TacticalBarbell.com

About me:
I am currently AD AF in a non combat role. I found TB while browsing /r/fitness and decided to give both books a read. I think KB has put together a great set of tools for the functional athlete. These books have come into my life at the perfect time as I hope to transition into a LEO role post military next year. I will admit that I have neglected training my body until about 7 months ago during my last deployment where I found the gym was just the place I needed to be. To sum it up, I had increased my strength marginally(mostly from newb gains) and all about neglected my endurance until it was time to get ready for my PFT. I am a very weak runner and the TB approach to conditioning has been a great tool so far to move me in the right direction.

Base Building:
I have completed all 8 weeks of the tactical law enforcement protocol BB at the end of TBII. I really didn't realize how much it was working until about week 7 when I completed a 45 minute run and felt like I still had gas in the tank. Before BB a 45 minute run wasn't even imaginable for me. I think I could run BB more efficiently a lot of my LSS days through week 4-7 were not restricted to inside on the treadmill due to weather. I am currently at ~4200 ft elevation and running on the treadmill really holds me back compared to LSS outside. I am thinking I will run another BB cycle about the same time next year depending on how my schedule looks.

Test Week
Going to be testing on Wednesday and will update with results
TM I used during BB were:
Squat:200
BP:170
WPU:BW
(conservative guestimates)

Current TMs Calculator
(4/5/2017)
Bodyweight:183
BP:195 SQ:237 WPU:227 DL:245
(6/12/2017)
BP:210 SQ: 258 WPU: 237 DL:255

Continuation:
Operator/Black. (4/8/2017)

Goals:
-Stay Consistent. Don't skip workouts. Can't make progress if you don't do the work.
-Decrease my 1.5Mi time. Official PFT will happen early May.
-I am not sure what kind of strength increases I am going to see. I am not experienced enough to make an estimated guess. I plan on re testing after 6 weeks and setting new goals after seeing results.

Looking forward to seeing your updates and results!

Test day today. Overall I am pretty happy about it. Some results were expected, and some I surprised myself. I went in a little hungry because I didn't eat all of my lunch but the hunger didn't hit me until the end of the session. Here is how each lift played out.

Current BW: 183
Bench:
185x2 TM: 195
I kind of expected that this is where I would be at. This is where I was at roughly at the end of my last deployment when I was benching twice a week doing PPL. I actually had one more rep but it was sloppy so I am choosing not to count it. Overall I am happy with this and I can't wait to see it progress.

Pull Up:
183+25x3 TM: 227
I am very surprised with this one. My first "warm up set" I told myself that I would see if I could get to 10 strict pull ups. I knocked out 10 and I felt like I had way more in the tank so I decided to give weighted pull ups a go. Did +15 x5 with ease and decided to bump it up to +25. Knocked out three good ones plus one more sloppy. Decided to not count the sloppy rep. Not quite sure where this pull up strength came from.

Squat:
225x2 TM:237
I think I had more in the tank for this one. I haven't pushed my squat hard enough in the past year IMO so this was more weight than I was used to moving. I believe I started way to conservatively with my working sets and did not get to 225 until my fourth weight increase. I think if I would have started my first working set higher I could of hit a bit bigger number. Nothing lost though, I predict this TM will still bring me very positive strength gains.

Deadlift:
TM:245
I am very happy with this one despite the seemingly low number. I have not deadlifted in over a year and I did absolutely zero deadlifting during base building. Last time I had deadlifted my working sets were around ~185. Realizing that this was a core exercise I knew that I had to incorporate it into my continuation. I had watched a very useful how to deadlift video the night before that played a big part of making me comfortable. 225 went up very easy and 245 was right where I felt comfortable. My ego got to me and I loaded 275 but my back was having none of that. I think this lift will shoot up after further training in continuation.

Waiting to see how my mock PFT goes this weekend before I build a continuation protocol. Not quite sure what my priorities will be until I see how my 1.5mi run turns out.

Great write-up and summary, looking forward to following this.

Block20GoesBoom wrote:
Pull Up:
183+25x3 TM: 227
I am very surprised with this one. My first "warm up set" I told myself that I would see if I could get to 10 strict pull ups. I knocked out 10 and I felt like I had way more in the tank so I decided to give weighted pull ups a go. Did +15 x5 with ease and decided to bump it up to +25. Knocked out three good ones plus one more sloppy. Decided to not count the sloppy rep. Not quite sure where this pull up strength came from.

Did you have any pulling exercises in your SE cluster?

TangoZero wrote:Great write-up and summary, looking forward to following this.

Block20GoesBoom wrote:
Pull Up:
183+25x3 TM: 227
I am very surprised with this one. My first "warm up set" I told myself that I would see if I could get to 10 strict pull ups. I knocked out 10 and I felt like I had way more in the tank so I decided to give weighted pull ups a go. Did +15 x5 with ease and decided to bump it up to +25. Knocked out three good ones plus one more sloppy. Decided to not count the sloppy rep. Not quite sure where this pull up strength came from.

Did you have any pulling exercises in your SE cluster?

SE circuit was KBs recommended Tactical law enforcement circuit: KB Swings, Push-Ups, Goblet squats, Dumbbell Rows, Back Extensions, and Crunches.

So dumbbell rows would be my only pull. I was doing that with a 35 pound dumbbell the whole time.

I think I'm going to start work on building an excel tracking template. The one that I found I didn't really like and there wasn't enough tracking involved. We will see what I come up with, I need to touch up on my excel skills anyways. If anyone has an excel template already made I would love to see it!

Disappointed. Mock PFT didn't go as I would of liked but I have identified a weakness and I will train around it. I don't think the ~25 mph winds helped while running but that's besides the point. I thought fighter/black would be right for me but I'm going to go op/black instead. At my level I believe I will see strong increases in strength and conditioning. I think I have the benefit of being at a novice level where I can focus on both at the same time. I will just have to control my rest and recovery.

For my lifts I will be following standard operator protocol with 4 sets each. 1 set of dead lifts every workout.
also.

For conditioning fast 5 tempo runs will be a staple with at least one a week. Will be mixing up other HICS in also for my second HIC day. I planon utilizing 600m resets, BOO, Oxy debt 101. 45-60 Min LSS once a week

Another reason I am going to stick with operator is that I feel like I would get very burnt out on 3 HICS a week. I feel like my SE is at a good point right now so I could see myself doing 3 HIC + 1 E session a week. I know how much I hate conditioning and that would be tough for me to do for 6 weeks. I am also worried about that much conditioning being detrimental to my body after a longer period of time. I still have to do an official PFT next month and I would to make sure I am ready for that. Pushing myself on 2 HIC + 1 E session a week should get me where I need to be on my 1.5mi time and then I can re assess priorities next block.

OP W1D1

BP: 135. 4x5
WPU: BW 4x5
SQ: 165 4x5
DL: 175 1x5

Accessories:
20 Situps
20 Pushups
30sec RI
x3

Notes:
Felt good. Need to stay focused on squat form. I made a few reps harder than they needed to be. The accesory work is to keep me ready for my PFT next month. It was actually kind of tough after the workout. I think I am going to go down to 3 sets instead of 4. My main focus is going to be conditioning and I want to make sure I am 100 percent fresh for my runs. Will decide for sure tomorrow.

OP W1D2

Fast 5.

27:23

Notes:

Made a wrong turn!!!! Only ran 2.7 miles. Not disappointed at all though. I didn't stop my run at all and kept my pace solid the whole time. It was a challenge but I have to keep motivated. Next time I will push myself a little more and make sure I stay on the 5k loop!

Also, for sure going down to 3 sets from 4 on my strength day. I felt it in my legs for sure. Need to stay fresh for conditioning.

April 12th
W1D3

BP: 135
3x5
SQ:165
3x5
WP: BW
3x5
DL:175
1x5

Accessories:

Whoops, i forgot.