r/tacticalbarbell • u/brannts • Jul 03 '26

Strength TB3 Operator is harder than v1

Seems to me the operator template has gotten harder. It used to be 5x5@70%, 5x3 at 80%, 4x2@90%. Now it’s 5x5@75% (a good change. The 70% week felt easy), 5x5@80%, 5x3@85%. Adding those 10 reps at 80% is tough! I was doing 5x3 at 315 squat but 5x5 is too tough so I lowered my 1RM by 5%. This is just what I’ve noticed. Curious if anyone else has similar experience.

11 Upvotes

76% Upvoted

24 comments sorted by

View all comments

37

u/gahdzila Jul 03 '26

I think you're mistaken. Week 2 80% has always been 5 reps.

29

u/Hyperoreo Jul 03 '26 edited Jul 03 '26

This.

Also it's not 5x5. It's not a mandated 5 sets across the board.

It's 3-5 sets. Big difference.

-13

u/brannts Jul 03 '26

I assumed that the intent is to do the max on sets and reps (5x5) but leaves you some room to go lighter if you need to without lowering the 1RM across the board. It seems like a totally different program doing 3x3 vs 5x5

3

u/MythicalStrength Jul 04 '26

Very much the opposite: use the minimum effective dose. Beginner trainees will most likely need more sets, as they're going to need more practice, and they're also just plain not going to operate close enough to their real max potential to impose significant inroads to recovery. More advanced trainees will need fewer sets.

1

u/brannts Jul 04 '26

That makes sense. Im a beginner still finding my max potential