Good is Good Enough for Me:
Let’s be honest, programming workouts is not rocket science. The SAID & FITT principles can get the job done. Specific workouts create specific physiological adaptations and are dependent on frequency, intensity, time, and type of workout you do. Sticking to the principles will result in success even if you think your plans aren’t stellar. As an advisor of mine once said, “good is good enough for me.” Do not forget your periodization model and needs analysis discussed in Movement Lethality: Part 1. If you have not read Part 1, stop here, and start there. Part 1 will lay the foundation for you and will guide what you do in programming, leading to greater success than haphazardly creating workouts.
Generally speaking, the vast majority of tactical athletes require the ability to respond to a broad range of demands: endurance, strength, power, speed, and agility. Therefore, your programming will likely resemble that of concurrent training (i.e., training multiple energy systems together). My advice here is to train complementary modalities back-to-back and offset non-complementary routines. For example, you would not want to run five miles on Monday and do plyometrics or power on Tuesday. Train the least fatiguing workouts up front and the more fatiguing workout toward the week’s end or whichever days are closest to your rest days. Planning recovery to allow for adaptation is just as important as the workouts themselves. In the Army, the expectation is to train five days a week and rest on the weekends. I will be organizing my plans around that model. However, if you can stagger days of rest differently, it is likely more advantageous.
You do not order mahi-mahi with a side of peanut butter. Modality selection and placement works in a similar manner. If you want to get strong AND be able to run 5 miles in 40-minutes, training is going to be tough. You will have to train smart and hard, emphasizing just as much on recovery as you do on training. Below, I have listed the generally agreed upon ranges for specific training modalities based on the national strength and conditioning association’s (NSCA) guidelines. Using these data points, select your means appropriately, allowing for appropriate recovery between days and offsetting the demands. Scroll down past the ranges to see my example of week one modality schema.
Select Your Modality > Sets > Repetitions:
Movement selection should come from the basics: hinge, squat, push, pull, roll, crawl, carry, run, jump, and rotate. These movements should be varied, progressed, and regressed throughout the training cycle. Utilizing these patterns within the confines of the predetermined constraints previously discussed will allow for a successful training program that is easily tracked. One major thing to keep in mind is not to continually repeat the same movements with the same modalities (power, strength, endurance, etc.). This is likely to lead to overuse injuries and is demonstrative of a poorly planned program. Overuse injuries are currently taking more soldiers out of the fight than any hostile enemy.
Select Your Movements:
“First move well, then move often. Well enough to respond, often enough to adapt.” -Gray Cook
Organization:
Complex, compound, and supersets are the most basic methods of organizing the workout. Complex is a strength movement followed by a power movement. For example, squats followed by box jump. Compound training is a back-to-back training of the same muscle group. For example, squats followed by lunges. Supersets are when an agonist and antagonist muscle are trained back-to-back. Example, squats followed by deadlifts. Traditional physical training sessions for the tactical population have between 60-90 minutes to complete training; in these cases, I would utilize supersets and complex training most frequently. This will allow you to train multiple patterns that are complementary and decrease the likelihood of overtraining one muscle group.
Prioritize and Execute:
Caveats:
- By no means are my ideas the only way to approach training. These first few articles are primarily geared towards understanding the basics of creating a training program. Stick to the principles.
- Specificity: SAID principle
- Variation: FITT Principle
- Overload: Progressive in nature
- Individualization: Needs analysis will identify this
- Nutrition and recovery play a vital role in the success of training. Take them just as serious. Track food and practice quality sleep hygiene when possible and mission requirements allow.
- It is well understood that warm-ups help to enhance performance quality. Utilize the RAMP method to do so before your workouts. Ten to fifteen minutes should be enough time for a warm-up.
Deeper Dives on Concurrent Training:
If you are interested in more information, check out these resources below to learn more.