unilateral squats perform them while holding something approximately waist to chest high such as a rowing bar or parallel bars, a suspension trainer secured above and in front of you, or a secure pole, beam, or door frame. Hold your arms in front of you for balance, and slowly raise one leg in front of you so you are balancing on one foot. It is not necessary to raise 48

the leg to hip height, or even to keep it perfectly straight, as long as it does not touch the ground. Slowly squat down, moving your hips back while leaning forward over the supporting knee, and keeping your hip, knee and foot in the same line. Keep your foot flat on the ground, with your weight on your heel. Do not move forward onto the ball of your foot. Go all the way down until the top of your thigh is parallel with the ground. If your flexibility prevents you from going this low at first, just go as low as you can while keeping your back straight. Your range of motion will improve over time. Do not go down so far you are sitting on your calf. If your thighs and calves are large enough to touch when the tops of your thighs are parallel with the ground and your knees are over your feet then only descend until they just barely touch but do not rest. Do not sit back too far or you may lose your balance. Briefly hold this position then very slowly begin to press back up. You should barely move at first, taking almost a full second just to go the first few inches. Do not bounce. Focus on driving your heel into the ground and your hips forward while gradually straightening your body as you stand back up. Only go up until your knee is slightly bent, about fifteen to twenty degrees away from full extension, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Do not pause or rest for an instant. When you are unable to either stand back up or control your speed while squatting down lower your other foot to the ground. If you are holding onto something for balance use it to either pull yourself up to a standing position or, if necessary, to carefully lower yourself. 49

Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Stand all the way up until your knee is completely straight, set your other foot down, and hold there for three seconds before repeating. Raise your leg again on the count of two so you are ready to begin the next repetition on the count of three. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only stand yourself back up until your knee is almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Be careful not to sit back or let your other foot touch the ground. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half of the way back up, turning around while your knee is about forty five degrees away from full extension. Static Hold If you are able to perform more than eight regular squats at level five but are having difficulty with unilateral squats at level one they can be performed isometrically as a hold at the mid-range position (about ninety degrees of knee flexion) as a transitional step. Balance Assistance As previously mentioned, if you have difficulty maintaining balance 50

during unilateral squats you can hold onto a bar, door frame, or post or use a suspension trainer to make this easier. To do this with a post or door frame place the foot of the side to be worked against and centered with the post or frame and grip it about midway between hip and shoulder height, so you are able to hang back as you squat down (below). This can also be done as an alternative to free standing unilateral squats if you have poor ankle flexibility and are unable to keep your foot flat on the ground, since the hips are able to move back further and the ankle is not required to flex as far.

Unilateral squats can also be performed leaning against a wall using a foam roller (which is easier to position and safer than using a ball) or against a fixed roller pad at waist height.

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Inverted Row

The inverted row is a compound pulling movement which targets your upper back, the back of your shoulders, and your biceps. The muscles in your forearms and hands also work isometrically to grip the bar and the muscles of your lower back, your glutes, your hamstrings, and your neck flexors also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. You need a bar around waist height. It should be at least high enough for your body to clear the ground when you hang from it, but not so high your body is more diagonal than horizontal at the start. Use an overhand (pronated) grip. Your grip should be outside of shoulder width so your upper arms are angled out about thirty to forty five degrees from your sides. After gripping the bar walk yourself underneath it and straighten your body. Your feet should only be far enough forward that your navel is under the bar at the start point, not your chest or shoulders. Your body will pivot around your heels as you pull yourself to the bar rather than go straight up, and the bar should be at the bottom of your chest at the end point, not up by your shoulders or neck. Slowly pull yourself up until the bottom of your chest touches the bar, pulling your shoulders back and down and shoulder blades together. 52

Hold very briefly, and then slowly lower yourself until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction, trying to barely move at first. Keep your biceps and upper back muscles tight and do not let your shoulders go slack at the start. Keep your lower back and glutes tight and your body straight. Do not allow your body to sag. Keep your head and neck still. Do not move your head or look around. Level One Only lift yourself until your upper arms are approximately parallel to the ground, then immediately but slowly turnaround and lower yourself. When you reach the start point maintain your grip, but just hang or, if your grip and/or neck are fatigued, sit. Rest for three seconds, then raise your hips and straighten your body again if necessary and repeat. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but when you reach the start point immediately but slowly turn around and repeat. Level Four When you reach the end point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly lowering yourself. Starting with the third repetition and for all the rest, while holding squeeze your biceps and the muscles in your upper back and back of your shoulders pulling your shoulder blades together as hard as you can. Level Five Perform the hold and squeeze the same as level four, but after holding only lower yourself about half to two-thirds of the way, turning around while your elbows are still thirty to forty five degrees away from full extension. 53

Alternate Equipment If you do not have a bar around waist height you can perform inverted rows using a suspension trainer. If you have a chin-up bar a suspension trainer can easily be mounted to it for rows and other exercises. If you have a strong enough grip you can also do these using a climbing rope or towel if you can find something secure which is low enough to loop them over.

Static Hold Walk yourself into position under the bar while holding the bottom of your chest in contact with it, then gradually straighten your body and hold that completely motionless. Attempt to maintain that position as long as possible. Timed Static Contraction Sit with your back straight, chest high, and your legs extended in front of you and loop a long towel or suspension trainer under your feet. Adjust the length of the suspension trainer or grip the towel so your elbows are bent approximately ninety degrees. Pull straight back, and focus on contracting your biceps and the muscles across your upper back and the back of your shoulders.

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No Equipment If you do not have anything to hang from you can substitute a TSC simple row and arm curl for inverted-rows. If you have already done a TSC arm curl in place of chin-ups it is not necessary to repeat it.

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TSC Simple Row

The simple row is a simple movement which targets your upper back and the back of your shoulders. To perform a TSC simple row with no equipment lie on the ground on your back with your arms out to your sides, and elbows just slightly below your shoulders. Bend your elbows so your forearms are pointing up, and press the backs of your arms into the ground, focusing on contracting the muscles across your upper back and the back of your shoulders, and attempting to pull your shoulder blades together. I recommend lying crosswise on a cushioned mat or a towel long enough to fit under both arms and folded lengthwise to minimize elbow and arm discomfort. The TSC simple row can also be done immediately before chin-ups, pullups, or rows to pre-exhaust the posterior deltoids, rhomboids, and trapezius.

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Pike Push-Up

The pike push-up is a compound pushing movement which targets your shoulders, upper trapezius, and triceps. The abdominal muscles, hip flexors, quadriceps and neck extensors also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. It is a push-up performed in a pike position, with the legs straight and hips flexed. Squat down and place your hands on the ground or on push-up handles if you have them, just outside of shoulder width. Take a short step back with both feet then straighten your legs while folding your hips until they are flexed at least about ninety degrees. You can allow your knees to flex slightly if you lack the hamstring flexibility to straighten them completely while keeping your hips flexed this far. Your elbows should be pointing back and slightly out. Your feet should be approximately shoulder width apart. Although your hips are flexed your back should be relatively straight and your head and neck neutral. Your body should form a triangle with the ground. This is similar to the yoga pose downward dog. Keeping your legs straight and hips flexed, slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself until your forehead almost touches the ground. You can allow your neck to extend, but only slightly. 57

Hold that position briefly, then slowly press yourself back and up until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Keep your hamstrings tight and your knees and back straight. Other than allowing your neck to extend slightly towards the start point, do not move your head or look around. Make sure you have secure hand and foot positioning so you don’t slip and land on your head. I recommend using a rubber mat or similarly grippy surface. Only use push-up handles if you are certain they will not move during use. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Press yourself all the way back and up until your elbows are completely straight instead of only almost straight, then hold there for three seconds before repeating. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half to two-thirds of the way back up, and reverse direction while your elbows are still about thirty degrees away from full extension.

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Static Hold Lower yourself to the start point and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible.

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TSC Lateral Raise

The lateral raise is a simple movement which targets your shoulders and upper trapezius. To perform a TSC lateral raise you need something to abduct your arms against at an angle between thirty and forty five degrees. This can be an adjustable strap held in the hands or placed over the arms just above the elbows, a suspension trainer looped under your feet or anchored to the floor, or a doorway or set of posts just outside of shoulder width you can comfortably press your forearms against with your elbows bent approximately ninety degrees. The TSC lateral raise can be done immediately before pike push-ups or handstand push-ups to pre-exhaust the shoulders and upper trapezius.

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Prone Trunk Extension

The trunk extension is a quasi-compound movement (it involves multiple muscle groups and movement around multiple joints but follows a more rotary than curvilinear path) which targets your lower back, glutes, and hamstrings. Lie flat on the ground on your stomach (prone) with your legs straight and arms held out straight in front of you, like Superman’s classic flying pose. Slowly extend your back and hips, raising your chest and thighs as high as possible, while focusing on your lower back and glutes. Pause and hold motionless for three seconds, then slowly lower your chest and thighs until they barely touch the ground but do not set them down and rest. Starting with the third repetition, while holding at the end point gradually squeeze your lower back and glutes as hard as you can. It is absolutely essential that you perform this squeeze gradually, because it is possible to produce a tremendous amount of compressive force on the spine. If you begin to feel any discomfort other than muscular burning back off on the squeeze. The range of motion of this exercise is very short so the leverage and 61

difficulty are modified by changing your arm position rather than your range of motion. The guidelines above are for the level five protocol. To reduce the difficulty for levels three and four hold your arms directly out to the side (below left), and reduce it further for levels one and two hold your arms back (below right).

Level One Hold your arms out and back. Set your chest and thighs down and rest for three seconds between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Two Hold your arms out and back. Do not set your chest and thighs down or rest between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Three Hold your arms directly out to the side. Do not set your chest and thighs down or rest between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction.

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Level Four Hold your arms directly out to the side. Do not set your chest and thighs down or rest between repetitions. When you get to the end point pause and hold motionless for three seconds before slowly reversing direction. Starting with the third repetition, while holding gradually squeeze your lower back and glutes as hard as you can.

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Crunch

The crunch is a quasi-compound movement which targets the abdominal muscles, specifically the rectus abdominus and the obliques. Lie flat on the ground on your back (supine) with your knees bent and feet flat on the ground close to your hips. Slightly tilt your pelvis posteriorly, holding your glutes just over the ground. Hold your arms straight up. I recommend using a rubber mat for this to reduce lower back discomfort. Slowly flex your trunk, curling your body up as far as you can, while focusing on contracting your abdominal muscles. Pause and hold motionless briefly, then slowly uncurl until your shoulder blades barely touch the ground but do not set them down and rest. People tend to hold their breath at the end point on crunches and other abdominal exercises, and due to the combination of position and muscular contraction it can be difficult to breathe deeply while in this position. I’ve found it helps to try to take faster, shallower breaths in this position when deeper breathing is not possible. Like the trunk extension, the range of motion is very short so the leverage and difficulty are modified by changing your arm position. The guidelines above are for level three. 64

Level One Hold your arms so they point towards your knees (next page left). Set shoulders down and rest for three seconds between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Two Same as level one (below left), but do not set your shoulders down or rest between repetitions.

Level Four When you get to the end point pause and hold motionless for three seconds before slowly reversing direction. Starting with the third repetition, while holding gradually squeeze your abs as hard as you can. Do not hold your breath while squeezing. Level Five Same as level four, but hold your arms so they point away from your knees (above right).

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Upper versus Lower Abs It is often assumed the standard crunch targets the “upper abdominals” because the exercise is felt there more, due to more of the flexion occurring higher in the spine causing more shortening of the higher segments of the rectus abdominus and the greater involvement of the internal obliques when the pelvis is stable and the trunk is raised. The same is assumed about reverse crunches and the lower abdominals due to the greater shortening of the lower segments and greater involvement of the external obliques. However, assuming you are performing the exercise to the point of momentary muscular failure over an adequate duration by the time you are done you will have involved and effectively worked all of these muscles and muscle segments.

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Heel Raise

The heel raise or calf raise is a simple movement which targets the calf muscles, the gastrocnemius and soleus, on the back of the lower leg. Because the calves encounter relatively well balanced resistance over the full range of the exercise and there are no easy or hard partial ranges of motion, the difficulty is varied between levels by changing timing and switching to unilateral heel raises at level four. As with the other exercises, level three is described, followed by the changes for levels one, two, four and five. To perform a heel raise, while holding onto something for balance step onto a low, stable step or platform so the balls of your feet are on the platform and your arches extend off of it, so the edge is exactly between the balls and arches of your feet. Although this can be done barefoot, it will be uncomfortable on some surfaces and on steps or platforms with sharp corners, so some kind of footwear is recommended, but not sandals or shoes without a back which the feet can slip out of. 67

While keeping a slight bend in your knee (to satisfy passive sufficiency of the gastrocnemius as your ankle dorsiflexes) slowly allow your ankles to bend and lower your heels until you feel a slight stretch in your calves. Briefly hold the stretch, and then very slowly begin to press back up. You should barely move at first, taking almost a full second just to go the first few inches. Do not bounce. Only go as high as you can with a moderate effort, and hold that position for three seconds before slowly reversing direction. Repeat this for the second repetition. Starting with the third repetition, and for all the rest, lower your heels until you feel a moderate stretch. It is neither necessary nor beneficial to attempt a very deep stretch on this or any other exercise, so err on the conservative side if you’re not sure how far you should go. Go as high as you can on the positive and squeeze your calves as hard as you can at the end point for three seconds before reversing direction. Keep your center of gravity over the balls of your feet and do not lean on or hang from whatever you are holding for balance. Level One Perform the exercise on flat ground or a low enough step or platform so you can rest your heels on the ground and rest your calves for three seconds between repetitions. Level Two Same as level three, but only hold briefly at the top before reversing direction instead of holding or squeezing for three seconds.

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Level Four Same as level two, but performed unilaterally. When performing unilateral heel raises bend the knee of your opposite leg slightly and hold the foot low and behind your body so it is in position to quickly catch you if you lose balance or slip back. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. Level Five Same as level three, but performed unilaterally.

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TSC Neck Extension

Neck extension is a simple movement which targets the neck extensor muscles. To perform TSC neck extension lie on the ground on your back with your legs straight and arms at your sides, and your neck slightly extended. I recommend placing a rolled up mat or towel under your head between the base of your skull and the ground. Extend your neck against the pad, focusing on contracting the muscles in the back of your neck.

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TSC Neck Flexion

Neck flexion is a simple movement which targets the neck flexor muscles. To perform TSC neck flexion, kneel and place your hands on the ground and place your forehead on a rolled up mat or towel, with your neck slightly flexed. Flex your neck against the pad, pressing your forehead against it and pulling your chin towards your sternum, and focusing on contracting the muscles in the front of your neck.

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Zelus (The Alternate Basic Workout) Depending on how well someone is progressing and their skill on the exercises in Kratos after six to eight weeks I start teaching the “B” workout named for Kratos’ brother Zelus, the Greek god of rivalry. To perform it as written, you will need a pull-up bar, a row-bar, a stable elevated surface or padded bar for your legs for half-handstand pushups, and I recommend a mat for the hip raise and leg raise. The guidelines for each exercise contain instructions for alternate equipment or substitutes for when these are not available. The structure of Zelus is the same as Kratos: 1. Wide-Grip Pull-Up 2. Parallel Bar Dip or Triceps Push-Up 3. Lunge 4. Underhand-Grip Row 5. Half-Handstand Push-Up 6. Squat Hold 7. Hip Raise 8. Leg Raise 9. TSC Neck Lateral Flexion or Infimetric Neck Rotation 72

If you don’t have a bar or other suitable equipment to perform pull-ups or underhand-grip rows substitute TSC pullovers and TSC arm curls for chin-ups and TSC towel rows or TSC prone simple rows for inverted rows. If you have a bench use it to support the shoulders during hip raises and for leg raises to increase your ROM and to avoid setting the legs down between reps (unless you are using the level one protocol).

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Wide-Grip Pull-Up

The pull-up is a compound pulling movement which targets your upper back, the back of your shoulders, and your biceps. The muscles in your forearms and hands also work isometrically to grip the bar and your abdominal muscles work to stabilize your lower body. The arms move outward rather than forward at the start as in the chinup, so the chest is slightly less involved at the beginning of the movement and the lats may work slightly harder. You need a bar at least high enough for your legs to clear the ground with your knees bent when you hang from it, but not so high you can’t reach it while standing. If you can’t reach the bar and you can’t lower it don’t jump to grab it; use a bench or step stool so you can grip the bar properly and at the correct width. Use an overhand (pronated) grip. Your grip should be about one handwidth outside of shoulder width so the arms are angled out about twenty to thirty degrees forward of the frontal plane. There is less stress on the shoulder joints at the start point with your arms in this position, however, keeping your chest up reduces this stress even further and 74

provides a better angle of pull for the upper back muscles. As with chinups, try to keep your chest pointed at the bar throughout the exercise and don’t allow your torso to hang straight down. To begin, gradually pick up your feet, transferring your weight from your legs to your arms. Slowly pull yourself up bringing your chest as close to the bar as you can, and pull your elbows in towards the back of your ribs, as though you are trying to touch them together behind your back. Hold very briefly, and then slowly lower yourself until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction, trying to barely move at first. Keep your chest pointed up at the bar. Keep your biceps and upper back muscles tight and do not go into a “dead hang” at the start. Level One Only lift yourself until your upper arms are approximately parallel to the ground, then immediately but slowly turnaround and lower yourself. When you reach the start point maintain your grip, but set your feet down and transfer your weight from your arms to your legs. Rest for three seconds, then gradually transfer your weight back from your legs to your arms and repeat. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but when you reach the start point immediately but slowly turn around and repeat. Level Four When you reach the end point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly lowering yourself. Starting with the third repetition and for all the rest, while holding squeeze your biceps and the muscles in your upper back and back of your shoulders as hard as you 75

can, focusing on pulling your elbows back and in. Level Five Perform the hold and squeeze the same as level four, but after holding only lower yourself until your upper arms are approximately parallel to the ground, then immediately but slowly turnaround and repeat. Alternate Equipment If you do not have a bar you can perform pull-ups using a suspension trainer if you are able to securely mount it high enough overhead. If you have a strong enough grip you can also do these using a climbing rope or towel looped over a strong pipe, beam, tree branch, etc. If the suspension trainer consists of separate straps for each handle they should be mounted one or two hand-widths outside of shoulder-width. Static Hold Use a bench or step to raise yourself to the end point, and then gradually pick up your feet, transferring your weight from your legs to your arms while holding your upper body completely motionless. Attempt to maintain that position as long as possible. Timed Static Contraction Use a bench or step so you are able to hold the bar with your upper arms parallel to the ground without raising your feet. Focus on contracting your biceps and the muscles in your upper back and the back of your shoulders and pulling the bar down and back towards the top of your chest. No Equipment If you do not have anything to hang from you can substitute TSC pullover and arm curl for chin-ups. 76

Parallel Bar Dip

The parallel bar dip is a compound pushing movement which targets your chest, the front of your shoulders, and your triceps. The latissimus are also involved when you are near the start point and your shoulders are extended past neutral, and your abdominal muscles and hip flexors work isometrically to maintain proper body position. Stand between and place the heels of your palms directly on top of the parallel bars or handles directly across from each other. If your hands are positioned correctly your wrists should be straight and in line with the centers of the bars and your elbows. Your elbows should be close to your body, pointing back and only slightly out. To begin, if you are able to straighten your arms while standing, while keeping your arms straight slowly pick up your feet, gradually transferring your weight from your legs to your arms. If you have to bend your elbows to place your hands on the bars or handles, slowly, gradually press yourself up until your elbows are straight. Assume a tuck position, raising your knees until they are about level 77

with your hips while leaning forward bout forty five degrees. Leaning forward reduces the degree of extension and the stress on your shoulders at the start point while increasing the amount of shoulder flexion overall and working your chest and shoulders more effectively. Slowly lower yourself until your shoulders are just slightly below your elbows or until you begin to feel a stretch in your chest and front deltoids, whichever comes first. Anticipate the start point and gradually slow to meet it. Do not drop into it, do not attempt a deep stretch, and do not bounce. Hold briefly, and then slowly press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight. Keep your knees up and keep leaning forward as you approach the end point. Immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Do not look straight ahead or tuck your chin into your sternum. Keep your head and neck in a neutral position and keep them still. Do not move your head or look around. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Press yourself all the way up until your elbows are completely straight instead of only almost straight, and then hold there for three seconds before repeating. If you are able to reach the ground or a step in this position you can also set your feet down, but make sure to begin transferring your weight back after about two seconds so you are ready to begin the next repetition after three. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight then immediately but slowly 78

reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half to two-thirds of the way back up, turning around while your elbows are still about thirty degrees away from full extension. Alternate Equipment If you do not have parallel bars or handles you can perform dips using any stable, even surfaces above waist height and far enough apart for your body to fit between, such as heavy picnic tables.

While it is possible to perform dips using a suspension trainer or rings, balancing on them is much more difficult. This reduces your ability to focus on intensely contracting the target muscles and increases your risk of injury, and is not recommended.

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Static Hold Lower yourself to the halfway point and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible.

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Triceps Push-Up

The triceps push-up or “diamond” push-up uses closer hand spacing than a regular push-up which increases the resistance the triceps work against relative to the chest and shoulders. The abdominal muscles, hip flexors, quadriceps and neck extensors also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. Squat down and place your hands on the ground with the ends of your index fingers and thumbs touching, forming a diamond shape.

Step back with both feet until your body is straight and your hands are directly below your chest. Your elbows should be close to your body, pointing back and only slightly out. Your feet should be approximately shoulder width apart. Your back should be straight and your head and 81

neck neutral. Slowly lower yourself until your chest is just barely touching your hands, but do not rest your weight on them. If you feel any tightness or discomfort in your elbows in this position reduce your depth until you don’t. Hold that position briefly, and then slowly press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Keep your abdominal muscles tight and your back straight. Do not raise your hips. Do not allow your body to sag. Keep your head and neck still. Do not move your head or look around. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Press yourself all the way up until your elbows are completely straight instead of only almost straight, and then hold there for three seconds before repeating. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Only allow your chest to barely touch your hands, but do not rest your weight on them. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half to two-thirds of the way back up, turning around while your elbows are still thirty to forty five degrees away from full extension. 82

Static Hold Lower yourself halfway and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible.

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Lunge

The lunge is a unilateral compound movement which targets the muscles of your hips and thighs, primarily your glutes and hamstrings in the front leg, and quadriceps in the back leg. Lunges should be performed as two sets, one for each side, rather than a single alternating set. Unless otherwise noted you should alternate the starting side between workouts. Stand with your feet shoulder-width and parallel and slide one foot straight back far enough that if you kneel the back thigh is vertical and your knee is directly below your hips. It is important to keep your feet at this width for lateral stability. Do not move your foot inwards as you step back reducing your width as this will make it harder to maintain balance as your legs fatigue. Keep your feet pointed straight ahead, with your front foot flat, your back foot on the ball and toes, and your weight evenly distributed between them. Keep your chest up and back straight. Hold your arms close in to your body or by your sides to keep your weight centered between your front and back foot. 84

Slowly lower yourself straight down while keeping your chest up, back straight, and weight centered, until your back knee is just above the ground and your front thigh is roughly horizontal. You should not lean or move forward. Your back knee should not touch the ground. Briefly hold this position, then very slowly begin to press back up, keeping your weight evenly distributed between your front and back foot. You should barely move at first, taking almost a full second just to go the first few inches. Do not bounce. Only go up until your knees are about fifteen to twenty degrees away from full extension, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Do not pause or rest for an instant. If you do this correctly you should reach a point where you are momentarily unable to stand back up. Because of this it helps to have something stable nearby to hold to assist with standing and balance after. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly 85

reverse direction. Stand all the way up until your knees are completely straight, put your weight down on your back heel, and hold and rest there for three seconds before repeating. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only stand yourself back up until your knees are almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Do not let your back knee touch the ground. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half of the way back up, turning around while your knees are about forty five degrees away from full extension.

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Underhand-Grip Row

The underhand-grip row is a compound pulling movement which targets your upper back, the back of your shoulders, and your biceps. The muscles in your forearms and hands also work isometrically to grip the bar and the muscles of your lower back, your glutes, your hamstrings, and your neck flexors also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. The closer, underhand grip puts the biceps in a stronger position but pulling to higher on the chest challenges them more. You need a bar around waist height. It should be at least high enough for your body to clear the ground when you hang from it, but not so high your body is more diagonal than horizontal at the start. Use an underhand (supinated) grip. Your grip should be about shoulder width so your upper arms are roughly parallel at the start point, and angled in close to your sides at the end point. After gripping the bar walk yourself underneath it and straighten your body. Your feet should only be far enough forward that the bottom of your chest is under the bar at the start point, not your chest or shoulders. Your body will pivot around your heels as you pull yourself to the bar rather than go straight up, and the bar should be at the top of your chest at the end point, not up by your neck. 87

Slowly pull yourself up until the top of your chest touches the bar, pulling your shoulders back and down and your arms into your sides. Hold very briefly, and then slowly lower yourself until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction, trying to barely move at first. Keep your biceps and upper back muscles tight and do not let your shoulders go slack at the start. Keep your lower back and glutes tight and your body straight. Do not allow your body to sag. Keep your head and neck still. Do not move your head or look around. Level One Only lift yourself until your upper arms are approximately parallel to the ground, then immediately but slowly turnaround and lower yourself. When you reach the start point maintain your grip, but just hang or, if your grip and/or neck are fatigued, sit. Rest for three seconds, then raise your hips and straighten your body again if necessary and repeat. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but when you reach the start point immediately but slowly turn around and repeat. Level Four When you reach the end point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly lowering yourself. Starting with the third repetition and for all the rest, while holding squeeze your biceps and the muscles in your upper back and back of your shoulders pulling your shoulder blades together as hard as you can. Level Five Perform the hold and squeeze the same as level four, but after holding 88

only lower yourself about half to two-thirds of the way, turning around while your elbows are still thirty to forty five degrees away from full extension. Alternate Equipment If you do not have a bar around waist height you can perform underhand-grip rows using a suspension trainer. Static Hold Walk yourself into position under the bar while holding the top of your chest in contact with it, then gradually straighten your body and hold that completely motionless. Attempt to maintain that position as long as possible. Timed Static Contraction Sit with your back straight, chest high, and your legs extended in front of you and loop a long towel or suspension trainer under your feet, gripping it so your elbows are bent approximately ninety degrees. Pull straight back, and focus on contracting your biceps and the muscles across your upper back and the back of your shoulders. No Equipment If you do not have anything to hang from you can substitute a TSC simple row and arm curl for underhand-grip rows. If you have already done a TSC arm curl in place of pull-ups it is not necessary to repeat it.

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Half-Handstand Push-Up

The half-handstand push-up is a compound pushing movement which targets your shoulders, upper trapezius, and triceps. The abdominal muscles, hip flexors, and quadriceps also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. It is a push-up performed in a pike position like the pike push-up, but with the feet on an elevated surface such as a bench or bar so the upper body is vertical. The half-handstand push-up involves the same upper body movement and targets the same muscles as a handstand push-up, but is safer because the position is easier to enter and exit, and allows better focus on muscular effort because it requires little balance. Squat down in front of and facing away from a bench, bar, or stable platform between knee and hip height and place your hands flat on the ground just outside of shoulder width. Lean over your hands shifting about half your weight onto them while keeping your elbows straight. Lift one leg and place the ball and toes of your foot on the bench or platform or hook your foot over the bar. Gradually transfer the weight from the foot on the ground to the 90

elevated foot while paying careful attention to your balance, then lift the other foot and place it on the bench, platform, or bar. Slowly straighten your legs until your upper body is vertical, being careful to not let your center of gravity move past your hands, but keeping it just in front of you. If you feel your center of gravity starting to move over your hands stop immediately, then slowly put down one foot, then the other, place your hands further forward, and repeat. If your center of gravity passes your hands and you are unable to recover, you will need to roll out of it. Flex your neck tucking your chin into your chest, tuck your legs bringing your knees in towards your body and rounding your back and shoulders, bend your elbows and roll forward on your shoulders and back. In case you need to roll out you should make sure the area is clear of people and objects. Your elbows should be pointing back and slightly out. Your feet should be approximately shoulder width apart. Although your hips are flexed your back should be relatively straight and your head and neck neutral. Do not flex your neck and tuck your chin unless you need to roll out, and do not extend your neck to look at the ground. Keeping your legs straight and hips flexed, slowly bend your elbows and lower yourself until your head almost touches the ground. The correct distance may be difficult to judge at first, so be very cautious when starting out. You may want to place a mat or folded towel under your head, especially if you are working out outdoors. If you also plan to place your hands on it first make sure it will not slip. Hold that position briefly, and then slowly press yourself straight up until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Keep your knees and back straight. 91

Make sure you have a secure hand and foot position so you don’t slip and land on your head. I recommend using a rubber mat or similarly grippy surface. Push-up handles can be used to significantly increase your range of motion but only use them if you are certain they will not move during use. Level One Only lower yourself approximately halfway, then immediately but slowly reverse direction. Press yourself all the way back and up until your elbows are completely straight instead of only almost straight, then hold there for three seconds before repeating. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but only press yourself back up until your elbows are almost straight then immediately but slowly reverse direction and repeat. Level Four When you reach the start point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly pressing back up. Level Five Perform the hold the same as level four, but only press yourself about half to two-thirds of the way back up, and reverse direction while your elbows are still about fifteen to twenty degrees away from full extension. Static Hold Lower yourself halfway and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible. 92

If a bench, platform, or bar is not available to support your feet it is possible to perform a handstand hold using a sturdy wall or other stable vertical surface for balance.

Squat down in front of and facing away from the wall or surface and place your hands flat on the ground just outside of shoulder width. Lean over your hands shifting about half your weight onto them while keeping your elbows straight. Carefully walk your feet back up the surface until your legs and upper body are nearly straight. Do not arch your back. If anything, keep your body slightly hollow or flexed. Your elbows should be pointing back and slightly out. Slowly lower yourself about one-third to halfway and attempt to hold your body motionless in that position for as long as possible. When you are unable to hold that position immediately but carefully walk your feet back down. Using Push-Up Handles It is possible to significantly increase the range of motion and difficulty 93

of handstand push-ups using push-up handles, but I do not recommend it unless they are part of a larger station which will not move or tip during use. Standalone push-up handles may slide or tip during use causing you to fall and become seriously injured. Most chin-up and dip stations also have push-up handles, and a sturdy exercise bench can be placed in front of them to support the feet while performing half-handstand push-ups, similar to how the roller pad is used on the UXS (pictured below left).

If you are strong enough to perform regular handstand push-ups using push-up handles I recommend using a wall or other stable object (the original UXS pictured above right had roller pads for this purpose) or having a training partner hold your ankles to assist with balance regardless of whether you are capable of balancing in a handstand position. The goal of the exercise is to intensely work your shoulders and triceps, not to practice the specific balance skill of the handstand. The less you have to focus on maintaining your balance the more you will be able to focus on contracting the target muscles. If you want to learn or practice the handstand skill it should be done separately from your workouts. 94

Hip Raise

The hip raise is a simple movement which targets your glutes and hamstrings, and lower back. Lie on your back with your knees bent and your feet flat on the ground inside shoulder width and close to your hips, and your arms out to your sides. Tilt your pelvis posteriorly so your glutes are just off the ground. If you do it correctly you should feel your hamstrings tighten slightly. Slowly extend your hips, raising your pelvis as high as possible while keeping it tilted posteriorly and focusing on contracting your glutes and hamstrings. Pause and hold for three seconds, then slowly lower your pelvis until your lower back barely touches the ground but do not set down and rest and continue to keep your pelvis tilted posteriorly so your glutes don’t touch the ground. Your weight should be supported by your feet and shoulders but your head should rest on the ground with your neck relaxed. Do not forcefully extend your neck and press your head against the ground. Starting with the third repetition, while holding at the end point gradually squeeze your glutes and hamstrings. Be cautious with the squeeze because it is possible to cause your hamstrings to cramp in this 95

position, especially when performed after other leg exercises. If your hamstrings consistently cramp up during the squeeze perform the exercise without the pelvic tilt. Level One Set your body down and rest for three seconds between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Two Same as level three, but only hold briefly at the top before reversing direction instead of holding or squeezing for three seconds. Level Four Same as level two, but performed unilaterally. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. When performing unilateral hip raises hold the opposite leg straight out above the ground. Level Five Same as level three, but performed unilaterally. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. Static Hold Raise your pelvis as high as you can and attempt to hold it there for as long as possible. Alternate Equipment If you have a stable, padded platform between knee and hip height like an exercise bench or the seat or arm rest of a chair or couch you can perform the hip raise with your shoulders elevated to increase your 96

range of motion. When doing so interlace your fingers and rest your hands on your lower rib cage. Make sure to support your weight on your shoulders, not your neck or head.

If you use a non-padded surface a rolled up mat can be placed over it to prevent the corner from digging into your shoulder blades. UXS Hip raises are performed in the same manner on the UXS using the roller pad but starting from a squat hold position.

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Leg Raise

The leg raise is a simple movement which targets the hip flexors, primarily the psoas and abdominal muscles. Your hip flexors work dynamically while your abdominal muscles work isometrically to stabilize your pelvis. The leg raise has been criticized as being dangerous for the low back, but like squats, the problem is not the movement but rather the fast, sloppy manner in which most people perform it. If you have a healthy, uninjured back you are not going to hurt yourself if you do these in a slow and controlled manner with smooth turnarounds. If you have an existing back injury or condition which is aggravated by leg raises you can perform a plank instead. Lie flat on the ground on your back with your legs straight and your arms by your sides. Gradually contract your abdominal muscles, flattening your lower back against the ground and keep it there. I recommend using a rubber mat for this to reduce lower back discomfort. Slowly flex your hips raising your legs until they are almost vertical, while focusing on keeping your abdominal muscles tight and your back flat against the ground. Pause and hold motionless briefly, then slowly lower your legs until they are just above the ground but do not set them down and rest. 98

As you lower your legs continue to focus on keeping your abdominal muscles tight and your lower back flat against the ground. If you do not, your back will tend to extend as you approach the start point. When you flatten your back against the ground your shoulders will rise slightly and you may be tempted to hold your head up, but don’t. Allow your neck to extend and your head to rest on the ground. Do not tighten up your neck and extend forcefully or bridge with it. If this position is uncomfortable for your neck roll up the end of the mat or a towel to use for head support. Level One When you reach the end point hold there motionless for three seconds before slowly reversing direction. Only go down about halfway (below left). Level Two Same as level one, but only pause briefly at the top.

Level Four When you get to the start point pause and hold motionless for three seconds before slowly reversing direction. 99

Level Five Same as level four, but only go up about halfway (below right).

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TSC Neck Lateral Flexion

Neck lateral flexion is a simple movement which targets the muscles which flex the neck laterally. To perform TSC neck lateral flexion sit or lie down with your head and neck in a neutral position and place the heel of your palm on the side of your head just above your ear. A seated or lying position is recommended for neck exercises because neck fatigue may negatively affect balance, which by this point in the workout will also already be compromised by leg fatigue. Attempt to laterally flex your neck while holding your head motionless with your arm, while focusing on contracting the muscles on that side of your neck. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts.

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Infimetric Neck Rotation Infimetrics is a method of dynamic exercise in which you work your right and left sides against each other; resisting the positive work of one limb with the negative work of the opposite. For example, Nautilus once built an isometric biceps machine which had no weight stack, just a cable which connected the two movement arms through a series of pulleys so that when you flexed your right arm it would cause your left to extend, and vice versa. As you worked your right biceps positively you worked your left biceps negatively, using your higher level of negative strength to control the speed of your right arm. When you reached the ends of your range of motion you would reverse the movement, resisting the positive work of your left biceps with the negative work of your right. If you have very good motor control it is possible to perform infimetric neck rotation – working the right and left sides of your neck against each other – with no equipment. To perform infimetric neck rotation start with your head and neck in a neutral position, and without moving your head gradually tense up your neck until you are contracting about half as hard as you think you can. Slowly rotate your neck, turning your head to one side. Hold briefly, and then take at least eight seconds to turn your head all the way to the other side. Hold briefly, and then take at least eight seconds to turn your head back. Repeat this for two more repetitions, one in each direction, while contracting about half as hard as you think you can. Then, while holding, gradually contract harder until you are contracting almost a hard as you can, and repeat this for four more repetitions, two in each direction. 102

Because it is possible to produce a considerable amount of cervical compression be careful to increase the intensity of contraction gradually, and back off immediately if you begin to feel any discomfort other than muscular fatigue. Finally, while holding, gradually contract harder until you are contracting as hard as you dare and repeat this for two more repetitions, one in each direction, for a total of five repetitions in each direction, which should take you around ninety seconds to complete if you are moving slowly enough. Slowly rotate back to a neutral position, and then gradually relax your neck. Pay attention to your breathing throughout the exercise and be careful to not hold your breath.

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Cerberus (The 3x3 Workout) Cerberus, named for the three headed dog which guarded the gates to the underworld in Greek mythology, is a three-by-three (3x3) workout which consists of a circuit of three exercises repeated three times nonstop. When performed with free weights or machines the usual structure is a compound leg exercise followed by a compound pushing exercise and a compound pulling exercise. This order is reversed for bodyweight 3x3s since the pulling exercises tend to be the most challenging and the leg exercises the least for most people. First Circuit 1. Pull-Up 2. Dip or Triceps Push-Up 3. Squat Second Circuit 4. Chin-Up 5. Push-Up 6. Squat Third Circuit 7. Inverted Row 8. Pike Push-Up 9. Squat 104

Rather than repeat the same circuit three times the Cerberus 3x3 consists of three circuits with different pulling and pushing exercises, ordered from most to least difficult for most people. To perform it as written, you will need a high bar for pull-ups and chinups, a row-bar, and parallel bars or handles for dip. An adjustable suspension trainer mounted overhead can be used for the pull-ups, chin-ups and rows, and triceps push-ups can be substituted for dips if parallel bars or handles are not available.

3x3 Workouts for Small Group Training When used with isochronal progression 3x3 and similar basic circuit workouts are a practical and efficient way to train small groups when you have a limited number of bars or stations for pulling exercises. Using a target time instead of a repetition count better accommodates people of different strength levels by allowing the use of different protocol levels or isometric protocols like static holds and TSC. Divide the trainees into a number of small groups equal to the number of pull-up bars or stations you have. Then, have them rotate through circuits with a number of exercises equal to the size of the group. For example, if you have twelve people and four pull-up bars you would divide them into groups of three. For the first round of Cerberus the first person in each group would start with pull-ups, the second would perform triceps push-ups, and third squats. After ninety seconds they would rotate. After each person has performed each of the exercises in the first circuit they begin the next. This works best with circuits of three or four exercises, although it is possible to do this with the basic workouts if you divide them into two circuits each with one pulling, pushing, leg, and trunk, then finishing with the neck exercises after completing both circuits. 105

Heracles (Alternate 3x3 Workout) Heracles, named for the son of Zeus and Alcmene and greatest of the Greek heroes who was known for his extraordinary strength, is a variant of the 3x3 which replaces the compound movements in the third circuit with simple ones directly targeting the arms and calves. To perform it as written, you will need a high bar for chin-ups, a low bar for rows and inverted curls, parallel bars or handles for dips, and a step for heel raises. To perform half-handstand push-ups instead of pike push-ups you will also need something to support your feet. An adjustable suspension trainer mounted overhead can be used for the chin-ups, rows, and inverted curls. First Circuit 1. Chin-Up 2. Dip or Push-Up 3. Unilateral Squat Second Circuit 10. Inverted Row 11. Pike Push-Up or Half-Handstand Push-Up 12. Squat

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Third Circuit 13. Inverted Curl 14. Triceps Push-Up 15. Heel Raise I have been doing this one for the past few weeks, alternating between doing either prone trunk extensions and crunches or TSC neck extension and flexion at the end and it has become one of my favorites.

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Inverted Curl

The inverted curl is a simple pulling movement which targets your biceps. The muscles in your forearms and hands also work to grip the bar and, like the inverted rows, the muscles of your lower back, your glutes, your hamstrings, and your neck flexors also work isometrically to maintain proper body position. You need a bar around waist height. It should be at least high enough for your body to clear the ground when you hang from it, but not so high your body is more diagonal than horizontal at the start. Take an underhand (supinated) grip inside of shoulder width, so with your forearms parallel your elbows are in front of your lower ribs. If the bar does not rotate, use an open (thumbless) grip to allow your hands to rotate more easily. After gripping the bar walk yourself underneath it and straighten your body. Your feet should only be far enough forward that your chest is under the bar at the start point. You need to be further under the bar than for inverted rows because you will be pulling your neck towards the bar rather than your chest. Keeping your elbows in front of you, slowly bend your elbows like you are curling a barbell, pulling yourself up until your neck is near the bar. 108

Hold very briefly, and then slowly lower yourself until your elbows are almost straight. Immediately but slowly reverse direction, trying to barely move at first. Keep your upper back tight and do not let your shoulders go slack. Keep your lower back and glutes tight and your body straight. Do not allow your body to sag. Keep your head and neck still and do not look around. Level One Only lift yourself about halfway, then immediately but slowly turnaround and lower yourself. When you reach the start point maintain your grip, but just hang or, if your grip and/or neck are fatigued, sit. Rest for three seconds, then raise your hips and straighten your body again if necessary and repeat. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but when you reach the start point immediately but slowly turn around and repeat. Level Four When you reach the end point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly lowering yourself. Starting with the third repetition and for all the rest, while holding squeeze your biceps and try to press your forearms into your chest. Level Five Perform the hold and squeeze the same as level four, but after holding only lower yourself about half to two-thirds of the way, turning around while your elbows are still thirty to forty five degrees away from full extension. 109

Alternate Equipment Suspension trainers work well for this exercise because the rolling handles are easier on the wrists and the difficulty can be adjusted by changing the length of the straps and angle of your body. When using a suspension trainer, instead of limiting the range of motion for levels one and two use full range of motion but shorten the straps so with your feet directly below or in front of the anchor point your body is at about a forty five degree angle at the end point.

Static Hold Walk yourself into position under the bar while holding the top of your chest in contact with it, then gradually straighten your body and hold that completely motionless. Attempt to maintain that position as long as possible. No Equipment If you do not have a low bar, suspension trainer, or anything at the appropriate height to hang from you can substitute TSC arm curl.

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Body Part Specialization Workouts Body part specialization workouts are used to focus on muscle groups which are not as strong as or in proportion with the rest of your body. Unlike conventional body part workouts in split routines which only include exercises for specific muscle groups or body areas, a body part specialization workout is a full-body workout which prioritizes specific muscle groups or body parts by working them first and including more direct exercises for them, often as part of a pre-exhaustion sequence. These can be alternated with the basic workouts or other specialization workouts, or just done occasionally for variety, depending on your goals and preferences. The specialization workouts include: • • • • •

Ares (Arms and Shoulders) Zeus (Chest and Back) Hermes (Legs) Bia (Glutes and Thighs) Adonis (Abs and Obliques)

Note that with the exception of Adonis the specialization routines all end with prone trunk extension, crunch, and TSC neck extension and flexion. If you rotate these with each other rather than with Kratos and Zelus you could substitute other trunk and neck exercises for variety on alternate workouts, or alternate between performing only the trunk or neck exercises. 111

Ares (Arms and Shoulders) Ares, named for the Greek god of war, targets the biceps and triceps with pre-exhaustion and works the deltoids and traps directly using TSC. To perform it as written, you will need separate bars or suspension trainers for the inverted curls and chin-ups so you can move from one to the next without having to stop to adjust bar height or strap length. You will also need parallel bars if you want to perform dips instead of pushups. Move as quickly as possible between the inverted curl and chin-up and between the triceps push-up and dips or push-up so your biceps and triceps are not allowed to recover in between. Keep in mind when using pre-exhaustion the second exercise will be much more difficult than when performed normally and you may have to perform it at a lower level or as a static hold. 1. Inverted Curl 2. Chin-Up 3. Triceps Push-Up 4. Dip or Push-Up 5. TSC Lateral Raise 6. Squat 7. Prone Trunk Extension 8. Crunch 112

9. TSC Neck Extension 10. TSC Neck Flexion

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Zeus (Chest and Back) Zeus, named for the Greek god of the sky and thunder, targets the chest and upper back with pre-exhaustion. To perform it as written, you will need a pull-up bar, a row-bar, and I recommend a rolled up mat or pad to place between your elbows and knees for TSC pullover. An adjustable suspension trainer mounted overhead can be used for the pull-ups and rows. Move as quickly as possible between the TSC pullover and pull-up and between the TSC chest fly and push-up so your back and chest are not allowed to recover in between. 1. TSC Pullover 2. Pull-Up 3. TSC Chest Fly 4. Push-Up 5. Inverted Row 6. Squat 7. Prone Trunk Extension 8. Crunch 9. TSC Neck Extension 10. TSC Neck Flexion 114

TSC Chest Fly

The chest fly is a simple movement which targets your chest. To perform a TSC chest fly hold a thick pad, or rolled up and folded mat (above), or a thick post (below) in front of you between your forearms with your elbows bent about ninety degrees. Focus on pressing your forearms towards each other and contracting the muscles in your chest.

This can also be done by pressing the palms together with the arms extended in front of the body and elbows slightly bent. 115

Hermes (Legs) Hermes, named for the fastest of the Greek gods, targets the legs with a double pre-exhaust. To perform it as written all you need is a chin up bar. The leg curl and leg extension options have been included for the UXS. The first three exercises should be considered a double pre-exhaust sequence and performed with no rest in between. 1. Squat (leg curls on UXS) 2. Hip Raise (leg extensions on UXS) 3. Squat Hold or Wall Squat (squats on UXS) 4. Heel Raise 5. Chin-Up 6. Push-Up 7. Prone Trunk Extension 8. Crunch 9. TSC Neck Extension 10. TSC Neck Flexion

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UXS Leg Curl

The leg curl is a simple movement which targets the hamstrings muscles which make up the backs of your thighs. Open the roller pad arm and step into the UXS, then close the roller pad arm and lock it in position. While holding the dipping bars for balance, sit down facing towards the roller pad with your legs straight, far enough back that your feet extend just past the heel raise step. Grip the rowing bars even with your shoulders and place both of your feet on the heel raise step. Slowly raise your hips and lean back so you are hanging from the rowing bars with your arms straight. Raise one leg and place the back of your ankle on top of the roller pad so your heel is hooked over it. Gradually transfer your weight to this leg then place your other ankle on top of the roller pad. Your feet should be inside of shoulder width, only a few inches apart. Straighten your legs while keeping your heels securely hooked over the 117

pad. Keep your body straight and your head and neck in a neutral position (above left). Slowly bend your knees, using your hamstrings to pull your hips up and towards the roller pad as far as you can. As your hips get closer to the pad, start to dorsiflex your ankles. Think “hips to heels, toes to knees”. This prevents active insufficiency of the gastrocnemius allowing slightly more range of motion (above right). Hang with your arms straight so your hips come up under the roller pad as you flex your knees. Do not pull with your arms and lift your body or your legs will roll down the pad, placing it behind your knees instead of your ankles. Pause and hold for three seconds, then let your toes down and slowly lower yourself until your knees are almost straight. When you get to the start point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Starting with the third repetition, while holding at the end point gradually squeeze your hamstrings. Be cautious with the squeeze because it is possible to cause your hamstrings to cramp in this position. If your hamstrings consistently cramp up during the squeeze just hold at the end point. Level One Hold and rest for three seconds between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Two Same as level three, but only hold briefly at the top before reversing direction instead of holding or squeezing for three seconds.

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Level Four Same as level two, but performed unilaterally. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. The non-working leg should be held straight just above the roller pad. Level Five Same as level three, but performed unilaterally. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. Static Hold Pull your hips as close to the roller pad as you can and attempt to hold there for as long as possible.

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UXS Leg Extension

The leg extension is a simple movement which targets the quadriceps muscles which make up the fronts of your thighs. Open the roller pad arm and step into the UXS, then close the roller pad arm and lock it in position. Squat down and place your hands on the push-up bars and step back into a push up position with your knees over the heel raise step. Raise one leg and place your instep on top of the roller pad so your foot is hooked over it. Gradually transfer your weight to this leg then hook your other foot over the roller pad. Your feet should be inside of shoulder width, only a few inches apart. Keeping your arms straight, straighten your hips while flexing your knees about ninety degrees and keeping your feet securely hooked over the pad. Keep your body straight and your head and neck in a neutral position (above left). Slowly extend your knees, using your quadriceps to push your body up 120

and away from the roller pad (above right). If you are very tall allow your hips to flex as you approach full extension to keep your shoulders clear of the back columns. Keep your arms straight. Do not bend your elbows lowering your upper body as you extend your knees. Pause and hold for three seconds, then slowly reverse direction, letting your knees down and back as they flex and keeping your feet hooked over the roller pad. When you get to the start point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Starting with the third repetition, while holding at the end point gradually squeeze your quadriceps. Be cautious with the squeeze because depending on your torso length and how far your hips flex towards the top you may experience some cramping in part of your quadriceps. If your quadriceps consistently cramp up during the squeeze just hold at the end point. Level One Hold and rest for three seconds between repetitions. When you get to the end point immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Two Same as level three, but only hold briefly at the top before reversing direction instead of holding or squeezing for three seconds. Level Four Same as level two, but performed unilaterally. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. The non-working leg should be held straight just below the roller pad. 121

Level Five Same as level three, but performed unilaterally. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. Static Hold Fully extend your knees and attempt to hold for as long as possible while squeezing your quadriceps.

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Bia (Glutes and Thighs) Bia, named for Kratos’ sister the Greek goddess of force, targets the glutes and thighs with a triple pre-exhaust sequence. To perform it as written you need a bar or suspension trainer for rowing, a pad or strong rubber ball for TSC hip ADduction, and an adjustable strap or strong belt for TSC hip ABduction, or just a standard doorway and a towel. 1. TSC Hip ADduction 2. TSC Hip ABduction 3. Hip Raise 4. Squat 5. Row 6. Push-Up 7. Prone Trunk Extension 8. Crunch 9. TSC Neck Extension 10. TSC Neck Flexion Note the first two letters of both ADduction and ABduction are capitalized to avoid confusion since the words look very similar. ADduction is movement towards the midline of the body, while ABduction is movement away from the midline of the body. 123

TSC Hip ADduction

TSC hip ADduction targets the adductor muscles on the insides of the thighs. While these are involved in squatting movements this targets them more directly and is an important exercise along with hip ABduction for anyone who performs athletic activities involving a lot of lateral movement. To perform TSC hip ADduction sit with a thick pad, rolled up and folded mat (above), or strong rubber playground ball between your thighs just above your knees. Focus on pressing your knees towards each other and contracting the muscles along the insides of your thighs. Alternately, TSC hip ADduction can be performed using a door frame with a towel or pad wrapped around it for comfort. Sit on a chair or stool inside the doorway facing the frame with your legs on either side of it, close enough so the frame is above your knees. Some trainers recommend performing a unilateral bodyweight hip ADduction exercise using a suspension trainer and ankle strap. Do not do this. Resistance should be applied above the knee when performing hip ADduction to avoid injury to the medial collateral ligament. 124

TSC Hip ABduction

TSC hip ABduction targets the abductor muscles of the hips, specifically the gluteus medius and minimus and the gracilis. While these are also involved in squatting movements this targets them more directly. To perform TSC hip ABduction sit with an adjustable strap or thick belt around your thighs just above your knees. Focus on pressing your knees away from each other and contracting your glutes. I recommend using a strap that is at least two inches wide to spread the pressure over a larger area, of if you do not have a wider strap or belt place padding between it and the outside of your thighs. Be careful when removing the strap or belt afterwards not to trip while stepping out of it. I recommend placing the strap around your thighs before starting TSC hip ADduction so you can go from ADduction to ABduction as quickly as possible.

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Adonis (Abs and Obliques) Adonis, named for Greek god of beauty and desire, targets both the abdominal muscles and obliques with supersets consisting of a dynamic exercise followed by a static hold. To perform it as written all you need is a chin-up bar for the chin-ups and hanging exercises and a step for heel raises. The first and second pairs of exercises are superset sequences and should be performed with no rest in between. 1. Crunch or Hanging Reverse Crunch 2. Plank 3. Prone or Hanging Trunk Rotation 4. Side Plank 5. Prone Trunk Extension 6. Squat 7. Chin-Up 8. Push-Up 9. Heel Raise Keep in mind the purpose of this workout is to strengthen and build your abdominal muscles and not to reduce abdominal fat. Spot reduction – reducing the fat in a specific body area by working the underlying muscles – is impossible. People who spend hours per week 126

doing hundreds of reps of dozens of abdominal exercises because they think it will help them develop a ripped midsection are wasting their time. If you want well defined abs you have to reduce your overall body fat to a very low level. Doing so is almost entirely a matter of diet, which is discussed in the section on losing fat.

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Hanging Reverse Crunch

The hanging reverse crunch is a quasi-compound movement which targets the abdominal muscles, specifically the rectus abdominus and the obliques, as well as the hip flexors. You need a bar at least high enough for your legs to clear the ground with your knees bent when you hang from it, but not so high you can’t reach it while standing. If you can’t reach the bar and you can’t lower it don’t jump to grab it; use a bench or step stool so you can grip the bar properly and at the correct width. Use an overhand (pronated) grip outside of shoulder width. This is less stressful to your shoulders. Gradually pick up your feet, transferring your weight from your legs to your arms, and bend your knees about ninety degrees. Keep your shoulders and back tight. Keeping your knees bent, slowly flex both your hips and trunk, pulling your knees up and in towards your chest as far as you can while focusing on contracting your abdominal muscles. Do not just flex your hips and 128

perform a hanging knee raise. Pause and hold briefly, then slowly uncurl until your trunk and hips are almost straight. Level One Only flex your hips and trunk until your thighs are parallel with the ground. When you return to the start point, hold for three seconds before starting the next repetition. You can set your feet down, but make sure to begin transferring your weight back after about two seconds so you are ready to begin the next repetition after three. Level Two Use the same range of motion as level one, but when you reach the start point immediately but slowly turn around and repeat. Level Four When you reach the end point, hold yourself there motionless for three seconds before slowly lowering yourself. Starting with the third repetition and for all the rest, while holding squeeze your abs. Remember to breathe. Level Five Perform the hold and squeeze the same as level four, but after holding only lower yourself about half to two-thirds of the way, turning around while your trunk and hips are still thirty to forty five degrees away from full extension.

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Alternate Equipment Although hanging is easier for most people, this movement can also be performed in a support position on parallel bars or using a Roman chair with a padded back support and arm rests.

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Plank

The plank is an isometric exercise which targets the abdominal muscles and hip flexors. The plank can be performed with the arms extended but I recommend supporting yourself on your forearms instead of your hands so you can focus more on contracting your abdominal muscles. I recommend using a mat, pad, or folded towel for forearm comfort. Kneel down and place your palms and forearms flat on the ground, shoulder width apart. Step back with both feet until your body is straight and your elbows are directly below your shoulders. Your feet should be inside of shoulder width. Look straight down keeping your head and neck neutral. Tuck your pelvis under slightly, tilting it posteriorly, but do not raise it. Attempt to hold this position as long as possible while focusing on contracting your abdominal muscles. Remember to breathe.

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Prone Trunk Rotation

The prone trunk rotation is a simple, isolateral movement which targets your obliques and abdominal muscles, and lower back (psoas, iliocostalis, and quadratus lumborum). Prone trunk rotation should be performed as two sets, one for each side, rather than a single alternating set. Unless otherwise noted you should alternate the starting side between workouts. Lie on your back with your arms straight out to your sides and palms flat on the ground. I recommend lying across a mat or folded towel for comfort. Bend and raise your knees, so they are flexed about ninety degrees and pointed straight up. To perform right trunk rotation, slowly rotate your pelvis and thighs to your left until your left thigh is just above the ground, while using your arms to keep your upper back and shoulders flat on the ground. Pause and hold for three seconds without letting your thighs touch the ground. Then slowly rotate back to your right until your pelvis and thighs are neutral and immediately but slowly reverse direction. Your back, shoulder, and arm muscles will be working to keep your upper back and shoulders flat, but your head should rest on the ground 132

with your neck relaxed. Do not forcefully extend your neck and press your head against the ground. Repeat for the left side. Level One Hold and rest in the neutral position for three seconds between repetitions. Instead of holding for three seconds at the fully rotated position immediately but slowly reverse direction. Level Two Same as level one but do not rest in the neutral position. Level Four Same as level two, but performed with the knees fully extended to increase the lever (below). Level Five Same as level three, but performed with the knees fully extended to increase the lever.

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Static Hold With the knees extended, slowly rotate your pelvis and thighs to your side until they are just above the ground. Attempt to hold this position as long as possible while focusing on contracting your obliques. Repeat for the other side.

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Hanging Trunk Rotation

To significantly increase the difficulty you can perform trunk rotations from a hanging position. The pelvis and thigh movement is performed identically to the prone version, but you get into position for the exercise as though you were performing a hanging crunch, flexing both your hips and trunk and pulling your knees up and in towards your chest to get into the starting position.

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Side Plank

The side plank is a unilateral isometric exercise which targets the oblique muscles, lower back (quadratus lumborum, longissimus thoracis), and hip ABductors. Perform two sets, one for each side, and alternate the starting side between workouts. When performed after trunk rotations do the sides in the same order. The side plank can be performed with the arm extended but I recommend supporting yourself on your forearm instead of your hand so you can focus more on contracting your oblique and back muscles. I recommend using a mat, pad, or folded towel for forearm comfort. To perform a right side plank, kneel down and place your right palm and forearm on the ground pointing to your left perpendicular to your body. Step back with both feet and turn so you are lying on the side of your right leg and your right elbow is directly under your right shoulder. The side of your right foot should be on the ground. Your left leg and foot should be directly on top of your right, and your left arm should be resting on your side. Slowly raise your hip off the ground until your body is straight and you are holding yourself up with your right hand and forearm and the side of your right foot. 136

Look straight forward, keeping your head and neck neutral. Attempt to hold this position as long as possible while focusing on contracting your right oblique muscles and hip ABductors. Repeat for the left side. Alternate the side you start with each time you perform this exercise.

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Grip and Forearm Exercises I did not include direct grip or forearm work in any of the basic workouts because these are already worked very hard during the various pulling exercises in each workout and because hand grippers are lightweight and portable. However, if you want to perform additional grip and forearm work there are many effective ways to do so with bodyweight using a pull-up bar or commonly found structures. Grip exercises can generally be divided into three categories; crushing exercises like thick bar hangs and holds, pinching exercises like plate and block holds, and support exercises like finger hangs on a bar or ledge. These last are the most helpful if you need to strengthen your grip for the other hanging exercises, but for overall grip strength you should perform a combination of all three. All of these can be performed either as a timed static contraction or a static hold by pulling against or hanging from a bar or ledge with your flexed fingers…

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…attempting to crush or hanging from a large diameter bar or pipe with your fingers and thumbs…

…and pinching or hanging from a thick, flat object like a piece of lumber with your extended fingers and thumbs.

A chin-up bar, the back an open staircase, or the top of a strong door can be used for finger hangs, and you can hang a length of large diameter pipe (start with two inches) or piece of two by four 139

horizontally from your chin-up bar or ceiling for crush grip and pinch grip hangs. Direct grip exercises should be performed at the end of your workout so you don’t compromise your ability to grip during pulling and hanging exercises for other muscle groups.

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Diet and Supplements Eating to improve health, fitness, and body composition is simple. Eat mostly nutrient-dense, unprocessed or minimally processed foods, including a variety of meat, offal, fish, eggs, fibrous and starchy vegetables, fruits and nuts, drink plenty of water. Keep foods which are nutritionally poor or contain potentially harmful substances to a minimum or only enjoy them in moderation once in a while (foods containing large proportions of grains, legumes, vegetable oils, drinks containing alcoholic or large amounts of sugar, etc.)

Losing Fat If you want to lose fat, reduce your overall food intake until you are steadily losing one to two pounds per week, but not so much you feel run down or fatigued. A good starting point for people who are not too fat is approximately ten calories per pound of bodyweight. Try to eat a gram of protein per pound of lean body mass daily to help maintain muscle mass while losing fat. The leaner you are the less energy you will be able to get from your fat stores per day, and the slower fat loss becomes. If you are already moderately lean and can clearly see the outlines of your abdominal muscles and good separation in your other muscle groups a more realistic rate of fat loss is about a pound per week, and if you are very lean you should not try to lose more than half a pound of fat per week or you may risk losing muscle mass as well. There is a limit to the rate at which your body can get energy from its fat stores, and if your average daily energy deficit exceeds this your body will get the energy from other tissues, like muscle. 141

Building Muscle If you are already lean and want to gain muscle, gradually increase your overall food intake until you are steadily gaining weight, but not so much you start gaining a noticeable amount of fat. Start conservatively, eating about fifteen to seventeen calories per pound of bodyweight per day, and gradually increase from there while keeping track of both your weight and body composition. Try to eat a gram of protein per pound of lean body mass daily, but you don’t need to go nuts with it. There doesn’t appear to be any benefit to going over a gram and a half per day per pound of lean body mass. If you are over-fat focus on leaning down before you start focusing on gaining muscle. It will improve your functional ability, health, and appearance faster, and when you are leaner it is easier to tell whether an increase in weight is from fat or muscle so you can adjust your food intake accordingly. Consume a small amount of your daily carbohydrate and protein around half an hour before your workout if you haven’t eaten within the past few hours, and more after. Some people find it easier when reducing food intake to have fewer, larger meals than multiple small meals throughout the day. Some people find it easier when increasing food intake to have more frequent, smaller meals than a few huge ones. The timing and distribution is less important than your overall food intake, however.

Supplements Most supplements promoted for muscle gain, fat loss, and improving athletic performance do not do what they claim and are a waste of 142

money. However, there are a few which have been proven to have beneficial effects in combination with proper exercise and nutrition. For muscle gain, creatine monohydrate has been very well researched and shown to be safe and effective for most people. You don’t need to mess around with high-dose loading phases as is often recommended, though, just supplement with five grams daily. Protein powders and weight gainers can be convenient ways to get adequate protein or calories when you don’t have time to prepare real food but they are not necessary. If you are eating an adequate amount of quality protein supplementation with branched chain amino acids or individual amino acids like leucine probably won’t make much difference. Vitamin D intake has also been associated with muscular strength and most people would benefit from supplementing with approximately 30 IU of D3 per pound of body weight daily.

The ECA Stack and Yohimbine Caffeine, ephedrine, and yohimbine have been shown to aid fat loss, but I recommend being extremely cautious with ephedrine and yohimbine and don’t them together as doing so may cause dangerous increases in heart rate and blood pressure in some people. Most other supplements which claim to burn fat or increase metabolism have little or no effect and are a waste of money. Ephedrine and caffeine are often “stacked” together with aspirin (ECA stack) and taken in the following amounts three times per day for fat loss: • • •

Caffeine 200mg Ephedrine 20mg Aspirin 80mg (baby aspirin) 143

If you plan to do this I recommend the stack only once daily at least for the first week and working your way up to three times daily over several weeks. Some people may also want to take yohimbine and caffeine about an hour before workouts to help mobilize fat for energy in the following amounts: • •

Caffeine 200mg Yohimbine 0.1mg for every 10 lbs of bodyweight (15mg for a 150 pound person)

Wait at least four hours after taking this before taking ephedrine if you are also using the ECA stack.

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Tracking Progress Keeping records of your goal-specific measurements, workout performance, and food intake helps you to objectively evaluate how well you are progressing, whether you need to adjust your workouts or diet, and if you do whether the adjustment has improved your results or not and to what degree. If your goal is to reduce body fat you should regularly weigh yourself and perform skin fold or bioelectrical impedance measurements or use a BodPod or DEXA scan to estimate your body composition (even the best methods are only accurate to within a few percent – the only way to get a really accurate measurement of body composition is to have yourself dissected). If your goal is to improve muscular size, in addition to weighing and estimating your body composition to make sure you’re gaining muscle and not just getting fat you should perform regular circumference measurements to more objectively evaluate how different body parts are responding and whether there are any “stubborn” muscle groups you need to focus on. If your goal is to improve the performance of a specific athletic or vocational movement or activity you should periodically test your ability to perform it using an appropriate test which is repeatable and can be objectively evaluated. Changes in the above can then be compared to any changes you make in your workouts, diet, or if relevant your skill practice, to determine what effect if any the change had on your progress.

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Weight To minimize the influence of other variables you should always way yourself on the same scale, on the same surface, wearing the same thing, at the same time of day. I recommend weighing yourself once every one or two weeks in the morning right after waking up and urinating but before eating. You should weigh while undressed, on a good digital scale on a hard, smooth surface. Women should not weigh themselves while on their period as water retention will cause weight to increase. Keep in mind your goal is not simply to lose or gain weight but to improve your body composition and that many factors other than changes in fat and muscle mass can affect weight. Changes in weight let you know if you are moving in the right direction, but must be considered along with changes in body composition and circumference measurements.

Body Composition Most gyms and weight loss centers offer some form of body composition testing, usually using skin fold measurements performed with a calipers, bioelectrical impedance, or near infrared interactance. While none of these provide a perfect measurement of your body fat percentage they give an accurate enough estimate to be useful. You can measure your own body composition with bioelectrical impedance and near infrared interactance devices like Tanita scales and Futrex infrared analyzers, but if you choose to use skin fold measurements I recommend having another person perform the measurements for you. Ideally, the same person should perform the measurements each time.

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While there are many formulas for estimating body composition from skin fold measurements I prefer to use the three site method and nomogram on the following page for efficiency and convenience. Men should measure the chest, abdominal, and thigh skin folds. • • •

Chest: a diagonal fold halfway between the crease of the armpit (axillary fold) and nipple Abdomen: a vertical fold an inch to the right of the navel Thigh: a vertical fold on the front of the thigh halfway between the crease of the hip (inguinal crease) and knee cap

Women should measure the triceps, suprailiac, and thigh skinfolds. • • •

Triceps: a vertical fold on the back of the upper arm halfway between the shoulder (acromion process) and elbow Suprailiac: a diagonal just above and in line with the angle of the iliac crest Thigh: a vertical fold on the front of the thigh halfway between the crease of the hip (inguinal crease) and knee cap

All measurements should be performed on the right side. Allow your arm to hang by your side relaxed during the chest or triceps measurement. During the thigh measurement your weight should be on your left leg and your right thigh should be relaxed. Use a tape measure to find the correct point for the measurement and mark it with a dry erase marker (these can be washed off more easily than sharpies). Pinch and pull away as large a fold of skin as you can between your thumb and forefinger. Place the calipers in the middle of the fold about a quarter to a half inch from your finger and thumb and note the thickness in mm. Repeat each of the measurements three times in the same order, then add the average of the measurements for

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each site and use the sum and your age to find your body fat percentage on the nomogram below.

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Body Part Circumference Measurements To perform circumference measurements you will need a flexible tape measure like a tailor’s tape measure or one of the tape measures specifically designed for taking body measurements like the Myotape. Periodically compare it to a steel tape measure and replace it if it stretches. Like weight, body part circumferences should be measured at a consistent time of day, ideally before eating – which can affect your waist measurement – and before working out – which can produce a muscular pump affecting other measurements. When measuring the neck and trunk the tape should be perpendicular to the long axis of the body (perpendicular to the floor if standing) and when measuring the limbs it should be perpendicular to the limb. The tape should be snug but not compressing the skin. • • • • • • • • •

Neck: an inch above your traps Shoulders: at the widest point, with your arms hanging at your sides relaxed Chest: at the thickest point, with your arms hanging at your sides relaxed, after exhaling Waist: if your waist is concave measure at the narrowest point, if it is convex measure at the widest point Hips: at the widest point, standing with your feet together Upper Arms: at the thickest point with your arms hanging at your sides relaxed Forearms: at the thickest point with your wrist straight and hand relaxed Thighs: midway between the point of the hip (greater trochanter) and the knee Calves: at the thickest point 149

Don’t worry if your arm and leg measurements are not perfectly symmetrical or if your proportions don’t fit someone’s arbitrary ideal. It is normal to have slight differences between your right and left sides and the proportions which look best on one person’s frame may not on another. The best judge of your body symmetry and proportions is you. If you’re happy with them they’re fine. If not, focus more on the areas you want to improve and use these measurements to evaluate your progress. If you have significant asymmetry the measurements will help you to more objectively evaluate whether they are becoming more balanced with training or if it is necessary to emphasize one side or limb over another for a period of time, and if so, when to resume bilateral training.

Comparison Photography When taking photos to compare your physique over time it is necessary to standardize several factors, including the lighting, camera set up, and body position. Ken Hutchins developed the best procedure for this which he used to take the before and after photos for several of Ellington Darden, PhD’s books, but they require a seamless backdrop and professional camera and lighting set up, which most people do not have. The following guidelines are a practical adaptation of those for people using digital cameras in their home or training studio. Photographs should be taken against a plain, light colored wall or backdrop for better contrast with the body outline. The lighting should be above and in front of you, and you should be standing a few feet in front of the wall or backdrop to avoid or minimize the sharpness of shadows which may distract from the body outline. If you are shooting somewhere with windows I recommend covering them to minimize variations due to changes in natural light. 150

Measure and record the distance from the wall. Use tape to mark an eight inch square letter H on the floor where you will stand. The vertical lines should be used as a reference for foot positioning during the front and back shots for repeatable width (below left), and your feet should be placed next to each other on the horizontal line for the side shots (below right).

The camera should be set to take photos in portrait orientation on a tripod with the center of the lense about three feet high and about twenty feet from you, with the lense zoomed in enough for you to fill most of the frame with a little space above and below. This is to avoid the distortion caused by shooting up close with a wider angle. Measure and record the height and position of the camera. For the front and back photos stand with your feet just outside the vertical lines of the H and place your hands on top of your head with your fingers interlaced. This position is easily repeatable, and keeping your arms up and away from your sides prevents variation in arm position and the resulting difference in the space between your arms and sides from affecting the perception of the width of your waist.

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For the side photo stand with your feet next to each other on the horizontal line of the H. Your hands should still be on top of your head with your fingers interlaced, but you should also pull your elbows back so your arms do not obscure your face. This also keeps the arms from obscuring or getting in the way of viewing changes in the waist.

Bodybuilders might also want to photograph themselves in the compulsory poses used in competition. These are the front and back double biceps, front and back lat spread, the side chest, the side triceps, 152

and the abdominal and thighs. For these you might want to use an overhead light to better show off your definition (or lack thereof, in the before photos). Just make sure you measure and record everything so you are able to standardize all of your shoots. If you own a gym or training studio I recommend dedicating a space for comparison photography, either using a blank wall or backdrop and track lighting, and with a long unobscured line of sight for shooting. Even if you are able to use a repeatable zoom setting there will be some slight differences in scale between photo shoots unless you are able to position the camera in exactly the same place this time. To match the scale of photos between shoots many digital image manipulation programs like Adobe Photoshop and GNU Image Manipulation Program provide the ability to set guides which can be used when scaling. To match the scale, open a new image the same height and twice as wide as the originals and copy and paste the before and after photos side by side in separate layers. Create guides at the eyes and center of the kneecaps of one of the photos then scale the other so the eyes and kneecaps align. This is preferable to setting the guides above the head and below the feet since even when shooting from further back slight differences in zoom may distort these slightly.

Workout Charts Regardless of whether you record your workouts in a notebook, on a paper chart, or in a spreadsheet program on a tablet computer or smart phone, the format should be roughly the same. Minimally, following the protocol and workouts in this handbook you need to record the following for each workout: • •

Date Exercises performed 153

•

The protocol or level for each exercise and number of good repetitions completed

The best way to do this is using a grid with columns for each workout and rows for each exercise as shown in the sample chart on the next page. The exercises for the Kratos workout are written in order down the left column, and the second, third, and fourth columns contain the levels and repetition counts for the workouts dated August fifth, ninth, and twelfth. The neck exercises were performed using timed static contraction protocol so only TSC is recorded in their boxes for each workout.

Since eight repetitions were performed at level five on squats on the ninth this person progressed to unilateral squats at level one on the twelfth, and recorded R6, L6 indicating six repetitions were performed with the right leg, then the left. The exercise will be started on the left leg the next time. I also recommend recording the start and end time so you can track and compare workout duration and your work to rest ratio. If you perform the exercises out of the written sequence write the order they were performed in a square in the upper right corner of the boxes for each exercise. 154

If you do not perform an exercise cross off the box with a large X. If you leave it blank you can’t be sure later on whether you did not perform the exercise or just forgot to record your performance.

Diet While it is possible to eat appropriately for your goals without measuring and recording your food intake and many people have done so successfully, most people seem to get better results when they do. Having a record can be helpful for troubleshooting or fine tuning your diet, and you will tend to be more conscientious about what you put in your mouth when you’re writing it all down or tracking it. Years ago I recommended keeping track in a small notebook, but with the prevalence and convenience of smart phones and tablet computers I recommend using one of the many nutrition tracking apps instead. While there are many great apps, the one I prefer is Lose It! (http://www.loseit.com/). It is easy and efficient to use and has a lot of useful features like a bar code scanner and the ability to save your own recipes so you don’t have to keep re-entering the same couple food items every time you make a specific meal.

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Online Resources Workout and Measurement Charts Printable workout and measurement kratos.com/handbook-resources/

charts:

www.project-

Bodyweight Exercise Equipment UXS bodyweight multi-exercise station: www.baye.com/uxs/

Useful Smart Phone and Tablet Apps Lose It! (nutrition and weight tracking): www.loseit.com Seconds (interval timer): http://www.secondsapp.com/

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