BY AL CIAMPA, MS, SFG, FMS, ACSM, USAW
When Pavel asked me to make a contribution for an article, I was honored. His request was made in a forum post discussing the preparation of a combat unit for the mountains of Afghanistan, and as this is more or less what I do professionally, I thought that I would simply provide an overview of my philosophy as well as expand on the ideas from that forum thread.
Prior to a discussion of training prep, let me share what I have come up with as a general algorithm of movement foundation that not only allows the Military elite to perform better, but also works very well with the unhealthy population that I serve as part of my profession. You’ve heard this all before and there is nothing new here, but I’ve witnessed this algorithm solve a lot of problems.
In the very fitting “crawl, walk, run” method of training in the Military, the first step is crawling. Tim Andersen and Geoff Neupert of Original Strength turned me on to this. Now, we teach proper diaphragmatic breathing, and then use crawling to train it. It’s very difficult to breathe into the chest and shoulder girdle while your upper body is dynamically loaded in this fashion. Get up on your hands and feet and crawl forward and reverse as part of the warm-up. It doesn’t require a long distance, but does require a certain technique. As Anderson and Neupert explain, keep your butt down, chin and chest high, move the opposite limbs together, and strive to pull the knee outside the elbow as high as it can go. Our best crawlers move very slow and their limbs move almost independent of the pelvis and spine. Crawling is the foundation of movement (for me) and accomplishes everything that I see most people spend hours doing: distracting with bands, foam roller, stretching, “mobility” work, more bands, etc. – except in a fraction of the time. … “in a fraction of the time”; remember, Military application – there are many more things to worry about other than PT.
Next up is the get up. Once you own the ability to crawl (you can surely work on both together, however), start practicing the get up as described by Pavel in S&S. Seek to transition gracefully between positions, own each position when there, and push the loading up as you develop your get up. Where crawling ties Dan John’s knots together, provides mobility, and offers body control, the get up does so under slow loading. Recently, I had a 6’2”, 240lbs lean and strong (powerlifting) Airman get crushed by a 16kg bell in the get up, and failed to crawl with any sort of control. Go back, and rebuild the chassis.
Finally: the swing. The swing now takes your graceful movement under slow loading, and turns flesh into steel through ballistic loading. Again, refer to Pavel’s work, so I won’t repeat what’s been said. These three skills don’t have to be ordered, except that if you can’t crawl well, maybe spend more time crawling and less time doing get ups and swings, and do them with lighter loads. If you’re not graceful with your get ups but crawl well, ease off on the swing loads for a bit. You’ll be surprised to see how these three skills work off of each other, and improve almost together.
Ok, let’s get to the meat: more bang for the buck … this is the overall theme for a Military application. Yeah, it’s awesome … all of the sexy exercises that we have to choose from, between CF and Arnold’s encyclopedia, but if it’s superfluous, or unnecessary, ditch it.
Swings. One-hand swings: perform a la S&S; two-hand swings: have to be oversped. But here’s my version, an excerpt from my training manual:
“A proper swing is a tug-of-war between the opposing body lines: posterior v. anterior. The glutes, hamstrings, and quads forcefully catapult the bell forward, while the lats, abdominals, and hip flexors catch it and throw it back—compress the posterior spring, fire the spring, compress the anterior spring, fire that spring, then do it again. Both the hinge and plank position are maximally tight—maximum feed-forward tension—for the time the bell spends flying out, one is “relaxed- tight”.
Throw the bell from the coiled spring of the hinge into the tight plank—stay connected to the bell—”catch” it in the plank and throw it back down. Recoil the spring and snap back to plank. Repeat for a set of 10. Check your heart rate. Wow.
Most people have a lot of trouble with this when they first start swinging—just get the basic pattern down and be patient. Use an appropriate load. My progression to this very violent overspeed swing is to train a floater swing first—the default swing of the StrongFirst community. Floater swings consist of driving the hips explosively, throwing the bell into a tight plank, however, the bells ascent is not arrested but is allowed to “float” momentarily at the top of the arch. The bell should then be guided back down into the hinge without too much effort. These swings concentrate on hip extension power.
It is important to train this initial version of the swing before you begin to overspeed them—train them until you’ve burnt the motor program into your brain, perhaps about 3-6 months.Hear this: if you include over-speed swings into your training too early, that is, before you can float swings gracefully and powerfully, without much thought, you will degrade the mechanics of both swing types and get no where at best, injury at worst. Be patient, put your hours in on the floaters, then include a few overspeed swings as you progress.
A word on sit-ups here: I don’t advocate training sit-ups regularly, in fact you should only perform them on test day. If folks performed sit-ups properly, then there is a possibility that they wouldn‘t cause problems. However, most do not perform them correctly, especially under testing situations, and so even a short stint in the Military can lead to life-long low-back pain. Sit-ups place the lumbar spine against the ground to be used as a fulcrum to fold the body in half over—something it did not evolve to support. If you do sit-ups properly—that is, keep the midline open and lead the action from the chest, only flexing only at the hip—then the most you’ll probably get is a sore tailbone. But that technique costs a lot of energy and requires a lot of strength, so most members I monitor perform them in trunk flexion followed by hip flexion—and there’s where the problem exists. Do your heavy-ish swings to improve your sit-up numbers.
Foot march: you can’t get around LSD work for aerobic capacity, from fatty acid metabolism to mitochondrial function, these “loaded carries” for distance harden the body and prep the physiology for the future environment. Pavel talks about “losing weight without the dishonor of aerobics”, and I agree, but don’t take it out of context: here we’re prepping for function, not fooling around on a stair master watching Oprah.
It is not clear if power work (re: S&S) alone provides physiological changes in mitochondria that contribute to the conditioning increases1. A controlled carbohydrate diet too, does not offer changes at the mitochondrial level, but does increase the efficiency of fatty acid use1. We do, however, know that LSD training at low heart rates, as per Lydiard / Maffetone, increases mitochondrial volume and output, and so, endurance performance2. So, one can run slow for distance to get the effect; or one can walk fast with a load for distance to get the same effect. Put a HR monitor on, ruck fast; and then run slow. Then compare your numbers. You’ll find the same aerobic effect from the two training efforts. So, let’s use the one with the secondary benefits that will allow for peak performance in the specific environment that we face. There is no substitution for efficient fat metabolism and mitochondrial function while under load in a mountainous environment.
Two walks per week are the minimum, one short, quick, and heavy; and one long, lighter, and slower. Use the short one to work the balance between the glycolytic and oxidative systems, and to prep the body for the daily loaded patrolling. Use the long one to really stoke the fires of the oxidative system – keep your heart rate low and push it out for 5-6 hours.
The swings and walks will cover all the bases for power, endurance, and energy systems training. The heavy get ups will take care of your strength work. Crawling will fill in the holes in most folks’ movement. There’s the minimum.
If you have time and resources: deadlift, military press (use the single-arm KB), and pull-ups. Find Pavel’s Power to the People, and do timed singles, these work well for strength and save time: 2-4 times per week – use the appropriate loads! See Easy Strength. If you have more time, sub out one or two of the swing workouts for a 5-10 min of long cycle C&J, or snatches … or roll the dice, as inEnter the Kettlebell.
A sample week might look like this:
Mon:
- Crawl
- DL
- Get ups
- Swings
Tue:
- Crawl
- Short walk
- Press
- Pull-ups
Wed:
- Crawl
- DL
- Get ups
- Swings or C&J or Snatches
Thur:
- Long walk (Thur is always long walk day … it’s a law!)
- Optional: Swings
Fri:
- Crawl
- DL or swings
- Presses or get ups
- Pull ups
- Sprints: 10 x 100m or 7 x 200m or 5 x 300m or 3 x 400m
- Recover between efforts. Don’t do sprints if you chose swings over DLs.
Most units in prep do 2 sessions per day so split these up as you see fit. What, no running, push-ups, sit-ups? You’re not going to be doing much running overseas, so don’t fall into the, “well, we’ve always done this, so we’re gonna do this” mentality when it comes to running. I’ve already discussed sit-ups, and if you’re not scheduled to take a PT test, you don’t need to waste your time with PUs. Now, understand that PUs are a specific enough event that if you don’t practice them, you won’t nail your best numbers on the test. But your swings, getups, and pull-ups will keep you close, so not much practice is required before the test. Just practice your high-tension techniques as you move (Pavel’s Irradiation concept), and your PU pressing muscles will stay in shape assisting the movements in the program. (Of course, don’t consciously stay tight while crawling or foot marching – this is reflexive tension).
There’s my take on deployment prep: applicable, minimalist, and effective – backed with both science and experience. Crawling is critical. The swings are critical. The heavy get ups are critical. The walks are critical. Not necessarily in that order. Some variation of this has worked well for me and for those I’ve advised for many years now.
References:
1) Hopeler, H., & Fluck, M. (2003). Plasticity of skeletal muscle mitochondria: Structure and function.Medical & Science in Sports and Exercise 35(1) 95-104.
2) Seiler, S., & Tonnesen, E. (2009). Intervals, thresholds, and long slow distance: The role of intensity and duration in endurance training. Sportscience 13(1) 32-53.
Al Ciampa has been a barbell athlete for 25+ years; a former powerlifter and bench press specialist, he has a raw bench press of 605lbs in training and 585lbs in competition, at the time, setting an IPA record. He served in the US Army first as a LRS-D team member, then as director of the Army’s hand-to-hand combat program in South Korea: Modern Army Combatives Program. After his service, he co-opened and led training for a fitness and health & wellness center, specializing in strength & conditioning, and nutrition that served Military units and the local public. Feeling a want to support the Military again, he now works as an exercise physiologist and health educator for the US Air Force, specializing in rehabilitation, strength & conditioning, nutrition, and instructor development. He has a MS in sports and health science; certified SFG1, FMS, ACSM, and USAW; and has been recognized for excellence by the Secretary of Defense, Mr. Chuck Hagel.
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