TacticalBarbell.com

I’m excited to join you all in training. I’m a senior in an Army commissioning program, headed to the Infantry Officer’s course in 5 months. We don’t do any mando PT here at my school if you’re above a certain fitness standard, so I have complete freedom to train as I wish until I report to the Infantry course.
Like many of you, I’ve spent the last several years jumping from program to program trying to find the ideal solution for getting freakishly strong and freakishly fast/durable at the same time, with no luck…either I get strong and slow or fast and weak. I’ve gone from marathon type training (nothing but miles) to Military Athlete (workouts were waaay too long, borderline overtraining, and called for stuff like frequent ruck-running which is just plain bad for you) to just now coming off of 8 months of Starting Strength.
I’m the strongest I’ve ever been in my life thanks to SS (still not that strong at all compared to a lot of you on here when you started TB), but since the Infantry course is coming up in half a year, it’s time to really hit the conditioning too - while still keeping the strength that I’ve gained. I’ve lost a good bit of my SE and E ability since I’ve been focusing so much on strength, so I’m hoping to not only get it back but also to crush where I was before. The Infantry course is very endurance based, but being strong is a huge bonus. After lots of digging on the internet, I discovered TB, bought the books, read them, and I think I’ve finally found the One – the end all be all training template for getting freakishly strong, fast, and durable.

Current:
Age 25, 5’11, 170 lbs

Pushups in 2 min: 60 (perfect, Ranger standard – chest to ground, locked elbows at top)
Situps in 2 min: 80
Pullups: 12
2 mi run: 14:00
Squat 1RM: 300 lbs
Bench 1RM: 230 lbs
Deadlift 1RM: 355 lbs
(1 RM's calculated based on actual 5RM’s, as suggested by the book)

Goals by August:
Ideally, minimal weight gain
Pushups in 2 min: 80 (perfect, Ranger standard – chest to ground, locked elbows at top)
Situps in 2 min: 100
Pullups: 20
2 mi run: 11:45
Squat 1RM: 340 lbs
Bench 1RM: 255 lbs
Deadlift 1RM: 425 lbs

I’ll be running BB for 6 weeks (Strength instead of SE), then move right into Fighter Bangkok/Green.

Strength cluster:
Squat
Bench
Pullups
Deadlift once a week

My goals seem doable to me in the next 5 months, but let me know if you think otherwise. I am eager to hear any feedback, criticisms, etc. I'll post as often as possible, but might only post once a week due to busy school schedule. Looking forward to training with you all, and getting into the best shape of my life.

Welcome!

My only feedback would be that your goals look a little optimistic to me in that time frame--specifically, putting 70 lbs on your deadlift while dropping your running time.

Speaking from a perspective of having been in your boots some 25 years ago...

Don’t waste any time or effort getting stronger until you hit your PT test goals. You should be maxing the PT test as a 2LT, that is the standard.

Do a BB block with squats, pushups, sit-ups and chins as your SE cluster. Work 2 mile runs into the mix. Your BB will be done when you can comfortably hit your goals, if that takes longer than 8 weeks so be it.

After that Fighter using the grunt cluster will work. Although you’ll probably want to bench, so maybe inclined. This will give you enough time and recovery reserve to continue to run and start rucking. Your warmup for each strength day will be 100 squats, push-up and sit-ups and 10 chins. You can partition the reps how you see fit. You should be able to max your PT test at any time, 100 pushups will be your warmup.

Again, don’t worry about strength gains. You will struggle to maintain them during the basic course just because you won’t have time to get to the gym. And whatever you have left will get sucked out of you during Ranger School. We can talk about that if you want?

Thanks for the replies and advice! VenomousCoffee, you're right - that goal is pretty optimistic. I put that number in there for Deadlift because it's 2.5x bodyweight, which is my ultimate goal. I don't see a need to be any stronger than that. However, I didn't even think about how it might be too ambitious while trying to get my run times down.


CD51, thank you for the advice, and thank you for serving. Trust me, I'm completely with you regarding "conditioning first, strength second." If my strength doesn't go up too much by the time I show up for BOLC, I won't be disappointed - it's more important to me that I meet my 2 mile time goal. However, I WILL be disappointed if I have losses in my squat and deadlift strength. If I don't gain any strength in the next 5 months, I won't be disappointed as long as I maintain my strength level AND meet my conditioning goals.

I also agree that maxing the PT test is the standard. For most of my time as a cadet, I've been able to do so (usually 75+ pushups, 85+ situps, 12:50 two mile) but every time I had to carry a casualty, roll with someone in the combatives room, or carry a 70+ pound ruck, I was always sucking. I couldn't squat 185 for even one rep. I got fed up and decided to hit strength.

I've taken what you've said into consideration and am deliberating between three alternatives. All of them involve strength, because I'm not yet convinced that I want to completely stop training strength while I base build.

1. Do one block of BB (strength, not SE, and using a training max for squats and deadlifts - 90% of true 1RM), immediately start doing what josephwales says to do here, and replace bench with pushups.
https://www.reddit.com/r/tacticalbarbel ... tion_prep/

2. Do one block of BB (strength, not SE, and using a training max for squats and deadlifts), do Fighter Bangkok/Green as written (but still with a training max for squats and deadlifts), and start doing what josephwales says to do starting 1 month out from BOLC. This way my upper body max strength won't be neglected for the next 5 months, yet I'll be able to get my pushups back up to a desirable point right before showing up and taking a PT test.

3. Just run BB over and over again as you said (strength, not SE, and using a training max for squats and deadlifts. Do the josephwales thing for my lifts). Do you think this will be enough to get my run time down, without HIC work?

I've never front squatted before, so I'm hoping that simply doing a training max on my squats will be light enough to not interfere with my running/rucking. I'd also love to talk about Ranger and Army stuff in general - maybe over private message?

I appreciate everyone's advice - please let me know what you think. I'm here to learn, so please tell me if I'm jacked up!