TacticalBarbell.com

Hello,

Looking for some advise. I started TB with Fighter template in December. Below is my estimated 1 rep max at the beginning and end of the cycle. Overall happy with results from this cycle. Wished bench and deadlift went up a little more but overall good cycle.
12/19/16 3/12/17 Gain
Squat 255 285 +30
Bench 205 210 +5
Barbell Row 175 185 +10
Deadlift (1xweek 1 work set) 275 295 +20

Ran Operator for 9 weeks and when I retested this morning I made no gains in any of my lifts. I tried lifting all my maxes (1 rep maxes from 312/17) and only was able to do 1 rep. I ran Fighter for 10 weeks because I wanted to try Operator but at the time didn't have more than 2 days per week to lift. Stopped Operator at 9 weeks because we are PCSing to Germany next month and my gym is about to get packed up to move.

1. Do you think cutting the cycles shorter than 12 weeks may have been the reason for not making gains on this cycle? Started working with 5 sets for first three weeks trying to get more practice but dropped back to 3. Also, my last workout was Monday, went TDY until Saturday and retested this morning so I had 5 days off before retesting.

2. I was planning on running base building since I'm getting ready to PCS to Germany and wont have my gym and to get me used to doing unit PT again. Right now the unit I'm in we do PT on our own. When I hit the lifting portion of base building I was going to use Fighter template but with a 80% training max to help ease back into the lifting then use continuation protocols of 12 weeks in length.

I'm about to turn 40 in July and my background in lifting has been Stuart McRobert, Brooks Kubik and John Christy type of routines where lifts are generally trained once per week with microloading.

Thanks for any advice/comments.

Chris

Chris, I can't speak to your next phase, but my suggestion when you get back to Max Strength work would be to go to forced progression. I made that switch with Op I/A, and it has worked very well for me. If it were me, I wouldn't retest until I had to or until you could not force progression any more. I think at that point, you would find that strength had increased and that your strength base would feel more solid. But that's just my $.02.

mikhou

Just stick to forced progression like Mikhou suggests. Retest has its place, when coming back from a long layoff or in between different phases, but in general forced progression is much more efficient. Especially if you're not a rank novice.

When this happened to me I recalculated my TDEE and realized I was undereating by hundreds of calories. I began making progress again when I started tracking and making myself eat to my calorie goal. Are you eating enough and tracking?

Thanks for the responses. I think I will try forced progression. I didn't think I was advanced enough to need that yet but it makes sense.

As for tracking calories. I am horrible at it and I actually need to lose weight so it would be beneficial. I weight 210 and would like to get back into the 190s and drop some of this gut. I went to the TDEE website and it calculated my TDEE at 2604 which is a little higher than what I thought it would be.

Chris

-Your initial improvements were likely neural. The longer you're in this game the slower improvements come. You have to find other ways to improve. If you could improve the same amount you did your first cycle every time, you'd be the strongest person on the planet. The body just doesn't work like that.

-Agreed on forced progression. I think retesting is a poor way to progress. I think if you need to regress,like after an injury, it's a good way to go. Slow and steady forced progression is superior.

-I don't understand how you're doing 10-12-whatever week cycles. Unless you're doing I/A or mini-blocks, all cycles are 6 weeks long. Personally, I'd never do a cycle longer than 6 weeks. I actually prefer the 3 week mini-blocks (4 with a deload).

Green2Blue wrote:-Your initial improvements were likely neural. The longer you're in this game the slower improvements come. You have to find other ways to improve. If you could improve the same amount you did your first cycle every time, you'd be the strongest person on the planet. The body just doesn't work like that.

-Agreed on forced progression. I think retesting is a poor way to progress. I think if you need to regress,like after an injury, it's a good way to go. Slow and steady forced progression is superior.

-I don't understand how you're doing 10-12-whatever week cycles. Unless you're doing I/A or mini-blocks, all cycles are 6 weeks long. Personally, I'd never do a cycle longer than 6 weeks. I actually prefer the 3 week mini-blocks (4 with a deload).

I was using the retest method for the cycle that I am referring to. I believe TB states a minimum of 6 weeks before a retest and recommended running 12 weeks before retesting. I ran 9 weeks on Operator and retested before the 12 week mark because I had to tear my gym apart to get it ready to pack up with household goods. I do like the idea of forced progression and plan on doing that every 6 weeks once I'm done with BB.

Not an expert, so take it for what it's worth, but I think the fact that you did 5 sets instead of 3 for the first three weeks probably held you back.

Operator is a lot of lifting, and you may not have been giving yourself enough recovery when doing 5 sets.

You may also have been just having a bad day on test day (tired/not nourished enough/mentally somewhere else) it happens.