Q&A 12.19.19

by SSD

KUDOS WILDERNESS PROFESSIONAL TRAINING PACKET / WRANGELL ST ELIAS

“I am a long time subscriber, over 9 years using your programs, mostly for mountain related activities
I recently finished Wrangell St Elias and wanted to share that’s it’s close to being perfect, kinda like Humility.  I found it very effective as a fall prep for backcountry skiing in between a long summer of mostly mountain running.   This package of programs was really needed for those of us that don’t climb(much) but need mountain specific programming.

What I liked most about this program is the dumbell focus.  I just turned 56 and the balancing requirements using dumbbells vs a barbell were surprising – something I didn’t appreciate until I read about deteriorating balance as one ages.  So as a suggestion for us SF45 people is to keep some concentration like this in those programs as you have in the WSE.

Second, the sprints were brutal and perfect after an endurance focused summer.  Your message of simplicity was top of mind as I almost heaved during the first few weeks.  So more of that, even for us old guys.

Lastly I’m now into the backcountry V4 program and it’s better than v3.  I struggled last winter using v3 both in the gym and on skis, and midway through had considered pulling my old copy of v2.  V4 combined with Wrangell St Elias has made for a good couple of first days on the snow already.  Thanks for your valuable work”

QUESTION

I was thinking about using your programs as I prepare for a highland games competition in April.  I just came off a high frequency squat program and realized that I am bleeding force through the trunk. Would you recommend using the Chasis Integrity program with my regular programming or switching to some of the MTI programs between now and the competition?

ANSWER

Because we don’t have a highlands games specific train up, best would be to use your current programming to train specifically for the events of the games, and supplement the training with the daily circuits from the Chassis Integrity Training Plan.
– Rob

QUESTION

I just wrapped up the Crossfit Open and am looking for a program to focus on getting brutally strong the next two months. I am competing and training for competitions and have loved your programs but am struggle which strength one to follow? I lost a lot of strength the past month and a half and need something that will pack on muscle and that strength.

ANSWER

Enjoy!
– Rob

QUESTION

I’ve developed a stress fracture in my lower right leg by rucking in horrible shoes…I was working through the Valor program when the situation occurred.

What would you recommend I do while the fracture heals?

ANSWER

– Rob

QUESTION

The Mammoth is a 3 day endurance event where we leave starting line on Friday morning and return on Sunday afternoon, we will cover approx 40 miles in this time, my ruck weight will be 51lbs to start , weight will decrease as I shoot my ammo and eat my food thru out the event. We must maintain a min of 16 min mile for the entire event. There will be obstacles, hills, ect.

ANSWER

SFRE Training Plan – it’s 7 weeks long, ruck intensive, and should prepare you well for this event.
– Rob

QUESTION

I’m looking to compete in Bataan this year and plan on doing well. (Was 4th ya Best Ranger last year).

I’m looking at your chart and I’m faster than row 1. Current assessment is 6 miler at 53 min and 12 miles around 1:55. Is there a percentage I should use for my pace?

Also being about 16 min out would it be dumb to just do the 8 week program back to back?

Appreciate the help!

ANSWER

Ignore the chart and just complete the ruck at a moderate pace, moderate = comfortable but not easy.
This plan is designed to prepare guys to complete the distance, not necs. compete – which I understand is the goal of the event – a memorial, not a competition.
Back to back? No. I’d recommend Hector now (7 weeks), week total rest, then complete the Bataan plan.
– Rob

QUESTION

I Just subscribed.

Im overweight and getting help with diet and i want to do a obstacle race in around 18 august 2018
I started at 324 lbs and im now at at 304.
Doing the fatloss program, do you have any tips on how to lay up the timeline?
My first goal is to lose weight but in around 8 months perform okey.
8. Months and 20 days to be exact

ANSWER

After the Fat-Loss Training Plan I’d recommend the plans/order in the Country Singer Packet of plans beginning with Johnny.
Six weeks before you event, drop out of the Country Singer plans and complete the Obstacle Race Training Plan – Short Distance.
Good luck!
– Rob

QUESTION

I’m a 27 year old male from Sweden, training for the selection for the Swedish army in 9 weeks. The selection is basically an exercise bike test with the resistance increasing steadily until you basically can’t continue any more.
And then it’s a strength test: a kind of explosive deadlift ending with a upright row (all in the same movement) against an isomteric machine.
I work out at a commercial gym at the moment, with only the basic equipment plus some.
So this 8-9 weeks I’m only focusing on this selection test.
I wonder what plan you would recommend for me?

ANSWER

I’m sorry – but I don’t have a plan specifically for this test.
What I’d recommend is 4 sessions per week – starting with power cleans, or clean to high pulls. I’d recommend 3 rounds of our Barbell Complex warm up, followed by 8 Rounds of 3x Power Cleans – or Cleans to High Pull, increasing weight each round until 3x is hard but doable.
For the Bike I’d recommend 10 rounds of 1-minute sprint, 1-minute rest or slow spin – going all out each work interval.
– Rob

QUESTION

I would love to use a plan of yours as I am coming off of a 6 month body building cycle and looking to formulate myself back into more endurance and performance based. I have access to my colleges gym with bumpers, kettlebells, and weights, but no sandbag. ON sand bag or rucking days, till I can get a good ruck, what are some things I can do instead? Im looking to purchase the Q course.

ANSWER

Sorry, there are no good substitute exercises for the sandbag work. Others make their own and bring it to the gym with them. Be resourceful.
– Rob

QUESTION

What’s a good plan to get back into shape? I’ve been in active for 10 months due to injury. I’m cleared to work out. I have the fbi plan, but plan on using that 6 months prior to my police physical testing. I need something to get me back into shape, before I use the fbi program. 
ANSWER
– Rob

QUESTION

So I know you get a ton of emails like this, so I’ll try to keep it short, but a small backstory might be, well, annoying but necessary.

I’m a full time backpacking guide in the Grand Canyon and Rocky Mountain National Park.  All this really means is that I carry a 55-70 lb pack, walk slow, and take care of peeps for 3-7 days at a time.

I ice climb and backcountry snowboard as much as possible, but to be honest that’s only been 1-3 times per week when conditions allow.  I’ve ridden about 15 Colorado 14ers, but not a single one in the last 5 years.

Despite my job and where I live, I’ve literally forgotten how to be fit. I’m currently probably 15 lbs overweight and it’s disgusting.

While I think it’s weird to pay someone else to get fit, that’s where I’m at and with the multitude of awesome programs you offer, I’m a bit lost.

Soooooo, my question is this (knowing me, it’ll take a sentence or two 🙂 ): I want to get back to snowboarding 14ers and have tentative plans to snowboard Baker and Ranier next spring, but I also just crave to be generally fit again all the time. I really want to be fit enough to spend long, demanding days in the mountains (or in the canyon), whether it be snowboard mountaineering related, or climbing and scrambling long alpine routes.

Other than snowmobile guiding, I have plenty of time in the winter to devote to training (that changes when I start backpacking guiding where I’m in the field for 20 days out of the month), so which training plan(s) would you recommend? I’m gross and want to be fit again, but I also want to focus on backcountry riding, mountaineering, climbing, and general fitness.

Sorry this is so long-winded, hopefully you’ve read it to the end and get an idea of just how freaking desperate I am 🙂

ANSWER

Do the Backcountry Ski Pre-Season Training Plan now. This plan includes programming for loaded uphill endurance, eccentric strength training for riding, core and upper body strength general strength, and running for general endurance. While it’s specificially designed to prepare you for backcountry riding, it will transfer well to your job and other mountain sports.
As well, the program is intense, and requires limited equipment. You will need a 40-pound sandbag. Old duffle bag + wood pellets for a wood stove + duct tape and you should be set. Be resourceful and take you sandbag to the gym where you train.
After, best would be to follow it up with the plans/order in the Greek Heroine Packet of plans. These are designed as “base fitness” for multi-sport mountain athletes and will align with where you live and your interests. These plans concurrently train strength, work capacity, mountain endurance (uphill hiking under load, running), climbing fitness (rock) and chassis integrity (core).
– Rob

QUESTION

First off I should say I just finished my 8th fire season with the Mt Taylor Hotshots. I was fortunate enough to be selected with the Redmond SMKJ in 2016. Unfortunately I did not make it through my rookie training due to a knee injury that was most likely due to over training or lack of knowledge in such. So anyway, I’m putting in again for SMKJ. Just wasn’t too sure what plan to start with since I intended on doing the MTI SMKJ plan upon selection. So I’m the mean time I thought I’d try the work capacity plan. I’m 2 days out from finishing my 1 st week and I enjoy what I’m doing. But, I was thinking after I purchased the plan, is it the best plan for me during the off season? Will this help with running? Will it be too much to then turn around and begin the SMKJ plan? Etc… although there can’t be anything wrong with moving often. Would stacking this plan with a running improvement plan be ok? Or is what I’m doing going to be fine.?

ANSWER

Follow up the plan your working on with the plans/order in the Wildland Fire Training Packet – beginning with Blackwater. I built these plans last summer and they are designed as off-season programming for wildland firefighters and concurrently train strength, work capacity, endurance (run, uphill movement under load, rucking), and chassis integrity (core).
Follow these plans in order until you begin the Smokejumper Selection Training Plan 8 weeks directly before reporting.
– Rob

QUESTION

I have just started the Ultimate Meathead Cycle after completing your GORUCK Challenge workout. So far this has been quite the program. In order to facilitate the superset requirements of the programming, I have had to shift my workouts to the AM. To my surprise, this was really easy and has given me a real sense of satisfaction throughout the rest of my day. I am brand new to a lot of the movements that you have included in this programming, but I have been able to put up pretty decent numbers by the final sets (I have found a tendency to start too light but I can fix that through trial and error). Finally, the upper body hypertrophy training had an almost instantaneous effect on my body. I have never had much of a chest to complement my squat dominate legs so this is a real reward for me. I am very happy with this program so far and I am looking forward to completing it. Gladiator is next before going back to the GORUCK Challenge training for a February event down in San Antonio.

ANSWER

Thanks for the note and update. Gladiator next is killer! – Enjoy!
– Rob

QUESTION

I just began my athlete’s subscription and I am looking to improve running and strength overall to prepare for a military selection course in the future. My running is not where I need it to be to begin a selection course training plan so i would like to do the running improvement plan first. If doing so, could I train twice a day by adding strength? do you recommend another plan I could pair?

ANSWER

Rather than doing two programs at once I’d recommend the Big 3 + Run Training Plan, which combines heavy strength for the dead/hinge lift, bench press, back squat and pull ups, with focused, programmed running.
– Rob

QUESTION

I work for a Sports Performance Department in Rochester, MN. First, I just wanted to say thank you for all your great content you put out. I check in regularly on your site and love the informational articles that are posted. So thank you!

I have been in charge of training our local fire fighters for 2-3 years now. I train them in house at our facility when they are off shift  as well as at the stations when they are on shift. The fire stations and myself have been trying to continually promote a wellness initiative throughout the whole organization and I wanted to pick your brain on  performance assessments. Every year we need to approach the city with goals and data of this initiative. We have already had great data on decrease in injuries on duty but I believe that getting some data on the fire fighters as individuals would be a great addition to deliver. I was looking at your relative strength assessment and was interested in maybe implementing it with our fire fighters. I have not however implemented many Olympic style lifts as of yet. I  was wondering what the changes you would make to the scoring sheet if you were to not include the power clean. I did the numbers on myself and without power clean it drops my score 1.25 thus not making the scoring sheet accurate. I am just wondering if you have any ideas of changes I could make to make this fit for my situation.

ANSWER

Easiest would be to adjust the scoring system. Alternately you could replace the power clean with a dead/hinge lift, but again you’d have to adjust the scoring as most will be able to significantly deadlift more than they could power clean.
But best would be to use a more comprehensive fire/rescue assessment. I’d recommend the MTI Urban Fire/Rescue Fitness Assessment.
– Rob

QUESTION

I have an SFAS date of April 22nd. I am free to train from now until then with the exception of NTC. I’ll be at NTC from 1-20 March. What order or programs would you recommend I complete?

ANSWER

You have 14 weeks between now and March 1 – here’s what I recommend:
Weeks   Plan
1-6        Fortitude (first 6 weeks)
7-14      Ruck-Based Selection Training Plan (entire plan)
Repeat the last 4 weeks of the Ruck Based Selection Training Plan the 4 weeks you have between the end of NTC and the start week of SFAS.
– Rob

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