Plan Focus – Dryland Skiing Training Plan

By Rob Shaul The Dryland Ski Training Plan is a great example of the intense focus we bring to our sport-specific, pre-season training plans, and the continual evolution and improvement of our programming as we learn and grow. We’re on version 4 of this plan – last updated November 2016 – based on our experience […]

Interview with Freeski Athlete Hadley Hammer: To Compete or Not To Compete

Why I’m not Competing This Year An interview with FreeSkier, Hadley Hammer MA: You had a disappointing competition season last year, yet just last May, you said your goal for this year was to get back on the World FreeSki Tour and win a championship. I now understand you’ve decided not to compete. Why the […]

Ruck Deep Dive – Study #1: Physical Attributes Which Relate to Rucking

By Adam Scott, MS, CSCS   In September 2015, Mountain Tactical Institute (MTI) had the pleasure of completing the first phase of our official Ruck Deep Dive Study.  We traveled to Colorado Springs and tested a total of 46 ROTC Cadets from the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs.  This article was written immediately after to provide […]

Operator Session Updates: Green, Blue and Triphasic Training

Adam Scott, MS, CSCS We are always looking for ways to improve our programming.  Recently, using our professional skiers and lab rats, we have been experimenting with a few new concepts.   Two of these will be making their way into the next Operator Cycle. The first is programming for land-based units (“Green”) and water-based units […]

Plan Focus: Fortitude – Strength and Endurance

By Rob Shaul In September of 2015, my military athlete lab rats had just finished up an intense strength and endurance cycle, which became Fortitude – the first in our “virtue” series of training plans. Fortitude marked a significant shift in my programming approach – both on the military and mountain side. I’d come to […]

Four Lessons From The NTOA Conference

Adam Scott, MS, CSCS This past week we spent two days at the National Tactical Officers Association (NTOA) Conference in Salt Lake City, Utah.  The NTOA Conference is one of the largest gatherings of tactical law enforcement professionals in the country and was a great opportunity for us to engage with our LE Athletes one-on-one concerning […]

LE Athlete Assessment: Where Do You Rank?

Adam Scott, MS, CSCS   In 2014, we published our basic fitness assessment for Law Enforcement Athletes.  Since then hundreds of athletes have completed the assessment.  Some athletes have done so during our daily sessions, while others were part of cadet classes that have adopted the assessment.     When we started our second training […]

Pull-Up Training Partnerships

The Mountain Tactical Institute (MTI) is happy to announce two new research partnerships. Both partners will be conducting research projects based on the pull-up study we completed earlier this summer. The first project, which started this week, is a 6-week study at GRIT Strength and Conditioning in Austin, TX. GRIT Head coach, Stephanie Twohey and […]

Help Needed Developing a Tactical Athlete Work Capacity Standard

Adam Scott, MS, CSCS Work capacity is a major component of a tactical athlete’s fitness.  The ability to perform during short/intense events is vital to a tactical athlete’s operational effectiveness and battlefield security. Our tactical athlete Base Fitness programming builds 5 areas of fitness: Strength, Work Capacity, Endurance, Stamina and Durability. On the strength side, […]

How to Train for Backcountry Big Game Hunting – Podcast

We were featured on the Backcountry Hunting Podcast with the Team at Exo Mountain Gear. Great company, great products!   Built for the Backcountry We all know that hunting the backcountry effectively requires a certain level of physical fitness. But how, specifically, should backcountry hunters train? What are the unique challenges that hunters face? How […]