QUESTION
ANSWER
QUESTION
I’m new to the military and have recently finished up bootcamp and am now on an Army base for A-school. The DFAC on base has little to no lean protein options and I’m trying to follow the MTI “diet” do you have any suggestions? On what to do- currently can’t have a car (for the 6months duration of school) or leave base for a good 8-10weeks.
ANSWER
FOLLOW UP
Heard, thank you. What I was meaning is that most of the food we are served is fried or breaded unfortunately. For example: Friday our options were: hotdog, cheeseburger, grilled cheese or fried chicken wings.
ANSWER
Do what you can do …. if possible on Friday, 2-3 hamburger paddies with lettuce/tomato, etc. and don’t eat the bun, or the chicken wings.
QUESTION
I’ve been reading through four of the programs for skiing and I have a few questions regarding them. My ultimate goal is to have a year plan for skiing and I’m hoping to potentially use the four programs I’ve listed below to build that.
- 4 week 30 Minutes per Day Dryland Ski Training Ski
- 7 week Dryland Skiing Training
- 4 week Monster Factory Strength: Summer Dryland Ski Prep
- 12 week In Season Skiing Maintenance Training
Obviously, the 12 week in season maintenance program will be used during January-April. Do you have a suggestion on how to order the other programs May-September for the off-season? Then October through December for pre-season?
Also, how far out from ski season do you suggest completing the 4 week monster factory strength program for optimal results going into ski season?
Are these programs meant to be used as a year around plan by lining them up one after another, or by simply repeating them back to back? Or are optimal results achieved by completing just one or two of these programs in the time leading into ski season?
I appreciate your time in reading through my questions and I look forward to your response. Thank you.
ANSWER
Q: Obviously, the 12 week in season maintenance program will be used during January-April. Do you have a suggestion on how to order the other programs May-September for the off-season? Then October through December for pre-season?
You can’t train specifically for skiing year round …. you’ll plateau and become vulnerable to overuse injuries. I worked with many US Ski Team members in the off season they all trained general strength and fitness – at an intense level – in the off season including heavy strength. However, US Ski Team members athletes were unique – most never got too far from their skiis including summer trips to Mount Hood and/or New Zealand/South America with the Ski Team for on-snow off-season ski technical training. Most of the mountain athletes I worked with were multi-sport, mountain athletes, who changed sports with he season …. Skiing to MTB or Kayaking, to Rock or Alpine Climbing, to backcountry hunting, to Dryland Ski Pre-Season, back to skiing.
Overall, MTI has two types of programing – “Base” fitness and “Event/Sport-specific” fitness. The Dryland Ski programs are “Sport-specific” fitness designed to be completed in the weeks directly before the ski season. These programs are not general fitness – but are laser focused on intensly training for the specific fitness demands of alpine skiing. The details of MTI’s “Base Fitness” programming depends on the athlete type. All of our Base Fitness programs include strength training, work capacity, chassis integrity (functional core) and some type of endurance – the but details and emphasis depends on the athlete type. For example, the Base Fitness programming for military athletes includes lots of rucking. That for general mountain athletes includes training for rock climbing, and has a slight emphasis on mountain endurance including uphill climbing under load.
We have two options for Mountain Athlete base fitness programming: (1) Greek Heroine plans; (2) Daily Mountain Elite Programming stream
For most skiers and moutnain athletes, I recommend our Mountain base fitness programming for the between-the-season periods. In general, the closer you get to the season, the more sport-specific your programming should be. So … for most all around mountain athletes, I recommend they drop out of our mountain base fitness programming 7 or so weeks out from the ski area opening day or their anticipated first bc ski trip of the year and complete one of our drlyland plans – either the 7-Week Dryland Plan or the Backcountry Skiing Pre-season training plan.
Q: Also, how far out from ski season do you suggest completing the 4 week monster factory strength program for optimal results going into ski season?
15 weeks out from the ski area opening day. Weeks 1-4: Monster Factory, Week 5 – total rest; Weeks 6-12 – Dryland Ski Presason Training Plan (7 weeks directly before opening day)
Q; Are these programs meant to be used as a year around plan by lining them up one after another, or by simply repeating them back to back? Or are optimal results achieved by completing just one or two of these programs in the time leading into ski season?
See answer above.
QUESTION
I am a student in a special operations training pipeline. I love running and lifting but I feel like I’ve been overtraining lately. I have recently committed to the big24 program – it sucks not being able to run but I wanna see if my strength gains will improve without the added endurance training.
Are there any other strength or bodyweight programs I can do alongside big24 that will not hinder my strength gains? I am willing to put more time in than the program prescribes, but I’m not sure if this will be counterproductive.
ANSWER
QUESTION
I’m a woefully out of shape 50 y.o. M detective that is going back onto patrol as a sergeant. Is there a plan out there for older and out of shape guys that will not break them and eventually move them into one of the established fitness plans?
ANSWER
We do. Check out our LE On Ramp.
QUESTION
I was wondering if you have plans that are strength based with some capacity built in that are doable at home with a 12-80lbs dumbbell set?
ANSWER
Check out our Three Stooges packet. Made for just KB/DB’s.
QUESTION
What is a workout program that you have that would increase my operator ugly fitness assessment scores?
ANSWER
We have a plan specifically for that purpose: https://mtntactical.com/shop/operator-ugly-train-up/
QUESTION
I’ve been doing the daily SRT/SWAT plan for a few months now and it has been great. Unlike your train up plans, there aren’t weeks of full rest built in. Is this something I could incorporate once I start to feel beat up, or would you suggest something else? Also, with winter approaching, what would you suggest in lieu of sprints/shuttles? The loaded shuttles this past month have been great, so I’m hoping to somehow keep some loaded exercises in while stuck indoors. Is it worth doing on a treadmill? Thanks.
ANSWER
Glad you’re enjoying it. We try to integrate a short deload on the final week of the cycle, but if you’re feeling beat up, add a few more days of total rest or very light aerobic work.
Loaded runs can definitely be done on a treadmill, but we’ve found it depends on the age/quality of machinery. Sometimes the older ones don’t like the extra weight, especially if you’re a bigger guy.
QUESTION
I am trying to get stronger and faster, and I’ve found Olympic lifts keep me engaged when I work out, so I would prefer to target specifically Olympic lifts.
ANSWER
Check out ‘Waylon‘. The strength work is focused on Power Cleans, Box Squats, and Push Press and the endurance work is focused on interval work based on a 1.5 mile run assessment. We don’t program Snatch’s any longer… we’ve found the technical aspect is too complicated for the needs of our athletes with similiar power-based strength gains coming from simpler movements like Power Cleans and it’s many variations.