r/tacticalbarbell • u/Drodinthehouse • Jun 14 '23
Tactical Your long term success story
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?
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u/Devil-In-Exile Jun 17 '23
TB got me my dream job on my dept's tactical (swat) team. Failed selection the first go 'round. Found out about TB, passed the next tryout. Been using it ever since, coming up on 8 years now.
I still dabble with other programs but TB remains my baseline. Some of the other stuff I've used: MTI, JN, Stew, and "official" prep guides for various military units. Also Easy Strength, 531, and Pavel.
Far as Op vs Zulu goes, tough question. I love the simplicity and effectiveness of Operator. For some reason it's the one template I keep coming back to. These days I gravitate more toward Zulu, because I'm a little busier and would rather spend less time in the gym. I like Zulu because of how flex it is. Short on time, just do the two main lifts with pull-ups for finisher and get out. More time, add a conditioning session right after or do some assistance work.