K Black - Tactical Barbell 2: Conditioning

TACTICAL BARBELL II

CONDITIONING

Consult a physician prior to starting any training program, including the programs, sessions and protocols outlined in this book

The more thou sweateth in training, the less thou bleedeth in combat

Richard Marcinko

(And every military training cadre since)

CONTENTS

I PROGRAMMING

Introduction

Operational Athletes The Roadmap

Conditioning

Tactical Barbell II Overview

Conditioning Domains

Conditioning Protocols

Base Building: Hardening the Body, Hardening the Mind

Continuation

Black Protocol

Green Protocol

Training Guidelines

II TRAINING VAULT

Session Difficulty

Endurance Sessions

High Intensity Conditioning Sessions

Core + Grip Sessions

TB Challenge Sessions

III EXECUTION

Conditioning Progression

Incorporating other Sessions

Incorporating Sport/ Training

The Operator I/A Template

Sample 17 Week Program: Tactical Law Enforcement Protocol

Supplements

Unconventional Approaches

Conclusion

FAQs

References + Recommended Reading

I

PROGRAMMING

INTRODUCTION

You have something very valuable in your hands. A lifetimes worth of training knowledge. Drawn from the worlds most extreme arenas. Lessons learned, and best practices from military operators, tactical law enforcement, martial artists, and others that rely on their physical capabilities to survive and thrive in some very harsh and unforgiving environments. Places where theres more at stake than winning a medal, or getting a bruised ego. Bottom line, with these people, their training has to work.

By implementing the strategies in this book, you will cut your learning curve down by decades. If youre young, I am envious at just how far youre going to be able to take your level of conditioning. The path has been laid out and handed to you on a silver platter. Youll get to avoid costly amateurish mistakes that lead to injury and burn out. If youre older, youre going to reclaim that confidence you once had in your physical abilities. You may have forgotten what that feels like. Prepare to be reminded.

Its great having a 600lb squat and 400lb bench press. But, as an operational athlete, if you cant run, work, or thrive for long periods of time in a multitude of energy demanding environments, you are ineffective. Your big bench press is useless, your big squat is useless.

Tactical Barbell proposes you work towards being a different kind of athlete. The kind that is not only extremely strong, but also highly conditioned. If you look carefully, youll see these people all around you. That guy on your Emergency Response Team with the 350lb bench press and a sub 9 minute 1.5 mile run. The old Marine Sergeant that can run 6 miles in under 40 minutes, deadlifts over 600lbs and can do 30 (non-kipping) pull-ups.

We want to avoid being the guy with the 700lb squat that gets gassed walking up the stairs - or the marathoner that tops out at 10-20 push-ups. One of the biggest myths being perpetrated is that you have to choose between being chubby and strong or lean and weak. You dont. There is an elite middle ground.

So how exactly do you get very, very, good at everything?

Its NOT by combining everything into one random super-workout and repeating. Thats a great approach for working up a sweat, and releasing some endorphins not so great for actually progressing your abilities. Most of you probably have this figured out by now.

Tactical Barbell takes a simple, structured, three pronged approach to conditioning.

It consists of Base Building, followed by a transition to a more specific conditioning protocol. Periodic maintenance of lower-priority fitness domains complete our model.

In Part I youll be introduced to the TB2 conditioning protocols. First up, Base Building, which serves as a kind of basic training for everyone. Base Building will harden the body, harden the mind, and prepare you for whats to come. From there, youll transition to one of two specialist continuation protocols: Black or Green. Both protocols have several variations to fit your unique goals.

In Part II, youll be let in to the Tactical Barbell Training Vault. Youll have access to over 50 high quality conditioning sessions, some of which have been provided by some very hard, extreme people.

This isnt going to be a mishmash of exercises thrown together laundry-list style to make you feel like youre doing something because youre busy and complicated. Instead, each session fits into a broader category, and is used to develop certain attributes at certain times during your training plan. For example, certain sessions are designed to stimulate cardiac hypertrophy and are almost solely used during Base Building and Green protocol. Other sessions might focus on speed-endurance or anaerobic capacity, and are primarily used with Black template. Other categories include work capacity, cardiac contractile strength, and lactic/alactic development. So no need to worry, there is method to the madness. You wont be running around working up a sweat for nothing. Each session is designed to progress your skill and ability in a certain category. Youll get to choose the unique sessions you are drawn to, and insert them into your protocol when that category is called for.

In Part III, we go over options for tweaking and customizing your protocol. Well also talk about incorporating real life i.e. sports and training. For those of you that dont want to think at all youll be provided with the 17 week program we use for clients that are preparing for entry into tactical law enforcement (i.e. SWAT, ERT etc.). It consists of an 8 week Base Building phase followed by 9 weeks of Black protocol, individual sessions picked for you.

By the time you get to the end of this book, youll have a thorough understanding of how to program your conditioning. Youll also know exactly how to incorporate your strength training, whether you use TB1 or something else. Youll know how many conditioning sessions to do per week, what attributes those sessions develop, and how the rest of your life fits in. Youll learn how to choose the systems you need to prioritize, the systems you need to maintain, and how to handle the logistics of both. Youll have a thorough grasp of the skeletal structure of TB2, and how to fill it in to meet your particular goals. This is not an academic textbook approach to conditioning.

Tactical Barbell is all about simple, direct, concrete approaches that bring about results. Were not interested in putting a unique spin on things, turning fitness into a neuroscience discussion, or conducting a marketing experiment. Youll be provided with the hard-earned tools and approaches used by the pros, to get you where you want to be. Thats it. Its all about having a simple, intelligent, and actionable plan. Its easy to be hard, harder to be smart. If youre tired of hype, politics in fitness, and countless streams of conflicting information spewed by the inexperienced, welcome home.

OPERATIONAL ATHLETES THE ROADMAP

Before we get into the details, lets look at our big-picture three-step approach for both operators and civilian multi-skilled athletes.

STEP 1 BASE BUILDING

Build a base of general endurance and strength FIRST.

General Endurance will primarily consist of aerobic development.

Strength will consist of both maximal strength and strength-endurance.

Operators/operational athletes will use occupational-specific endurance sessions. Run, ruck, swim, etc.