This was an incredibly frustrating session. I wanted to test my maxes to work out percentages for the Tactical Barbell routine, and also because this is the second anniversary of brutalising my tibia on a rock in Glencoe. To mark the first anniversary I did a mock meet and went 125kg/125kg/205kg so to perform worse today was a real blow.
The deadlifts felt reasonably good up to 180kg. 200kg was ok but I knew my grip was slipping slightly. The first attempt with 220kg got way out in front of me, and there was no way I could gut it out. I rested a full 5 minutes but failed the second attempt just below my knees. I first deadlifted 220kg in March last year and must have hit it at least 10 times since, but not today.
The bench press was frustrating for a different reason - I smashed 120kg and decided to go for 130kg which would have been a lifetime PR. Unfortunately I was enthusiastically spotted, and I have no idea if I would have got it otherwise. So that doesn’t count.
The weighted pull-ups went better than expected - I thought I’d get +25kg for one rep, but managed four comfortably.
Tactical Barbell Routine
Thanks to @ChongLordUno I got the Tactical Barbell book and it looks right up my street, so I’m going to run it. Much like 5/3/1 it’s based on percentages of your maxes and the version I’m going to run (Operator) is basically three whole body days per week. The main “cluster” of exercises it suggests is squat/bench/weighted pull-ups with deadlifts once per week, but he gives examples of other options including one with deadlifts every session and no squats so that’s the one I’m going to go for.
I’m going to use the maxes that I hit today, including the 200kg (440lb) deadlift, because it will only do me good to err on the side of caution.
There is a separate conditioning book which I’m not going to get just now, but I think I will start that after doing my first 6 weeks of the strength routine. That should be a good time to incorporate more cardio for fat loss.
This was pretty good overall. I can usually press 60kg for 5x5, but I knew during the first set that I wouldn’t manage that today. I really like kettlebells for one-arm rows, as they allow a much greater ranger of motion that dumbbells. I wasn’t going to do any lower body stuff but got the urge to finish with some pistol squats and they actually felt really good. My rest periods were so brief that it was somewhere between 5x1 and 1x5.
Dude, at the risk of sounding cheeky, you really need to incorporate a protocol from TB2 to go alongside Operator. Operator is only half the program😉
Operator alone won’t be enough to stimulate any juicy hypertrophy gains, especially for someone as advanced as yourself. It’s too low volume imo. However when combined with, say the general conditioning sessions (GC), then the magic will happen👍
Not cheeky at all bud, I appreciate the advice! I think you are right, and there’s definitely no harm in adding the conditioning earlier. I’ll get the second book and get planning.
Bodyweight: 99.0kg - down 0.7kg (1.5lbs) from last week.
Training: Poor, nothing went particularly well this week.
Nutrition: Another good week nutrition-wise.
I’m very happy with my weight loss so far, I’ve lost 3.1kg (6.8lbs) from my highest to lowest measurements, but I’m still heavier than I was when I started the challenge last year. Training didn’t go well, it was just a bad week.
Next week I’m going to start the Tactical Barbell strength routine, but I’m going to postpone starting the conditioning stuff until the week after as I will be very busy. I’m looking forward to it!
T-Ransformation: Week 4 Tactical Barbell: Week 1, Day 1
Deadlifts
140kg: 5x5 Mixed Grip, No Belt.
Bench Press
85kg: 5x5 Minimal Rest.
Pistol Squats
BW: 5x1 Minimal Rest.
Bodyweight: 99.3kg
Week one of Tactical Barbell is relatively light, so this felt good. I swapped pull-ups for pistol squats because I hurt my biceps clearing a fallen log off the road yesterday. It felt fine at the time but was nasty during today’s deadlifts.
T-Ransformation: Week 4 Tactical Barbell: Week 1, Day 3
Deadlifts
140kg: 3x5 Mixed Grip, No Belt
Bench Press
90kg: 4x5
Pull-Ups
BW: 4x5
Bodyweight: 98.2kg
I really underestimated 140kg deadlift for sets of 5 - my lower back is utterly fried! I reckon this volume work will be really beneficial. I used 90kg for the bench because the 2.5kg plates were being used by someone else. Good session.
Bodyweight: 98.6kg - down 0.4kg (0.9lbs) this week
Training: Good, 3 full body days, no cardio
Nutrition: Good overall, a couple of blips
This has been a reasonably good week. I stuck to the Tactical Barbell plan and enjoyed the training. As above I really underestimated the higher volume work with 140kg, and I think it will be really good for me. Nutrition-wise I did ok, although my oven broke on Sunday and I ended up ordering Dominos lol. I’m undecided on introducing conditioning next week or holding off until my fat loss plateaus.
Plan
I’m going to add in conditioning this week, using the Tactical Barbell conditioning programme. The “base building” phase starts with primarily low intensity steady state stuff and then begins to incorporate high intensity sessions. The book recommends dropping to twice weekly strength training, so I’m going to do that, using a 2-day version of the template I did last week (the “Fighter” template). I got a stationary bike the other day, which will be great, because high frequency running is rough on my knees.