u/IronHike

Hi all, title says it all. I am considering my options for what I will do during the winter. I really enjoy improving my running right now using Fighter/Polarized Black after having done Base Building. However, this winter, I want to increase mass a little, but I am not sure if I want to go full Mass Protocol. I also plan to do some trail races next spring and summer, so Velocity sounds great at one point. Which means I should do Capacity first.

With all that said, has anyone run Capacity while using the increased hypertrophy version of Operator Pro? The version where reps are increased on secondary. It seems like running that with Capacity might be overkill but maybe by doing the minimal amount of running proposed with Capacity it’s manageable. So, has anyone done it? What are your thoughts about it?

I just finished 8 weeks of Tactical Barbell - Ageless Athlete Base Building. Here is a short review of it. I have seen a lot of review of Standard Base Building and Capacity but not so much for Ageless Athlete version of Tactical Barbell Base Building.

Context

Last year in May, I got a umbilical hernia while traveling. Before that travel, I had been using Tactical Barbell for more than a year. I also did a lot of construction work on the house during that summer and had a 2nd baby in November. Because of the hernia, it was not recommended that I lift heavy and I had trouble with running. So I stopped training almost completely. In January of this year, I finally got the surgery. I had a month of recovery where I could not lift more than 15 pounds. After that month, I started PT work to address my core weakness. At the end of April, I was cleared to lift heavy and run again.

After a year off from consistent training, abs still not at 100% (cleared to lift heavy-ish but not sit ups yet), 38 years, old, with a 2 years old son and a 6 months old daughter, I did not feel like Standard Base Building was a good choice for me. This is why I went with the Ageless Athlete version.

How I did it

I did the Tango Circuits as prescribed and respected the 30 min limit for LSS during the first 5 weeks. I used DB incline bench, bodyweight squats, DB chest supported rows and DB Romanian Deadlift for the SE. I only used 15 pounds DB. For the LSS, during the first 5 weeks, I used mostly running and some Airbike sessions to ease back on the running volume.

For the last 3 weeks, I did a linear progression on back squat, incline bench and neutral grip pull ups for my MS. My HIC were 400m repeats and Fast 5 (basic version, used about 3.5k both time I did it). All my conditioning was done running for those last 3 weeks.

For the first 5 weeks, I used a calorie deficit. For the last 3 weeks, I used maintenance calories as I felt the reintroduction of HIC and MS justified at least maintenance calories. I feel it was a good choice.

In summary, the only changes I have done to Ageless Athlete Base Building are:

• Instead of using Fighter, I used a linear progression for MS.
• Instead of 2 HIC and 1 LSS per week from week 6 to 8, I did only 1 HIC and 2 LSS. I felt 2 HIC would be too much intensity too soon. Weird thing, I read TBIII during week 7 of my base building and it kind of confirmed it was a good choice.
• I increased the duration of some LSS over the 30 minutes time limit for the last 3 weeks to a max of 50 minutes.
• I added some dedicated core/PT work to continue reinforcing good bracing technique and prevent new hernia.

Results

The results of that Base Building phase were:

• My LSS pace went from 8:30+/km to 6:30-6:50 depending on temperature and how much rest I got. (Important note here to people considering base building: That progress was not linear and was mostly in the first 2 weeks and the last 2 weeks.)
• I lost 5-6 pounds.
• My pants are looser.
• My VO2 max measured by my Fitbit improve slightly (from around 43 to around 45).
• My resting heart rate improve slightly (from 55 to 53).
• I have more energy.
• I have established back some sort of discipline regarding training after a year layoff.
• In January I could not lift more than 15 pounds. Last week I did 3 sets of 5 with 140 on the incline bench. (I probably have 5-10 pounds more in me.)
• Last week I did 3 sets of 5 with 145 on the squat. (I have probably 40-50 pounds more in me, I am going really conservative with squats.)
• Last week I did 3 sets of 7 reps on neutral grip pull ups. (Almost to my limit here, especially the last set.) I could not do 1 single pull ups in March after my surgery recovery.
• I can do crunches now! Still progressing to sit ups.

I am really glad I took 8 weeks to do Base Building and I feel going with Ageless Athlete version was an easier reintroduction to training and more aligned with my reality right now. I feel I got the benefits I was looking for.

Future training

Next weeks/months will probably continue to be 2 MS session per week using linear progression until things slow down, then I will use the Fighter template. For conditioning, I will continue with 2 LIC and 1 HIC per week, working my way up to 120 min of LIC (did 95 minutes last week) until I can consider that a real Polarized Black. In short, I am working my way up to Fighter/Polarized Black. I also may go with Polarized Blue depending on how I feel after multiple weeks of HIC each week.