Lifting Weights: Tactical Barbell

                                  

Just around the corner is Tactical Barbell III. And I can't wait. 

Tactical Barbell has been a staple in my programming since 2016 (holy shit, that's 10 years). I used it to get fast and strong for OCS and kept it in my rotation whenever life got too busy. It's a minimalist program. The templates are simple and it follows very closely to Jim Wendler's 5/3/1. In fact, it's basically the same program with some tweaks. 

Below I dive into the nuts and bolts of my training, you can skip down to the Thoughts section if you don't want to read that stuff. There's a lot of jargon in there specific to the program.

Base Building

This iteration has been going on since last September. I came to the conclusion that running is the best cardio for me (despite my efforts to give it the cold shoulder since 2023, when I left the Marine Corps). So, in order to get back into running, I kicked off with base building. Here's how that went:

DAY	WEEK 1	WEEK 2	WEEK 3	WEEK 4
1	SE 3x20	SE 3x30	SE 3x40	SE 1x50
2	E 30M	E 40M	E 50M	E 60M
3	E 30M	E 40M	E 50M	E 60M
4	RECOVERY	RECOVERY	RECOVERY	RECOVERY
5	SE 2x21	SE 2x21	SE 2x41	SE 1x51
6	E 35M	E 45M	E 55M	E 60M
7	REST	REST	REST	REST
DAY	WEEK 5	WEEK 6	WEEK 7	WEEK 8
1	SE 3x50	Max Strength	Max Strength	Max Strength
2	E 45M	HIC	HIC	HIC
3	E 45M	RECOVERY	RECOVERY	RECOVERY
4	RECOVERY	Max Strength	Max Strength	Max Strength
5	SE 2X50	HIC	HIC	HIC
6	E 45M	E 30-60M	E 30-60M	E 30-60M
7	REST	REST	REST	REST

Note: E-Endurance (run) SE- Strength Endurance HIC-High Intensity Cardio

I started at 195 lbs with the goal of dropping to 185 and maintaining that. This program is not very friendly for cutting weight (as is warned in the book). But I know my body and how to slowly cut weight with this workload.

I won't get too much into what SE entails or any of that. Feel free to hit me up if you're interested. But every time I run this version of base building, I feel good. My strength takes a hit (as expected) but my running feels solid. 

When I did this for OCS, I will say that I modified this with base building for specific running programs.

Continuation

Following that, I started my two phases of Operator with "Black" as my endurance protocol. I'm currently on block two of my second phase, which looks like this:

Week		1	2	3	4	5	6
Sets X Reps		3-5 x 5	3-5 x 5	3-4 x 3	3-5 x 5	3-5 x 3	3-4 x 1-2
Session One
1 RM %		70%	80%	90%	75%	85%	95%
Squat		210	240	270	225	255	285
Bench		170	190	215	180	205	230
Weighted Pull-up		175	200	225	190	215	240
Session Two
1 RM %		70%	80%	90%	75%	85%	95%
Squat		210	240	270	225	255	285
Bench		170	190	215	180	205	230
Weighted Pull-up		175	200	225	190	215	240
Session Three
1 RM %		70%	80%	90%	75%	85%	95%
Squat		210	240	270	225	255	285
Bench		170	190	215	180	205	230
Deadlift		265	300	340	280	320	355

My endurance training is below:

Day	Week 1	Week 2	Week 3
1	S	S	S
2	HIC	HIC	HIC (Easy)
3	S	S	S
4	HIC	HIC	HIC (Easy)
5	S	S	S
6	E x 60 MIN	E x 60 MIN	E (Easy)
7	Rest	Rest	Rest

S- Strength Training

I'm coming up on week five of block 2, after which, I'll retest my estimated 1 rep max. 

Thoughts

This program is great when you need flexibility or you're trying to balance running and weight lifting. Obviously, this isn't the most optimal program for pure strength training, but that's not my goal. I needed program that fits my tight schedule. It's dummy proof. You figure out your numbers and you just run it. 

I feel a lot stronger after each iteration. It's actually hard not to adjust the numbers but that's where the magic of this program comes from. You aren't supposed to "gas" yourself out during each workout. 

The biggest negative is the repetitive nature of the weight lifting program. Squatting and bending every session gets old fast. If you like variety, this will be a challenge, although the book offers plenty of alternatives. I personally can't see myself breaking away from the traditional Squat/Bench/Deadlift holy trinity. 

As far as caloric intake goes, I've stayed consistently at 185 pounds. But this is a tough program to eat maintenance. With all of the running you'll easily fall below maintenance. So you need to make sure you're eating enough. 

I'll be back when I'm finished with this block. I'll do another estimated one rep max test and figure out what I want to do next. 

I'm hesitant to move away from Tactical Barbell because it's worked so well with my schedule as of late. But at the same time, I need a mental change. I've been running this almost a year now (including the eight weeks of base building).