Military Operator Sessions

MTI’s Daily Military Operator Sessions serve as our year-round, day-to-day “Base Fitness” strength and conditioning programming for Military SOF and Infantry personnel.

MTI’s Base Fitness programming is designed to prepare Military Operators for 90% of the mission-direct fitness demands they will face during deployment or combat field exercises. This is precision, professional-grade strength and conditioning programming.

This is multi-modal, concurrent training. MTI’s Operator Sessions train strength, work capacity, military endurance (running, rucking), chassis integrity and tactical agility simultaneously using our proprietary Fluid Periodization methodology.

“Base Fitness” bottom of MTI’s Fitness Mountain, serving as the crucial foundation for your mission-direct physical capability. A high level of job-specific Base Fitness allows you to seamlessly pivot to our intense event-specific programming—such as a plan for Ranger School, the ACFT, or USMC Basic Recon or SFOD-D Selection.

Your body is your primary tool. As a tactical athlete, if you are unfit or injured, you are a liability to your team, not an asset. Soldiers and Marines are professional athletes who use their bodies to earn a living; your paycheck, performance, and survivability depend on your fitness.

Why MTI?

MTI has been programming for military operators since 2009, when we were asked to leverage our mountain expertise to build an Afghanistan Pre-Deployment Training Plan. In the years since, MTI’s military division has expanded to include daily sessions, PFT-specific programming, and training for military schools, selections, and diverse deployment environments (urban, open country, etc.).

Fitness Attributes of a Military Operator

• High Relative Strength: Strength per body weight. We aim to get you as strong as possible without adding unnecessary mass.
• High Work Capacity: Sprint-based and multi-modal efforts lasting 5–30 minutes, simulating the intense bursts of energy required in combat.
• Military Endurance: Proficiency in unloaded running, ruck running, and heavy rucking.
• Chassis Integrity: Our specific application of functional core strength, building a midsection capable of supporting heavy loads and dynamic movement.
• Tactical Agility: This trains not only speed and directional changes but also tactical movement patterns such as crawling, dragging, and navigating obstacles under load. We simulate real-world scenarios where familiarity with these movements is essential for survival.

What Makes MTI Different?

(1) Mission-Direct Research. Early on, we realized academic research was too narrow and slow for tactical athletes. MTI’s “Mission-Direct” research methodology includes rapidly completing studies, assessing, iterating, and improving our mission-direct programming. To date, MTI has conducted over 100 internal research studies most of which tested mission-direct programming methodologies for effectiveness. 

(2) We train for performance outside the gym. Our Military Operator base fitness programming focuses on training that transfers directly to tactical performance and durability. Gym numbers are meaningless; all that matters is outside performance. We are not wedded to a single theory—our programming constantly evolves as we learn and improve.

(3) We build durability. By developing overall strength, core stability, and mission-direct fitness, we aim to make our athletes unbreakable. Industrial athletes—such as soldiers, mountain guides, and wildland firefighters—depend on their bodies for their livelihood. The best way to ensure durability is to make you fit for the specific demands of your job as a military operator.

(4) Fluid Periodization. Conventional strength and conditioning fails the multi-modal athlete. Unlike team sport, or competing individual athletes, many tactical athletes and mountain professionals can’t program their training calendar around pre-determined off-season, pre-season and in-season periods. Because of the unpredictable nature of tactical mission-sets and mountain emergencies, many tactical athletes and mountain professionals have to be fit across a wide spectrum of fitness attributes at all times. These are true, “multi-modal” athletes.

The programming challenge presented by Tactical Athletes and Mountain Professionals is how to concurrently train multiple fitness attributes in the same cycle and steadily improve or maintain fitness across all the attributes.

Conventional wisdom in the strength and conditioning world is this cannot be done, well. Conventional strength and conditioning programming sees only the two extremes of programming, “linear” or “random”.

At one end is linear periodization, where we could train just one fitness attribute at a time including detailed progression. For example, typical football-based strength and conditioning starts with a Hypertrophy Cycle, followed by a Strength Cycle, followed by a Power Cycle. During these cycles, the set/rep and loading/volume schemes are manipulated specifically to increase that cycle’s focus. So moderate loading, high volume for Hypertrophy, low volume, high weight for Strength, and lightweight, low volume and high speed for Power. 

Similar approaches are seen in traditional endurance programming – where a “base” cycle of long, slow work is followed by a “build” cycle combining moderate distances and slow paces with short distances and faster paces, which is then followed by a “speed” cycle of short, fast work.

It’s true that linear progression concentration is the best way to improve fitness in that one attribute, but while training was focused on it, the other fitness attributes would decline. So, while the football players are training Strength, they are losing some of the mass they built during the Hypertrophy cycle.

At the other end of this balance is random programming, where all the fitness attributes are trained, but without a systematic approach or any type of progression. Random programming leads to all the fitness attributes being trained, but without any system or progression, gains within each are suspect, and overall improvement in Base Fitness is limited.

This has been one of the key criticisms of CrossFit by academics …. that because of random programming and without attribute focus, CrossFitters never get really good at anything – strength, work capacity or endurance.

MTI Founder, Rob Shaul, developed and refined “Fluid Periodization” – which sits in the middle of these two extremes.  Through MTI’s Fluid Periodization methodology, all the fitness attributes which make up Base Fitness are trained, but the approach is methodological and includes deliberate progressions both within each cycle and overall throughout the macrocycle. 

Using Fluid Periodization we are able to concurrently train the multiple attributes. Fluid Periodization concurrently trains multiple fitness attributes during the same Base fitness cycle, with either a balanced emphasis across all the attributes or a cyclic emphasis on one or two attributes. 

This proprietary methodology allows us to train Strength, Work Capacity, Endurance and Chassis Integrity, concurrently while maintaining detailed, mathematical progressions. We do not have an “off-season.” You need to be capable across all domains, all the time.

Fluid Periodization has two goals: (1) build and maintain the athletes “base” fitness across multiple fitness attributes, and; (2) lay the fitness foundation for more intens

Nothing at MTI is random. Every rep in the Daily Operator Sessions fits into a larger picture of professional-grade strength and conditioning programming for military operators.

(5) We uunderstand the “burden” of constant fitness. Professional tactical athletes cannot allow themselves to get out of shape, but constant training can easily lead to staleness and boredom. Our programming cycles through different attributes, includes cycle-based assessments, and balances intense sessions with recovery “unload” weeks to both challenge and protect the athlete.

(6) Constant improvement. Our programming today is different than it was 12 months ago, and it will be different 12 months from now. The more we coach, the more we learn. We are constantly testing and making changes to improve. We can always do better.

(7) We are our own “Lab Rats.” We do these sessions too, before they are published. Programming is as much a craft as it is a science, and there is no substitute for the coach experiencing the workout firsthand. We test it before you do.

COMMON QUESTIONS

How long will sessions last?
These training sessions are specifically designed to be completed in 60-75 minutes. Work briskly, but not frantically, through these training sessions.

Required Equipment?
Completion of the program requires a fully-equipped functional gym, complete with barbells, racks, sandbags and plyo boxes. In addition, you will need a ruck and up 75# of load.

What if I miss a day?
Begin where you left off when you return to training. This program is progressed – each session builds upon the prior session – so don’t skip a session or skip around. Follow the training sessions in order, regardless.

Any modifications for women?
These are prescribed in the training plan. For example, if the session calls for Power Cleans at 85/135#, the first load – 85# – is for women, and the second load – 135# – is for men. If the plan calls for 5/10x push ups, this means women do 5x push ups, men do 10x push ups.

Where do I find unfamiliar exercises?
See our Exercise Library HERE. The Run/Ruck Calculator is listed as an exercise.

What about nutrition?
See our Nutritional Guidelines HERE.

How do I access the plan?
Access is online, via username and password. You can login either through our website or through our app (Mtn Tactical Fitness) available for IOS and Android.

Can I print out sessions to take to the gym?
Yes – you can print a week of programming at a time.

Can I see sample training?
Yes. Scroll down to see a typical week of programming. 

More Questions? Email: coach@mtntactical.com

SAMPLE WEEK OF TRAINING: