TacticalBarbell.com

Hi All.

First post here and have just started TB- Conditioning- Base Building this week (bought both conditioning and TB 3 books last week). Am on day 4 using the sample 17 week template and am liking what I see so far. I’m a full time desk jockey and am my main reason for training is I’m returning to martial arts (Hapkido with occasional BJJ) after a 5-6 year layoff and want to take my training more seriously, both martial arts and physical training. No doubt this is something that will help me immensely.

Some info about me:
Previous training-
Lifting Max- 180kg deadlift, 145kg squat, 90x5 bench, +30kg chin (most of these are from 2+ years ago unbelted- more recent maxes are 140x5 DL and 125x5 squat from two weeks ago.
Have never really done any cardio/endurance work outside of playing sport.

I’m 193cm and around 90kg. Don't have too much of an issue here although I wouldn't mind adding 5kgs to my frame. As per the suggestion in the book I've upped my cals as of this week to help with recovery and performance.

Goals-
Lifting Goals- 2xbw squat, 2.5xbw deadlift, 1.5xbw bench
Other Goals- be fit AF. I’ve been sport specific fit (playing basketball for 30+ years will do that) but have never been what I would consider fit. J-Madd’s post on Reddit “you can do more than you think” really hit home. I have harboured similar desires for a long time but have never had the cognitive capacity to put them together.

I am running the sample 17 week program as an entry point and will assess once I finish that to see where to go from there. Any advice, feedback or comments are welcome as I’m still getting my head around the material. Cheers.

Tactical Barbell
Base Building Phase (8 weeks)
23/07/2017
Week 1- Day 1- 12pm

Pre-workout- BCAAs & apple juice (will not make this mistake again- had 40g of sugar after coming off a month with little to no sugar- not my brightest idea)

Warm Up- 3 min skipping
Shoulder & Hip Flexor

SE Circuit- 3x20 reps @ 25kg
Push Press, Front Squat, Row, Bench Press, Shrugs, RDL

All sets done unbroken with 30s rest between exercises and 2 min rest between sets.
May have gone too light here.

Couch stretch – 2min
Elevated piriformis stretch – 2 min each side

Lots and lots of food today. Finished the Whole30. Had a burger, chips and two beers and felt awesome. Seriously like I’d taken some strong pain meds. Body was floating. Had a couple more beers and a packet of Kookas chocolate coated biscuits and felt sluggish AF. Worth it though. They were delicious. Back to normal eating tomorrow albeit at higher cals.

24/07/2017
Week 1- Day 2- 5.15am

Pre-workout- double espresso

Warm up- Walk on treadmill- 3 min

LSS Treadmill Run-
30m total time
7.03 pace (min/km)
4.55km total distance
HR- 155 (measured using treadmill at roughly 28min)

Run was interesting. Took me a good 10-15 to get in the rhythm and past the aches in the ankles, hips, feet, etc but after that could have just kept going. Taking that as a sign I was working in the right range.

25/07/2017
Week 1- Day 3- 5.15am

Pre-workout- double espresso

Warm Up- HF & Piriformis stretch, 3 min walk on treadmill

LSS Treadmill Run-
30m total time
7.03 pace (min/km)
4.58km total distance
HR- 148 (measured as I was slowing down so about 10s after I stopped running)

Again pretty similar to yesterday with regards to getting into a rhythm. Did get some fatigue around the 23-28min mark. Will run outside at some stage but weather has been poor and I’m easing myself into this whole running thing. That’s my excuse anyway. Rain due for the next week so may stay indoors for now.

26/07/17
Week 1- Day 4- 5.30am

Pre-workout- double espresso, BCAAs & dextrose (BCAAs tasted like arse even through the dextrose- wlll opt for protein next time or straight up BCAAs with sugar free cordial to flavour)

Warm Up- Banded shoulder, scap & HF work, 3 min skipping

SE Circuit- 2x20 @ 40kg
Push Press, Front Squat, Row, Floor Press, Shrugs, RDL

30-120s rest b/w exercises- 2 min rest between sets. Push press definitely the hardest and had to set the bar down a few times each set. The rest weren’t so bad.

10m stretching- tailor pose, piriformis, HF, gracilis, hamstrings & front splits

coges wrote:Pre-workout- BCAAs & apple juice (will not make this mistake again- had 40g of sugar after coming off a month with little to no sugar- not my brightest idea)

Personally, I just take it plain and mixed it up with creatine and water. Don't care abut the taste much..

Barkadion wrote:

coges wrote:Pre-workout- BCAAs & apple juice (will not make this mistake again- had 40g of sugar after coming off a month with little to no sugar- not my brightest idea)

Personally, I just take it plain and mixed it up with creatine and water. Don't care abut the taste much..

Probably a wise move. I've been experimenting with different pre-workouts coming from training fasted to wanting a little more energy during training and haven't quite found the right combo.

Week 1- Day 5

Rest

Hapkido class. 90 mins. Lost of kicking in the first 45 mins then more technique work the last 45 mins. Heavy legs by the end.

Week 1- Day 6

Pre-workout- single shot espresso

60min treadmill run
8.1km
Combo of running and walking – probably about 5 mins total of walking throughout
HR between 120 & 155

Legs super heavy. Took quite a while to warm into this one. It is the furthest I have ever run in one go though so pretty proud of that. Keen to get out and run in the real world though. Next weeks weather is looking better so there’s hope.

Week 1- Day 7

Rest

Now I said I was going to forget about the scales and my weight for a while but it’s been an interesting week. I was eating between 2-2500 cals a day prior to this week. I was actively trying to lose fat. My weight was gradually dropping down and reached it’s lowest point at 88.9. I have been eating 3,000+ a day for this week and I’m now 89.9 and the mirror test tells me I’m in pretty much the same spot. The tape measure tells me my waist is right on 34” which is the lowest point yet.

Week 2- Day 1

SE Circuit- 3x30 @40kg (30kg for push press)
Push press, front squat, row, floor press, shrugs, RDL

This was hard and it wasn’t. Took lots of mini breaks mid set and probably only used 90s between exercises once. Was certainly working hard though. Push press and floor press are easily the hardest ones here with front squats coming in third. Sets at 40 and 50 reps over the next two weeks will be interesting.

45 min stretching while watching Collingwood blow a 52 point lead. At least the stretching was relaxing.

Week 2- Day 2
1pm

LISS Run

40.03 mins
6.13km

Calves bore the brunt of this run. Had to walk up two significant hills and the calves were burning. Don’t have an HR monitor so I have a small convo with myself every now and then to make sure I’m around the right range.

Week 2- Day 3
1pm

LISS Run

40.02 mins
6.45km

Felt like I may have pushed a little harder here than I needed to. More walking and more distance than yesterday suggest that as well. Prob need to slow the pace down a bit. I’m nearing 6m/km pace when I should be closer to 7. Will do that for the long run this week.

Week 2- Day 4
5.15am

SE Circuit- 2x30 @40kg (30kg for push press)

Push press, front squat, row, floor press, shrugs & RDL

Got through each circuit quicker today. Total time for both was 31.06 including the 2 min rest between circuits. Took mostly 60s between exercises with 30s between shrugs and RDLs. Push press was also easier today too. Feeling good about this.

8pm
Basketball game. I haven’t played in about 9 weeks and I definitely noticed the difference in my cardio. Still got puffed after repeated sprints but recovered after 1 minute instead of that accumulated fatigue that usually sets in. Pretty stoked that’s the case after not even two weeks of running.

Week 2- Day 5
7pm

Hapkido. Great class. Worked sparring combos and transitions for the first 45 mins or so. Put the protective gear on and we all got smashed a little. Plenty of falling and getting thrown. Next 45 mins was technique work. Lots of 2nd Dan and trying to remember all the stuff I’ve learned and forgotten over the last 7 years.

Week 2- Day 6
1pm

LSS

58.58m
8.39km
7.00min/km pace

Was aiming for 7min pace and got exactly that. Felt I had been going a little too hard in the previous runs. Can definitely feel the difference here. If I had somewhere nice to run or a good loop that was 8-9k this would be much more enjoyable and I might even like running.

Week 2- Day 7

Rest

Week 3- Day 1
9am

SE Circuit- 3x40 @40kg (30kg for push press)

Push press, front squat, row, floor press, shrugs & RDL

Total time: 1hr04mins

That...was hard. Took lots of mini breaks in sets. Especially push press, front squats and floor press. Was still getting at least 10 reps but needing more time. Felt on empty at start of last circuit but found something to get through. Looking forward to 3x50 next week

Heading away somewhere warm tomorrow for a few days so the last SE circuit for this week will be a bw one. Thinking push ups, squats, bench dips, walking lunges and a row variation if I can.

Week 3- Day 2
12.30pm

LSS- 50 min

Ended up using the elliptical. Joints were feeling a little beat up so wanted to avoid running today. First time for everything and it was interesting. Not actually doing it but that I could measure HR the entire way through. Stayed right around 130 with a few small fluctuations.

Week 3- Day 3-7

Working holiday to Hamilton Island. Fully intended to train my way through but the gym opened at 7am and when I got up at 5 to train and it was pitch black outside it wasn’t looking good. I caved and drank and ate my way through the next 4 days. Took the day 7 off and ended up taking what would be day 1 of week 4 off too. Aaaannnnd moving on. Going to run week 3 again and go from there.

Week 3 Day 1 (rerun)
5.15am

SE Circuit- 2x40 @40kg (30kg for push press) 2 min breaks b/w ex- 1x20 @40kg (30kg for PP) 30s break b/w ex

Push press, front squat, row, floor press, shrugs & RDL

Total time: 53mins

Ran short of time and had to cut the last set in half for reps. Did all the reps unbroken with only 30s rest between exercises which was pushing it but was nice. Felt kind of ill for a while after that and did drive home rather slowly.

Week 3 Day 2 (rerun)
Pretty bad cold. Won’t do LSS today. May do Hapkido class tonight if I pick up during the day.
Did not train.

Week 3- Day 3 (rerun)
No training again. Still sick but on tail end. Should train tomorrow.



Not that long ago I would have gotten all bent out of shape from missing sessions. Not that I'm happy about it but shit happens. Going to train tomorrow, get back on track and just keep moving forward.