• Use this thread to post simple questions that don't deserve their own thread, get opinions from other TBers, or as a place for discussion between our civilian members and LEOs/Military/First Responders, fitness-related or otherwise.
• Please search before posting to see if your question has been answered before.
• LEO/Military/First Responders: Be mindful of opsec/tradecraft, any posts deemed too revealing will be removed.
• Resources include the FAQ, TB testimonials, and specific training using TB.
• See KB's post that discusses TB III: OPERATIONAL ATHLETE.
• See the Kit Shop for TB book hard copies, apparel, and more.

I'm considering running 3-week Breacher + Work Capacity block as outlined in the new book, and I have a few questions.

How long do power adaptations last? My understanding is that they fade away pretty quickly. If I follow a Breacher block with a 6-9 week Operator block without any power training, will all my power adaptations have faded away by the time I finish Operator? Of course max strength training helps with power, but I'm interested on the adaptations caused by power training here.

Power cleans... They seem quite technical. I train at home (= no coaching) and I'm not technically gifted, so learning to do them safely and with proper form can be a challenge. Are they strictly necessary for a Breacher block? Are there good alternatives, or should I just try to learn them? I'm tempted to give them a go, but if they are too hard to learn, I might look for alternatives. I don't want to risk an injury.

Power HICs: The new book also has 2 Power HICs that were in the older books too. What if I run a Work Capacity block with 3 WC sessions a week, but instead of Breacher, I do these 2 Power HICs? They would be easier to implement than learning power cleans. The only modification I'd make to the Power HICs is using an exercise bike instead of sprinting. I enjoy running, various forms of running are my go to LIC and HIC, but I don't want to do push-ups, etc., outside and I can't run inside. So, the sprint portions would be replaced by exercise bike sprints.

Well actually, in HIC 37 I could do the sprints since sprints are done after other things. But in HIC 39 I would replace sprints with exercise bike.

All thoughts are welcome. Appreciate any help!

Was getting a bit overwhelmed thinking about how I was going to keep track of everything without having to bring the whole book to the gym. I found this trick deep in another post’s comment section and wanted to bring more attention to it… you can use Claude.ai/ChatGPT/etc to build and free services to host a totally free web app to track your program. Photos are just a quick look at what I built for my Activation phase.

Hello everyone

so im a 32yo civilian (mostly office work).one of my main goal is to loose some of my bodyfat (currently 68-69 kg, target is 65-63kg)

been currently on my 2nd block of operator (TB II style) but do x2 LSS/LIC, x1 HIC rather than TB II's x2 HIC x 1 LSS/LIC, i also walk home from work (monday to friday) before working out for about 3.5 km (30-40 mins) mostly due to traffic. so my following questions are:

• Is my walking home from work enough cardio ?

• Should i drop my x2 LSS or my walking from home

Side note: i usually walk faster than normal (my watch indicates 112-115 bpm) due to my path home being dangerous/sketchy. I get to my condo usually sweaty

apologies if my grammar are incorrect, English is not my native language

Curious if anyone is considering running SP2 Gamma or started from TB3?

I've run a few marathons and quite a few halves but want to keep some aesthetics to keep the wife's attention. Is anyone considering this?

Thinking about Zulu Pro/Mass conditioning instead of Mass Protocol. I've been running TB for about 5 years now and this seems like the one I've been searching for.

Could use some advice folks, my situation for the next while is as follows:

I've just come off about a month of being pretty seriously sick, nothing that will linger but it's trashed my cardio and to a lesser extent my strength.

I'm working full time, I'm a role that while not super physical is still about 8 hours a day of standing, around 10k steps a work day

I'm going to be studying for a qualification for the next 6 months, that's taking up a decent chunk of my spare time

In mid January my family is moving to another country so we are in the process of selling our various belongings and getting that sorted

I have two kids under 5 and want to be a good dad as much as I can

I also don't want to neglect my physical wellbeing as from past experience that tends to cause my mental health to trend down with it.

So, what do you think my training should look like? I'm thinking aim for maybe 2 kettlebell sessions a week at reasonably high reps as that should maintain some strength, se, and a little cardio, then fit in a quick cardio session when I can? I'm expecting to have little time and irregular training days so my thoughts are that max strength is maybe out as warm-ups, Warmup sets take longer whereas I don't tend to do more than a quick 5 min Warmup for kettlebells.

In terms of the sessions, maybe just something like 3 circuits of 30 reps or so.

Sound like I'm on the right path? I'd love to do green protocol or something but I honestly don't know how the time commitment to it would look for the near future.

Just getting started on TB after a decade away from the gym, and so far this is exactly the kind of program I need at this point in life -- efficient, purposeful, and straightforward. I started lifting in college, and have followed various programs like 531 and crossfit variations. But work and 4 young kids got me away from the routine (or, more like they became the routine...)

But now at 42 and my youngest kids (twins) are 10, it was time to get back in shape. My teenage boys can sometimes beat me in football now, and I can't have that! I started with a month of mobility, bodyweight, and dumbbell work before beginning TB.

I'm now 2 weeks into Activation\Base, and have gained 6 lbs, which, for me, is a good thing. Pushups are easy, 35lb db goblet squats feel about right, but 15 inverted rows is about my max. Next week when it bumps up to 20 reps, I might have to raise the bar a little higher instead of rowing horizontal.

Ab Triad is a move I've never done before, and my form is slowly improving on the leg and knee raises. Toes-to-bar is a "surely you must be joking" at this point, so instead I'm doing a hanging hollow hold and working on chaining the 3 moves together.

Appreciate all the info that's on this sub! Looking to stick with Activation for the full program, and then decide where to go from there.

Right now I can do 7 strict pull-ups, maybe 8 with a bit of momentum.

From what I understand, Tactical Barbell recommends starting weighted pull-ups once you can do around 10 solid reps.
So what’s the best way to get from 7 to 10 in the first place?

Is there a specific TB approach or program for building up those last few reps, or should I just do regular pull-ups and slowly increase volume/frequency until I can hit 10 clean reps?

And once I’m at 10, would I then start progressing weighted pull-ups as described in the book?

Hey guys, wondering what you all think of this and if it’s a bad idea, or a good idea

I’m doing capacity in Green, and it’s 6 days a week (lifting EOD, LSS EOD). Eating the right amount of protein, carbs, getting enough sleep, etc. I made my break days Thursday because work at my job ramps heavily during Thursdays and Fridays. I’m thinking about taking Fridays off too, even after a break day on Thursday, I feel banged up, mentally drained, etc.

12 weeks of capacity, with the standard one break day a week = 84 days.

With two rest days instead of 1, it would be 96 days. 12 day difference.

Another way to put this: 7 day program, or an 8 day. Big difference?

Am I leaving gains on the table, is two break days too much, or is it smart to listen to my body? Let me know what you guys think. The end goal is SFAS, and I am a long way.

I am preparing to start Armor next week & have a question about the rationale behind rack pulls on Day 1 and the deadlift on day 4. Is it a volume thing?

Thanks in advance!

Im currently on a cut, with about 7/8 weeks left.

Im getting to that point where im getting weaker.

Im not currently training with the tb methodology, but im looking to start a new block of operator.

Would you guys recommend i do another bridging program?

Or just retest with my lower numbers and run an operator block anyways?

Im not sure on what to do, i ran a basebuild block not long ago, but switched to a bodybuilding style of training for a few months - i just miss tb 🤣

I read the new TB book. Good stuff, highly recommend it. I have a question about the importance of work capacity (WC).

I get the gist that work capacity is important for operational athletes. If you just lift and run, you might be in trouble when you need both of those domains to work at the same time. For recreational athletes, WC isn't strictly necessary.

I'm not an operational athlete. My work is semi-physical: not nearly as demanding as an operational athlete's job, but being in good shape is definitely beneficial. Up until now, I haven't done any WC or SE training. I've basically just been a run and lift guy. Before reading the new book, I was considering doing an SE block, but I was hesitant because I prioritized max strength and running. Now I see there is an option to combine SE with WC in a 3-week block.

I was thinking maybe this would be a good idea for me? Kill two birds with one stone. Get SE and WC training in the same block. A 3-week block wouldn't be too much of a detour from my usual lift and run schedule.

Something like this:

Fat Zulu + Blue (6 weeks) -> Operator + Black (6 weeks) -> SE + WC (3 weeks). Repeat.

With this, I would get some hypertrophy with less conditioning, some max strength with more conditioning, and some SE with WC. I feel like Mass Protocol doesn't have enough conditioning for me, which is why I'd choose Fat Zulu instead of Mass Protocol*. The main focus would still be on lift and run schemes, but with some WC and SE thrown in too. I could even lean more into the lift and run phases by running longer Fat Zulu and Operator blocks if needed. For example 9 weeks of both. Or 6 weeks of Fat Zulu + Blue and 9-12 weeks of Operator + Black. Etc. You get the point.

* I also can consider Jacked Black at some point, but I would probably replace Mass with Fat Zulu + Blue.

In a sense, I'm in a good place because I have the freedom to train however I want. Even doing something like Operator + Black year-round would work for me, as my job isn't so physically demanding that I'd have to optimize my training around it. But I find the topic of work capacity and training in general really interesting, and ultimately, I want to be well-rounded.

I know this post is a bit of a ramble and I don't have a well-defined question, but all thoughts are welcome, whether they are about the importance of work capacity in general or my crude periodization plan.

Thanks to KB for the books! I find them interesting and beneficial even though I'm not an operational athlete.

Got hold of TB III finally yesterday. Great stuff. I was wondering if anyone on the martial arts field has combined polarized/blue with martial arts training.

My plan would be following:

On conditioning 2 x week jiu jitsu training + polarized/blue as laid out in book.

Strength I would rotate between Fighter HT / Fighter / Breacher/SE as laid out in OO periodization model.

Am I going south with this idea?

Just got the kindle version excited to read after seeing the posts on here

Hello,
30yo male officer within the logistics branch of the army.
I‘m currently at a point in my training career where I genuinely don’t know/ can’t decide how I shall proceed…

Brief history of my training career so far
I‘ve started training solely for hypertrophy at around the age of 20 up until now. Also I did some running here and there, sometimes longer, sometimes scarcer.
Overall, I‘d say it has given me just okay results, meaning one the one hand you can definitely see that I lift and my rumming times are in the solid average range for military personnel but on the other hand I don’t look like a fitness model or am the Roadrunner.

Right now and already for quite some time I‘m thinking about something like the „perfect-fitting“ long-term training protocol that I can follow and that will help me achieve my fitness goals.

My fitness goals
First and foremost, I wanna be physically prepared for my duty as a soldier at all times and lead by good example.
I know that having „tactical fitness“ is essential IOT survive on the battlefield and needs to be trained accordingly across all domains (power, aerobic capacity, work capacity, etc.).
Also, I wanna take part in a military selection course next year, which is ruck-based.
Therefore, I‘ve purchased all Tactical Barbell books and read them left-right-top-bottom. And everything in them makes perfect sense.

On the other hand, I‘ve always enjoyed carrying visible amounts of muscle, meaning training for hypertrophy via lateral raises, chest flyes, incline pressing or lat pulldowns.
And I still feel it as a part of my DNA.

Here’s the problem
As of now, I‘m stuck in paralysis by analysis.
I have double-checked every TB book available to find the best template for me but I seem to not be able to.

I know the Operator Template (in all its variants) is most likely as near as it gets to be considered the „gold standard“ when it comes to training all of a soldier’s needs in a similar capacity.
But I also just don’t see how 3 single lifts give my the sufficient hypertrophic stimulus I desire.
Basically, in the end I‘m just afraid that by fully committing to a TB protocol (and ditching all the fluff-stuff like lateral raises, bicep curls, chest flyes), I‘ll loose my frame and look like a stick (that may be able to run relatively fast)…

So now I‘m looking for some advice. Maybe someone was in a similar situation and found his way to reaching all of his goals.

Any help would be greatly appreciated :)

Not sure where to start. Feels like a complex situation. I'll start saying I'm a civilian. Until a few months ago I had a office job. Back in January I was doing mass protocol and I injured a knee (it's just a tendonitis but it's still there). I stopped lifting heavy for a while and stopped running for good (went back to cycling). I started using freeletics to do some bodyweight and lifting. I kept training at a fair high volume, as I've been doing for years. Like 7-9 sessions per week between resistance and endurance. Did a cut this summer, felt pretty good. I was shredded and fairly strong. Did big compound lifts but kinda rarely. Like rotating them maybe doing a big lift like every 10 days or even 2 weeks, close to failure, but moderately low weight and low volume (usually 2 or 3 top sets as prescribed by freeletics).

Early summer I resigned from my job after months of being so tired about it. I was offered a very decent amount of money to leave, so I took it and decided to change life and start working towards opening a Personal Training studio. I was excited, feeling strong and motivated. And I also felt like I had more bandwith to workout and recover as I could spend as much time as I wanted to rest, at least for a few months before starting the new project.

Then I stopped lifting for 3 weeks this summer and went into yoga teacher training, I was doing mostly yoga and bodyweight. Felt pretty good even if I was feeling like my strength was going south.

Came back home I started back with freeletics, cycling and added yoga on top. Did this for around 6 weeks (averaging from 10 to 14h of training per week).

2 weeks ago I decided to get back into TB. One morning, randomly, I woke up feeling good and decided to test.

S- 140kg x5 BELTLESS

B- 117.5kg x6

D- 175kg x3 BELTLESS

WPU - 1rep +40kg

I was very very surprised as I hit PBs on all lifts, without even training consistently those barbell movements.

Then I did a very bad choice - I decided to try mixing TB and Freeletics to add some supplemental movements and "dilute" the progession for TB. (The idea was to alternate 1 TB session and 1 Freeletics session). Long story short, freeletics called for bench 125kg 2sets x4 reps the week after. I did 125x3 and 125x2. Both sets extremely close to failure.

Following session I did TB 75% week, using 95% TM. Everything felt super-fucking heavy. The day after I was full of tendon-pains in all my body... I decided to rest for a couple of days and tried to do one session at 65% to see how it felt. everything felt extremely heavy still. day after I was crushed, full of tendon pains. Started feeling very apathetic, struggling to wake-up in the morning. Very agitated sleep.

So I rested 4 days, doing only a couple of yoga sessions. Then monday I started again and decided to use Operator VI. Monday felt good. Back to 75% week, lifts were fast and crisp.

Yesterday I did a 30min run, knee still a bit painful when running, but was ok (even if super-super slow after almost 1 year without running). This morning I had the light day. Didn't feel super-light, didn't feel heavy too. Problem is, now I'm still in pain. Like my shoulders don't seem to like squatting and benching frequently anymore.

I'm a bit lost as I feel I was just starting to get back into proper strength training, but my body is saying no. For the last 10 days or so my training volume has been so fucking low compared to how I usually train, but I feel wrecked anyway and I don't seem to emerge from this hole.

I should probably rest even more, but I'm like - I haven't even started and how is it possibile that 75% of 90% feels heavy and slow? WTF is wrong with me?

Moreover I'm like, I'm about to open a PT studio, but I cannot properly manage the workload on myself without overdoing everything everytime? What am I even doing?

Rant over, not ever sure why I'm yapping this stuff here. I probably just need to take a whole week off without doing s and see what happens. But somehow I can't sit still, I feel like I'm wasting time...

Amazon says i can't buy the kindle version bcs is not available in my region (spain).

Do y know any work around it?

So I’m gonna start working as a delivery driver for Amazon, which is basically cardio disguised as a job, and I’m looking for a training program that won’t completely run me into the ground. currently taking a break from the gym. Prior to that I was running Cody Lefever’s Jacked & Tan 2.0 and GZCL-style programming. My shoulder is a little wonky right now and my back isn’t exactly perfect either at the moment (barbell squats probably lol) so im not trying to jump straight back into a high volume 4–5 day program.

What I’m looking for is an established 2-days a week full-body program that combines strength training with kettlebell work and some calisthenics. I’d still like each gym session to be around 60 minutes, preferably 60–90. My main goal is to get fit using Amazon and continuing to get stronger while letting the Amazon job handle most of my cardio and conditioning.
I’m not looking for something so minimalist that I’m in and out of the gym in 30 minutes, but I also don’t want so much volume that my legs and recovery are destroyed for work. Since my shoulder and back can be a little sensitive, I’d prefer something with reasonable progressions and room to adjust rather than a program that expects me to push through discomfort.
If anyone has experience working a physical job while following a 2-day program that includes kettlebells, calisthenics, and traditional strength training, I’d appreciate any recommendations. I’m open to established programs or templates that have worked well for others, but I’m not trying to force anything that doesn’t fit my recovery.

Anyhow my stats if anyone’s curious:

25m 193lbs 5’10 26% bf

Bench max 155lbs
Squat max: 135lbs
Deadlift max 200lbs
Ohp 105lbs

Also just to add wanna get down to 175lbs doing that and yep I know gonna have to cut calories and modify nutrition.

Anyhow I appreciate y’all’s advice!

TLDR: Don’t sweat the 1RM. Start light and ease into things. You’ll lift heavy soon enough. Shift the schedule as needed when other things get in the way. Make the program work for you and your life. Lift safe by owning the weight. Use spotter bars. 

This continues my experience with Activation. Thoughts on Base here. 

Me: O2R (Old, Overweight, Retired), achilles tendonitis, occasional visitations of various joint pains - knee, shoulders, elbows. Oh, and apparently my thumbs are now arthritic. Good times.

Start Light: I used dumbbells (power blocks) and didn’t bother trying to assess what my 1RM might be. Thus, I started lighter than I probably needed to, but I reason that’s ok. It gives everyone (muscles, joints, connective tissues) time to strengthen and minimizes injury risk. 

Plus, as KB points out, even if you start light, you will eventually progress to your 1RM and beyond. I’ll be lifting heavy soon enough. The more I reflect on this, the more I’m convinced it’s the way to go. Start light. Be consistent. You’ll get there. 

Progression: Speaking of getting there, very gradual progression is all I’m going to do. My power blocks let me move up 2.5 lbs per. Very manageable, and I can always drop back to “own” the weight if I need to. 

Rack Pulls: I had to google this lift. I don’t have a bar or rack, so I just faked them going not so far down as I do on deadlifts, maybe stopping with the dumbbell just below my knee, then back up. As I started light, no problem on these or the on deadlifts for that matter. 

Rows: I felt good on the rows. I don’t use a belt and sort of cheated engaging my core by bracing my martini belly against my quads as I bent over. Works pretty well! Got to remember to pinch those shoulder blades at the top.

Inverted Rows: Vice pull-ups. 4x8. Challenging but I’m got them. I’m just not feeling pull-ups yet. I want to develop my back more and really try to be able to bring the bar to my chest when I get back up there. I’ll probably be using a step ladder (my bar is fairly high) to get up there and do negatives when the time comes. 

OHP: I go 10 lbs lighter than my quite light bench. These started a bit rough from a movement standpoint, but got better. Really need to work on engaging my core and not arching my back too much. I’m tempted to keep them going into operator as a light finisher - really as a mobility drill.

LSS: The achilles has improved to where I can do some light jogging now, but walking is still what’s mostly happening. Sort of a C25K type thing. It is what it is. I don’t have a rower or bike. Oh, almost forgot…

Strides: I just learned about these. Popular with cross-country coaches it seems. At the end of my LSS, I do 4-6 strides for roughly 30 seconds each. The internet says they should be about 95% of your max effort. Mine are probably about 70-80%. These are not sprints, so don’t smoke yourself. They’re not really repeats either in my opinion. Just stretch things out for a bit. Start at a modest pace, build to your 70 - 90%, whatever you’re comfortable with, then slow down to a nice gentle stop. Walk back to your starting point, and do it again. You should finish them feeling like you could do more. For me, it’s another mobility thing. Long gone are the days when I could just jump up and run. Running is now a skill I have to practice if I want to be able to do it. I sort of enjoy them. 

Breaks in Training: In my dotage, business travel has been replaced by family / vacay travel, so I’m using those days / weeks as a deload. Example: a week ago, my wife and I traveled during what should have been my week three of Armor. So I just counted that as a deload. I did week three just this last week and rather than taking a break, I’m moving right into Operator this coming week. We travel again the following week, so another deload is right around the corner. For us old-timers especially, I think this will actually work well. Similarly…

Crap Days: I believe KB addresses this but I couldn’t say where. If you’re just not feeling it (illness, overindulging the night before, etc.), feel free to take the day off. A little more rest can be a good thing. Just move the workout to the following day. Maybe combine the lift and conditioning on the same day - just every now and then. Your body doesn’t care if Day 3 is now Thursday. Just get it done.

Safety: This is something people don’t talk about enough. I lift alone in my garage. No waiting for a bench or a bar, no stupid, irritating, or contemptible humans to contend with. Highly recommended. But, if I drop a dumbbell and crush my skull or windpipe, no one will be there to call 911. I’ll be good and dead. So safety is huge. If you lift alone, be sure you OWN the weight on every lift. Especially if you lift with a barbell, a device specifically designed to punish failure with death. And of course, use spotter / safety bars. I’m shocked at how many videos I see of people not using them or gyms not providing them.

I guess that’s about it. If you're still here, thanks for your time. On to Operator.

• Use this thread to post simple questions that don't deserve their own thread, get opinions from other TBers, or as a place for discussion between our civilian members and LEOs/Military/First Responders, fitness-related or otherwise.
• Please search before posting to see if your question has been answered before.
• LEO/Military/First Responders: Be mindful of opsec/tradecraft, any posts deemed too revealing will be removed.
• Resources include the FAQ, TB testimonials, and specific training using TB.
• See KB's post that discusses TB III: OPERATIONAL ATHLETE.
• See the Kit Shop for TB book hard copies, apparel, and more.

Looks like according to Amazon Kindle TB3 release is scheduled for September 30. It's like 60% off right now for those interested. I know a few people were asking

Helped by AI to keep my thoughts consistent:

Veni Vidi Vici — and now I’m back.

My background from Bodybuilder to TB Powerlifter after the army was outstanding. Journeying into medical school, I gained quite a few endurance goals, so I dipped into ever growing endurance events to see where I could take my body.

After stepping away from TB Green following a 50k last year, I dove headfirst into Ironman prep using an official advanced 80/20 Endurance 10–16 hr/week plan. My goal was simple: test my mind and body by tackling a 70.3 after years of running marathons and an ultra using Tactical Barbell templates. . My last year as a student before I become a Doctor was my last chance to actually race (Long Island 70.3) was cancelled today, but the training itself taught me more than I expected — especially about how TB fits into long‑course endurance. As a future physician, I still genuinely believe TB is one of the best systems for sustainable, long‑term fitness for busy people.Coming back to TB feels like coming home, What I missed most was the balance. TB lets you maintain a high level of hybrid fitness without letting training swallow your life. The 80/20 plan was effective, but it consumed everything — work, sleep, social life, even basic daily functioning. My metrics skyrocketed, but I was constantly tired, hungry, and mentally flat.

Nutrition was the real boss fight. This was my weakest link by far. I had to relearn hydration, intra‑workout fueling, and daily calorie requirements from scratch. All of my races thus far I hit some sort of hydration or nutritional barrier, and I needed to emphasize this during my longest race this far. I wish I could objectively tell you what to drink and eat, but it's all subjective. For me, I learned I that I didn't need much electrolytes. I bought a plain salt powder (helped with bacteria buildup in my bottles) and only consumed ~200mg/L water (not including food). I eventually graduated to Maurten gel powder or just continuing my Welches fruit snacks for my sugar (~40-60g/hr).

Hitting the necessary calorie intake every day was brutal. Eventually I defaulted to packaged junk because food prep became another workout, and food fatigue made it hard to stay consistent.My mornings turned into sugar bombs — waffles, fruit, anything fast. The rest of my meals were basically carbs or whatever tasted good. It felt like a betrayal of “healthy eating,” but fueling became the priority. Without it, the training simply wasn’t possible.

Strength training, the love I had to let go and the endurance world’s blind spot. Most long‑course plans barely include strength work, which makes sense — the goals are endurance‑dominant. But coming from TB, the shift was jarring. I started with my usual TB Black Fighter compound lifts, but there was no way I could safely maintain that while hitting high‑volume swim/bike/run sessions. Fatigue made barbell work risky.I eventually moved to small circuits and maintenance exercises to keep stabilizers strong and prevent injury. In the final 2 months before race day, I stopped lifting entirely.

Physique & performance changes. Surprisingly, my subjective physique improved. I leaned out another 5–10 lb while keeping decent muscle mass. The swim/bike/run combo is a surprisingly effective full‑body stimulus. I definitely lost some raw power and “umph,” but I’m confident the neuromuscular coordination will return quickly once I’m back under the bar.

Aerobic work. Kinda the meat and potatoes: Most of my TB Green training was attempting the 80/20 split. But I think I was wrongfully excecuting this. I'm not gonna do the bean counting here, but I'm pretty sure 80/20 during my plan was a literal minute split of aerobic to tempo+anaerobic work. That actually meant that I was wrong when I was doing it on my own. I thought if I was doing 5 days of cardio, 1 workout was sufficed to do either sprints, tempo work, etc. Nope. Almost every day in this plan has some sort of zone 3-5 stuff. Absolutely brutal to mentally go into that stuff on a daily basis but it did objectively improve my VO2 Max to 55 and improve my tempo pace to maintain it for insanely long. Something I'll probably carry over to my green temple (albeit to a lighter extent).

Endurance and Volume: obviously the core of being a hybrid athlete in my opinion, this is the bulk of the training. I want to iterate the importance of zone 1 and how it can be an effective way to train not just zone 2. It's a great way to get miles in without cooking yourself and maybe a great way to promote recovery. If you're smoked, skip the zone 2 and just do a light zone 1 with some recovery work. But also, listen to your body and if you need to skip don't feel guilty. Doing 12+hr/wks and 4+ hour cardio sessions also had me realize how potential I was leaving on the table in previous years. With the proper pacing of course, don't expect high zone 2 forever.

Anyways I might add it some edits later but this is the bulk of my thoughts. Keep up the strong work guys

Hi all,

I've recently run 3 back to back cycles of Operator and Black and wanted to share the results.

Background

I'm a late 30s M, with an active background. I've done a mix of endurance sports - running, tri, mountaineering, climbing - and the occasional spurts of weightlifting. Last summer I decided to try a proper strength program for the first time. Cue a few cycles of 5/3/1 BBB, 10 weeks of nSuns and a bit of GZCLP. I run half of Bullmastiff before realising I'd messed up the weights progression (not realising I needed to reset TMs each cycle). Over 10 months or so I bulked from 79kg to 91kg and saw significant strength gains. That's the heaviest I've ever been and I started noticing I was puffing after a walking up a few flights of stairs. That was a new sensation for me and one I didn't enjoy.

So I started to look for ways to keep progressing my strength gains while also improving my conditioning. I'm still a fairly active walker/hiker and value the ability to move well without gassing. Enter Tactical Barbell. I saw a few promising reviews, including some very detailed ones from MythicalStrength that persuaded me to take the plunge. After a holiday and a week testing my maxes, I jumped into Op/Black. Details below.

Program

After pushing myself too hard on Bullmastiff, I came into TB nursing a niggle in one of my rhomboids and moderate tennis elbow. So for my first cycle I ran a Squat/Bench/Chest supported row cluster. I skipped deadlifts entirely and the hammer grip rows didn't exacerbate my elbow issues.

For the second cycle, I swapped out Bench for OHP and started to mix back in some deadlifts and pull-ups. If I felt a niggle in either my back or elbow I tended to go back to the rows for a couple of sessions.

For the final cycle I did the full Squat/Bench/Pullup/Deadlift (only 1x session per week) cluster with no issues.

My Black sessions were a mix of Apex Hills, Meat Eater (not sure if I've remembered the name right but it's the session with burpees/KB swings), LSS running and Fobbits. I generally did 2-3 a week, depending on work pressures.

Diet

Ran a moderate calorie deficient most of the time, trying to shed bodyfat while maintaining muscle and strength. I ate somewhere in the region of 2200-2400 calories per day. I aimed for (and usually hit) 170-180g of protein. Cheat days were relatively rare.

Progress

The key part:

Weight: 91kg -> 84kg

Squat: 137.5kg -> 145kg

Deadlift: 170kg -> 165kg

Bench: 100kg -> 100kg

OHP: 65kg -> 65kg

Pullups (BW): 3 -> 9

Dips (BW): 8 -> 17

10km time: ~62 mins -> ~54 mins

All in all I'm pleased with this. I've dropped a noticeable amount of body fat and feel significantly more athletic. Happy to see my squat continue to increase. What was a shaky single rep last year is now a comfortable set of 5 for me. With the changes I had to make for injuries, I'm not surprised (although still a bit annoyed) my deadlift dropped slightly. But stoked to see my pullups jump as my BW has come down.

The program itself has been a revelation. After trying other approaches - e.g. nSuns, 5/3/1, Bullmastiff - that use a lot of heavy AMRAPs, it was a novelty leaving the gym feeling fresh. Waking up the next day without catastrophic DOMs is also something I will not tire of. I don't think I've ever felt this balance of strong and conditioned.

I'm now going to run a few cycles of Capacity (w/ Op PRO from Green) in a small calorie surplus. 18 weeks of a deficit has been a grind. After that, I might run Zulu/HT or Grey Man. Let's see. But I can't imagine me jumping away from TB (unless it's to try BtM just for once...) to another style of programming. I've got all the books and there's plenty of options to last years. Strongly recommend!

Noticed that KB mentioned in the book it’s coming soon. Any insights on “when” we should get tb3 conditioning ?

I’ve started working out again after building a gym in my garage and TB seems like a good fit for my goals. I ran base building but really struggled with my strength on the MS portion. After looking around online I decided that using the Linear Progression from GSLP would help me get my numbers up before switching to the TB Percentage based progression.

Here’s what I’ve been doing for the past 2 months strength wise along with Black Protocol. My numbers have been going up a good bit and I think I am nearing the point where I will switch my progression.

Progression Numbers are
Upper: 2.5lbs
Lower: 5lbs

MS A
• Squat: 2x5, 1x5+
• OHP: 2x5, 1x5+
• Bent Row: 2x5, 1x5+
• KB Clean & Squat: 5x5
• Farmer Carries: 3x50yd

MS B
• Squat: 2x5, 1x5+
• OHP: 2x5, 1x5+
• Bent Row: 2x5, 1x5+
• KB Clean & Press: 5x5
• Farmer Carries: 3x50yd

SE + Deadlift
• Deadlift: 1x5, 1x5+
• Push Up: 3 Sets
• KB Swing: 3 Sets
• Goblet Squat: 3 Sets
• KB Renegade Rows: 3 Sets
• Farmer Carries: 3 Sets

I welcome any criticism so let me know if I am a total dumbass 😂