Q&A: Breaking Plateaus On The Project: Kratos Bodyweight Program

Question: Hi Drew, I am really enjoying my Project Kratos workouts. They are ass-kickers. I am about two months in after ~five years of BBS-style 2:00 TUL training, and have to say I look a lot less forward to these than even my MedX-powered sessions of the past. That’s rad.

I have a question about progression — or lack thereof: stalls. I suppose this is unrelated to bodyweight training in particular as it was an issue for me before but maybe there are some PK-specific approaches here.

Basically since maybe my third Kratos workout I’ve been flat on nearly every exercise, both time and rep-wise. I am by no means “done” with muscle-building (5’10?, 170). In the past I’ve chalked it up to not eating enough — was on a years-long diet — but this year I’ve been eating more — have put on about 7 lbs in the past few months — but no change in lifts. For instance: my chin-up, level 5: I consistently get 65 seconds, about 5.75-6 reps. On one-legged squats I am always between 1:04 and 1:09. This is now 5-6 weeks of the same. I suppose I am lifting slightly more in both of these thanks to weight gain, but…

Would you recommend any of the following at this point?

* Adding in the Zelus workout?
* More rest between sessions? I’m currently at four days rest.
* A different level? I’m mostly on level 5 because I could do a ~1m TUL from the get-go, but maybe I need to drop down to ~1:30 TULs for a few?
* I’m nervous to add even more food as my pants have all stopped fitting, and my weight gain seems to suggest I’m fueling enough. But unsure.

Thanks in advance!

Answer: 

I’m glad you’re enjoying the workouts! If you have gained weight this will increase the difficulty of the exercises, but should not slow progress to a stop. While two to three full-body high intensity training workouts per week is fine when starting out most will need to reduce either their training volume or frequency as they become stronger and capable of pushing themselves to train harder to avoid overtraining.

Project Kratos Program Handbook: Bodyweight High Intensity Training

The Zelus workout is meant to be alternated with Kratos for more movement variety, but has about the same volume of work so if you need a reduction in volume or frequency alternating between the two won’t help. I recommend first reducing the volume slightly, by alternating between two shortened versions of the Kratos workout. Drop the second pair of upper body movements, the crunch, and the neck exercises for one workout, and drop the first pair of upper body movements and the trunk extension and heel raise for the next:

Kratos Condensed Workout A

  1. Chin-Up
  2. Push-Up
  3. Squat
  4. Prone Trunk Extension
  5. Heel Raise

Kratos Condensed Workout B

  1. Squat
  2. Inverted Row
  3. Pike Push-Up
  4. Crunch
  5. TSC Neck Extension
  6. TSC Neck Flexion

For variety, you could do something similar with the Zelus workouts, alternating between performing the Kratos condensed A and B workouts one week and the Zelus condensed A and B workouts the next. If reducing workout volume does not improve your progress you may need more recovery between workouts, in which case I recommend taking a week or two off to make sure you are fully recovered then resuming your workouts at with an extra rest day in between.

I also recommend tracking your food intake, weight, and waist measurement or bodyfat percentage closely and adjusting your calorie intake until your weight is increasing but not your waist or bodyfat percentage, assuming your primary focus is increasing strength and muscular size.

Join the discussion or ask questions about this post in the HIT List forum

Like it? Share it!

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Gaucho Sep 5, 2014 @ 7:39

    Drew,

    My situation:
    I’m in my mid-twenties and workout (drug free) since I was 18. The past year I made little to no progress on the basic compound exercises like the leg press, chest press and pull down. Therefore I added more days off up to ten days and I even started alternating with my split routine. In do no more than 5 exercises per workout. The last months I also used dropsets on my benchmarks. Result: no progress. Now I’m using forced reps as advanced technique, so I can’t say anything about this (yet). My dieet has always been okay; eating enough, eating organic and eating enough, but not too much protein.

    Therefore my question: What are your suggestions to break this plateau?

    An other question I had was: do you activate more motor units in the last rep(s) when you try to push/pull as fast as possible in comparison with not trying to push/pull as hard as possible on the last rep(s)? And what are the reasons to advice trainees try push/pull as fast as they can on the last rep(s)?

    Gaucho

    • Drew Baye Sep 18, 2014 @ 9:08

      Gaucho,

      Are you not adding reps or are you having difficulty with weight progression? If so, you may want to consider microprogression. I also recommend reading my article on performance versus progress, which covers important considerations for advanced trainees.

      During the last few repetitions of an exercise performed to the point of momentary muscular failure the fastest you will be capable of moving will actually be very slow. At this point in the exercise, attempting to move faster while still accelerating gradually will still result in a very slow speed of movement (if not, you’re not really near muscular failure) and you should be working as hard as possible just to keep the weight barely moving. The point is not to actually increase speed, but to contract harder. Also, research suggests improvements in rate of force development have to do with the intended rather than actual speed of movement, and the only time it is reasonably safe to attempt to move as fast as you can during exercise is when you are only capable of slow movement. I will be covering this in detail in Elements of Form.

  • Scott M Sep 30, 2014 @ 9:16

    Hi Drew,

    I’m now about 3 months in to Kratos, doing twice a week training and having huge gains! I’m thinking about splitting the workout because twice a week seems to be too much volume for me.

    Why do you suggest doing squats on both parts of the split? Shouldn’t the legs take longer to recover as they are a bigger muscle group?

    I’m considering the following split:

    A:
    Chins
    Unilateral squats
    Pike pushups
    Trunk extensions

    B:
    Pushups
    Rows
    Crunches
    Heel raises
    TSC Neck flexion / extension

    Alternatively, I could do one leg of squats on A and the other on B and the same for heel raises as I do unilateral for both.

    Would love to hear your thoughts.

    Thanks,
    Scott

    • Drew Baye Oct 7, 2014 @ 14:15

      Hey Scott,

      If you feel your legs need more recovery and the volume is a little much for you this sounds like a good alternative. The workouts are not written in stone and should be adapted to the individual.

  • George Oct 13, 2015 @ 16:02

    Hello Drew! I recently purchased both versions (print/download) of Project Kratos. My ‘go to’ workout(s) and methods now. Thank you for it all. Maybe I missed something in the book referencing it, but is there a reason that most of the exercises don’t have Level Three descriptions? Whenever there is a Level Three outlined a Level Five description is missing. Is this just an error in printing?
    Thanks,
    George

    • Drew Baye Oct 16, 2015 @ 13:27

      Hey George,

      The third level is the standard way of performing the exercise which is the first thing explained in each exercise’s chapter. A few people were confused about this so when I write the follow-up book next year with the new progression system I will repeat the instructions for the standard method along with the other levels.

  • George Oct 20, 2015 @ 16:20

    Thanks Drew!
    Love this book and your YouTube lectures.. Kicking my arse! Looking forward to the follow-up.
    Thanks again.

    • Drew Baye Oct 25, 2015 @ 19:57

      Hey George,

      Thanks. I anticipate having the Phase III book out next spring.

  • Renaud Dec 2, 2015 @ 6:39

    Hi Drew,

    I bought Project kratos just after Body by science and i found them awesome but Kratos more safer for me because my gym doesn’t have proper designed machines and so much people are using it So Kratos allows me to switch exercices faster and work on my metabolic conditionning better !

    My brother tried Kratos workout and did it well (Level 3 for most exercice for now) exept for the chin up since he doesn’t have the grip necessary to execute even static hold.. and even level 1… what do you recommend ? Work only with inverted rows until he ll be strong enough ? Work with Tsc pull over and Biceps curl ? Hanging work ? Grip Work ?

    Thank you !

    • Drew Baye Dec 4, 2015 @ 13:37

      Hey Renaud,

      You can find the answer in my post Q&A: Working Up To Unassisted Pull-ups and Dips. Tell your brother to be very cautious if he uses a band for assistance, though. He should only use heavy duty powerlifting bands which provide more tension and are more durable and not the lighter exercise bands which provide much less resistance and may snap and cause an injury if used to support his full bodyweight.

  • Stephen Dec 14, 2015 @ 12:27

    Drew,
    In Kratos, you discuss the body part specialization workouts and say: “These can be alternated with the basic workouts or other specialization workouts, or just done occasionally for variety, depending on your goals or preferences.” I can’t find a connection between which workout should be done for which goals. For example, if I want to maximize upper body building and get the greatest gains in the shortest period of time, I would expect to do Ares and Zeus workouts, alternated with the Kratos and Zelus, but have no idea how often to substitute and/or in which order.
    Obviously, I could experiment, but given how often the workouts take place, I fear that I could easily lose up to six months before figuring out how to get good results. And then lose more time when switching to another body part to emphasize. I’d rather make that time productive. I’m still a newbie to body redesign, and I’ve been working on it with good, but not maximal results, for about 3 years now. I’ve switched from Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Body to McGuff’s Body by Science, and am now on your Project Kratos. Again, good results, but feel like I’m making a ton of mistakes that are hampering progress.
    Do you have a guide for alternating in the workouts for maximum strength or size gains in the shortest period of time? Thanks!

    -Stephen

    • Drew Baye Dec 14, 2015 @ 12:49

      Hey Stephen,

      The best approach for most people starting out is to focus equally on all the muscle groups unless or until there are obvious muscular strength or size imbalances. If there is a significant imbalance or if for some reason there is a need for a much higher level of strength or development in a specific body area more time should be spent on specialization for the area, but the other muscle groups should still be worked at least occasionally for continued progress. Which specialization routine should be performed depends on what needs work, and how long and how frequently a specialization routine should be performed relative to full body workouts or workouts for other muscle groups depends on the degree of perceived imbalance. I discuss specialization routines in High Intensity Workouts and I am planning to write something more specific about body part specialization after I finish my current writing projects, but if you want more individualized help with your program now I am available for consultations.