TACTICAL BARBELL: DEFINITIVE STRENGTH TRAINING FOR THE OPERATIONAL ATHLETE by K. Black

• Tactical athletes have to become experts at everything, which can be a juggling act.
• I always saw military PT as being more about developing the will to keep going versus training or improving actual physical skills.
• As my maximal-strength went up, everything became easier.
• Strength is ‘practiced’.
• Results speak.
• Tactical Barbell fully buys into the notion that ‘simplicity is the ultimate sophistication’.
• As a tactical athlete you have to master multiple fitness domains.
• Maximal-strength is a foundational physical attribute for the tactical athlete.
• The most efficient way to increase maximal-strength is through the use of barbells, due to the ease of incremental loading and the amount of weight that can be safely handled.
• TB is a barbell strength program designed specifically for tactical athletes using correct principles and best practices to increase maximal-strength while taking into account the need to simultaneously train other fitness attributes.
• Every weight you lift will be based on your own personal one repetition maximums.
• ‘Action is the foundational key to all success.’
• Err on the side of the least amount of time you’ll consistently stick to.
• All you have to do is execute. Simple, but not always easy.
• Aim for being consistent
• Motivation tends to grow after success strangely enough.
• Consistency is the secret formula, the magic bullet.
• Your only job is to go to the gym on the designated days. It’s inconsequential whether you have a good session or a bad one.
• Operational athletes place an equal value on strength and conditioning.
• Operational athletes strive to be superior in multiple fitness domains, not elite in one.
• Being superior in multiple fitness domains is elite.
• As long as your strength is increasing over time in the big picture, fluctuations up or down in the present mean nothing.
• We’ve found over the years, that things like aesthetics, fat loss and all the rest take care of themselves if you focus on improving your performance.
• Powerlifters lift far heavier weights than bodybuilders, yet they don’t resemble bodybuilders and can sometimes be much smaller.
• Training for size and strength are different animals.
• As one TB reader puts it, you want to be Wolverine, not the Hulk.
• Strength training, powerlifting and bodybuilding are not the same.
• Attributes or fitness domains are things like maximal-strength, speed, strength-endurance or aerobic capacity. Tools are things like bench press, sandbags, kettlebells, hills, and your bodyweight.
• Think in terms of training an attribute. Then choose the best tool to train that particular attribute.
• Periodization is just a fancy way of describing planned training progression. Because going 100% all the time simply does not work in the long run. There are many styles of periodization.
• Strength is like a skill and should be trained like a skill.
• When you attempt to train at your maximum all the time you’re going to burn out and get injured.
• You can’t go 100% forever and keep making progress.
• Don’t mistake frantic activity for progress.
• AVOID MUSCLE FAILURE. Muscle failure is primarily helpful for muscular hypertrophy, not strength.
• THOU SHALT REST A MINIMUM OF TWO MINUTES BETWEEN SETS
• A general rule of thumb is the longer the rest interval, the more strength without the mass.
• Goes without saying food and conditioning load are key ingredients in putting on mass as well.
• Short rest intervals have merit for increasing hypertrophy and strength-endurance. But they’re an obstacle when it comes to developing max-strength.
• A “cluster” is simply a group of exer-cises.
• Always keep in mind we’re training for performance, not to get good at a particular exercise.
• Focus on getting extremely strong in a small handful of balanced compound lifts.
• We’re not focussed on variety for variety’s sake, we want results.
• For the maximum strength game, if you keep changing things up, you will slow down your progress.
• Keep the strength training relatively consistent.
• A minimalist cluster is 2-3 exercises. Great for athletes or tactical types that are heavily involved in other forms of training or sports which place great demands on their energy systems.
• A standard cluster is 3-4 exercises. Usually 3 lifts only, or three lifts plus 1 bodyweight exercise.
• Standard clusters tend to produce the best strength and body composition results and are easily balanced with a heavy conditioning protocol.
• Operator is the standard issue TB template for operational athletes. It is the backbone of the program. Three days a week.
• To get the most out of this program, I strongly suggest you do no extra heavy barbell training on non-strength days. Stick to conditioning or sport specific training.
• Operator template is the standard Tactical Barbell strength model. It was the original. Designed for tactical types looking for an ultra-efficient way to gain extreme levels of strength, while doing heavy conditioning work on the side.
• Going too light is a waste of time.
• These are the principles behind Operator template. All of them have to be in place for success: Training must be frequent (3 x week) Loads have to be heavy enough to trigger maximal-strength adaptation. There has to be sufficient recovery between training sessions.
• Ultimately after you remove all the noise, effective strength training revolves around balancing these three things; frequency, intensity (load), and recovery.
• If you can practice heavy (enough) lifting on a frequent basis while stopping short of overtraining – you’re golden.
• Ask yourself why you’re doing accessory work. What are you truly gaining from it?
• That’s the beauty of compound lifts – they tend to strengthen and activate more of your body.
• Use a little common sense when choosing your cluster and ensure it’s balanced.
• Balance can be obtained through activities outside of your max-strength protocol.
• It’s a minimalist ultra-efficient approach that increases overall strength rapidly.
• For a minimalist approach like Operator, I generally favor substantial compound lifts like the back squat and bench press for the average trainee.
• So if you’re slinging around more weight in general every session, chances are you’ll get stronger faster. More efficiently.
• *stick to bodyweight pull-ups until you can do at least 10
• Consider Trapbar or Romanian deadlifts as an alternative.
• Take one OR two days off in between your strength sessions as needed.
• Higher volume contributes to mass gain. If you want to put on a little more beef go with 4 to 5 sets each session instead of 3.
• Doing weighted pull-ups progressively and consistently will take your game to the next level. Try it. Bodyweight pull-ups should be substituted until you can hit 10 strict reps.
• With bodyweight-only exercises we focus on increasing repetitions vs increasing load.
• Strength-Endurance (SE) is the ability to produce resistance or generate force over an extended period of time.
• SE is trained using very light loads (20%-40%RM/ bodyweight etc.) and high repetitions.
• Time, and controlling it, is everything when it comes to SE.
• Choosing exercises for SE should never ever be a problem – because you can always rely on good old bodyweight if you must.
• Hormones have a huge impact on your training and body composition. Testosterone contributes to muscle gain, fat loss, libido, mood, and it antagonizes cortisol.
• One of the best ways to support healthy hormone levels, is to ensure you get enough fat and cholesterol in your diet.
• That being said, ultimately your training and diet should be geared to whatever helps your particular end goal.
• Focus on training consistently and improving your performance. Everything else will fall into place as long as you adhere to intelligent eating guidelines and exercise some common sense.
• I’ve noticed that the BIGGEST mistake the general trainee makes when trying to improve performance is LACK of food.
• When it comes to protein, I am a believer in the idea that you need roughly one gram of protein per pound of bodyweight daily. I’ve found my best improvements in body composition, energy, recovery and strength when I adhere to this guideline.
• Ultimately I believe consistency trumps any special supplement or diet.
• My general rule of thumb is that mega-dosing anything is never a good idea no matter what the current science says.
• Kettlebells are top of the line training tools when used correctly.
• Long steady state cardio develops a base level of endurance that assists even during your short high intensity conditioning sessions.
• Train and prepare for what you’re facing accordingly.
• Most importantly the best program for you is one that gives you RESULTS.
• There is no one ‘Holy Grail’ of training programs for everyone.
• Pick any legitimate proven program and stick with it for a substantial amount of time before coming to any conclusions.
• I set out to write the book I would’ve wanted 20 years ago when I was getting into the tactical world. If I could sum it up in one sentence it would be ‘a simple strength system for extreme results’. No frills, no unnecessary complexity, pared down, and brutally effective.
• There are two principles in this book which are responsible for 90% of the results you will see with this program. The first is frequent heavy, sub- maximal lifting while avoiding muscle failure. The second supports the first, which is the longer, 2-minute minimum rest interval.
• That tiny little bit of extra rest-interval translates into more work being successfully completed during a session, which compounds over time and turns into massive strength increases.
• If your “cardio” mainly consists of sprinting, metcons, and HIIT, you’re doing it wrong. You’re missing out on developing the system that provides you with 90% of the energy you require for your daily activities.