Training Week Sample
Key Takeaway
Our new phase in January takes a slightly different approach than our last cycle to enhance the capacities for the Tactical or First Responder. Those capacities again are:
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Strength
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Aerobic Capacity
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Aerobic Power
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Lactic Capacity
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Lactic Power
For our Next phase, BUILD, we are going to use a variation of the Cube or Conjugate that myself and others have used with great success. We are going to spend months building the first 3 on that list. It starts in the first 8 weeks of January.
General Breakdown
This is our first week of training. We do two full body lift days a week, 2 work capacity days, and then Zone 2/Cardiac output conditioning days.
Lift Days
Lift 1 is an upper body “Max Effort” focused day that will incorporate various jumps throughout the cycle. We will then follow up the rest of the session with upper-body accessory work to help support some muscle growth and performance on your main upper body lift. We work up to a heavy set of 5 in week 1, but still leave a rep or so in the tank.
Lift 2 is a lower body “Max Effort” day followed by some upper body dynamic work. For the more intermediate trainee we have programmed dynamic a bench press cycle, and for our more beginner trainees or individuals who aren’t comfortable with speed presses we have medball throw variations. The rest of the session is then followed up by lower body accessory work. We work up to a heavy set of 5 in week 1, but still leave a rep or so in the tank.
Work Capacity
Our work capacity days will be focused on kettlebell complexes, sled work, bike/running, and even some bear crawling. The goal is loaded conditioning combined with cyclic work while keeping ourselves aerobic. We will also start these sessions with some movement drills- one day will be linear focused while the other will be lateral.
Examples:
Zone 2/Cardiac Output
These days we focus on lower impact modalities and keeping our heart rate between 120-150bpm for the entire session. This will enhance recovery and help create a foundation for the harder conditioning methods that will be in the later phases.
Capacities
Each of these training days will focus on training a “capacity” as a opposed to getting to tied up in a movement for too long. We are going to rotate our lifts more often this phase, including our accessory work; to avoid stagnation and for some of you boredom. Boredom is the least of my concern, but by rotating the movements and continuing the same strength ranges, you’ll be able to make progress through these 16 weeks while hopefully not beating yourself up.
Our Work Capacity days will be all about slowly raising your “gas tank” over several weeks. These sessions are enjoyable, but challenging.
Note:
Yes, if you concentrated on a few lifts for longer you would make specific adaptations for those lifts faster…but I’d rather have you slowly creep up your rep and weight PRs on multiple lifts over several weeks as opposed to taking one lift to it’s extreme. You’ll make progress longer, feel better, and in the end be ready to perform in your professional endeavors when called upon.
Questions? Comment Below.
