Q&A 1.18.24

by Mintra Mattison

QUESTION

A friend from the unit I used to work with sent me your kb program and I really enjoyed it. I’m a pilot these days and spend 200 nights a year in a hotel week on/week off. I have access to hotel gyms on the road and full gym at home. Do you have any other programs you’d recommend for that kind of lifestyle to continue building strength/endurance for grappling and jiu jitsu?

ANSWER

Three options here options here.

  1. The Daily BJJ/Grappling Programming trains 3x/week, intended to be supplementary and well balanced with mat training. The programming includes a limited equipment option.
  2. The second option is our Stuck in a Motel Training Plan. This is built around the equipment commonly found in motel/hotel gyms.
  3. Third option is the Bodyweight Packet, or any of the individual plans within. As the name implies, the only equipment needed is a pull up bar.

QUESTION

I am a federal LEO and I’ve been following the Daily Operator sessions now for a few months, but I am considering a 50 mile Ultra which is scheduled for Sunday, May 19th. What do you recommend as a training plan leading up to the race? Can I slide from Operator sessions directly into the 50 Mile Ultra Running V2 plan or would you recommend a different strategy? I appreciate any guidance you can provide.

ANSWER

The first week of the 50 Mile Ultra Plan has a long run of 8 miles at an easy pace. If you feel you can do that relatively easily, then you can jump straight from the Operator Sessions into the Ultra plan 10 weeks prior to your race. If that distance might be too much for you at the moment, you can build to it by completing the first 6-weeks of the Running Improvement Plan, followed by the Ultra plan.

QUESTION

I will be attending MARSOC A&S the beginning of August and wanted to know how to best use my time to train. I am an active duty marine stationed in Okinawa in relatively good shape (1st Class PFT/CFT). I have roughly 28-29 weeks before A&S to train. Right now I am looking at utilizing both MTI’s Military On-Ramp Training Plan and A&S Training Plan. My focus definitely needs to be on swimming/water confidence (this is where I am weakest) with the goal of doing 1000-2000m ocean swims/fins. Additionally need to work on ruck running with 45#-55# while also continuing to train running and strength/endurance. Any thoughts, tips, and recommendations would be gladly appreciated.

ANSWER

Here’s the plan progression best suited to build on your weaknesses and timeline:

1. Swim Improvement (6 Weeks)
2. Blackbeard (6 Weeks)
3. Captain Morgan (6 Weeks)
4. MARSOC A&S Training Plan (11 Weeks)

That’s 29 weeks of programming, which includes a deload week at the end of the A&S training. You may want to take another rest week between Captain Morgan and A&S training, in which case plan on cutting a week off of Captain Morgan.

QUESTION

I am a little confused on how to determine my wattage for use with the MTB training plan. I am trying to convert my KLJ results from my Peleton  bike into the wattage for the training plan.
If my 30 minute threshold ride on my Peleton results in 245 KLJ what would that be in Watts for the training plan??
Hope that makes sense!

ANSWER

vf you’re using the peloton exclusively for training, you can simply use the equations based on the KLJ without converting it to watts.

For example from Session 4:

(1) 3 Rounds

10 minute threshold effort at your “Interval Power” pace.

Spin easy for 5 minutes between efforts

To get your “Interval Power” pace – take your FTP and multiply by 1.2. So, if your FTP from Monday’s assessment (SESSION 1) was 182 Watts, 182 x 1.2 = 218.4 or 219 (round down). Today, row/spin your 10 minute efforts at 218 watts, + or – 3 watts (215-221).

Using your 245 KJL…
245 x 1.2 = 294

So, your 10-minute intervals will have a goal steady output of 294 KLJ

QUESTION

I purchased your Fire Academy training plan to complete before February 5th when academy starts. I was only able to start 5 weeks out from the start date instead of 7 due to a distal biceps tendon injury. I work 48 hour shifts at a busy EMS station and am not always able to complete a training session while on shift. I have four days off in between shifts. I have completed week one of the training. Given that I only have 3 weeks and 4 days left until school starts, how should I proceed? I know the last two weeks of the training are meant to make sure I am rested and prepared for academy. Should I continue to do as much of the plan as I can, schedule permitting?
Thanks for what y’all do.

ANSWER

vYes, complete as much as you can until the program starts. Use those last 4 days prior to your Academy start date to complete the final week of the training plan, which is a deload/recovery week.

QUESTION

Long time user of your programming. I’m burnt out. I have zero energy at the end of the day and I suspect I am overtraining or something. I’m doing a 72hr reset right now where I am not doing anything gym wise for three days. I’m still focusing on nutrition but I’m trying to let my body heal. I’m a data nerd so I always look at my watch and it’s been screaming at me for a month to get some recovery and I’ve ignored it. Typical timeline for me
04:30 Wake Up – Hydrate!
05:00-06:30 Gym
Then I shower, rush to work and I usually get home around at 7PM hang out with the family put the kids to bed and I’m asleep by 9PM most nights. My gym sessions are pretty intense. Usually 45mins or Cardio/HIIT then 45mins of strength.

Example
10:00 Air Bike Warm Up
30:00 AMRAP
12 Push Ups
10 ABMAT Sit Ups
10 American Kettle Bells Swings
10 Kettlebell Goblin Squats
1:00 Air Bike :30 low-mid effort :30 high effort to sprint ALL OUT

THEN
PUSH Circuit
Bench Press
Incline Dumbbell Bench Press
Dumbbell Overhead Press
Tricep Press + Barbell Curls

I like to see a high heart rate some sometimes on recovery between sets I’ll hop on the air bike again and give a little push for 1:00 TOPS.

Sometimes I feel like I’m doing too much sometimes I feel like I’m not doing enough. I am having a really power struggle with myself. I feel guilty when I take a rest day.

I’m no longer Active Duty in the military I’m in the National Guard now but my PT scores are higher than they’ve ever been and currently I have the second highest score in the company 572/600.

ANSWER

Not to be a dick, but I don’t see a question in your email. What are you looking to resolve?

If you’re looking for confirmation to take a rest, then yes… you should do that. Your body and data are telling you it’s needed, so listen.

If you’re burning hard at the gym non-stop with no method of periodization to your training, then it’s certainly going to lead to overreaching or overtraining. Train smarter, not harder.

QUESTION

I purchased your SF50 plan looking for a way to get back into training after surgery. I am really enjoying the programming and am about to wrap up Alpha.

I also purchased the
Sent from my iPhone Max Effort Strength + Aerobic Base Training plan, which I have not started.

My questions is do you encourage finishing all of SF50 before completing any of the Strength + Aerobic plan?  I was thinking after completing alpha I would complete 4 or all 8 weeks of Strength + Aerobic then go back to SF50. I was also thinking about using Strength + Aerobic as a PM workout.

ANSWER

You could certainly jump to the ME Strength + Aerobic after finishing Alpha, then go back to the remainder of the SF50 Packet. No issue with that.

QUESTION

I really appreciate the assistance you gave me in the past, but I have a couple extra questions for you. I have retired from the military and now live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, which is quite peaceful. However, I want to maintain my strength and endurance, but I have a lot of joint issues so I’m hoping you can give me some guidance on a training plan. First, I have rotator cuff and lower back problems, basically 1 millimeter of disc left in my lowest vertebrae. I run this farm and maintain a high level of physical activity so I’m not worried about becoming sedentary. As far as equipment goes I have a huge tractor tire, 40lb sledge, sand bags, a decent kettlebell set, a pullup dip station, and I can run. I don’t have time to go through hour-long training sessions in the morning, so I’m hoping you can give me one or two exercises a day that will equate to a good level of strength and endurance. Any guidance will be greatly appreciated.

ANSWER

Congrats on retirement and on the farm!

The best option is going to be the Busy Dad Limited Equipment Packet. It consists of 5x 5-week plans (which you can purchase individually if you don’t want to buy the whole packet up front) for 25 total weeks of programming. Sessions are designed to be 45 minutes max, and you have the equipment on hand to make it work.

QUESTION

I have been both strength and endurance training fairly consistently over the past ~6 years, mostly structured and including ~2 years working with online coaches. I am finally coming back from a severe hamstring tear that occurred last summer during a sky race and aggravated by a half-marathon on pavement (learning to listen to my body…). While finishing physical therapy, I am now able / clear to do any strength movements and started running again a couple of months ago, 2-3 times a week, including recently tempo and speed. I have also started consistent with 3 strength training sessions every week (using an app called Volt Athletics).
I currently have on the schedule a half-marathon on pavement end of February, a Spartan 10K race in Big Bear mid-May, an 11k trail run in June (with decent elevation gain), another Spartan race in Utah in July, and a 7-mile trail race in September. Beside my weekly training, I hike / snowshoe, paddle board, XC ski, snowboard on the weekends / vacations. I am also looking at doing some adventures this year, half of the GR20 in Corsica in Sept/Oct, trying to get on a guided Grand Canyon rim-to-rim one-way hike in a day hopefully around Q3. Although lucky to live in Reno, NV with great outdoors access, I have a busy corporate, desk job for now which somewhat can limit my outdoors adventures.
Longer term, and after this year, I will start backpacking, races will only be trail runs, and bag peaks like Shasta.
After reading a lot about the different training plan options MTI offers, MTI seems to be a great fit near- and long-term, but I am exactly not sure where to start as it seems that most plans require a very high level of fitness already – I am in a pretty good shape already but decreased my level of activity due to my injury over the past few months. What would you recommend based on the above?

ANSWER

Thanks for the details, that GR20 hike looks amazing! The Mountain Elite Daily Programming will be your best bet. It’s built to maintain mountain endurance year-round and enables you to jump over to an event-specific training plan to prepare for your adventures (like the G20 or rim-to-rim hike) seamlessly.

It sounds like you do have a solid base of fitness, even coming off the surgery. The cycles are based on assessments, so they will automatically scale to your current level of fitness with achievable progressions based on those assessment results.

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