Titan's Telegraph Key routine

[Guest Reverend]

I've recently begun a new routine with the Titan's Telegraph Key that I'll pass along.  The basic idea came from a singles routine in Steve Justa's book "Rock, Iron, Steel," and I'm currently using this same routine in a barrel lifting program that I'm having good luck with.

I'm starting with a ridiculously low weight on this in order to build the proper foundation.  I went and found some one pound weights and I attached three of them to the Titan's Telegraph Key.  

Now on Sunday, you do three reps.  Monday, five.  Tuesday, nine.  And so on until you get to Saturday, when you do fifteen reps.  This gets pretty tough on the barrel lifting program.  Anyway, you can do a slow progression this way.  The only drawback that some people say is that you do the exercise in question EVERY day.  I don't see it as a drawback.  When the next Sunday gets there, I increase the weight on the TTK by one pound (one half gallon in the barrel lifting program) and then the reps drop back down to three, and then you follow the same progression again every day, increasing by two reps each day.

The number of reps, of course, is completely arbitrary.  You could go up by one rep a day or three reps a day or more if you wanted to.  Now, I can't even BUDGE 15 pounds on the TTK, but somewhere around September I should hit that goal, and then I'll see if I can keep going.

Happy Lifting.

[The Mac]

Best of luck, Rev. I'm about to commence a somewhat similar program for deadlift lockouts (in that the weight won't be getting difficult for months) and I'm steeling myself to not push the progression too fast. This is the trap I have fallen into in the past.

[Guest Reverend]

I've been there, too.  I don't know how old you are, but I'm in my early forties and have found that the older I get, the faster time flies.  A week goes by in nothing flat.  So I find that by starting extremely low and not pushing myself in that particular movement, I can make good, steady gains over the long run.

[The Mac]

Unfortunately I'm only 23. Weeks still take a loooong time to go by when training is concerned (although, oddly enough, weeks at work fly by). My training mindset is naturally to push things right to their limits as often as possible, even when that's not the best route to go down. It is strange, but I find it much easier mentally to go balls-to-the-wall than to go and do a relatively light session. It is much simpler to simply do all that you can rather than be constantly questioning how much you should be doing. I'm learning, though, that the more patient I can be the better I can progress, although I still chomp at the bit.

[Guest Reverend]

Don't worry about that, son, that's how we all learn to hit our own strides.  I might suggest that you try a system like this on ONE and ONLY ONE lift that you'd like to improve at.  When I get home from work, I take off my work clothes and the Titan's Telegraph Key is sitting right there.  I do my reps on it everyday, in addition to my other stuff.

I may even try it with thick-bar reverse curls, which Alan Calvert said were an excellent test of a man's hand and forearm strength.

[paul valpreda]

Hello Reverend,

When you perform this routine, do you treat the reps as singles or as a set? For example, do you perform three singles each as a single rep with some rest in between until you get three or do you perform one set of three repetitions? This routine sounds interesting and I think I'd like to give it a try.

[Nathan Say]

Do singles with 1-2mins between each one.

[Guest Reverend]

Justa's actual routine was meant to be done with some rest in between each rep, but he was talking about after one has worked up to a considerable weight.  I'm only starting out with about four pounds on this thing, with the intention of going up one pound a week.

Therefore, I'm doing these as a single set, with a two-rep increase each day.  When I get to a weight where I cannot complete subsequent repetitions, that is when I'll begin taking rests between reps, and continuing until I get the required number of reps for that day.  

It's important to start at a relatively low weight to build a foundation, and be patient.  As the weeks go by, the weight and the effort both increase.  It's not necessary to take any appreciable amount of time to rest between reps until you get to a weight that is pretty difficult.

[paul valpreda]

Thanks for the clarification. I was treating the reps as singles and taking a rest in between each one. I'll try it this way for a bit and see how it goes.

[Guest Reverend]

Great, let me know how it goes.  I'm using this same progression on both a keg lifting program (partially filled with water, adding a half gallon each week) and with thick handled reverse curls.  So I do the same number of repetions each week.  Alan Calvert said in "Super Strength" that reverse grip curls were an excellent test of hand and forearm strength.  

This is all experimentation, of course, to see how it goes.  The keg lifting thing is really something, though.  I can feel progress from week to week, although none of this puts me any closer to closing grippers.

[Guest 103-1023791186]

Hello Reverend,

Have just acquired myself a titans telegraph key,do you use it

with your thumbs on the top or bottom,or both,also do you use it 1 handed or 2 handed,have you noticed wether or not,it makes you better at plate pinching.Any tips would be greatly appreciated.