QUESTION
Rob,
I have 2 questions, but first I’ll give you a little background. I’m a 34 yo infantryman, 6’5” tall and weigh in at 235. I have been following your programming for several months. I am reletively injury free, aside from the aches and pains that come from doing this job for 15+ years. Nothing I can’t handle, though. I do have some sleep issues, and I am working those out right now. I follow your diet suggestions pretty religiously.
BLUF: I suck at work capacity sessions. I suck to the point I can barely complete them, and sometimes not even that. I have completed the on-ramp program twice, and still suck when I try to do the operator sessions. I do OK with strength sessions and endurance sessions, although my numbers aren’t quite where they should be yet. Do you have any suggestions to improve my work capacity? I was thinking about the work capacity program, but not sure if it is meant to improve poor work capacity.
Second question: My 14 yo son likes to work out with me. I generally have him use the weight listed for females, but he still struggles with strength at times. He also complains about joint pain every now and then, and when he does I usually make him stop. What is the appropriate way to scale the workouts for him?
Thanks for your help!
– C
ANSWER
1) There's no short cut. Just stick with it and do your best. Canceling your subscription to the Operator Sessions and completing the Work Cap plan is one option, but I'd rather you just stick with the Operator Sessions and be patient. We'll roll through work cap cycles. Also – understand as you get stronger, your work cap will also improve.
2) Your son – that's a tough one without working with him. In general, scale loading appropriately so he can get the prescribed reps without breaking. You can start with the female loading, and go from there as you coach him through the session. His joints – I'm not a doctor and can't advise you here. I'm not sure what's happening. In general, having him stop when his joints hurt is the first obvious precaution. If it continues, you should have him see a doctor.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Coach,
Sorry for all of the questions, but how would you suggest fixing my imbalance? I know my squat is weak, but how do you fix that? My Front Squat 1RM is around 225lbs, but my back squat sucks!!!!! Today's stamina session wasn't as bad, minus all the crazy looks I got for doing the sandbag get ups in the IBA. Like I said, sorry for all of the questions. Did you ever think of doing your website in a forum/facebook-ish style format? I would pay extra to get the operator sessions and have a Military Athlete forum where we could all talk and post stuff. That would be awesome!!! Thanks for everything you do and actually responding!
– M
ANSWER
Strength – be patient and strength will come. We'll be rolling into a hybrid strength/work cap cycle next, then endurance, then back to 3 weeks of full on strength.
Forum – we used to have one but it didn't generate many comments, so I discontinued it.
It seems athletes who stick with our stuff are more quiet about their training than CrossFit participants and others following social fitness programming.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Rob,
I have been doing your Operator Sessions for about the past week and so far
they have been awesome. I took the relative strength test and scored 3.8 so
my strength is decent but the stamina sessions have been kicking my ass. In
college I ran cross country and track and field, mid-distance, so I come
from an endurance based background but since then I've shifted more towards
straight strength over the past few years. Yesterday's workout of 46
minutes of the barbell complex was pretty tough and I see the same thing is
on the schedule for Thursday. Do you think it would be better to drop each
rep to say 4 or 5 and stay on the time of a rep every 2 minutes, or keep the
reps at 6 and have the time slide? I'm inclined to drop the reps but wanted
to know yours thoughts. Thanks,
– M
ANSWER
Drop down to 45# barbell and keep the reps the same.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Rob,
I e-mailed you awhile back regarding nutrition. And I've been following the diet pretty tight and seen great results. I was wondering where quinoa stood in your diet work.
Also, your running up program seems pretty solid. Can it be fit in with the operator programs? If so does it become a 2x a day pt?
Thanks for your time.
– B
ANSWER
Not sure on quinoa. And it seems the paleo experts have varied opinions: http://easypaleomeals.org/is-quinoa-paleo/
Running – can be completed in isolation or as a supplement to the Operator Sessions (2-a-day), depending upon the cycle. – Strength cycle would work well, but we're currently in a stamina cycle and you wouldn't want to be running also.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Hey there Rob!
My name is chris Downy and i am a sergeant in the army(cav scout). i have bought several of your programs and i am really excited to jump into them. I bought the sf selection and delta one. Mind you i am not going to either one of those selections yet but i would like to do the to raise y fitness and test myself. But before i jumped into those programs i wanted to get my base fitness up before i try those sport specific programs. My only question is which program would you recommend to get my base fitness up?
– C
ANSWER
I generally like guys to start out with a strength cycle. Rat 6 Strength is a great place to start: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=55&cart_ID=84
– Rob
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QUESTION
Coach,
A few easy questions and compliments. Should I be worried if my squat is only 10 to 15 pounds over my bench? Does this show a major imbalance, or is it right? On a 3X5 for squat I can hit 250lbs, and on the bench I am hitting 235lbs. Is this how it should be, or am I majorly imbalanced? Second question, and maybe you have answered it before, but your strength training programs run a very different method than a standard linear progression. Why is this? How do you feel about linear progression? I am not questioning your methods at all, just curious. As for stamina cycle, I hate you!!!! I walked into the gym today cocky as hell, 23 barbell complexes, no problem! I left crying on the inside thinking about Thursday! You are the best!
– M
ANSWER
(1) You're fairly balanced if by "squat" you mean "front squat." If you mean back squat, your lower body is week. In general, your front squat and bench press loading should be close.
(2) When I first started the gym I tried strict progression, with limited success. I suspect the issue was the extra work capacity we do – classic linear progression is designed for athletes who are only training strength. Also, I found it was cumbersome to apply in the gym …. athletes had to re-look up their 1RM, figure out their percentage, figure out how to warm up to it ….. etc. Sometimes they would be stronger or weaker today, then they were when the tested 1RM, ect. Hence my shift to "hard but doable."
All that being said, we have used a version of linear progression with great success. An example is our Rat 6 Strength Plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=55&cart_ID=84 – one of our most successful ever.
(3) The barbell complexes add up, don't they?
– Rob
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QUESTION
Rob,
Today I finished the Hypertrophy program for skinny guys. Going to weigh in tomorrow to determine my overall gain. Needless to say, it's been great. I plan to unload next week and then don't know if i should do a strength cycle or drop back into the Operator sessions? Do you have any recommendations?
Great stuff as always,
– T
ANSWER
Do 357 Strength: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=55&cart_ID=69
It's strength focused, but also includes a work capacity component. The problem with going into a strict strength cycle is after a couple weeks you won't be able to walk up a flight of stairs without breathing hard!!
– Rob
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QUESTION
Hey Rob, I have a few questions regarding your nutrition philosophy. I am a college student trying to build a fitness level that will make me competitive for military special operations selection programs. As such, I do a lot of distance running and try to balance that with strength and mobility training. I am 6'4" and 210lbs. Simple physiology would suggest that in order to build muscular strength I need to be ingesting a caloric surplus daily, but I don't know how this could be accomplished on the military/mountain athlete diet. I want to just go all in with your program, but how do you guys maintain mass or even make gains with all the training you do? Why do you advocate this paleo-ish diet over any other diet and how do you build strength/mass or even maintain it eating only meat, nuts, fruits, and vegetables? Do all of your athletes follow this kind of diet?
Thanks for your time and sorry for the myriad questions,
– N
ANSWER
Arguing about nutrition is almost as bad about arguing about religion.
Understand there is no caloric restrictions on our dietary recommendations. You can eat as much as you want, you just can't eat certain things. Also, understand in general it's best to eat protein when trying to gain muscle mass – and there's plenty of protein in our diet.
I would say at 6'4", 210 pounds, you're too light. I'd like to see you around 220 pounds. Know that extensive distance running will inhibit muscle mass and strength gains.
Also, I consider military athletes primarily strength and power athletes, not endurance athletes. In a peacetime army, there will be a subtle shift to distance running, simply because it's easy for unimaginiative commanders to use distance running as a fitness measure/evaluation. But in many schools, and especially in the real thing, when it get's dangerous, your survival won't be determined by how far and fast you can run 5 miles in shorts and a t-shirt, it will much more likely be determined by how fast you can make repeated 25-400m sprints while carrying 25-80 pounds on your combat chassis.
Back to diet …. I'd recommend you read "Why We Get Fat," by Taubes. And finally, if our dietary recommendations don't work for you, don't do them. As a professional athlete, you are accountable for your fitness/performance.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Quick question. Is there something I can do along with the Rat 6 workout to help with endurance?
– K
ANSWER
You can double up with endurance work in the evening, if you like. We build our Running Improvement Plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=56&cart_ID=104 and our Ruck Based Improvement Plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=56&cart_ID=110 with this in mind.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Hi Rob,
I am on your body weight I program and enjoying it. I am older (43), on FBI Swat, USMCR and find myself having to take four different types of Pfts (FBI, FBI SWAT, USMC PFT, & USMC CFT).
Any suggestions?
I also did the Wendler 5,3,1 over winter and enjoyed the squats and dead lift. How can I maintain strength and power at the same time performing well on endurance, work capacity Pfts?
Thanks,
– D
ANSWER
In general, you can't do everything at the same time and perform at your best. Our approach is to use Base Fitness as your day to day programming, then 3-6 weeks out from an event, competition, fitness test, etc., drop out of the Base and train sport-specifically for the test. For example, we've build sport-specific fitness test for both the FBI and USMC PFTs.
For your Base Fitness, I'd recommend you subscribe to the SWAT/SRT sessions at LEATHLETE.COM. After years of requests, we began programming for law enforcement athletes a couple months ago.
– Rob