By Emmett Shaul, MTI Coach
I was a lot closer to my ideal tactical athlete bodyweight before the holidays, but pumpkin pie and Christmas dinners with my girlfriend’s family added some unneeded weight. Despite that, my training over the past eight months has been consistent and I feel strong.
For the past eight months I’ve been training a range of Geek Cycles, our Pre-Season Ski Training Plan, and a mix of Operator Sessions. My strength numbers are solid and I’m physically capable. In work capacity efforts, I can maintain pace and repeat high outputs without feeling “under load” or movement-restricted. Even during the high-intensity TJT progressions in the Skiing Plan, my bodyweight never felt like a limiter.
Where I notice my weakness is running. My last 6 mile time was 55:03, and outside of certain training cycles, I don’t run much Typically about once per week when it shows up in the programming. That lack of volume is a major factor, so it may not be my bodyweight that’s limiting my running fitness. At the same time, dropping 20 pounds almost certainly won’t hurt.
This article is my starting point for a six week cut back to MTI’s ideal tactical athlete bodyweight, and a practical look at what changes when I operate lighter. MTI’s ideal bodyweight standards are not about aesthetics. They are performance standards built around the demands of a tactical athlete who has to move fast, move long, and remain durable. There is a tradeoff between getting heavier to chase absolute strength and staying light enough to keep endurance, work capacity, and movement quality high. MTI’s ideal bodyweight guidance prioritizes field performance over gym numbers.
At 5’9”, MTI’s ideal bodyweight for a male tactical athlete is 175 pounds. I am starting this cut at 196.8 pounds, which puts me roughly 20 pounds above that standard. Over the past eight months I typically hovered between 185 and 190, but right now I’m heavy for my tactical athlete standards. What I want to test isn’t whether the standard is “necessary” in the abstract—I want to compare how I feel and perform at my current bodyweight versus how I feel and perform operating at MTI’s standard.
Myself and the Jackson Hole Lab Rats just began a new Geek Cycle, which started with a one rep max in the back squat, bench press, and hinge lift. To establish a baseline, I also ran a modified version of MTI’s Relative Strength Assessment. MTI’s assessment uses the front squat, hinge lift, bench press, and strict pull ups, then expresses the result as strength per bodyweight. Because we are back squatting in this current cycle, I used my front squat one rep max from the previous cycle rather than re-testing it. I also completed strict pull ups for max reps so I can compare results after the cut.
My baseline numbers were a 245 pound front squat, a 275 pound bench press, a 325 pound hinge lift, and 15 strict pull ups at 196.8 pounds. Using MTI’s scoring method, my relative strength score came out to 5.79. For a male tactical athlete, that places me in the “Good” category, but short of “Excellent.” I expect my pull up performance to benefit simply because I’ll be lighter, and if I can maintain most of my strength while cutting down, dividing those numbers by a lower bodyweight should theoretically drive my relative strength score up.
I will also be able to track what happens to my strength in a practical way during the cut because I’ll be completing this current four week Geek Cycle inside the six week window. This cycle includes a work capacity assessment and re-assessment using max reps in a 3 minute Prone to Sprint, with sled push intervals progressing week to week. It also includes chassis integrity work that begins with a 10RM Good Morning and a 5RM Standing Russian Twist deploying a modified Big 24 Progression. Alongside the conditioning and chassis integrity work, my strength training across this block will include a Density progression with the trap bar deadlift, and military press, which will give me a clear read on whether I can maintain my strength while my bodyweight comes down.
My timeline is six weeks, beginning 1/5/26 and ending 2/16/26, with the objective of reaching 175 pounds. For nutrition, I will follow MTI’s Nutritional Guidelines and will not be taking any cheat days. Training will continue with the Geek Cycle sessions as my primary work. I will also ski, and boot pack uphill on our local hill, Snow King, two to three times per week. If recovery permits, I may add easy swimming on weekends.
I am interested in what operating at a lower bodyweight does to my joints, my movement efficiency, and my durability. Less weight should help running and uphill movement, and it should reduce the stress that accumulates through repeated impact. I expect my absolute strength may decrease as I lose weight, but I also expect my relative strength will improve, especially with pull ups, because I’ll be lighter and because maintaining most of my strength while dividing by a lower bodyweight should raise the score.
To track changes in movement, I will use uphill boot packing on Snow King as a repeatable marker. Before each boot pack I will weigh in. My plan was to govern each effort with a heart rate monitor and keep it at a moderate pace, roughly zone three, based off my max heart rate of 192 during the peak of our Touch Jump Touch progression. Today I tested my first boot pack using 80% of that max heart rate, targeting a range of 150–160 bpm, but it took too long to be practical. Going forward, I will govern the boot packs at 160–170 bpm and monitor changes in my time.
The expectation is that, as bodyweight drops, I will move faster at the same heart rate. At the same time, I know it will not be perfectly clean data. Faster boot packs could come from improved fitness across the six weeks, not just weight loss. Still, the direction is what I care about: whether I can move faster and feel better operating lighter while keeping my strength where it needs to be.
At the end of the six weeks, I will re-test bodyweight and the relative strength components and compare the new relative strength score to my 5.79 baseline, and I’ll compare boot pack performance under the same heart rate cap. If I can hit 175 pounds, move faster uphill at the same cardiac output, and maintain relative strength, it validates the standard in the most practical way possible. I’ll report back in February with the results.