Member Introductions Thread

[Maxrip13]

Hi gents,

Being 54 years old, this seems the perfect place to introduce myself

I live in Athens Greece ,work in the Media sector and have been sort of a couch potato for about 20years, besides some competitive shooting (Some IPSC but mostly Clay shooting)

Last couple of years I started military simulation Airsoft and understood how much my conditioning had fallen. Started working up at home with weights, some jogging etc. Lost about 10 Kgs right now I am 1.84 and 87 Kgs. Bench 1RM is 75 kg maybe a bit more since I can’t go all out as I don’t have a spotter, OHP is 50 kgs

I have a bad back so I only do up to 65 kg Deadlifts and body weight squatting exercises. Hoping to fix my form on SQ and DL in order to try and get more serious weights rolling, without the back complaining (herniated discs) will see how that one goes.

On vacation right now, found out the TB books, downloaded and read all of them and I think that this is the way I want to go following the Ageless Athlete guidelines, (Thanks for writing it J-MADD ) as my prime objective is getting stronger and keeping up with the young bucks in lengthy tactical Milsim Airsoft events that tend to have a lot of Km to cover up and down hills with gear guns and stuff.

My main concern is that I am starting at a late age and without substantial strength and endurance, but since I have a very low resting heart rate (52) and I am generally quite healthy I trust that time will be on my side.

My plan goes like this:

During late October I will run my first 5k race, so I started a 12 week three rimes a week training program which I will combine starting last week of August with the Fighter Template.
After the race I will switch to the Base Building phase and then to Operator I/A for Ageless Athletes with Black protocol.

Glad to be here will certainly be looking for any help and advice from fitter and more experienced ageless athletes/members

Good luck mate. Don’t chase crazy numbers in the weights. Any improvement is gold.

Train smart, not hard

[J-Madd]

Hi-

New here, civilian, working my way back to being in shape after a) a long layoff (two years) and b) injury/surgical repair (two inguinal hernias, repaired non-mesh in Dec. 2017).

I'm 51, 5'10 & 160, in decent shape all thing considered. I was a long distance mountain runner for a few years until foot injuries stopped me. Most of my life I've also been a bicycle-as-transport guy, until 5 years ago. Started lifting weights as a super skinny 30-year-old (140#) and got strong/fat topping out at 215# using Super Squats and Strongest Shall Survive (these are the old equivalents of Starting Strength & Stronglifts, basically).

Around 2007 got into kettlebells via Crossfit (stopped Crossfit in 2008 due to recurring injuries), Valery Federenko, and Dan John and still use them a lot.

The last few months (after the surgery in Dec.) I have been slowly ramping up from easy bodyweight/TRX type stuff and now more kettlebells & SE work, as well as walking. I have a few hip & leg issues I am working on now, mostly disuse & post-op that I expect to be corrected in the next couple of months. Until then mostly walking for an hour a few days a week & riding the bike for an hour or so once a week.

Found Tactical Barbell via the Dan John forum, and love it. Have now read I & II + AA. This is certainly the approach I will be using for my training going forward. I'm working up some programming questions due to very limited equipment at the moment, once I have those down and clear I'll post them.

Thank you to K.B & J. Madd for the fine work!

Aidan

Thanks Aidan! Welcome aboard, and don't be afraid to send those questions!

[J-Madd]

For those that don't think it's a cult, try and quit a Crossfit gym!!
Mike

Ha! Welcome Mike.

[J-Madd]

Hi gents,

Being 54 years old, this seems the perfect place to introduce myself

I live in Athens Greece ,work in the Media sector and have been sort of a couch potato for about 20years, besides some competitive shooting (Some IPSC but mostly Clay shooting)

Last couple of years I started military simulation Airsoft and understood how much my conditioning had fallen. Started working up at home with weights, some jogging etc. Lost about 10 Kgs right now I am 1.84 and 87 Kgs. Bench 1RM is 75 kg maybe a bit more since I can’t go all out as I don’t have a spotter, OHP is 50 kgs

I have a bad back so I only do up to 65 kg Deadlifts and body weight squatting exercises. Hoping to fix my form on SQ and DL in order to try and get more serious weights rolling, without the back complaining (herniated discs) will see how that one goes.

On vacation right now, found out the TB books, downloaded and read all of them and I think that this is the way I want to go following the Ageless Athlete guidelines, (Thanks for writing it J-MADD ) as my prime objective is getting stronger and keeping up with the young bucks in lengthy tactical Milsim Airsoft events that tend to have a lot of Km to cover up and down hills with gear guns and stuff.

My main concern is that I am starting at a late age and without substantial strength and endurance, but since I have a very low resting heart rate (52) and I am generally quite healthy I trust that time will be on my side.

My plan goes like this:

During late October I will run my first 5k race, so I started a 12 week three rimes a week training program which I will combine starting last week of August with the Fighter Template.
After the race I will switch to the Base Building phase and then to Operator I/A for Ageless Athletes with Black protocol.

Glad to be here will certainly be looking for any help and advice from fitter and more experienced ageless athletes/members

You're welcome Tigerstr! Don't worry about starting late. It's never too late to do yourself a lot of good. Take your time, and don't compare yourself to others, and you will make progress.

[Tigerstr]

Thanks for the welcome guys. Will keep you posted about progress

[bull205]

Hello,

I never joined an online forum before, I've lurked in all sorts, but they tend to devolve into hero worship which precludes any Q&A that may require an answer that doesn't fit into the "program". I'm joining because the TB framework makes the complex, simple.

I am in the USCG. Turning 40 in November and have a few training miles under the belt, but lately have been getting stale. I 6'2"', 240lbs...should be about 225. I was chasing the Simple goal from Simple and Sinister and was stalling out. I work on a ship with an irregular schedule and couldn't seem to turn the corner. I read TB1, TB2, and Ageless Athlete and it all just sort of clicked. I drafted out a BB block and went to work. The wheels started coming off around the 60 minute week so I re-read the AA book and built out another 5 weeks of BB capping the E at 30min. I alternated Tango SE with S&S work. All of the sudden I had lots of gas and crushed the Simple goal two weeks in. I am just entering the last three weeks ME portion of the BB block and couldn't be more excited to lift again.

Thanks KB and J-MADD for all your work.

[Barkadion]

Hello,

I never joined an online forum before, I've lurked in all sorts, but they tend to devolve into hero worship which precludes any Q&A that may require an answer that doesn't fit into the "program". I'm joining because the TB framework makes the complex, simple.

I am in the USCG. Turning 40 in November and have a few training miles under the belt, but lately have been getting stale. I 6'2"', 240lbs...should be about 225. I was chasing the Simple goal from Simple and Sinister and was stalling out. I work on a ship with an irregular schedule and couldn't seem to turn the corner. I read TB1, TB2, and Ageless Athlete and it all just sort of clicked. I drafted out a BB block and went to work. The wheels started coming off around the 60 minute week so I re-read the AA book and built out another 5 weeks of BB capping the E at 30min. I alternated Tango SE with S&S work. All of the sudden I had lots of gas and crushed the Simple goal two weeks in. I am just entering the last three weeks ME portion of the BB block and couldn't be more excited to lift again.

Thanks KB and J-MADD for all your work.

Good luck with your TB training. Being 40 is a gift comparing to 48 Cheers mate!

[amac]

Hello,

I’m a 40-year-old civilian who despite being fit and active in my teens and (very) early twenties spent the vast majority of that decade being out of shape after landing a desk job doing IT work.
In 2013, a friend invited me to his CrossFit gym. He was talking about the progress he’s made and the community, which sounded exciting, but what really motivated me to go was a comment that a person at the gym had made to him, which he shared with me, “I was tired of thinking about myself in the past tense”. This resonated with me, and I signed up. During that time, I became stronger and fitter than I ever had been, but knew that my max strength was lagging and didn’t really know how to address it. My endurance, while better than it ever had been, also seemed to have plateaued.

Fast forward a few years to 2016, and my wife and I welcomed a son into the world. While it was an amazing experience that redefined my sense of purpose, it also put a pinch on my time, and despite a few attempts at a comeback, my CrossFit attendance fell off to nothing. Despite attempts to swing a Kettlebell at home here and there, I detrained.
In mid-2017, my wife and I canceled our CrossFit membership (I had concerns about this, it felt like quitting) and built a weight lifting platform in the basement. We did Starting Strength, and within a few months had hit and passed our previous CrossFit numbers. I ate to support it, and gained about 17 pounds (muscle and fat). While I looked and felt better than I had in the last couple of years, I had about exhausted my linear progression and was tired of not being able to do cardio, tired of being worried that taking a bike ride with the family would cause me to fail during my squats the next day, and just exhausted with the demands of work and trying to keep up with 1.5 year old. While searching for my next program, I read Practical Programming for Strength training, and while interesting, it was more of the same. In the reviews of the books, more than a few people recommended Tactical Barbell as a more practical alternative for someone with goals in multiple fitness domains. I purchased and read both books, became extremely excited, and started Tactical Barbell in October of 17.

For my first couple of blocks, I only ran Operator (no conditioning protocol), and remember questioning whether something that felt so easy in comparison to the end of Starting Strength where everything is a new 5rm max could actually get me any stronger. Despite my fears, I saw nice gains at the end of the 12 week block, and have been running TB ever since. I’m nearing the end of my first year. I’ve had a few missteps along the way (programming mistakes based on fear and overthinking things, I’ll share these in another post) but am extremely happy with my continuing across the board progress.

I’ve been lurking for a while, and have learned a tremendous amount not only from the books, but from everyone who posts here, for which I am extremely grateful.

My fitness goals are pretty simple. Since I’m kind of an older Dad, I want to have excellent across the board fitness that not only keeps me healthy into old age, but also allows me to remain athletically competitive with my son well into his teenage years and beyond so that he can be proud of his old man.

See ya’ll around!

[ICBM09]

Hello All!

I'm a 24 year old buck who has been silently perusing the forums for a while and finally decided to sign up so I can join in on the discussion. I'm starting a new TB block next week, so now I can post my logs for the community to see. I found TB via some Google search one night as I was trying to find programs for general strength and conditioning. I don't have any LEO/military background but I'm still interested in the enormous physical and mental benefits that come from improving the body across multiple fitness domains. Just your average desk jockey wanting to pursue elite levels of fitness!

I've been working out sporadically since 2014 and have run the gambit when it comes to programming: Starting Strength, Stronglifts, Garage Gym Athlete, Goruck preparation, Stew Smith, Barbell Medicine programming, triathlon training, "primal movement" programs, bodybuilding, Kinobody, bodyweight only, and even a TB block or two. As you may tell, I have a hard time sticking with a particular fitness goal and as a result I'm constantly hoping programs. I've been lucky to stick with the same program for longer than two weeks at times. While I may look like a fit guy, I know that my performance is lacking.

My desire is to not only be strong, but to be athletic as well. I've learned that bloating up and gaining a lot of weight to be able to increase your squat 1RM is miserable and doesn't translate well into the real world. So, I've been looking for a way to increase my strength as much as possible while still feeling fit and capable to tackle any situation. I want to know that I can defend myself and my family at any given moment, and I don't want my fitness to be a liability, I want it to be an asset.

I've read both books cover to cover multiple times and really connect with a lot of what KB has to say. His no BS approach to everything is incredibly refreshing. I like that this system is simple, repeatable, and very effective. I'm eager to begin my new block next week and actually get all the way through it!

So here's to finally committing to the process and pursuing my most fit self! Excited to start this journey alongside you all.

[Barkadion]

Hello,

I’m a 40-year-old civilian who despite being fit and active in my teens and (very) early twenties spent the vast majority of that decade being out of shape after landing a desk job doing IT work.
In 2013, a friend invited me to his CrossFit gym. He was talking about the progress he’s made and the community, which sounded exciting, but what really motivated me to go was a comment that a person at the gym had made to him, which he shared with me, “I was tired of thinking about myself in the past tense”. This resonated with me, and I signed up. During that time, I became stronger and fitter than I ever had been, but knew that my max strength was lagging and didn’t really know how to address it. My endurance, while better than it ever had been, also seemed to have plateaued.

Fast forward a few years to 2016, and my wife and I welcomed a son into the world. While it was an amazing experience that redefined my sense of purpose, it also put a pinch on my time, and despite a few attempts at a comeback, my CrossFit attendance fell off to nothing. Despite attempts to swing a Kettlebell at home here and there, I detrained.
In mid-2017, my wife and I canceled our CrossFit membership (I had concerns about this, it felt like quitting) and built a weight lifting platform in the basement. We did Starting Strength, and within a few months had hit and passed our previous CrossFit numbers. I ate to support it, and gained about 17 pounds (muscle and fat). While I looked and felt better than I had in the last couple of years, I had about exhausted my linear progression and was tired of not being able to do cardio, tired of being worried that taking a bike ride with the family would cause me to fail during my squats the next day, and just exhausted with the demands of work and trying to keep up with 1.5 year old. While searching for my next program, I read Practical Programming for Strength training, and while interesting, it was more of the same. In the reviews of the books, more than a few people recommended Tactical Barbell as a more practical alternative for someone with goals in multiple fitness domains. I purchased and read both books, became extremely excited, and started Tactical Barbell in October of 17.

For my first couple of blocks, I only ran Operator (no conditioning protocol), and remember questioning whether something that felt so easy in comparison to the end of Starting Strength where everything is a new 5rm max could actually get me any stronger. Despite my fears, I saw nice gains at the end of the 12 week block, and have been running TB ever since. I’m nearing the end of my first year. I’ve had a few missteps along the way (programming mistakes based on fear and overthinking things, I’ll share these in another post) but am extremely happy with my continuing across the board progress.

I’ve been lurking for a while, and have learned a tremendous amount not only from the books, but from everyone who posts here, for which I am extremely grateful.

My fitness goals are pretty simple. Since I’m kind of an older Dad, I want to have excellent across the board fitness that not only keeps me healthy into old age, but also allows me to remain athletically competitive with my son well into his teenage years and beyond so that he can be proud of his old man.

See ya’ll around!

Good luck with your TB training!