first run with TB Gladiator

[tacvam]

Hi, I'm excited for this. I am a newbie with little strength base. I did about 4 months of compound lifts (linear progression) over last year, not consistent. Adding weight every session was hard and I suspect that made me inconsistent. Tactical barbell with more relaxed increments sounded like a good one. I might not make the fastest strength gains, but I believe I can be consistent with this. I did a 8 week base building and I went from hating my 5k runs, totally gassing out to doing a half marathon still hating but confident that I can run if I have to. I'm in the seventh week running gladiator with Back squat, OHP, and chinups as accessory. I will retest after 2 more weeks. I'm not a big fan of working out or spending time in the gym. I just do it because health and aesthetics.

My starting weight on 16th July 2016 is 66kg and I'm almost 26yrs old and 5'8" tall. I estimate about 15% bf when I started. My starting 1RM are

Squat: 84kgs (on a smith machine not going below parallel).
OHP: 37kg
Chinups: Was able to do 6,5,3,3 reps of BW chins, again realized later wasn't doing full ROM

Now, I try to go as low as I can on squats ( way below parallel) and I'll be happy if my 1 RM stays the same as my half rep smith squats. I bike to the gym (10km each way thrice a week and swim about 20 mins after my gym session). I run a 10k once a week. This is all the cardio I do.

[tacvam]

I did my retests yesterday after 9 weeks of running gladiator. I must say I'm happy with the results.

Squat: 84kg on smith machine half reps --> 100kg barbell squats going quite below parallel
OHP : 37kg --> 45 kg (quite happy with this one)
chinups : 6 --> 9 will start doing weighted chinups now!
I put on about 4lb (144lb -> 148lb) and my waist narrowed about 0.5 inch. So I'm guessing its all the good weight and I'm on the right path. I was not anal about my diet, just tried to eat healthy and get some protein. I probably could have made better progress counting calories etc. but I have found this takes over my life and isn't really sustainable.

What I like the most is I can easily follow the program and get results without it consuming my entire life! I will start adding Deadlifts once a week to this program. I'll be happy if I can get to 115kg Squat, 52.5 kg OHP and 27.5 Kg weighted chin ups without increasing my waist size after the next run of Gladiator (9 more weeks)

[Train_Hard_Live_Easy]

Theyre great results...... haven't come across 'Gladiator' if I'm honest.... must have been in an earlier edition of the book.

Bravo Zulu, mate

[Barkadion]

Theyre great results...... haven't come across 'Gladiator' if I'm honest.... must have been in an earlier edition of the book.

Bravo Zulu, mate

How is that possible not to come across that http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/????

[Train_Hard_Live_Easy]

How is that possible not to come across that http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0172495/????

[DocOctagon]

I did my retests yesterday after 9 weeks of running gladiator. I must say I'm happy with the results.

Squat: 84kg on smith machine half reps --> 100kg barbell squats going quite below parallel
OHP : 37kg --> 45 kg (quite happy with this one)
chinups : 6 --> 9 will start doing weighted chinups now!
I put on about 4lb (144lb -> 148lb) and my waist narrowed about 0.5 inch. So I'm guessing its all the good weight and I'm on the right path. I was not anal about my diet, just tried to eat healthy and get some protein. I probably could have made better progress counting calories etc. but I have found this takes over my life and isn't really sustainable.

What I like the most is I can easily follow the program and get results without it consuming my entire life! I will start adding Deadlifts once a week to this program. I'll be happy if I can get to 115kg Squat, 52.5 kg OHP and 27.5 Kg weighted chin ups without increasing my waist size after the next run of Gladiator (9 more weeks)

Nice work! Did you have any issues with the Gladiator volume?

[tacvam]

Theyre great results...... haven't come across 'Gladiator' if I'm honest.... must have been in an earlier edition of the book.

Bravo Zulu, mate

Thanks , I don't have the latest edition. I believe it is same as operator with a higher volume, 5 sets in place of 3. Since my lifts are all really low, I figured I would start with Gladiator and see how long I can keep up.

[tacvam]

Nice work! Did you have any issues with the Gladiator volume?

Not really, I had to push a little on 80% weeks, it was the hardest but it got easier after that! Again my lifts are all pretty low!

[tacvam]

Hello fellow TBers

I wasn't updating my logs here but I'm consistent with my next run of gladiator. Been going at it thrice a week. Now in week-3.
I found 80% week was very hard and I could not finish 5 sets on back squat. So I dialed down my 1rm from 100kg to 95kg and pushing on with the program with this new max. I must admit my diet got worse because of some work related stress.

My plan is to continue till week 6 with reduced 1rm on back squat and increase it upto 100kg 1rm from week 6 onwards till week 9 or 12 before another retest. Does it sound good?

Cheers!

[nickgoldma]

Best of luck. I really look forward to reading this. Gladiator is a fun program if you really enjoy lifting, for sure. Best of luck.