Baby's First Barbell: Tactical Barbell and BJJ

[Patsully98]

Hey f13, I've finally decided to start getting stronger. I'm m/33/5'9"/155 lbs. Last year I really got my diet in check and lost about 15 lbs. I'm a weekend warrior BJJer, blue belt and getting close to purple, I think.

I've never really lifted before besides dicking around in high school some 15 years ago. I know I'd make faster progress with a linear program, but I'm not going that route for a couple of reasons. I'm lifting at home, and all I have is a bar and some weights, so no squat rack. I also have a 16-month old, so time is short and recovery (sleep) sucks. I train jiu jitsu at least 3x/week and I'm in grad school, so honestly I'd rather spend what little free time I have on the mats or with my family. Getting stronger is important enough to train but it's pretty low on my list of priorities.

I've been working with kettlebells on and off for the past year, but after the fourth time I hurt myself (100 percent user error I'm sure) I decided to pick up a bar and some weights on Craigslist. I love yoga and do a little every night, but it's pretty lousy as strength training.

I decided to run Tactical Barbell, with the Fighter template and a deadlif/press cluster. It's a 2x/week program, and I feel it will suit my needs and my recovery ability pretty well. I've been practicing my lifts with low weight for the past two weeks, and I plan on linking to a good number of videos of my sets, so if anyone would like to rip apart my form, I'd be very grateful.

I'll be strength training Thursdays and Sundays and training BJJ on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays (sometimes swapping Tuesday for Wednesday). If for some reason I can't make it to BJJ one of those days, I'll hit the rowing machine until I want to die. So now that you all hate me for not squatting and think I'm an excuse-making little bitch, on to the log!

 

[Patsully98]

Test day

Today I tested my one-rep maxes for the lifts I've chosen. I plan to stick with these numbers for 12 weeks and then retest, and either work with these numbers or switch up the exercises.

TB: Fighter template calls for two sessions a week for six-week blocks. The periodization goes like this:
Weeks 1, 4: 5x5x75% of 1RM
Weeks 2, 5: 5x5x80%
Weeks 3, 6: 3x3x90%

As I mentioned in the last post, I'm doing deadlifts and presses. Since these lifts require no specialized equipment and I wasn't worried about failing, I tested actual 1RMs. I got:
Deadlift: 235lbs
Press: 100lb

So, for deadlifts, I'll be working with 175lbs, 190lbs and 210lbs (close enough). Press percentage was easy: 75lbs, 80lbs, 90lbs.

My first strength session is Thursday; looking forward to it.

 

[Patsully98]

BJJ

Rough night. I was on the run most of the night, playing defense and not always successfully. I spent all of last year working on my guard retention and side control escapes, but I'm still having trouble with the hug-the-legs pass (smash pass?). I think I need to work on blocking the opponent with my hips, almost inverting. I should have another look at Ryan Hall's Defensive Guard DVDs.

On the plus side, I did hit a very sweet rolling bow-and-arrow choke off top turtle (http://www.grapplearts.com/Blog/2015/02/a-sneaky-rolling-judo-choke/). On the downside, it was on a white belt, so it doesn't count lol.

 

[Stargazer Rex]

Welcome, good luck with your goals.

 

[Patsully98]

Welcome, good luck with your goals.

Thank you. I'm going to approach strength training with my patented method of success: show up, take my beatings, and be too stupid to quit!

 

[Genghiz]

Cool.

I've been running Fighter template for the past year and love it. I was actually thinking about running a super minimalist cluster like what you're doing here, so I'm very interested in seeing how your log goes. Except I was thinking about doing it with Gladiator template.

G

 

[Patsully98]

Cool.

I've been running Fighter template for the past year and love it. I was actually thinking about running a super minimalist cluster like what you're doing here, so I'm very interested in seeing how your log goes. Except I was thinking about doing it with Gladiator template.

G

Thanks Genghiz. I've been following your log. I figured the deadlift/press cluster would give me the most bang for my buck with the equipment I have. I Was thinking about doing some front squats (cleaning the bar) or hack squats, and push-ups or dips, but I'm going to run this as-is for 12 weeks and then see about getting fancier. I'm all about performance on the mat, so if I see that and I don't hurt myself, I'll keep doing what I'm doing for a while.

 

[ShaolinStyle]

Good luck with training! I just started Tactical Barbell yesterday. Coming off an injury and looking forward to getting strong again. That reminds me, I need to start a log!

 

[Patsully98]

Good luck with training! I just started Tactical Barbell yesterday. Coming off an injury and looking forward to getting strong again. That reminds me, I need to start a log!

Thanks, good luck to you too. What template and cluster did you choose?

 

[Patsully98]

Tuesday, 3/3
Rest day. Good thing too. I had a shit-ton of school work and the baby was being a beast, so I couldn't have done anything if I'd wanted to.

Wednesday, 3/3
BJJ. Pretty good night on the mats. It was just two other blue belts, a purple belt and two black belt instructors. As is often the case I was the smallest guy on the mat, but the purple belt is pretty close to my size. My guard retention was a lot better tonight, though not perfect. I managed to lock a triangle on one of my training partners, a huge guy with broad shoulders and no neck, but couldn't finish. He locked down and I couldn't get the angle, but at least he didn't shuck the triangle off and pass me, which happens way too often. I think it's because I'm trying to lock too much shoulder into the triangle, and it creates too much space. Gonna keep throwing them up there, like I did all last year. Slowly but surely, it's getting better.

Kind of a funny aside: When I got there, the purple belt and one of the instructors had been rolling for about 15 minutes. The instructor says, "Hey patsully98, want to roll a little so you can warm up?" Then he absolutely smashed me. I was drenched in sweat and had to crawl off the mat and just pant for a while before class started lol.

 

[Patsully98]

Thursday, 3/5
Lifting. My first real session! Up until now I had been practicing the lifts with lower weights.

Warmup: 7ish minutes on the rowing machine

Press
Warmup sets
1x5x45lbs
1x5x65lbs

Work sets
5x5x75lbs

Deadlift
Warmup sets
1x5x135lbs
1x5x155lbs

Work sets
5x5x175lbs

Some thoughts
-I know these weights are pathetic to a lot of you guys, but they are heavy as shit to me. That first set of deadlifts felt like the heaviest weight I've ever lifted, and honestly, besides Sunday when I tested my maxes, they probably were.

-The first set of both exercises was the hardest. I know these will be the lightest weights I will lift on this program, and after the first set I thought, "No way in hell can I do four more of these!" But I finished the rest of the sets no problem. Go figure.

-Next time I will warm up with just 45lbs/135lbs. The second set I felt was too close to feeling taxing. We got like six inches of snow and I was shoveling earlier, so maybe I was a little taxed from that, but I'll try the warmups with the lower total volume next time.

-5x5 with at least two-minute breaks between sets makes for a long workout. Good thing I'm only doing two exercises.

-Feeling good right now, but will be waiting for DOMS. Can't wait to do it again on Sunday, though.

 

[vrain]

Sweet log...TB and II have both been good to me. Don't know if you saw this:

http://www.tacticalbarbell.com/uncategorized/customizing-template/

You can actually go with 4 work sets instead of 5 for Fighter if you wish....it's something I recently started doing and I like it better.

Damn I gotta start logging again...

 

[Patsully98]

Thanks for the link, vrain. I read your log (and genghiz's) a while ago when I was first thinking seriously about barbell training, and I thought the way you combined the two programs was really innovative. I'm a big fan of Ross's work and his blog.

 

[MIDMOBOX]

Is your barbell black

If not its not tactical

I know nothing about lifting or bjj to share.

 

[ShaolinStyle]

Thanks, good luck to you too. What template and cluster did you choose?

You can check out my log - Tactical Beast Mode, just finished my first week.

I'm going Gladiator Template with Bench Press, Military Press, and bodyweight pullups.
Rehabbing a leg injury right now which explains the lack of squat/dead lifting. Hopefully after 12 weeks I'll be ready to add a leg lift to the cluster.

 

[Patsully98]

You can check out my log - Tactical Beast Mode, just finished my first week.

I'm going Gladiator Template with Bench Press, Military Press, and bodyweight pullups.
Rehabbing a leg injury right now which explains the lack of squat/dead lifting. Hopefully after 12 weeks I'll be ready to add a leg lift to the cluster.

Nice, saw that earlier. Good luck with your injury.

 

[Patsully98]

Friday, 3/6: Scheduled rest day
Saturday, 3/7: Could not make it to BJJ due to family stuff. Can't make it Monday either, due to school stuff, so I can go on Tuesday. This is exactly why I chose the Fighter template instead of one of the three-day-a-week templates. Really glad for the flexibility.

Sunday, 3/8: lifting

Dropped the warmup sets down to 2x5x45 for OHP and 2x5x135 for deadlift. Overall the weight seemed to come up quite a bit easier this time for all work sets.

Press, 5x5x75; set 5
Deadlift, 5x5x175; set 5

Next week: jiu jitsu Tuesday and Wednesday, lifting Thursday and Sunday

 

[Patsully98]

Tuesday 3/10
BJJ

Good night on the mats. Training partner gave me a really good tip on the running side control escape. Still need to work on escapes in general.

Cardio has been on point for a while now. Outlasted all my partners no problem. Was sweating but kept my breathing was under control all night.

I finished a very nice triangle last night, although I failed a few. I'm starting to get a better sense of when it's appropriate to shoot it. I'd like to get to the point where I can finish it every time I have one arm in and one arm out, but that's not really feasible right now. I really have to break posture and get my opponent out of position first, then attack, instead of the other way around.

No BJJ tomorrow. It's my birthday and my family wants to spend time with me. Can you believe that shit?

 

[Patsully98]

Thursday, 3/11
Lifting

Thursday was my scheduled lift day, but I was off from work so I decided to get it in on Wednesday and have Thursday night free.

OHP, 5x5x80lbs

Deadlift, 5x5x190lbs

Although the weights were only 5 percent heavier than last week, they were noticeably more difficult to manage. Felt good though, and completed all sets.

It might be way too earlier to start fucking with the program, but I think I'm going to switch the 5x5 sets to 4x6. I just want to get done a little sooner, and it ends up being almost the same volume. For next week I'll stick with 3x3x90% of 1RM.

 

[Genghiz]

Thursday, 3/11
Lifting

Thursday was my scheduled lift day, but I was off from work so I decided to get it in on Wednesday and have Thursday night free.

OHP, 5x5x80lbs

Deadlift, 5x5x190lbs

Although the weights were only 5 percent heavier than last week, they were noticeably more difficult to manage. Felt good though, and completed all sets.

It might be way too earlier to start fucking with the program, but I think I'm going to switch the 5x5 sets to 4x6. I just want to get done a little sooner, and it ends up being almost the same volume. For next week I'll stick with 3x3x90% of 1RM.

There is a version of Fighter that allows you to do 4 sets instead of 5:

edit - disregard I see vrain beat me to posting the link