TacticalBarbell.com

Hi guys

I wanted to clarify the strength training portion of the base building of TBII of the Strength-First template

In TBII it mentions that if you're doing strength-first to just swap max strength for SE and vice-versa so I'd be doing 5 weeks of maximal/barbell training and 3 weeks of SE training at the end.

Then it says as a guideline to consider when incorporating maximal strength work to use a 90% training max as taught in 5/3/1 and to use that training max for the entire 8 week block.

So is it 5 weeks of maximal training and 3 weeks of SE or is it 8 weeks of maximal strength work?

If it's for the entire 8 week block then I'm a little confused about the percentages.

It says to use a 90% training max as taught by Jim Wendler in 5/3/1. Does this mean each workout I'll use 90% of my max for each of my compound lifts?

I'm just a little confused as to how that works and in terms of sets and reps if it's based on 5/3/1.

When I looked at the Fighter Template in TBI it's:
Week 1: 75%
Week 2: 80%
Week 3: 90%
Week 4: 75%
Week 5: 80%
Week 6: 90%

If I was to follow this, could I do it like this?:
Week 7: 75%
Week 8: 80%

Sorry if my question is complicated. I mainly just want to know how to do the strength-first template properly and what percentages, sets and reps to use.

Thanks
Tom

Hi Tom, the standard strength-first approach is 5 weeks max strength & E followed by 3 weeks SE & HIC. It's recommended that you use a training max for the 5 weeks of max-strength work.

The template itself has nothing to do with 531, rather the concept of the training max (using 90% of your true max) was made popular by Wendler in the book 531. It's a fairly common practice in the PL community.

If you can bench 100lbs one time only, then 100lbs = true max. 90lbs = training max.
If you're using a TM then weeks that call for 70% mean 70% of 90lbs (your TM).

BlackPyjamas wrote:Hi Tom, the standard strength-first approach is 5 weeks max strength & E followed by 3 weeks SE & HIC. It's recommended that you use a training max for the 5 weeks of max-strength work.

The template itself has nothing to do with 531, rather the concept of the training max (using 90% of your true max) was made popular by Wendler in the book 531. It's a fairly common practice in the PL community.

If you can bench 100lbs one time only, then 100lbs = true max. 90lbs = training max.
If you're using a TM then weeks that call for 70% mean 70% of 90lbs (your TM).

Hi Black Pyjamas

Thanks for clearing that up. So what percentages, sets and reps would I use for weeks 1-5?

What strength template is prescribed for regular BB? Fighter. That doesn't change whether it's strength-first or standard.