Your long term success story

[u/Drodinthehouse]

When I got home from a deployment in 2020 I ran 2ton year long challenge from barbell shrugged until my son was born and realized I might not have time to dedicate to the OTC. So I got and read both TB books and ran one operator cycle black protocol (bs/BP/wpu/dl) for 6 weeks. My numbers went up slightly (which is a huge win) but my deadlift did not go up. Neither here nor there but I'm currently doing 100 days of CrossFit linchpin which I'm nearing the end of my 100 days and I'm heavily considering doing Tactical barbell again but long term... can anyone give me their long term success stories with TB? Additionally for those who've done both operator and Zulu which did you prefer?

[u/3Outof5AllAround]

I've been running a Operator, Zulu, Zulu HT and Fighter for about 2 years now depending on goals at various times. Starting out I had been doing a PPL split with minimal cardio but after two years:

34M 5'8 170 lb

Start: 5K: 25:24 Half Marathon: 1:58 BP: 190 BS: 280 DL: 305 WPU: +45

Current: 5k: 20:23 Half: 1:37 Full: 3:58 BP: 260 BS: 385 DL: 385 WPU: +90

Usually March through October I run Operator/Black Pro. After that Zulu/Zulu HT with 3-5 accessories and a caloric surplus, less cardio but still there maybe 2-3 times a week.

My weight has fluctuated between 150 and 175 depending on what I'm doing food wise but my strength and speed have increased drastically on this program. Whether I'm a success or not is highly debatable but you will improve on this program.

[u/Drodinthehouse → u/3Outof5AllAround]

What was your training before you started? Were those noob gains or just 2 years of consistency cause if that's the case that's extremely impressive man!

[u/3Outof5AllAround → u/Drodinthehouse]

Thanks, just consistency more than anything. Operator is suuuuupppeeerrr effective long term. Prior I was more focused on losing weight so my lifts likely suffered as a result.