TBIII Op Athlete Review
Waited a few days before reviewing to make sure I wasn't still in the honeymoon phase.
Spoiler: Nope, TBIII is still a block of solid black gold.
BACKGROUND
LE for roughly 15 years and tactical LEO for 9 now (scary how time flies). Even did the cadre thing on our selection a couple times.
TB was largely responsible for getting me the job. I trained for my first selection attempt using a concoction of 5/3/1, CrossFit, and running. I failed, but was encouraged to try again, and TB was one of the recommended resources. Second time around I used TBI & II and passed.
Tactical LE was a dream of mine since before the academy so in my case TB literally was life changing.
I've used lots of other programs since getting on the team including-but-not-limited-to Jeff Nichols, MTI, Stew Smith, and Cal Dietz.
I always return to TB because it straight up gives me the best results without dominating my entire life or leaving me broken. Some non-TB programs were better than others, but my experience was they looked better on paper vs how they worked in real life (the real life factor is a strong theme in TBIII).
THE REVIEW
The author did exactly as promised. OA cleaned up and revamped TBI & II. He also understated how much new material there actually was; periodization, work capacity, power, and much more. He could've put out a book with just those changes and it still would've been better than most of the programs out there now.
The Good
In Mass Protocol, OMS was the under-the-radar gem. In TBIII I think it's the AV templates. I'm surprised more posters haven't brought them up. The simple volume changes make progress with Operator or Zulu next level while keeping the conditioning going. Maybe it just came at exactly the right time for me. I'm getting close to a 500lb squat and progress has stalled for exactly the reasons outlined in AV. By the time I get to the work sets I'm done. I even got sidelined with a minor injury a few months ago, I suspect the volume and intensity were catching up. AV is such an obvious fix, and feeling kinda dumb I didn't think of it myself.
Op/Zulu PRO. After AV, this is my favorite variant and will likely be where I migrate down the road. Love the "daily 2RM" concept and the focus on athleticism with the dynamic effort work. Also seems like a good way to manage overall workload as pointed out.
Polarized/Conditioning. KB was going this way in Green Protocol with the hybrids, so not a big surprise. Personally this ties into the AV templates for me. Throttling back on the conditioning intensity while using the AV techniques will free up a lot of wattage to keep strength (and other training) going. P/C is similar to how we do cardio on the team and on the course so it's not completely new to me.
Simple PFT Prep: Nails it. KB could've wrapped this in fluff and sold it as a standalone book. I realize it's a joke but there actually are some shitty PFT templates out there being sold for close to a $100. Now if a guy in my agency asks me how to prep for our gate tests I can hand him two pages.
Work Capacity Blocks: Solved another major problem for me. Just couldn't figure out how to get enough GC work in with Black. Didn't want to sacrifice the running HICs, and GCs take too much out of me to do on a regular basis within Black. Like the book says, it made for a half-assed Black.
Periodization: What can I say. This is another section he could've chopped up and sold for individual parts. Absolutely dig the periodized plans, they solve the problem of doing "everything" as promised. Now I know how to fit any kind of training or tool I want in a larger plan.
Running Rants: Resonated with the "earn your zone 2". Also agree that hill work is excellent for our kind, whether sprints or part of LIC.
Overall Flavor: KB's signature deadpan humor livens the book up and kept me engaged the entire time. Even the "Boring Stuff" wasn't really boring. As a LEO I really appreciated the insider nuances. There's even the mandatory good natured dig at Fire Fighters (if you're LE or Fire, you'll understand). The style of this book kept me engaged and wanting to turn pages more than some of the fiction books I've got on the go.
The Bad
This might come off a little nitpicky to some people, but it adds a little "balance" to my review and is worth mentioning.
Appendix A: Would've been nice if he duplicated the entire Vault from TBII and put it here. IMO TBIII makes both I & II obsolete in terms of programming except for the classics in the TBII Vault. Everything in one book would've been good. I get it, can't expect authors to keep duplicating work from earlier books for every new release, but still. I already have II, but I can imagine someone new to the program having to shell out for TBII just to get the legacy workouts.
Appendix C: I don't buy TB books for nutrition info, but was hoping for a similar approach to performance fueling as laid out in Green Protocol. Like amount of carbs/hour thing, electrolytes during various training, or specific fueling around LIC or HIC. Did appreciate the nod to athletes vs tactical athletes here. Still, underwhelming. The typical "eat 1gm protein", whole food choices, all that.
The Ugly
Nothing.
FINAL THOUGHTS
Overall, this is a 5/5 book for me, not even close. This is what TBI & II should've been, but I understand things change over 10 years.
Going forward my feeling is this might end up being the standard other tactical fitness programs are measured against. At least in the "tactical world". Can't say for sure how it'll play out in the civilian world because the limitations or goals may not be the same, but IMO it's relevant for anyone interested in high level concurrent training.