By Rob Shaul Last summer we spent some time and completed a formal, Fitness Culture and Job Task Assessment of an Urban, Midwest Fire Department. Our assessment found the fitness culture at this unit to be poor and after returning, for several weeks we tried to find a first responder unit (LE & Fire/Rescue) with […]
Knowledge
Defining “Mission Direct” Research
By Rob Shaul and Adam Scott Our driving purpose at the Mountain Tactical Institute is: “To improve mountain and tactical athletes’ mission performance, and keep them safe.” Central to this purpose is the focused intention of being “mission direct” in everything that we do – daily training sessions, training plans, articles, research, etc. “Mission Direct” […]
At Steep Grades Using Trekking Poles is 20% Easier and 10% more Efficient
By Adam Scott, MS, CSCS For a previous Mini-Study, we had our athletes complete a simple snapshot study using trekking poles around a standard 1/4 mile track. This time, we stepped things up a little (literally) and loaded our athletes with approximately 40% of their body weight (between 50-75 lbs). Then we took them to the […]
Dynos, Deadlifts and Chicken Wings: Program Design for our Spring 2016 Rock Climb Cycle
By Rob Shaul Founder/Coach Rock climbers have a constant, shifting imbalance between climbing fitness, and climbing technique. Brand new climbers have a wide imbalance – they are plenty strong for the low rated climbs, but are limited by technique. But soon, technique catches up, and the imbalance between fitness and technique becomes much more narrow. […]
Moving Uphill, a 10% Grade Cuts your Speed by 1/3…Not 1/2
By Adam Scott, MS, CSCS A couple of years ago we published our Five Rules of Rucking. The article has been one of our most cited and reproduced works – appearing on, among other things, Backpacker Online. Although the rules were based on previous academic findings we were never quite comfortable with […]
Are We There Yet? Part 1: Developing A Tool To Estimate Ruck Times
Adam Scott, MS, CSCS “The standard for success of a foot march is very simple to measure: did the unit arrive at the destination at the prescribed time with the Marines in condition and required equipment present to accomplish the mission?” – US Marine Corps Reference Publication (MCRP) 3-02A […]
Shooting School Project: Initial Results
Over the years, conversations with our tactical athletes have left the impression that shooting schools, a vital training element for tactical units, are selected using less than formal approaches. As part of our long term goal of providing our tactical athletes a methodical approach to selecting the best schools for their units’ training requirements, we solicited […]
Do Trekking Poles Make You More Efficient?
Part I: Previous Research and Mini-Study #1 Adam Scott, MS, CSCS One of the many things which Military and Mountain Athletes have in common is the requirement to move over ground (typically under load). This prevailing operational demand is a critical component in the MTI training philosophy. As long as this demand remains, MTI is going […]
Mini-Study: Muscle-Ups, Rope Climbs, Peg Boards…Which is Harder?
By Adam Scott, MS, CSCS After teaching a few of our Advanced Programming Courses over the past few months I know better than to enter into a debate for one type of pull-up over another. So, in no way is this an argument for or against any exercise. This mini-study is simply a […]
Study Results: No Easy Answer On Pull-Up Improvement
By Adam Scott, MS, CSCS What is the best way to improve pull-ups? In July 2015 we conducted a Pilot Study trying to answer that very question. Building on our little study, twelve weeks ago, Dr. Eric Martin of California State University Monterery Bay (CSUMB) started a much larger, academic experiment using athletes from […]