TacticalBarbell.com

Hey guys!

First of all i wanna say that Tactical Barbell was without a doubt the best purchase in my entire
life because so many pieces are finally clicking. I basically devoured TB1 & 2.

I should say that i probably suffer from paralysis analysis. My friends
know me for that guy that changes his program every 2 weeks because of some new information.
Tactical Barbell changed that, luckily. Just finished my Base Building and will continue with Fighter + Black.

I'm a male police officer in my mid 20's that wants to join the local Swat in the
next 1-2 years.
Besides my service, my passion is MMA (Muay Thai / Luta Livre). I spend about 5-7 hours a week
training in martial arts. I love to progress there at a good pace but it is not my intention
to go beyond being an amateur.


To join the local Swat where i'm living, you have to pass the PFT first.
It consists of 5 different sections that are tested one after each it other.

1st
Bench Press, 80% of the bodyweight (8 Reps minimum)
Strict Pull Ups (8 Reps minimum)

2nd
A parcour that includes sprinting, agility ladders,
horizontal bars, climbing a rope etc. that needs
to be finished in 1:30min max. So its basically about speed.

3rd
A 90min circiut consisting of sprints, crawling,
arm circles, burpees, push ups and so on to test your will and see if you can push through.

4th
6km run in 30min maximum (~3,7 miles)

5th
A bit of climbing inside of a car park (this has the least intensity)

Its obviously a lot of work and you shouldnt just be able to finish it but also have
a respective time in all of those disciplines.

So logically, after the Base Building, the obvious choice should be Operator + Black.

Now to my questions:

1.
The PFT requires a lot of stamina and durability. Can pure Black improve my work capacity in such
a way that this is beyond managable or should i alternate with Green since the workload on that
PFT seems so massive (3-4 hours of working)? Is that dependend on my current level or is there a general answer?

2.
I mentionend my love for MMA and obviously Fighter was created for martial artists.
Fighter is the way to go for MMA, Operator for Swat. Since its my wish to work and progress in both fields, would you say it is entirely possible to rock the PFT even though i'm using Fighter and simultaneously training in MMA? How much of a detriment would be 2 strength sessions vs 3 if you look at the selection test?

I should probably prioritize one or the other but the truth is that i cant because i love both things equally

As im seeing it there a two options,

a) go for Fighter and progress strength at a slower pace constantly.

b) alternate between Fighter and Operator
-> doing Fighter for 12 weeks with 4 MMA trainings / week
-> after 12 weeks going for Operator and reduce MMA to 2-3 trainings / week
-> repeat

i dont intend to go for MMA as my conditioning, the Black protocol will work alongside.
Some stats about me:

6'3, 200lbs
260 lbs Squat
190 lbs Bench
8 Pull-Ups
5k 22:00
10k 48:00

Obviously i need to improve my lifting and running stats by quite a bit but would also love to keep my MMA training at least 2-3 times per week.

i'd like to hear your opinion and try to help me out

Maybe i should just shut my mind up and do the work.

Thanks in advance, hope it was all understandable and forgive me my OCD.

I'd first recommend trying the whole test, or as close as you can, to see how far off you are from those goals.

I used a 1rm calculator and it looks like you are exactly at what you need for the bench press. You will probably want to progress that since on the day of the event you won't exactly be fresh and could miss a rep.

The run has to come down too obviously and that might need to be prioritized over the MMA.

I would recommend base building if you haven't done it recently to help with that run time. I'd pair that with either Fighter or Op, but maybe just focusing on weighted pull-ups and bench pressing. Your arobic base needs to improve a lot and the max strength not as much.

If you're on the right path and can get in a few hours of MMA a week DO IT! Do what you love and what makes you happy. It might help with the 90 minutes of pain you mentioned. If it interferes with your progress though, you know what to do.

As far as the obstacles and all that go, you might need to treat it as a skill or practice, maybe every Saturday.

I also reread your post and missed the part about green vs black. I think if I was in this situation I would continue the LSS runs for 12 weeks or more if I had the time and then switch to black with fast 5 and 600 resets.

I have found that everything works a lot better if I keep a long LSS run in my plan every week. "Black Professional" is what he calls this in the books, if I remember correctly.

It seems to be a bit of a compromise between Black and Green. Works for me.

WallBilly wrote:I have found that everything works a lot better if I keep a long LSS run in my plan every week. "Black Professional" is what he calls this in the books, if I remember correctly.

It seems to be a bit of a compromise between Black and Green. Works for me.

Second this. Another beauty of it is simple magic of 30min LSS. You can always use it if you need a refresher or more recovery or you too beat for HIC. It is always there for you. Just my experience.

Thanks for the Input guys!
I was already starting to think about Black Professional as my choice to go. Seems to be a perfect fit for my schedule and goals.

Tym thanks for the lenghty answer and advice, that helped. I might not be ready to commit to green yet though.
After critically looking at myself i figured, that a lot more strength and running speed on shorter distances is needed in my current situation, even though the numbers are not horribly bad.
As you suggested i will test the PFT and see where my weaknesses are at

I will go with Fighter + Black Professional straight for some months, do the work and dont worry about it too much. After that im gonna evaluate everything else since i have a least one year to prepare.
E will consist of LSS running purely and i might be able to sneak in a second E every week over time if energy permits. I hope to steadily improve my aerobic base, even it is slower than using Green. MMA will fit in as much as i can.

- Do some of you feel that Martial Arts gave you a significant E adaptation?

When im reading over the text it is a lot of „I“ „me“ „my“ etc , sounds so selfish. The truth is i cant write it smoother since english is not my native language

You might want to read some:


https://www.reddit.com/r/tacticalbarbel ... h=a79994ab

https://www.reddit.com/r/tacticalbarbel ... h=8422a8fd

https://www.reddit.com/r/tacticalbarbel ... h=66a38cbf

And just search through forum and Reddit. It has been discussed several times.

Kaito wrote: i have a least one year to prepare.

You are golden then, keep up the work and you will do just fine, you are almost there already.

If you are a year or two off don’t stress. Enjoy your mma and build some strength and conditioning on the side.
I am in a similar boat. I am choosing to enjoy my bjj and build up my base fitness for a while.

I know my weaknesses and I will focus my training towards that. 6-8 weeks out I will peak for the fitness test events and train specifically.

Get yourself to that 85% fitness level to allow you the volume to train for and complete those tests. Tactical barbell as is will achieve that.When you get closer focus on specificity to cover the exact requirements to ace the tests.

Only thing I have to add- is I've successfully used TB to make it onto my state's SWAT team. I started with BB, switched to Black PRO for a while, then went back to BB about 6 months out to prime the aerobic system, and the last few months before the selection I turned it more into sport specific training- still following TB principles.

Example- I knew I'd likely be wearing full kit for our selection, so I did hill sprints 2x a week in a vest. I also started doing a lot more grinder style workouts carrying sandbags/ Kb's/ bear crawls and stuff that I anticipated to see at our selection. Lots of burpees in full kit. Our selection is a week long and out at a Ranch- thus I didn't anticipate much structured gym PT. We had some sleds, pull up bars, rescue dummys, tires, ropes etc, but there was no barbell or "gym" in sight.

Game it to what your selection will be focused on, and plan your training accordingly. Do they want a fast 5 mile run time? Or is it can you carry Bob who weighs 250 without kit when he's shot and drag him off the X. Ideally a mix of both, but again- each course is different and game it according to what you know the course entails.