Conditioning...Tactical Barbell Style

Week 6 starts today. Change of pace from here on in for the last two weeks of Base Building.

Eased back into max strength training today...and High Intensity Conditioning (HIC) sessions will start to make an appearance over this last couple weeks.

Two strength sessions per week are required for the last leg of this phase...so I'll be using a very basic 531 two-day set-up.

Bench 185
Squat 225
Trap Bar DL 250
OHP 120

Wk 6...Day 1/Strength:

BP 140 x 5, 150 x 5, 157.5 x 5
DL 185 x 5, 200 x 5, 212.5 x 5

No extra reps today.
 
High Intensity Conditioning (HIC) Session...:

'Connaught Range 10 to 1s'

A welcome break from the slow steady state work...felt great pushing the pace. The LSS is doing the job, because this felt easier than it should have based on my past performance with similar workouts.

I won't get too detailed with the workouts...don't want to give the book away. But the 'Connaught Range' session involved a burpee style shuttle run. Very intense.

One thing I will say 6 weeks in...I am now a convert to the aerobic-base building, slow steady state, jogging-is-good-within-an-overall plan, school of thought.

The funny thing is, doing easy steady state work has improved my gas tank exponentially with much less effort compared to my prior balls-to-the-wall HIIT approach. My old boxing coaches, Joel Jamieson, and KB were right!
 
Second strength workout of the week (5/3/1)....:

Back Squat 165 x 5, 180 x 5, 190 x 5
SOHP 90 x 5, 95 x 5, 105 x 5

Feels awesome getting back to regular strength work and fast paced conditioning!
 
Week 7...Day 1 Max Strength

Bench
150 x 3
157.5 x 3
165 x 3 (+2)

Trap Bar DL
200 x 3
212.5 x 3
225 x 3
 
Oct 25...:

HIC#9
Fobbit Intervals

Today:
Rest
 
"E" x 45

20 minutes x low intensity pad work
10 minutes jump rope
15 minutes rowing
 
HIC#8

Black-On-Oxygen aka BOO

Did the partner version of this with a buddy....one swings the KB, the other runs an 800m, then switch.
Done for set amount of rounds.
 
Week 8....Day 3

Rest & Recovery

Stretching + foam rolling

I really like the set-up that's been introduced over the past two weeks...:

strength day
conditioning day
rest day

Base Building Block is almost over....I am very excited to see my results. I feel like a million bucks and look like I'm in pre-fight shape from back when I used to box a little more regularly.
Looking forward to starting phase 2, the "continuation protocol" - which is all about max strength and High Intensity Conditioning. It'll be a nice change from the slow-steady-state stuff I've been doing this past couple of months.
 
Nice work in here, I've had a fair bit of success with a very similar training regime.

Do you reckon you could post all the details of your HIC sessions? I'm always looking for new ideas.
 
LatFlare said:
Nice work in here, I've had a fair bit of success with a very similar training regime.

Do you reckon you could post all the details of your HIC sessions? I'm always looking for new ideas.
Click to expand...

I'll post details occasionally, but not regularly...I don't want to give away all of Mr.KB's work. At $7 or $8 it is very reasonably priced, and I highly recommend it. While it does contain many individual sessions, it is more of an overall systematic approach.
 
Day 5....HIC#6

Sledge Drill

Sledge + tire strikes + jump rope ftw! Love anything with sledge & tire...
 
Finished up Block 1 (Base Building x 8 weeks) a couple days ago....

These were a few arbitrary markers I tested, just a few things I thought would be indicative of general conditioning:

Start (8 weeks ago)

5K time - 28 Minutes
Resting Heart Rate - 73
1.5m run - 11:38
Push-ups - 44
Pull-ups - 12

Today I ran a 5k for time...day after tomorrow I'll test my 1.5 + push-ups pull-ups.

So.....today's result (8 weeks later):
5k = 21:11 minutes!
Resting heart rate (this AM) = 61

Needless to say I am extremely pleased with my results....I started out from a pretty shitty out-of-shape place and now things are progressing nicely. Feels good.

Curious how my 1.5 mile is going to turn out, seeing as I haven't done much in the way of HIIT style work over the past 8 week block.

Stay tuned over the next couple days for my final few "tests" lol
 
Finished up 'testing' my results yesterday....

Before (8 weeks ago)

1.5m run - 11:38
Push-ups - 44
Pull-ups - 12

After
1.5m run - 10:04
Push-ups - 73 (!)
Pull-ups - 13 (not trained)

I am very satisfied with my results...feel like a million bucks, and looking pretty damn good too, altho aesthetics wasn't really my goal. Best way to describe it would be the feel you get after fight camp/training leading up to a fight, but it seemed a lot smoother...less intense. Working smart I guess, or working with the brain vs the balls as my first boxing trainer used to say.

One thing, I'm glad I started conservatively with the cardio and strength-endurance stuff. Initially I was tempted to push beyond the minimums, but looking back that would have been a terrible idea...cuz the mileage and the reps escalate very quickly as the weeks go by. Anyone considering running this, definitely build up slowly as recommended by K Black in the book. Stay within the parameters even if it feels too easy at first...the work-volume adds up quickly!

Now comes part 2, the "continuation protocol" which is the real meat of the program, a more specific/customized set-up you do for the rest of the year. I'll most likely be going with one of the black protocols...which is mainly max strength + HIC. More details to follow after a few days off!
 
vrain said:
Finished up Block 1 (Base Building x 8 weeks) a couple days ago....

Start (8 weeks ago)

5K time - 28 Minutes ---> 21 mins
Push ups - 44 ---> 73
Click to expand...

Those are some pretty excellent improvements. Congrats!!
 
SexyMahnaz said:
Those are some pretty excellent improvements. Congrats!!
Click to expand...

Thanks, those aren't PRS (well...except the push-ups), but I haven't been at those markers in a long long time.
 
Awesome job man! Congrats. I need to get on this. One of the fighters at my gym just finished up block 1 and can't stop raving about it.

What was it like not lifting heavy for the first 5 weeks? That worries me a little
 
Genghiz said:
Awesome job man! Congrats. I need to get on this. One of the fighters at my gym just finished up block 1 and can't stop raving about it.

What was it like not lifting heavy for the first 5 weeks? That worries me a little
Click to expand...

Yeah I was a little apprehensive about that too. Wasn't too bad...you don't have to use bodyweight stuff at all. You can do the SE block with barbell complexes or kettlebell circuits. There's also the alternative version of Block 1 where you do regular strength training for the first 5-6 weeks...then switch to SE for last two.

I benefited from the SE stuff big time, glad I went that route. I did feel a little weak hitting the barbells again, but nothing crazy....already bounced back pretty much to previous levels.
 
Now that base building's behind me...its time for the meat and potatoes of the TB2 program. The continuation protocol. With several templates/protocols to choose from, I've settled on Black Standard + Fighter template for strength.

My weekly set-up will look like this...:

Day 1 Strength (Fighter template)
Day 2 HIC
Day 3 Off
Day 4 Strength
Day 5 HIC
Day 6 Off or Endurance - only once every 2 weeks
Day 7 Off

I'll start tomorrow with a test day to determine my 1rep max's for the lifts I'm going to use in my Fighter cluster.
 
These will be my starting numbers for my max strength work...:

Squat 225
Trap Bar DL 250
SOHP 120
Barbell Rows 105

Was doing 531, but going back to TB Fighter template.

Week 1...Strength #1:

Squat... 155
DL... 175
SOHP... 85
Rows... 75

3x5 / 70%
(1x5 for DL)

Man it feels good hitting the weights again..
 
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