Finally Earned My Shirt @ The Tactical Games

Training Training and Tactics
1

2021 update below original post.

Been debating as to post this or not. I figured someone may find it helpful to prepare if they are interested.

Pride took a hit but I’ll learn from it. I actually teared up as we drove off. I said “I can’t quit” and went to turn around. My wife was a voice of reason and I will be better prepared for next year.

To say I underestimated this match would be fair. I had been jogging with 25 lbs for 4 months. I added reps to all my normal jazz. Not near enough. I should have been jogging at 100 lbs over to feel lighter at the match.

I survived stage one but timed out. I couldn’t get my feet to cooperate on a rope climb about a third of the way through Stage 2. Decided to muscle my way up and stalled out about 6 inches from the top.

The staff and RO’s were awesome. They offered me a move from “Elite” to an “Intermediate” slot but I was done.

50% overweight cardio would be a good place to train for this monster. Much respect for the guys who finished. I’ll come back better prepared.

Well, ask away or offer advice.

Update, March 2021

Got that shirt.

We had 7 stages spread over two days. The “Masters” division was changed from 45+ years old to a 40-49 group and a 50+ group. I was in the 40-49 group. We had the same COF and work load as the “Intermediate” division. There were some instances where Intermediate was allowed to use props as firing support but Masters had to fire offhand.

My ultimate goal for this match was to get a finish. My year worth of work was quickly evident to myself as we got going. I admittedly sand bagged all stages except the very last to try and avoid injury. The last stage was brutal. It was the only stage that had something like a 80% timeout (myself included and my only timeout). I completed about 75% of the stage before running out of time which seemed to be where most people ended.

My mental attitude was solid (since last year bitch-slapped some humbleness into me) with me only screwing up one firing sequence.

I was again inspired by other competitors. I watched a 17 year old kid (who was at most 120 pounds) farmer carry 105 pounds in each hand and throw a 80 pound sandbag over a 6 foot bar multiple times while carrying a rifle, a handgun, ammo and wearing armor. Also, seeing injured individuals still pushing at 100% was extremely respectable. Awesome stuff.

The energy invested got me a “middle of the pack” overall finish with around 120 total shooters. I’ll be attacking every stage next year at 100% effort. I learned what areas still need work. While there are resources with known variables, Tactical Games is hard to train for. An individual needs to be ready for anything and would be far better off with a 60% mastery over everything rather than 100% mastery of a few exercises.

Well, it’s now time to put the heavy plates back in the carrier and bust ass for a year. Thank you to everyone who posted up and I challenge you to hit up The Games.

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Looks pretty cool, can you post your training regimen and more details on obstacles/evolutions? I might sign up for intermediate when it comes to CA. Good for you finding your failure point and wanting to improve.

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A good way to prep would be to run with fairly heavy weight. Not hike or walk fast. Run with heavy weight. Uphill, downhill, off balance, etc.

A person can survive if they have the cardio. TG has penalties on standby if a person can’t do a particular portion of a stage. For example; Portions of stage 2 included tossing a 50 pound sand bag 10 times over an eight foot bar. This had to be done twice at different points for a total of 20 times over. Failure to get over resulted in burpees. Can’t do it? Bang out some burpees in armor.

The two guys ahead of me at check in didn’t make weight on their carriers (15 lbs minimum). I thought it odd at the time but then realized they were adding additional weight as necessary to hit 15 pounds on the “official” scale. I brought a 19 pound rig wanting to make sure and not have any weigh in issues. I would have benefited from being 4 pounds lighter instead of overshooting the weight to play it safe.

TG also allows spectators not associated with a competitor. If a person is unsure, they could go to one and observe.

Look up pictures/videos of previous matches. Most will show off balance weight of some sort being moved to another location.

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I have known Tim Burke since i was a teen before I joined the army. He was one of my inspirations to go LRSD then to selection and sf. He is a great guy. Hope you do well next time you go.

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Failing at something you worked really hard for is humbling in a way that can’t be adequately described. Whether it’s a business/professional venture or something like Tactical Games or marathon. I’ve failed at both. Those failures helped me be more successful the next go round. Keep your chin up and thanks for sharing.

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Whelp… I’m glad I signed up for Intermediate then…

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Awesome group of people. They had a child rescue group representative there that gave a quick run down on some stuff. These are the people one should want to associate with or idolize.

I’ve already made some progress. I’m going to go back and He-Man that shit.

Good call. I’ll be there with you!

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Debating on trying this in the Masters division It looks like a serious challenge and a good reason to push my workouts harder

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I actually signed up for the masters division. Won’t compete unless October of next year.

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Good on y’all. I’m still a few years out from being able to run in Masters. I believe Masters uses the same COF as Intermediate. But the Masters division does get you away from the 24 year old, active SF, stud muffins.

I’m due again in March. Cardio has improved but I have lost some upper body bulk/strength since I’ve been running so damn much (for me).

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Yeah not interested in competing against under 30 year olds lol. Infantry and motocross has hammered my knees. But have been rehabbing them so there getting much better mobility wise. I seriously have to work on pull ups though and rope climbing

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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OP-I appreciate you posting this. I hope you make it through next time.

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I have the same train of thought. Don’t want to compete again people under thirty. I know that there is a training app that is endorsed by the tactical games and put together by a ex navy seal.

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For those that have competed what has your zero been on your rifles? 50/200?

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Use whatever zero you are accustomed to. I personally prefer 50’ish/200 with priority on the 200. The less ‘thinking’ a person has to do on a stage the better.

I used a sharpie to write vtac port numbers on my arm. Those numbers made zero sense to me when I returned to the barricade on the third trip.

A person would think “3rd trip = 3rd set of port numbers” would be pretty simple. However, I just stared at my arm perplexed as to what my past self was trying to tell my current self. Minimize the required brain computations as possible.

BUIS are required. Verify they are zero’d, don’t just match your irons to your dot. Turn your dot off and verify them. They now allow LPV optics but the kicker is that anyone using one is required to have offset irons. Not allowed to remove optic to use irons.

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Welp, 2 months out.

Been hitting it hard with setbacks here and there. Doesn’t look like I’ll be hitting my 100 pound jog goal. Been stuck on 70 pounds. I haven’t been adding weight until I can non-stop jog 2 miles under 24 minutes at a current weight. I’ll push the next 30 days but will go into a holding pattern for the final 30 to try and avoid injury. Last week of this 30 days I will load up 100 pounds and jog at least 1 mile not worrying about the time.

I rolled my ankle on the world’s smallest rock about a month back and it fixed up fast thankfully. Been milking a tendon in my right elbow that has put pull-up motion stuff on hold for 2 weeks. Hopefully it corrects here pretty quick.

I’ve been shooting at about 50% of my normal. It dawned on me tonight to do an ammo inventory. I was shocked to see that I’m down to 450 rounds of 9mm and 2k of 5.56 in the range blasting variety. I haven’t seen ammo locally since March so I’ll switch my pistol work to a .45 and try to do worthwhile stuff with the 5.56. Nobody want’s to be the dork shooting 5 different kinds of ammo at a match.

Anyways, this is more of a self assessment than anything else and I look forward to earning the right to wear the T-shirt that has been hanging in my closet the last 10 months. I applaud the current Action-Figures and will join your guild shortly.

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Good work and good luck.

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I too train with 25 lbs of extra weight. Unfortunately it’s not the kind of weight that I can take off after I’m done.

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Welp, 2 months out.

Any update? How is your training going?

I’ve been wanting to compete in the “light” division to get a taste… I qualify for the “over 50 masters” but the guy who won that also won the Elite division a few Games back.

…I’m rehabbing an elbow, but if it gets to where it needs to be I’ll be there.

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Well, I’m pretty sure that’s basically cheating with gear that is anatomically & perfectly fitted. :slight_smile:

You can take it off a pound at a time! Then add back the lost pound to your gear since your core is already adapted to the weight.

The biggest thing I have noticed about jogging at high weight is learning how to balance it. The balance will come naturally eventually as long as a person doesn’t start at too high of weight.

I’ve rolled an ankle twice in the last year. Once at +50 and once at +70. I was surprised that I was able to not crash both times. I walked a few steps after the +50 roll to make sure I wasn’t hurt bad and thin finished my jog. The roll at +70 just pissed me off. I broke stride for a few steps but kept jogging. The balance I had learned on a subconscious/automatic response saved me both times.

Lost about a week with the crazy weather we had. Didn’t want to risk a fall on the ice. First jog after was pretty brutal. Funny how progress can roll back so quickly.

Elbow is better but still sore. I feel it most now during something using grip strength. Got a compression sleeve to wear if need be.

Scored some 9mm so shooting has moved back to the pistol I’ll run in the games. Got a new pair of shoes 85% broken in. My previous pair are low on tread in the ball area but I’ll take them anyways incase of a road run.

Thought about putting my rifle on a diet by not running a can, going to a micro red dot, swapping my H2 buffer to a H :slight_smile: and even switch to GI mags. But it’s kind of late to “learn” a lighter rifle at this point.

Put in a lighter front plate to hit 15 pounds on my carrier for a practice match at a buddies place. It was magical. You know that scene when young Forrest Gump is running from the bullies and his leg braces fall apart? Well, I totally made that face. I was sad when it came time to put the heavy plate back in. The lighter one goes back in in a week though!