Still the same intro. Part III is below on “Intensity”
When I saw that strength coach Joe Defranco was discussing on his podcast how he structures strength and conditioning programming for tactical populations I just had to listen. I have never met the man but Joe’s original 2004 article, “Westside For Skinny Bastards” was something that had a huge impact on me as a new strength coach.
This was the first time I read of someone taking as massively successful program/template/system for powerlifters (Westside System), and intelligently modifying it to fit a specific athletic population. Usually, modifications ruin things...not the case here. I actually used this plan as I was getting ready to start the police academy in my early twenties and although I would do things different now it was a phenomenal template.
In his podcast, Joe brings up something that I discuss in my book and have previously written about...the difference between selection train ups vs what I call the “day to day” training for these populations. I think a lot of people don’t realize the importance of this distinction. This is why in our We Go Home Human Performance Program we offer standalone programs for SWAT and SOF selections build ups and then our monthly plan that is designed to meet the insane demands of these lifestyles.
Selection Prep Vs Day To Day- Intensity
Intensity is another tool that can be misused by our hero populations when trying to maintain their fitness. Although I am not against pushing our lifting and conditioning, like everything this needs to be intelligently planned over time. Yes, we can all throw on a gas mask while doing endless metcons while wearing our rucksacks on 4 hours of sleep...but at some point it catches up with you.
For people heading to selections, depending on where they’re starting in their fitness journey, this usually means a few weeks (or months) of primarily aerobic focused training and submaximal lifts. Aerobic does not always mean “easy” and submaximal doesn’t necessarily mean “ light”, it just means we prioritize building our engine and connective tissue prior to sniffing ammonia capsules and blacking out on the track during a sprint workout.
For lifts, that means spending a lot of time in ht 55%-80% of our maxes on big lifts. This allows for a lot of room for recovery and adaption for long periods of time. People are often shocked with how much progress they can make developing their strength while finding a balance between volume and load. Trust me...you can get stronger without maxing all the time.
For people who have already made it to wherever they’re heading (SWAT, etc), this is when you need to take into consideration the balance of training strength AND conditioning for long term maintenance. We can’t continue maxing while also training with high intensity on our conditioning. Balance, balance, balance...this is especially important when you balance professional and life stressors.
For conditioning this means we don’t use too many competing methods that train very different capacities of the body. Meaning, if you spend all your time doing high intensity intervals and you also trying and do high volume rucking/running...you’re training too different energy pathways in the body and this is where most people end up without training much of anything...you just get mediocre at lots of things or worse...you don’t make progress.
This doesn’t mean you totally avoid short/high intensity/incomplete rest interval training, it just means you need to build to it and prioritize certain capacities. It also means you need to understand that usually the higher intensity of any training method you use will often have a lower ceiling for adaption in comparison to more aerobic focused training. In application this means higher intensity methods t should actually make up a much smaller percentage o your overall training volume than most people realize.
Like with most things, you need time to develop your overall training. Yes, higher intensity methods sometimes come with perceived faster results...but then where do you go? If you’re in this for the long game...then you need to plan for the long game. If you want to see what this looks like, check out our programming for a free trial.
