TacticalBarbell.com

Hi all,

A quick question on testing day for Zulu. Are people testing over two days or lumping it all into one day?

The first time I ran Zulu I used a BP/DL and OP/SQ cluster. I tested in one day and felt that the later lifts suffered due to fatigue. It took around 80-90 minute all in all. Just wondering if anyone has or would test over two days in this case?

Thanks,

SP

The times I've run Zulu in the past I've done both. I've tested over two days, and I've done it all in one go. Either way you're fine. I could be wrong but I think I remember reading in one of the books or a post that it's not a big deal testing when you're tired because it acts like a form of self-regulation. If you have a busy lifestyle chances are you'll be tired or fatigued for many of your workouts anyway, so testing when you're tired and losing a few lbs here or there isn't a big deal.

Thanks for the reply Geidi.

I have just tested over two days for this coming block. I feel it has served me better than testing on one day.

Coming off an OP block SQ/BP/PU (1 day DL x3) and can't believe the increases in some of my weights. My numbers were not great prior to this, with being only a few blocks in and having little training before that but in this last test I have increased 1RM's - DL by 20kg, BP by 13kg, SQ by 25kg(!) and OP by 9kg. All around a 20% increase against my previous numbers.

I'm inclined to say I didn't give it my all in the previous test day... but I felt that I did. I had come off a month of fasting at the time so this will have had an impact. But still I'm happy with these jumps despite that.

StillPushing wrote:Thanks for the reply Geidi.

I have just tested over two days for this coming block. I feel it has served me better than testing on one day.

Coming off an OP block SQ/BP/PU (1 day DL x3) and can't believe the increases in some of my weights. My numbers were not great prior to this, with being only a few blocks in and having little training before that but in this last test I have increased 1RM's - DL by 20kg, BP by 13kg, SQ by 25kg(!) and OP by 9kg. All around a 20% increase against my previous numbers.

I'm inclined to say I didn't give it my all in the previous test day... but I felt that I did. I had come off a month of fasting at the time so this will have had an impact. But still I'm happy with these jumps despite that.

So roughly 50lb+ on squat, and almost a 30lb increase on your bench? That's fantastic man, nice job! How many blocks did you do?

Thanks!

So far I have run BB, then 6 week block Zulu BP/DL & SQ/OP. Then ran two 6 week blocks of OP, but had a month of fasting between this time so lifts did not increase and ran sub-max Last block. Then this jump.

Like I said, light numbers compared so more establish lifters but I'm lifting my Bodyweight in BP and 1.5x for DL's. I'm happy with the progress... the TB method works just by sticking to the plan. Looking forward to the next 6 weeks of training. I'm followed the Black conditioning program from the last block too.

StillPushing wrote:light numbers compared so more establish lifters but I'm lifting my Bodyweight in BP and 1.5x for DL's.

I just want to say that you don't have to always look on to "establish lifters", really. Your achievements are your achievements by all means.

Besides, looking on you user-pic... Looks damn impressive!!

Great job StillPushing. Don't get too attached to the numbers - sometimes you'll have big jumps, little jumps, or no jumps at all. Just keep at it. Nice work.

KB

Barkadion wrote:I just want to say that you don't have to always look on to "establish lifters", really. Your achievements are your achievements by all means.

Besides, looking on you user-pic... Looks damn impressive!!

Haha thanks! And please forgive the typo's in the last post... posting from a phone is not the way to go

K.B. wrote:Great job StillPushing. Don't get too attached to the numbers - sometimes you'll have big jumps, little jumps, or no jumps at all. Just keep at it. Nice work.

KB

Thanks KB and sound advice. My next hurdle is building running into my conditioning. Using a rower and airdyne at the moment. TB is having a real positive impact on my life. And the forum is a great place to bounce off of one another for additional learning and experience. Truly standing on the shoulders of giants!

So gang, I'm two weeks into this new Zulu block and a few lessons have been learned...

• Given the big jump in numbers recently, I was definitely lifting sub-max for the last block and I still got stronger in the process.
• Lifting 70/80/90% of the new 1RM's feels a lot (lot!) heavier. To the point where I'm not confident hitting the next set of DL and SQ at 80% until i've given myself a good 4-5 mins rest before going again.
• I'm skipping HIC sessions due to time taken for lifting and energy levels. I wanted a strength focus for a while but I've gotten used to the healthy feeling of being an all-rounder, so this needs to change.
• Finally, squating has never been my strongest lift and I'm losing form in the last rep at 80% now. So here's the plan...

I'm going to run the remainder of this 6 week block with a TM of 90% and see how I get on. These numbers are still a better looking increase week on week against the previous block, compared to the big jump in 1RM numbers. If I feel comfortable after this, I would look to run 95% TM for the next 6 weeks before retesting. I will run 12 weeks at a time between retesting in the future.

SP