Background:
Since I’ve been home I elected to start the tactical barbell program. I ultimately think this program is in line with how I want to do my strength and conditioning going forward. I completely agree with the books Tactical Barbell – Strength and the conditioning books. I personally do not want elite performance in conditioning or strength, but I do want upper echelon of both. Elite is defined as a top competitor in either field from a competitive perspective. I previously liked the work of Alex Viada and Hybrid Athlete/Complete Human Performance. I thought the intensity levels were a little higher than I could sustain. I don’t know if this is because I was over doing it with grappling in conjunction.
Base Building Program:
This was 9 weeks. You start with a cardio and strength endurance focus and by the end get into the two lifts a week fighter template. You do interval training sessions based on workouts in the book.
I really enjoyed this program and felt like it easily allowed me to recover from the strength endurance phase. I’ll probably have to return to this program once our kid is sleeping in longer stretches and I’m able to feel adequately recovered from sleep. I’ve always struggled with getting into running and I thought the interval training sessions were the hardest to get in to. I once read that the thing you don’t want to do is probably the thing you need to do. I was really happy to get back my strength training sessions. I chose front squats, bench and weighted pull ups. I was deadlifting 1 day a week to maintain this. I was very happy to complete this base building phase so that I could lift with more frequency.
Black Program:
TB has a black and a green focus. Black is more focused on strength while green is more focused on cardio. I was following the black program directly from the book. It’s a three day a week lift and three day a week cardio with one day off. On lifting days you’re hitting the same movements which is a squat, press and a pull.
What I struggled with was the general conditioning days during this program. I really enjoyed the three day a week template and was surprised I was able to recover from the 3 total body days per week. I think the DUP (daily undulating periodization) is a huge help. At the end of the base building phase and start of the black program I got COVID. I was benching and got a little strain of my left pec. As such I just did clean and press for the pressing motion for the press lift and felt fine. I did deadlift once a week and was able to recover from this as well. I did 7 of the nine weeks and then stopped with the birth of our kid because I knew I wouldn’t be sleeping and wouldn’t be able to recover. I’ve really enjoyed both of these programs. By the end of this block my running conditioning has been great, strength has reached the level of when I was doing a strength only program. The last strength session I hit 405x5x5 on squat, 315x3x5 on front squats, 205x3x5 on clean and press, and 455×3/3 on my deadlift day which I would hit sumo deads first and immediately go into a conventional set.
Overall thoughts:
I think KB Blacks general training thoughts are spot on. If the goal is to not be elite in anything and to be very good at strength and conditioning, this is the right idea. I’ve continued to implement many of the ideas from this series into my training. It provides variety so it doesn’t get boring. It eliminates unnecessary training volume. His concept of not focusing on hypertrophy really resonated with me. The goal should be to maximize function as much as possible.
Seeking Progress 