A bit of background of TACFIT 26. It was released in late 2008, just after i completed my first CST cert. The records show that Scott had been working on it since 2003 with the Bellingham Fire Department (who designed the TACFIT Firefighter First Alarm some time ago).
After the release of Bodyweight Exercise Revolution by Ryan Murdock and Adam Steer, many CST products have been released through electronic medium, ie downloadable and no hard copy. This includes the ever popular TACFIT Commando (released in 2010).
My background with TACFIT
As i have said before, i started to get interested with TACFIT after i realised that my performance in Kettlebell Sport does not help me in Krav Maga (I used to be able to do 50+ Jerks with 2x24kg and 40+ Long Cycle Jerks with 2x24kg). However just doing a session of Krav Maga made my arms very sore for days.
Since then i have purchased and done most of TACFIT programs released (not all most of the time though). I started with TACFIT Commando because it is (was) cheaper than TACFIT 26. Then i went on to TACFIT 26, which i did most of the time.
An introduction to TACFIT 26 for those who are new to it
TACFIT 26 contains 26 programs meant to be done one after another. The programs are named A to Z (program 1 = Alpha, program 2 = Bravo and so on).
Each program has 3 to 5 exercises. Each exercise has 4 Levels of difficulty.
There are 6 program structures, called "protocols".
Protocol 1: 20/10 x 8
4 exercises, 20 seconds on: 10 seconds off, x 8 rounds per exercise
1 min recovery between exercises
Protocol 2: 4/1 x 4
4 exercises, 4 mins per exercise
1 min recovery between exercises
Protocol 3: EMOTM
Complete a round of 3 exercises every minute on the minute for 20 mins
Protocol 4: AMRAP
Complete as many rounds as possible of 3 to 4 exercises for 20 mins
Protocol 5: 90/30 x 5
5 exercises, 90 sec on per exercise
30 sec recovery between exercises
Repeat for a second round
Protocol 6: AFAP
Complete as fast as possible all repetitions of the exercises
In summary, most of the programs last 20 minutes. Only Protocol 6 is variable. But the goal is to finish within 20 minutes.
If you match the letters to the protocols, you get this:
| Alpha = 1 | Golf = 1 | Mike = 1 | Sierra = 1 | Yankee = 1 |
| Bravo = 2 | Hotel = 2 | November = 2 | Tango = 2 | Zulu = 2 |
| Charlie = 3 | India = 3 | Oscar = 3 | Uniform = 3 | |
| Delta = 4 | Juliet = 4 | Papa = 4 | Victor = 4 | |
| Echo = 5 | Kilo = 5 | Quebec = 5 | Whiskey = 5 | |
| Foxtrot = 6 | Lima = 6 | Romeo = 6 | Xray = 6 |
So you can see that there are 4 series of Protocols 1 to 6 plus two more Protocol 1 and 2.
Why do i like TACFIT 26 so much (or why should non-tactical operators do TACFIT 26)
1. It has a wide variety of movement patterns. Most of the programs in TACFIT 26 are designed with the 4 movement patterns of:
Lower body pull
Lower body push
Upper body pull
Upper body push
Many good systems are based around these movement patterns. This gives real functionality. Tactical operators don't have time to train for non-functional exercises.
Due to the wide variety of movement patterns, you also do not have to guess what you are weak at. You will be exposed to movement patterns that you are weak at and the variety is a good tool to diagnose your problem areas.
2. It has a wide variety of timing protocols (6 to be exact). This means you are training different energy systems, from the very short bursts to the very long duration efforts. This gives you a wide variety of performance capacities.
3. It is done with light and portable tools (kettlebell, Clubbell, medicine ball, sandbag, rings, pull up bar, parallettes, floor). You don't need a gym with barbell and rack to perform these movements. For all intents and purposes you can do this workout at home, at the beach, anywhere.
4. Every program is different. This gives variety. Most people want variety. But variety for variety sake could make you end up nowhere. This is an intelligent build-in of variety and no tinkering is needed to make it balanced.
5. It can get you really strong without extra training. At Levels 3 and 4, you would be working with 24kg kettlebell and 35lb Clubbell. Couple that with a conditioning protocol and you are sure to become a conditioning machine. Even working at Level 2 already put you ahead of the majority of the population in terms of strength and conditioning. If you don't have a specific performance goal, just working toward Level 4 would already put you on the path of awesomeness.
What i don't really like about TACFIT 26 (and how you can get around it)
1. It's a loooooooong process to go through all 26 programs. It can get quite boring after some time. This is due to the design itself. As there are many movements in the sagittal plane (particularly pitching), but there are less rolling and yawing.
You can get around it by "plugging-in" other programs every now and then. How to plug-in has been discussed in Rmax forums so i'll not touch on that.
2. To fully utilise the program, you should have a variety of tools (mentioned above). Every tool excel at different things, eg:
Kettlebell for overhead lifting
Clubbell for swinging movements, especially Shield Casts
Medicine ball for throwing
Rings for upper body pulling and pressing
Some programs require the use of many tools, some less tools. It can be a hassle to own all these tools and bring them out for training every time.
You can get around it by substituting exercises (the Technique is more important than the Tool). For example Kettlebell Deadlift can be substituted with Sandbag Deadlift or Barbell Deadlift.
3. Some of the volume based programs can cause a lot of DOMS, particularly Protocols 3, 4 and 6. I think of TACFIT India and Juliet especially as they involve a lot of squats.
You can get around it by practicing the exercises independently of the Protocols on Moderate Day. Or only do High Day for these programs.
4. There is no equivalent Levels for women. The Levels in TACFIT 26 is designed for men, especially the weighted exercises. If you are very concerned about scoring, this can be hard to score. However if you are not concerned, like me, then what you really need to do is just decrease the weight used of the weighted exercises.
What i like about TACFIT 26 v2.0 (program design)
1. No more Double Swipes. Only 2H Swipes. This requires you to own just one Clubbell for all the Clubbell exercises:
Level 1 - 15lb
Level 2 - 25lb
Level 3 - 35lb
Level 4 - 45lb
From a learning curve point of view, Double Swipe can be very hard for many people. Yes it can be done, but with very light weights for beginners. Which i think detracts you from the high intensity nature of the Protocols. But 2H Swipe is much more easily learned.
2. No more double kettlebell exercises. Only single. And all the kettlebell exercises are 2H except Push Press which is 1H. Like the point above, this only requires you to own just one kettlebell for all the kettlebell exercises. There used to be Plank Row (also called Renegade Row) and Double Rack Squat. These have been replaced with other exercises.
Level 1: 8kg
Level 2: 16kg
Level 3: 24kg
Level 4: 32kg
3. No more Turkish Get Up (TGU). There used to be one program with TGU. Not saying that TGU is a bad exercise. It is a very good exercise, but performing the TGU takes a lot of time. Just one rep can take 10 seconds or more.
4. No more Kettlebell 1H Clean and 1H Jerk. These are some of the hardest (in terms of technique) in the kettlebell section.
5. Overall the exercises seem to be easier in technique (eg Clubbell 2H Swipe vs Double Swipe) than before. I like this because it helps you focus on the Protocol than the Technique. Remember that TACFIT 26 is meant for tactical operators, which could mean poor motor skills in exercises. No way are they going to do some of the former exercises (eg. Double Swipe) well without extra technique work.
6. All Protocol 5s are 5 exercises. No more "short" Protocol 5s (ie 4 exercises). There used to be some programs with only 4 exercises which reduced the total training time.
7. All exercises are represented in multiple programs. There used to be some exercises which only appeared in one program (eg. TGU). The One Leg Squat (aka Pistol) also appears in many more programs than before.
8. Last but most important, every exercise has a warm up and cool down. There used to be one warm up and cool down for all programs. Which is not bad but can be made a lot more specific.
What i like about the TACFIT 26 v2.0 (package)
1. What can i say about the price? USD149 (buy now to get the launch special of USD99) is a steal. The original TACFIT 26 used to sell for USD699, then was reduced to USD399. Still it was a big amount for most people. At USD149, this means each program sells for USD5.73.
2. It contains the full Primal Stress program. Primal stress contains 6 programs (Protocols 1 to 6). The original Primal Stress program sells for USD197. So this means you get TWO packages for the price of one. If this is not cheap, i don't know what is. Even if it is not included, it's still cheap.
The only exclusion from the Primal Stress package are the Revive and Thrive Flows and the detailed manual.
3. Delivery format has been improved tremendously. The original TACFIT 26 has no exercise instructions, only demos. The new program has a manual of all the exercises, kind of like an encyclopedia. With better technology, more information can be delivered easily through the electronic medium.
Click on the pic to get yours now:
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