I already commented this on a previous thread but I realized I could’ve added more context and reworded my question/s better.

I’m currently trying to get back into maxing out my pull-ups for the PFT (23 dead hang pull-ups) before I check into my next schoolhouse in June. With that said, I’ve bulked up a bit (around 190ish) since I got back from OCS to prep for the hikes and eventually IOC (possibly). I was able to max out the pull-ups on the PFT when I was around 170ish but it’s definitely been proven to be more difficult now with the added weight (I’m at 17 dead hang pull-ups as of now, down from 23).

I just started Tactical Barbell (3rd Edition) and I’m following the Swat cluster (Squat, FB, WP, and Opt DL) and I’m wondering if just doing the WP 3 days a week as the template recommends would be enough to eventually get back to maxing out my pull-ups? I’ve adjusted the cluster a bit where I’m doing 8 sets of 5 reps but I’m wondering if that’s overkill or not enough. Instead of focusing on strength, should I be focusing on higher volume? Any insight would be great.

• 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 SITREP post that discusses CAT, the now-open Kit Shop, and TBIII.

I’m running Black Operator with BP/SQ/WPU on Monday/Wednesday/Friday. On one of the days I throw in DL as well.

Tuesdays are Indoor Power Intervals and Thursdays Apex Hills (actually I’ve modified these to Apex Echo Bike).

Saturdays is meant to alternate between Fast 5 Tempo and LSS.

Looking at my last block, I’ve not missed a day Mon-Fri and missed every Saturday. Clearly family commitment keep getting in the way…

So being realistic, I need to ditch the Saturday. But it seems LSS is an important component of the overall program.

I’m thinking to replace one Indoor Power Intervals with LSS one week, and Apex Hills the other weeks.

Any thoughts on how to approach Black Operator on a 5 day plan?

Simple question today, woke up with a URI with mild neck lymph node swelling. I have a 9 miler today, I'm positive I could run it without issue, although should I wait a couple days until I'm no longer sick? Not sure if there us diminishing returns with sickness Lol

I'm just starting Week 6 of my first Operator block alongside Muay Thai and love TB so far.

But I'm curious why I can't just do the "peaking" technique from the Mass book and use those numbers for the next block — since the last week is all 1-2 reps anyway.

Would there really be any significant difference between that and a dedicated 1RM test day?

For context, I am planning to switch from Operator to Fighter, and back squats to front squats, for the next block.

Does taking snus affect your day to day life, performance, progression and conditioning (heart rate and overall conditioning)?

How 8 Years of Tactical Barbell Helped Me Recover (and Stay Stronger Than Ever in My 50s)

I’ve been following Tactical Barbell for eight years now, and I can confidently say I’m stronger in my 50s than I’ve ever been. Recently, though, it proved its worth in a way I never expected: helping me recover from a torn hamstring.

When the injury happened, I was worried it would set me back months, but thanks to the foundation I’ve built, recovery was much faster than I anticipated. The program’s focus on controlled progression, mobility, and balanced strength meant I had the tools to come back smarter and stronger. I eased back in by using lighter loads and perfect form, sticking to the Base Building principles I’ve relied on for years.

The conditioning side of TB also played a huge role. Cycling and other low-impact options from the Green Protocol kept my fitness up while my hamstring healed. Eight years of training gave me the discipline to stay consistent and not rush the process.

Now, I’m back to full strength and feel better than ever. I also ensured, good nutrition, good sleep/rest, I did massage, physio, cold/heat, red light, stretching and mobility and pool work.

This reduced my time away from work, time away from tactical training and overall interruption of my life!

How 8 Years of Tactical Barbell Helped Me Recover (and Stay Stronger Than Ever in My 50s)

I’ve been following Tactical Barbell for eight years now, and I can confidently say I’m stronger in my 50s than I’ve ever been. It’s a simple, effective system that builds real-world strength and conditioning without all the fluff. Recently, though, it proved its worth in a way I never expected: helping me recover from a torn hamstring.

When the injury happened, I was worried it would set me back months, but thanks to the foundation I’ve built with Tactical Barbell, recovery was much faster than I anticipated. The program’s focus on controlled progression, mobility, and balanced strength meant I had the tools to come back smarter and stronger. I eased back in by using lighter loads and perfect form, sticking to the Base Building principles I’ve relied on for years.

The conditioning side of TB also played a huge role. Cycling and other low-impact options from the Green Protocol kept my fitness up while my hamstring healed. Eight years of training gave me the discipline to stay consistent and not rush the process.

Now, I’m back to full strength and feel better than ever, total i was "out" for about 6 weeks, it reduced my time off work, time away from tactical training and interpretation of my life overall.

I'm also counting in good rest, good nutrition, physiotherapy, cold and heat therapy, red light therapy, stretching and massage!

I've been comparing Tactical Barbell Green Protocol to running-specific programs, such as Jack Daniels' Running Formula. I understand the purpose of TB GP is not to be a running-only program, but to balance running with other fitness and training needs. However, I'm curious how much special operations soldiers actually run per week.

For example, information shared by the 75th Ranger Regiment performance team shows that the average Ranger runs a 35:08-36:46 five mile, and an above average Ranger runs 31:50-35:07.

I know getting concrete data on unit PT plus personal miles can be difficult, but if anyone has some data, I'm interested to see it.

Currently running Grey Man and am enjoying with the program, but cannot help but think I am leaving something on the table by not taking the compounds closer to failure. In the past, I have had great results running SBS and 5/3/1 programs that take the compounds to failure and wonder if anyone has implemented similar intensity techniques to this program.

I am thinking taking the last set of compounds to failure 1x per week will scratch this itch. Is it programmed w/o to ensure recovery? Am I missing something obvious as to why it is programmed this way?

Edit: just re-read the "peaking techniques" section and it looks like AMRAP sets on Week 3 is mentioned for Grey Man. Going to start there and sprinkle a few more in as long as it doesn't impair recovery, but am still curious as to others thoughts/experiences on the matter.

Hi,

Im just finishing up Capacity in green protocol, and for some reason developed a pain in my achilles when running. I keep taking 2-4 days off of running but it just comes back once I do any Z2/LSS runs over 20 mins.

I started doing eccentric heel lowering and other exercises to increase achilles strength, but I dont think it is a good idea to keep running for at least 3 weeks while this heals (is this a good move?).

I do want to keep the aerobic benefits I got from the 3 months of running though, so instead of running, what else can I do to keep my legs and aerobic system primed for running once I heal? Would using only the rowing machine be ok?

Hey all, I have done base building twice in the past as well as operator/green twice. I had good progress and was probably in the best shape of my life.

I got severely injured 1.5 years ago. I now have 18 broken bones distributed through my legs, feet and ankles. Needless to say, working out was not possible and physical therapy and recovery was the focus. I finally got to a point where I feel like I can start getting back into TB.

I am on week 3 of base building. My SE routine is body weight squats, knee pushups, kettlebell rows, kettlebell swings, kettlebell dead’s and flutter kicks. The kettlebell I’m using is only 25lbs. I knew coming off of injury I would need to greatly reduce my expectations, but this routine is such a struggle. I specifically reduced all weight hence the knee pushups and body squats. Week 1/2 was fine but going up to 40 reps is fucked. I’m not fat, I weigh 170lb and 6’1”. Weight has maintained through the 3 weeks (added an extra week 2 because I felt the struggle coming haha).

My main question, do you think I’m just not eating enough? I feel like haven’t made any SE progress from week 1/2/2 to 3. E progress has somewhat improved though. I have always struggled to eat enough and I’m not sure if I’m just pushing myself too hard or if my diet is the issue.

Hi guys, so I am on Zulu now because I want the additional time after for HIC/SE type work

I've been using HICs/GCs from the book, they're great but I wanna do more Compound movements (barbell or bodyweight) like in SE and just tweak for HIC/GC purposes like adding KBs or sleds at the end.

I am planning to do the 10/20/30 (week 1/2/3) structure that basebuilding has, but I am looking for other source material to build specific circuits

I found some good stuff in - https://brassringfitness.com/ but i was hoping ya'll got other sources.

Likely silly question - is a HIC session just one of the prescriber exercises in TBII? E.g. 5x 30 sec hill sprints with the appropriate rest periods. Or do you do multiple for a time frame e.g. 1 h?

I have some dumbbells that go up to 185 lbs (haven’t gone higher than 110 though yet). I use dumbbells for bench, incline, and shoulder press. (I’ve had 4 shoulder surgeries and DBs just feel better)

I haven’t needed spotters yet, but my goal is to get to 185. Has anyone tried the mad spotters or other DB spotter products? They seem kinda pricey for what they are. Wondering if anybody has liked any of those products or has DIY’d something good

I've bought both TB I and II, and plan on starting off with a basebuilding block, but up until this point I have mostly been doing bodybuilding-esque workouts in the morning before breakfast out of the convinience. So I'm wondering how do people usually fit this program in their day? Is it realistic to do a athletic program such as TB after just waking up in a fasting sense? I already have pretty bad cardio so I'm worried not intaking enough carbs before an E session would impede on my progress. Thank you :)

What is you opinion on swithing one day of front squats with reverse lunges or bulgarian split squats. I was wondering if i would do day 1 front squats and day 4 some type of lunge instead of front squats. Some unilateral leg work i think is very benifical for rucking and running performence when comes to military and selection prep. Your opinion?

Doing the velocity portion of Green Protocol and unless I read it incorrectly I’m only supposed to be working out twice a week with a push, pull, and leg movement (fighter) on those two days. Just seems like it’s not enough (maybe I’m just not used to this approach). Also I guess I should just hit a core workout after my regular workout? And would it be OK to ruck some days instead of the runs? This is my first time trying TB so I’m just curious. Thanks !

I've done a few hypertrophy blocks from Mass Protocol recently and have been thinking about switching to Grey Man as I like the extra volume. But I'd like to know if anyone runs any 5 day templates outside of Mass that they wouldn't mind sharing. I typically cut out all cardio during Mass blocks and lift extra outside of the templates anyways so I would love to see some dedicated hypertrophy templates.

I'm an older lifter, 48. Lifted relatively fanatically in my 20's and early mid 30's, with a basic 5x5 lifting scheme as my usual go to routine, especially toward the end. Life got in the way, and I became pretty sedentary from my mid 30's until last year. Started exercising again with body weight exercises, and transitioned to weight training back in march. Ran a couple cycles of the 531, made decent progress. Discovered tactical barbell back in August and am near the end of my second cycle of that (bench, weighted pull-ups, front squats). I've been doing light jogging 2 days per week. During the summer, I applied at a local police department, and am now about halfway through the hiring process. Passed the pft, oral assessment, polygraph, and am waiting on the psych evaluation and medical exam. I have experienced a variety of low grade injuries the last few months which have hindered my ability to train consistently (calf, hamstring), think this was due to overtraining. I've backed off things considerably, and seem healthy at the moment. My question is, what TB routine would be best for an older man looking to stay as strong and fast (I'm not fast, but just fast enough to pass the pft) as possible, for the long haul, with a February academy date looming on the horizon?

Hey guys, I haven‘t done strictly TB in a while, instead I did Fighter with an additional 4 days of non TB running plan (Stryd - Palladino 5k). For the last half a year the combination of time restriction and finally starting BJJ had me completely neglect strength and not progressing in my running. Now I felt I wanted the simplicity of TB again and started Green Protocol. I am currently in Capacity and loving the long runs and the simple shedule.

Now to my question: I‘ve been reading up on the continuation protocols and am interested in I/CAT, since I feel I fit the target group and like the idea of the different blocks. While the first hypertrophy block would be great to work on my strength deficits the Idea of not running for four weeks is unfamiliar to me. On the other hand K.B. writes about minimal running during hypertrophy phase. Maybe you could also so some easy running in the deload phase too.

Have you guys run I/CAT ? Did you just do Zulu or did you do some endurance training ? How much (if any) running ability do you think one would loose in four weeks without running?

Thanks guys!

Hey guys I'm having trouble imagining what the power/speed lift looks like in operator/dup? How do you approach it?

Background on this: 25F, with about 8 years of training. I started out with Capacity as a way to 1) get back into a training cycle after taking time off for a surgery and 2) make the absolute most of the summer weeks when I’d be working 40 hours a week and not 70.

I kept the cluster for lifting simple: Squat, Bench, and Weighted Pullups, switching out the squat for deadlift once per week. I followed the plan with close to 100% adherence, and peaked between 30 and 35 miles per week. My easy pace is generally around 10:45/mile, though on some of the longer base-building runs it dropped as low as 12/mile. Interestingly, that easy pace has never really changed regardless of my overall fitness or performance on race day.

Before this plan, the farthest I’d run at one time was a half-marathon, and I’d never gone far past 20 miles per week. Breaking those records almost every week was intoxicating. I also was diligent with Operator (and with protein consumption), and also finished up with my lifting maxes back at their previous highs. I spent the summer in a region that peaks around 95*F, with reasonable humidity, and found that this didn't slow me down too much.

After running this cycle, I took a few days off and then (for funsies) went to the local state park to try another distance PR. I wrapped up a bit over 18 miles, at a 12min pace, and with a reasonable amount of elevation.

Overall, I loved the plan, and it may be my new go-to for base-building going forward. I never felt like I was overexerting myself or like I was in danger of injury, even when I was pushing mileage up every week. I also really appreciated the flexibility in the time-based metrics for those LSS runs. Should I do Capacity again in the future, I'm hoping to be able to hit the max time suggested. One thing I will note: especially in the early weeks of the plan, I found myself feeling like I could or should be doing more. I am very, very glad I fought down that impulse: Capacity is a bare-bones structure, but it's effective.

I'm currently most of the way through Velocity, which has been a bit more eventful and a bit less flawlessly executed. I'll post a similar report once I wrap up.

Note: edits due to reformatting the table.

I know the norm is mon,Tues, Thur and Friday but would it be possible to run it Mon to Thur? Due to not being able to get into a gym Fri to Sun

Over the last couple years I’ve increased my ACFT score from a 390 to a 497, which im generally proud of, but seeing people around me getting a 575+ it doesn’t feel too good. I really want to push myself and focus for the next 5-7 weeks and have a decent improvement to my score on the next ACFT I take in January.

I was doing black operator over the summer and it improved my score 50 points over the course of ~3 months. Im a college student so I have 2 months to really focus on the ACFT events and rock my next one.

My question is, for more focused ACFT work should I look into the MTI ACFT program and do that then transition back to TB when back at school? The main things i need to work on is my 3RM deadlift and the 2 mile run, but i obviously have room for improvement in every event:

3RM DL: 240lbs(82pts) SPT: 8.8m(75pts) 2-minutes HRP: 40(84pts) Sprint drag carry: 1:38(94pts) Plank: 3:00 minutes (87pts) 2-mile run: 18:14 minutes (71pts)

Greetings everyone. I already posted in this group a couple of times, the most recent being this post.

I will update you with results on that one in about 5 weeks when I finish my 2nd block.

Anyways, I need your help.

I am seriously struggling with creating a good nutrition plan for me in order to lose body fat. I have a lot of dieatry restrictions and most of the modern resources are not cutting it for me, and I do not now how to start.

Does anybody here knows a good resource for making nutrition/food plans that yield results that are of similar quality like the TB books for training?

Much appreciated, thank you.

• 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 SITREP post that discusses CAT, the now-open Kit Shop, and TBIII.

About two months ago I wrote on the weekly thread that I had not done very good on the PFT and shooting test for a police unit where I am from. Last night I made it to the end of a 5 day selection course where I was tested on everything from water confidence, heights, strength endurance, team work, fighting and tactical skills.

I am proud of myself for keeping my head cold and not considering quitting even though I was almost scared to death in the water, and I was one of the least capable in regards to my physical performance.

That's also why I am making the post, because I could need some advice on how to improve in some very specific areas.

I have identified that I absolutely mashed when having to run up stairs as acid builds up quickly in my legs, and I want to say that it's because I have tight hips and lack a lot of strength and mobility in my hip flexors and psoas especially. How would you strengthen this area?

And for my running it's a bit of the same but my lower back also gets smashed, especially when I have to do bear crawls and stuff like that in the sand.

But basically I'm weak in my lower part of the body, and I want to be able to carry team mates and keep up with them when shit hits the fan - that's what I need to improve.