43 Week Tactical Barbell Plan

[tomcatflyer]

Hello all,

Long time fan, first time poster. I've read TB I & II and have been waiting for the perfect time to start what seems, by all accounts, to be an excellent program. Now is that perfect time.

Mission: Complete the "Commander's Challenge" that's part of the 2017 Army Run in Ottawa on September 17. The Challenge consists of a 5K followed immediately by a half marathon.

Current situation: My health and fitness is slightly above average but frankly I need to improve both my strength and my endurance. Shedding 15lbs or so wouldn't hurt either.

I want to do a better job internalizing my goals by focusing on the things within my control (i.e. Run a half marathon in two hours is outside my control. Not missing a single run all year is within my control. Losing 2lbs a week is outside my control. Not eating crap is within my control). As a result, my training plan and goals for the Commander's Challenge don't include fitness benchmarks, but rather a set number of specific workouts that need to be completed over the next 43 weeks. If I check off each workout each week, I'll consider my mission a success.

Anyone who is interested, can see the spreadsheet I'll be using to track my workouts here.

The plan consists of three Tactical Barbell Phases (and I've included some questions for you experts below, if you're willing to weigh in):

BASE BUILDING (November-December)
-8 weeks.
-3 'Class' sessions each week, 3 endurance sessions each week. ('Class' refers to a circuit training/Crossfit style gym I belong to. It's not exactly HIC, SE, max strengh, or E, but I enjoy it, it's great conditioning, and I don't want to pay for another gym membership until January when this one expires). I'll be travelling the last two weeks of December and will have access to a gym, so I'll do SE then.
It's not exactly base building, but it's good enough for me.

BLACK + Operator (January-April)
-16 weeks total.
-ADVICE NEEDED: I know I can benefit from 'newbie gains' if I do Stronglifts, progressively overloading each session. Is there any reason not to take this route?
-HIC and E to maintain endurance.
-Exact programming (i.e. lifts, easy weeks, etc to be factored in later)

GREEN - STANDARD (May-September)
-16 weeks total.
-ADVICE NEEDED: I plan to switch over to Fighter style periodization at this point. I assume I'll have maxed out my Stronglifts gains and my focus should really be on endurance anyways. Any thoughts on this?
-ADVICE NEEDED: In the last eight weeks, I'm thinking of doing the same SE session twice, plus one max strength session each week. It seems this is a good way to get the best of both worlds: more SE sessions than in the book, plus a max strength session to maintain and possibly even keep increasing strength. Does that make sense to you?

[DocOctagon]

Welcome Tomcat, great to have you on board.

One suggestion I'll make is to extend your Base Building phase out to 12 weeks being that your goals are running specific. The rest of it looks solid, the 3 group-ex sessions are fine.

I'm guessing you're probably fairly comfortable with high-volume weekly running, but in any case don't be afraid to pull back and take a day off here and there to avoid over-use/tendonitis/injury.

You might also want to have a look at the Speedwork article I just posted in the Member Articles section, might give you a few ideas.

[StayGrey]

In- looking forward to seeing your progress.

I don't see any issues with using SL after coming off Base...probably a good time to take advantage of linear progression. Keep in mind at some point it'll get difficult to sustain SL sessions along with lots of running. When that happens you'll want to make the switch.

[tomcatflyer]

Welcome Tomcat, great to have you on board.

One suggestion I'll make is to extend your Base Building phase out to 12 weeks being that your goals are running specific. The rest of it looks solid, the 3 group-ex sessions are fine.

I'm guessing you're probably fairly comfortable with high-volume weekly running, but in any case don't be afraid to pull back and take a day off here and there to avoid over-use/tendonitis/injury.

You might also want to have a look at the Speedwork article I just posted in the Member Articles section, might give you a few ideas.

Thanks for the kind welcome - and the excellent advice! Just read your article, and it made me realize I'm going to need to be a bit more sophisticated with my running plan after base building. Do you have any advice about what type of running sessions to do each week?

In- looking forward to seeing your progress.

I don't see any issues with using SL after coming off Base...probably a good time to take advantage of linear progression. Keep in mind at some point it'll get difficult to sustain SL sessions along with lots of running. When that happens you'll want to make the switch.

Very good point. I was thinking of doing 3X5 to make it a bit more sustainable.

[tomcatflyer]

Ran a 10K race today. Finished in 59:21 and frankly found it tougher than expected. Good motivation to be disciplined and work hard over the next 43 weeks!

I'm looking forward to starting this week. Click here to see my plan - any comments or critiques are appreciated! For anyone interested in following along, I'll plan to update at least once a week.

[tomcatflyer]

Week one in the bag. Hit all my workouts: 3 circuit classes, 2 30min E, 1 60min E. Workload seems manageable, although I wouldn't want to add anything extra. Diet was a 7/10.

[Jkk89]

Good Luck

[tomcatflyer]

Good Luck

Thank you!

[K.B.]

Great to have you on board Tomcat, looks like you've already received some solid advice here.

[tomcatflyer]

Great to have you on board Tomcat, looks like you've already received some solid advice here.

Very solid advice - grateful for the community!