TacticalBarbell.com

Hey everyone!

I'm successfully finished basebuilding, and I'm thrilled with the results. Resting HR has dropped from 85-88, to 64 as measured by my doctor last week, so solid progress I'd say?

Anyway, my Fiancee is starting to lift 4-5x a week, I'm wanting to gain strength across a few lifts, develop a more muscular look, and possibly get back into BJJ. Is there a way for me to structure Zulu to accomplish this and still slowly progress my baseline cardio? I'm a little lost as there seems to be a bit of opposition within my goals.

I was planning on using a hybrid cluster utilizing front squats and SLDL to aid in recovery as back squats and traditional deadlifts may be too taxing for what I want. Ideally what I would like to do is something similar to below:

Monday - FS/OHP/Pullup
Tuesday - E/BJJ
Wednesday - SLDL/BP/Row + Short HIC
Thursday - E/BJJ
Friday - FS/OHP/Pullup
Saturday - SLDL/BP/Row + Short HIC
Sunday - Rest

My long-term goals are as follows:

OHP 135x5
BP 225x5
Squat 315x5
DL 405x5
20 Pullups
Maintain my BW of 170, but lower BF% from roughly 16% to 12%.

I think your goals are reasonable at your age. My suggestion: think about cutting out the things u do not need to give you the recovery resources.

Basis your goals, I would drop HIC completely (your BJJ sessions will give you the sport specific conditioning), and cut E down to 1x per week. Do E work within your annual or semi annual basebuild.

I run a similar protocol for most of the year but I aim to do 2x aerobic basebuilds a year - the HIC continuation I will only do it once.
Eg.
M: 2 lifts
T: BJJ + pullups or chinups
W: option rest day or 1-2 lifts
T: BJJ + pullups or chinups
F: 2 lifts
S: REST
S: option BJJ or else lite E.

Your cluster will be bigger than mine as our goals differ (I think of myself as a grappler who lifts rather than the other way around).

godjira1 wrote:I think your goals are reasonable at your age. My suggestion: think about cutting out the things u do not need to give you the recovery resources.

Basis your goals, I would drop HIC completely (your BJJ sessions will give you the sport specific conditioning), and cut E down to 1x per week. Do E work within your annual or semi annual basebuild.

I run a similar protocol for most of the year but I aim to do 2x aerobic basebuilds a year - the HIC continuation I will only do it once.
Eg.
M: 2 lifts
T: BJJ + pullups or chinups
W: option rest day or 1-2 lifts
T: BJJ + pullups or chinups
F: 2 lifts
S: REST
S: option BJJ or else lite E.

Your cluster will be bigger than mine as our goals differ (I think of myself as a grappler who lifts rather than the other way around).

Thank you,

I appreciate the input, and I think myself the same, I just have to be careful I’m the mats these days after many of the injuries I’ve sustained.

When I start ramping up the rolling again I’ll most likely drop to fighter Bangkok with a heavier cluster or operator.

Years and years ago I utilized Westside, and subsequently 5/3/1 to great success, so it’s hard to break myself of the mindset that more is better with how accessory heavy both frameworks are.

Not to mention, ramping up to max sets every week isn’t exactly conducive to CNS recovery in my mind.

Those are solid lift goals for your body weight. Doable depending on your height. But I would be cautious of the total volume of work you’re doing.
Are you saying E or BJJ or both?
A lot depends on the BJJ classes you are in. When I was competing in no-gi submission grappling I trained at a martial arts school that was very skill oriented and almost a ‘casual’ workout. The other place I trained at was a fight gym. I rolled with a group of Big10 wrestlers 15 years junior. Those workouts were hard and I didn’t need, nor could I tolerate, additional SE or HIC work.

CD51 wrote:Those are solid lift goals for your body weight. Doable depending on your height. But I would be cautious of the total volume of work you’re doing.
Are you saying E or BJJ or both?
A lot depends on the BJJ classes you are in. When I was competing in no-gi submission grappling I trained at a martial arts school that was very skill oriented and almost a ‘casual’ workout. The other place I trained at was a fight gym. I rolled with a group of Big10 wrestlers 15 years junior. Those workouts were hard and I didn’t need, nor could I tolerate, additional SE or HIC work.

Definitely not both. It will be one or the other. Depending on my schedule it may be two days of BJJ, 2 days of very casual E, or 1 day of each.

The days where I can make it to BJJ I’d drop HIC for the week depending on how hard the session will be, but I don’t roll hard these days.

I’ve got too many injuries to comfortably push myself in a combat sport, so much of my game is defensive/counter based.

I’m taking this week as an off week with active recovery since I’m really run down and I’m really taking stock as to whether TB Strength is right for me with the barbells.

To date I’ve had a torn sacrotuberous ligament, multiple shoulder separations, torn meniscus, and some other nastys, so there is a concern revolving around barbell work, Rom, fixed planes of motions, and my preexisting injuries.

JudoRob wrote: I was planning on using a hybrid cluster utilizing front squats and SLDL to aid in recovery as back squats and traditional deadlifts may be too taxing for what I want. Ideally what I would like to do is something similar to below:

Monday - FS/OHP/Pullup
Tuesday - E/BJJ
Wednesday - SLDL/BP/Row + Short HIC
Thursday - E/BJJ
Friday - FS/OHP/Pullup
Saturday - SLDL/BP/Row + Short HIC
Sunday - Rest

My long-term goals are as follows:

OHP 135x5
BP 225x5
Squat 315x5
DL 405x5
20 Pullups
Maintain my BW of 170, but lower BF% from roughly 16% to 12%.

I'm not sure exactly what you got going on here but it isn't quite TB. I don't recognize the strength template, and the conditioning protocol is a little messy.

Regarding the conditioning protocol, personal work capacity and experience vary- but it looks to me like you're biting off more than you can chew. You've got 2 HICs and 2 Es every week. Again, not quite a TB protocol, but not totally unacceptable either since the protocols are minimums. If you're a beginner though, chances are you're going to find this challenging to sustain long term. Get more experience first - take the time to build up your work capacity.

Now look at your goals and compare them to your program. You've got 'squat 315x5' but nowhere in your schedule is a single back squat to be seen. Not very efficient.

This would be my advice, take it or leave it-

Run Operator with the standard BP/SQ/PU+DL 1 x week. If you build a decent bench press#, you'll automatically hit that 135 x 5 OHP goal without doing a single OHP. 135 x 5 is not a crazy benchmark. OHP'ng twice/BP once/ won't get you to your BP goal. BP'ng 3 times a week will get you to your BP goal and your OHP goal.

A strong conventional back squat will contribute to your deadlift goal. Deadlifting once a week shouldn't be taxing, if you're following the rest of the program correctly. If it is, scale back to 1 work set per week.

For conditioning, leave it at the 2 x E (BJJ). Stay with that for a few weeks and see how it feels and how you handle the workload. If you're feeling good- cautiously add in a HIC. Monitor for another few weeks. Add or subtract HIC as required.

K.B. wrote:

JudoRob wrote: I was planning on using a hybrid cluster utilizing front squats and SLDL to aid in recovery as back squats and traditional deadlifts may be too taxing for what I want. Ideally what I would like to do is something similar to below:

Monday - FS/OHP/Pullup
Tuesday - E/BJJ
Wednesday - SLDL/BP/Row + Short HIC
Thursday - E/BJJ
Friday - FS/OHP/Pullup
Saturday - SLDL/BP/Row + Short HIC
Sunday - Rest

My long-term goals are as follows:

OHP 135x5
BP 225x5
Squat 315x5
DL 405x5
20 Pullups
Maintain my BW of 170, but lower BF% from roughly 16% to 12%.

I'm not sure exactly what you got going on here but it isn't quite TB. I don't recognize the strength template, and the conditioning protocol is a little messy.

Regarding the conditioning protocol, personal work capacity and experience vary- but it looks to me like you're biting off more than you can chew. You've got 2 HICs and 2 Es every week. Again, not quite a TB protocol, but not totally unacceptable either since the protocols are minimums. If you're a beginner though, chances are you're going to find this challenging to sustain long term. Get more experience first - take the time to build up your work capacity.

Now look at your goals and compare them to your program. You've got 'squat 315x5' but nowhere in your schedule is a single back squat to be seen. Not very efficient.

This would be my advice, take it or leave it-

Run Operator with the standard BP/SQ/PU+DL 1 x week. If you build a decent bench press#, you'll automatically hit that 135 x 5 OHP goal without doing a single OHP. 135 x 5 is not a crazy benchmark. OHP'ng twice/BP once/ won't get you to your BP goal. BP'ng 3 times a week will get you to your BP goal and your OHP goal.

A strong conventional back squat will contribute to your deadlift goal. Deadlifting once a week shouldn't be taxing, if you're following the rest of the program correctly. If it is, scale back to 1 work set per week.

For conditioning, leave it at the 2 x E (BJJ). Stay with that for a few weeks and see how it feels and how you handle the workload. If you're feeling good- cautiously add in a HIC. Monitor for another few weeks. Add or subtract HIC as required.

Thank you, K.B., I really appreciate the response. I'll definitely take this to heart. It's been incredibly difficult to break from the mindset that more is better, especially since at the height of my lifting career I was often lifting heavy 6 days a week, which I admittedly paid a price for. The SLDL and Front Squat were put in place until I start to feel comfortable with Back Squatting and Conventional Deadlifts. I had a pretty bad injury years ago involving my lower back, so I've been shying away from those two particular lifts.