TacticalBarbell.com

TB-ers,

One thing I loved about the TB Reddit was reading up on everyone's small (and big) wins with the program. Whether it's been the jumps in weight on retest day, new conditioning PRs, or even smaller victories, all of it kept me motivated and contributed to my consistency. I'm not a beginner or novice by any stretch, but I know this was even truer back when I was. Browsing through the forum I came across two awesome success stories, and it was a shame that I had to stumble upon them accidentally. I'm sure there are many more hidden gems kickin' around. If some of you think back to your "novice" days, you might remember times when reading success stories like this were tremendously motivating.

I was thinking it would be awesome to have an ongoing success stories thread. It benefits posters by being able to brag about their accomplishments :p ....and it gives newbies a chance to see what's possible and get motivated. Everyone wins!

Here are the two I came across, first from Train-Hard-Live-Easy's log:


Test day...... Weekend off other than usual activities of walking the dog.

After thorough warm up

Front Squat 225# 2RM [wasnt going to test this due to knee, however it felt great, I felt strong, and it held up to the pause squats last week.....very, very happy with this load +20# on 2RM]

Press 165# 2RM - again, this felt strong, very happy with the 10# increase.

Deadlift - got to 405# 1RM, failed the first, got angry because I knew I could lift heavier and lifted the shit out of it after a 90s rest.

D/L not my true max [445# completed at the start of this year] but it's the heaviest I've lifted since April[425# on April 4th].... And the lift felt good, happy to stick with this for the next cycle.

10 min AD to cool down.

Warning: there may be a 'colourful metaphor' in the video
https://instagram.com/p/BKRfWjtA5R9/

Another from KS-90's log, test day after a 6 week Fighter block:


Bench Press went from 185 to 205 (+20 Lbs)
Deadlift from 315 to 335 (+20 Lbs)
Chin up from +55 to +65 (+10 Lbs)

KS can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe he was doing a lot of running during the block too!

There's lots of this stuff in the logs and on the sub. I know reading stories like this would've been seriously motivating at times back in the day, heck it still is.

So guys and gals, don't keep this stuff to yourselves; no matter how small or irrelevant you think it is! There's someone reading that might need that extra little push!

Beginning of this year, I weighed 70 kg-ish:

WPU 1RM: 32 kg
WDip 1RM: 50 kg
High bar squat 1RM: 90 kg

Now, I weigh 76 kg:

WPU 1RM: 50 kg
WDip 3RM: 60 kg
High bar squat: 140 kg


Thanks K.B!

Shivayan wrote:Beginning of this year, I weighed 70 kg-ish:

WPU 1RM: 32 kg
WDip 1RM: 50 kg
High bar squat 1RM: 90 kg

Now, I weigh 76 kg:

WPU 1RM: 50 kg
WDip 3RM: 60 kg
High bar squat: 140 kg


Thanks K.B!

That's some solid progress Shivayan, thanks for posting. I'm impressed by your squat and dips in particular, but damn that's a fine WPU max too. Looks even more impressive in lbs.

Good thread idea Svenjolly, and long time overdue!

Within the past 4-5 months I've increased my 5RM bench by 20lbs while simultaneously bringing my 5k time down from 26 to 21. Combo of Base-Building, Operator and Black protocol's responsible.

Stumbled on TB2 last year, which lead to TB1. I have a career in tactical law enforcement, and TB is the holy grail for any tactical professional as far as I'm concerned. It tackles the hardest problem which is balancing many different priorities while still advancing.

Nothing too monumental here, but since I started TB my strength, muscular-endurance and cardio have all been steadily progressing. I'm closer to my goal of a 2x bw bench press along with a reduction in many of my run times. I beat my last max push-up score by almost 20 reps over last year. I've been training for a long time now, I rarely get any huge leaps or gainz anymore but going forward is 10x better than not moving the needle at all.

During BB I went from a max run distance of 2.5 miles to a half marathon (13.1 miles) while maintaining my lifts.

Went from being unable to finish 20 minutes of continuous running to completing my last Base run of 50 minutes without stopping once.

Svenjolly

Many thanks for your kind words........

My greatest achievements, by far, to me is having my blood pressure read a consistent normal (always been borderline high, with family history of high BP)..... and a resting HR of 52 (taken over a handful of days at the same time in the afternoon).

Not bad for my 45th year...... especially when at one of the fittest times of my life, many many moons ago, my Resting HR was 48. (Age was mid 20's).

I'm just excited at where this journey takes me.

I started Base Building with an atypical goal. Weight loss. I managed to lose 11lbs after my two months were up....I've had weight issues most of my life Did nothing but run and circuit training.

My first run with TB was with the old original (1st?) edition eons ago in 2014 I think it was.

I picked it up to help prep for annual SWAT physicals/qualification. The year before I'd placed something like 12th on the team. My goal for 2014 was to climb up the ladder, did not feel good at all not being in the top 10. Part of our "quallies" involves a point system taken off total push-ups, bench press, pull-ups, and timed runs. The goal is total points, not just doing really well at one thing. One of the guys could do a 6 miler in something crazy like 36 or 37 minutes or something, but his push-ups and pull-ups were atrocious (relatively) so he'd lose points there and place pretty low, just to give you an example of the being-well-rounded aspect.

There was no TB conditioning program then, so I did my own cardio. The years leading up I'd been hitting Starting Strength and Texas mostly, so after taking on TB I immediately noticed a huge change in my ability to get in more weekly mileage. I've never been in terrible shape, but I was dying on runs during my Texas days.

Come quallies, not only did I get into the top 10, but I placed 3rd overall. I racked up points on the bench and pull-up portion, push-ups weren't too bad either. Being able to run more helped me shave a smidge of time off the Cooper's too.

I've been a disciple ever since.