Log Update #1

Block 1: Base Building
Week 1

Monday	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Strength		Strength		Strength
Conditioning (Low Intensity)			Conditioning (Low Intensity)		Conditioning (Low Intensity)

Weekly Average Stats
Weight: 162.1 lbs
RHR: 47

Calories: 1653 kcals
Protein: 171 g (41%)
Carbs: 112 g (27%)
Fat: 60 g (32%)

Sleep Duration: 6 hrs 49 mins
Sleep Quality: 75%

Strength Training
Day 1
Squat:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x305 / 5x305 / 5x305
Bench:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x150 / 5x150 / 5x150
Pull-Ups:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x60 / 5x60 / 5x60
Accessories:
3 sets of 8-12 reps.  
Behind-the-neck Press, Calf Raise, and Cable Crunch.

Day 2
Squat:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x305 / 5x305 / 5x305\
Bench:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x150 / 5x150 / 5x150
Pull-Ups:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x60 / 5x60 / 5x60
Accessories:
3 sets of 8-12 reps.  
Lateral Raise, Concentration Curls, and Windshield Wipers.

Day 3
Squat:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x305 / 5x305 / 5x305\
Bench:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x150 / 5x150 / 5x150
Deadlift:
3 sets of 5 reps at 70% of training max
5x325 / 5x325 / 5x325
Accessories:
3 sets of 8-12 reps.  
Lateral Raise, Concentration Curls, and Windshield Wipers.

Conditioning Training
Day 1
30 mins low intensity run 

Day 2
30 mins low intensity run

Day3
30 mins low intensity run

Notes

• Strength Training: It was definitely an exercise in humility to drop the weight so much. However, once I just sucked it up and did it everything felt great. With the reduced weight I really focused on my technique, breathing, and contractions. The guy i It was actually really refreshing to switch gears for once. For my accessories I stuck with the Tactical Barbell principal of no muscular failure. 
• Technique: Switching gears into lighter weights I'm trying out some new queues and finding them really effective. They're from Brian Alsruhe of NEVERsate Athletics. Check him out on any social media. He's a former operator athlete that combines strength and conditioning in ways I've never seen. 
• Conditioning Training: Just did my Couch to 5k runs for this. I'm on week 5 or 6. This week I actually enjoyed running for the first time in... I can't remember how long. I can attribute this to Couch to 5k programming, and the fact that with Tactical Barbell my lifting sessions don't leave me completely dead.
• Energy: It's wonderful to not feel exhausted all day, day after day, with this style of training. In the past I was apprehensive every day I went to the gym to lift. I knew every time I stepped up to the bar I knew I'd pushing myself as hard as I possibly could and it stressed me out. Only discipline had allowed me to continue that style of training for so long. I also rarely had any energy left over for other physical activities once I was done lifting. With Tactical Barbell I actually look forward to my training and can tell I have the energy left over to do whatever I want: hiking, horseback riding, playing with the kiddo, you name it.
• Time: The strength workouts are running me about 45 minutes, with accessories. I'm loving the fact that I have more time in the day. Not only do I have more energy for other activities now, I also have more time for them.
• Spacing: As you can see I did my strength workout and conditioning workout back to back the first day. I did this just out of habit. I spaced it out after the first day and I really enjoyed this more. 
• Stretching: With more time available I have been able to stay consistent with my stretching. Every day after training I've been spending at least 5 minutes doing simple stretches. Friday I actually had extra time between the end of my lifting and work so I did 20 minutes of stretching!
• Cutting Progress: I've really got the whole cutting thing down after all these years and the fat is just vanishing. I might be done with my cut as soon as next week and I'll reverse diet (add ~100 daily kcals a week) until I reach maintenance.Most of those added calories will come in the form of carbs to support my training.

Going well so far! I'm excited about my training for the first time in a long time!

The Plan: Block 1

Block 1: Base Building (Operator)

Tactical Barbell starts everyone with an 8 week block designed to prepare their bodies for training. I understand and appreciate it, but since I'm a bit more experienced with weight training I'm going to tweak it just a bit with the following changes:

• Operator instead of Fighter strength template
• A few minor accessory exercises
• The final 2 weeks instead of 3 weeks for muscular endurance 

Edit: After some re-reading I've noticed that Tactical Barbell: Conditioning does mention that it's okay to run Operator and to modify the duration during Block 1 if your emphasis is on strength training. So I'm not really deviating from Tactical Barbell after all, just customizing to my needs as permitted by the program. Just goes to show how flexible the program is.

If you don't know the program then all that means is I'll be doing a little bit more strength work than what they recommend. If you don't have much experience I'd recommend just doing the program as written. 

For my primary strength training I'll be doing squats, bench press, and weighted pull-ups three times a week. On the last day pull-ups will be swapped for deadlifts. 

For my conditioning I'll be doing low intensity three times a week. For this I'll be finishing up the Couch to 5k running program I'm currently in the middle of. If Tactical Barbell prescribes a longer duration run then I'll just keep running after my Couch to 5k run.

Block 1 Starting Stats

I'm going to keep track of a few stats as I follow this program. At the beginning of each block I'll post my training maxes (note: these are not true maxes, they've been reduced per recommendation by Tactical Barbell) and body taping measurements. Weekly I'll post my average caloric intake, average macronutrient intakes, average sleep quantity and quality (measured with the Sleep Cycle app), average body weight, and average resting heart rate.

The purpose of this training is for performance enhancement, not body composition. In the past I'd say the two were equally important. But like I already said, I'm cutting until I hit a preset goal and then will reverse diet into maintenance. I should hit that goal in a week or two. I'll keep track of body weight and measurements just to make sure I'm not eating too much/little, and to see of this program has any particular effects on body composition.

Training Maxes
Squat: 433lbs
Bench: 219lbs
Pull-Ups: 85lbs
Deadlift: 464lbs

Body Tape Measurements
Shoulders: 49.5in
Chest: 39.5in
Bicep: 15.75in
Waist: 28in
Hips: 36.25in
Thigh: 22in
Calf: 15.5in

Alright, that's all the entry stuff out of the way! The next blog entry will be my first week workout log. 

What is Tactical Barbell?

Tactical Barbell is a comprehensive strength and conditioning program written by K. Black. It is designed for military, law enforcement, and first responders. It's a solid program for anyone looking to improve athleticism. It comes in the form of two ebooks. Tactical Barbell covers the strength training portion and Tactical Barbell: Conditioning covers the conditioning training portion.

The strength training portion is a percentage based, wave loading, periodized system. It uses primarily compound barbell lifts such as the squat, deadlift, and bench press. It's a minimalist program with only a few primary exercises a few times a week. It's very simply to follow. Once you've tested your maxes the program tells you exactly how many sets, reps, and and how much weight to use. The program is very adaptable as well, depending on your goals. Two of the hard rules for the strength program are a minimum rest of 2 minutes between sets and no muscular failure. The lack of muscular failure is a very different than what I've been doing lately but I'm eager to give it a shot.

The conditioning training portion is split between high intensity and low intensity work, training all of the body's energy systems. A wide variety of workouts are provided for both types of conditioning. Things like long distance running and rucking for low intensity, and sprints and kettlebell work for high intensity. The conditioning is also adaptable to your goals.

The program has been run and tested by operational athletes world wide. You can tell while reading it that K. Black has a strong grasp of exercise physiology. It appears to be an outstanding program and I'm looking forward to running it.

My Background

I wanted to share a little on my background in fitness and what ultimately brought me to Tactical Barbell. I apologize for the length. This isn't essential information to the log so feel free to skip it.

Growing up I was always the unathletic kid. I hated exercise. It hurt, it wasn't fun, and I was awful at it. I was content sitting behind my computer playing Starcraft. As I grew I became fatter and weaker. My senior year of high school I was medically obese. Another thing happened my senior year though, something that changed my life forever. On September 11th 2001 my country was attacked. I immediately enlisted in the United States Marine Corps, albeit with a weight waver. I shipped out the day I turned 18. 

Marine Corps boot camp, as a fat kid, was by far the most difficult thing I've ever done in my life. Not only was it a physical challenge, but also an emotional one as I received the brunt of the Drill Instructor's attention since I was usually the one holding everyone back. Boot camp is hell for a fat kid. However, through sheer force of will I made it through without being held back and graduated with my platoon. It was one of the proudest moments of my life. I was a completely different person both physically and mentally. 

Throughout my time in the Marines I was an average physical performer, for a POG anyway. When my time in the Marines was done I fell back into my bad habits. A couple years later I realized I was starting to physically resemble the person I was in high school. I refused to go back to that miserable way of life. I started learning everything I could about exercise and nutrition and put it to work. I fell in love with weight lifting. 

That was about 8 years ago. Since then I've done my fair share of training programs: Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe, 5/3/1 by Jim Wendler, PHAT by Layne Norton, P/P/L splits, and even the dreaded bro-splits. Throughout those years, at a height of 5'8", I've accomplished a 525lb deadlift, a 450lb box squat (I can no longer do regular squats due to a chronic hip injury), a 275lb bench press, and 31 pull-ups. I've done a 3xBW deadlift, a 2.5xBW box squat, and a 1.5xBW bench press. If you can't tell, my bench is my nemesis. And while running isn't my forte, I've run a 300m in 43 seconds. Oh, and I usually have six-pack abs year round. That last one might be a little vain, but as a former fat kid it's kind of fun. 

I've also earned a Bachelor's degree in Exercise Science and have held various fitness coaching positions. 

The training has been great, and I enjoy the lifestyle. Unfortunately, as the years went by the improvements waned. I began to fear I was reaching my natural genetic limits. My consistency, training, nutrition, and sleep were all good, but my strength and hypertrophy just weren't going anywhere anymore. Steroids aren't an option for me for health, moral, and occupational reasons. My answer was to train harder and to train more. At my peak I was in the gym for 2.5 hours 6 days a week. I trained brutally hard too. I went to failure on almost all of my lifts. Guess what? It didn't work. 

I've scaled back a bit since then, but I still have the same general problem. I'm working to the point of exhaustion and I'm just not getting anywhere. The work is no longer providing any reward. 

Enter Tactical Barbell. I ran across Tactical Barbell online and it initially caught my eye because it seemed to combine heavy weight training with cardiovascular conditioning. I'm interested in bringing up my conditioning for occupational performance and because I've got plenty of room to improve there. Then I heard about Tactical Barbell's concept of no muscular failure. The rule was there to provide extra energy for conditioning, but also as a tool to better adapt to your weight training and become stronger as a result. This was a completely different approach than the one I was using to attack my problem. Since what I was doing wasn't working I bought the books and here we are.

It Begins

So here it is, post number one. Welcome to my training blog. I'll be running a slightly modified version of the Tactical Barbell training program written by K. Black. If you're interested in running the program you can purchase it for download on Amazon.com. Further information on the program can be located on TacticalBarbell.com.

After a few initial posts outlining my background in fitness and my training goals I hope to update once per week. I'll include my training, thoughts on that training, personal statistics, and maybe a few notes on my nutrition. The current plan is to run an initial preparatory 8 week block, and then a couple of the primary 6 week blocks. Between each block I plan on doing an assessment and deload week. Depending on how I like the program I may continue it and the log.

Please bear with me. This is my first time writing a blog and I'm still learning how it all works. Any comments, questions, feedback, or brutally constructive criticism on the training, the blog, or my writing is welcome.

Please purchase the books for any detailed questions about the Tactical Barbell program. If you are able to piece together how to run the program by what you read in this blog, and plan on running it yourself, please just go buy the books. Both books together are less than $20 on Amazon.com. Please give credit where credit is due.