Suggestions for Killroy-style MWF workout?

If a beginner who likes the Killroy template were only able to workout 3 days per week, would it be better to rotate through the 4 standard upper-body WODs or to simply choose 3 of them so that the workouts were consistently on the same day of the week? Does it even matter?

Here are the exercises as they are written in the template:

Day 1 - horizontal plane pushing and pulling FBE

Day 2 - curling (inverted pullup) and dipping variations (RTO dips, etc..) FBE

Day 3 - pullup and HeSPU variation FBE

Day 4 - multiplane pulling variaions + varied pressing work

As a follow-up, if rotating through the 4 days is preferable, would it also be alright to add a Day 5 with CPP FBEs so as to progress with muscle-ups?

Pending on how strong the beginner was, they may have none to little need of training multi plane pulling or pressing.

Day 4 could be either CPP or MPPr/Pu. They could be possibly be done on the same day.

Blairbob said:

Pending on how strong the beginner was, they may have none to little need of training multi plane pulling or pressing.

Day 4 could be either CPP or MPPr/Pu. They could be possibly be done on the same day.

Thanks! So it would be alright to do each exercise slightly less than once per week? And does it matter that I am doing muscle ups the workout following pullups, considering that they are similar movements?

I personally prefer CPP on day 1 and would reorganize how you laid it out. But that's just me because I found on friday, I was just too tired to really have a hard workout.

I think I did something like:

day 1: CPP

day 2: horizontal or inverted

day 3: pullup&hespu

day 4: horizontal or inverted

on a MTuThF. Wed I generally worked on presses and HS WOD. This was before I was using 531 with it.

So I guess I'll just ditch the CPP and do

Monday: Horizontal pull/press

Wednesday: Pullup/HeSPU

Friday: Inverted Curls/Dips

Blairbob said:

This was before I was using 531 with it.

When you say 531, do you mean GB pyramids or Wendler's 531?

Wendler 531.

I would probably do your pullup/hespu on M unless you can do horizontal pulling such as FL pulls or planche pushups (not pseudo planche pushups).

Good call, the vertical plane does seem more important.

Blairbob said:

Wendler 531.

As a big fan of 531 myself, I'm interested in how you combine it with gymnastics training. I'd love to see your workout if you're willing to write it out.

I found the vertical plane more taxing than the inverted or horizontal plane (unless you are using FL pullups or PL pushups, rows and pseudo planche pushups are not as taxing imo comparatively).

Earlier this year I did 3 or 4 cycles of 531. There was some downtime due to injury and I used it from late January till August.

I started using a 2 day split of BS/OHP and BP/DL. I preferred to lift Tu/F in the afternoons but sometimes would do We/Sa though We was supposed to be light day because of the nature of the MTuThF BtGB program. There was a few times it ended up being Th/Sa or Su as well. After a few cycles of those lifts, I added GoodMornings on the BS/OHP day and FS to the BP/DL day. I would often WU with whatever Olympic lift work I could get away with at the UC gym (that wasn't in the main room where it was as visible).

I really didn't do any assistance exercise barbell lifts. I eventually added a Sa or Su session where I would end up doing DB complexes and weighted glute ham work. A lot of the session was of the shoulder mobility series from the seminar at the gym.

Originally I was doing a SSC with FSPs&FBE's that had a killroy70 flavor to it as it was split up by vertical, horizontal, inverted, and MU days that used assisted MU or seated MU with MU negatives.

I eventually dropped MTh of using that and did ring str that day with ring pressHS, block maltese, and body lever work. Wed was often a light stretching day with some light swinging and tumbling and tramp work and I would finish up with either basic swings, wall HS and press HS stuff.

On Tu/F I eventually added 3-5 sets of various FBE's as a circuit. Similar to the dynamic push/pull WOD's but lighter (since I used to push myself too hard on those WODs) paced with the use of 5 or 10 reps per exercise. Stuff like swinging dips, chest roll to HS, SLS, HLL, yewkis, pullovers. A lot of that was due to the fact I felt my conditioning was starting to suffer from a lack of training it (I was doing some minor swimming and running but nothing what we would call as intensely metabolic).

Earlier in the year I attempted to hit all 3 planes plus MU work. It was fine for 1-2 workouts but I found myself crushed on day3. 2 planes (easier and difficult) seemed pretty doable though.

I never really did assistance type barbell exercises. I've thought about it as in August I was considering to play around with a WSBB program, but didn't start it. I'm not a big fan of a lot of those assistance barbell exercises such as face pulls and skullcrushers,etc. I tried to box squat but wasn't very confident of my form.

Damn, that's intense! Doing 531 and the BtGB WODs sounds like a lot to me. After a few weeks of getting used to a FBE-based workout, I think I'll start a cycle of 531 with the normal 4-days/week schedule and just add FBEs as the assistance exercises, just filling them into one of Wendler's templates.

Yeah, I've come across other people using BW movements as assistance exercises in their 531 programming.

I split the 531 into 2 days and though hitting three lifts took some time, goodmornings and front squat are not so taxing compared to back squats and deads. I did play around with just doing Front Squats, Good Mornings, and Glute Ham as a seperate session on Saturdays with some DB clean and jerks. That was pretty doable. I also worked some DB curls on that day besides 1 arm DB rows.

I thought about the 4d/week of 531 and frankly I didn't want to go the UC gym 4 days a week Especially when I could squeeze it all in 2d. The 3rd day was mainly to have something to do on Sat or Sun. I could squeeze that stuff on the two days but it made the BS/OHP or BP/DL workout days go much faster without that third exercise.

Barbell training and gym training were generally split apart to allow ample to recover. I tried to lift in the morning but it always sucked. Sometimes, I would lift after gymnastics and that was pretty doable most of the time. However, gymnastics after lifting has never been good for me.