Great to have you on board big fella. Love your articles and appreciate your insight (and your comedy value as it keeps things light and engaging as well as imformative)
I’m 40 so we’re both in the same ball-park I reckon…
Can I inquire what recovery methods you currently employ please?:
Methods that are your go-too all year round
Methods/stuff you do during higher volume and/or load?
I do quite a bit of Muay Thai (live in Bangkok) and get sore as fuck as my mind won’t accept I’m getting older and have a full-time job (Special education teacher) and am a single dad and am still training hard (but smart - generally)
Not that I post much on these forums but I lurk and am always pumped to see a a new Paul Carter article on the main page. Happy to see this forum created and I will absolutely be keeping an eye on it.
Paul I have been reading you for yeeaaars, maybe since like year 2 of the LRB Blog or so… it’s been awesome to see you become a well respected coach in the field. Have some of your books and have incorporated a lot of your concepts.
What are your thoughts on DC type training versus more traditional Volume, lower frequency (bro split, typical B.B. stuff)? You obviously have both in your background and seem to favor a more traditional approach now (although your 350 method is very DC-ish) and I’ve always wondered what your thoughts are on the pros/cons of each.
Sir,
I have enjoyed your articles for several years, good , honest, straight advise. My question:
After a 15 years of SF/SWAT, I am dealing with a body full of “little aches and pains” . Experienced in a lot of “workout programs” . Looking for your advise on “longevity”. My primary goal is to be “fit to fight / perform” as silly as that sounds. I don’t care about my dead lift totals or bench press. I just want to be a valuable member to my team 10 years from now. Thank you for your insights.
First off, thank you for your service to the community.
Second, training methods need to be congruent with the goals at hand, right? So if you’re using a program that’s based on bodybuilding, and you’re a special forces guy who needs a lot of endurance, but a good base level of strength, then the two don’t match up.
If you’re a swat guy, what are the metrics in terms of importance for being a highly productive team member? Physically, what percentage of your job requires you to be in amazing condition cardio wise, what level of strength is sufficient to be highly productive, and what combination of those things also plays into longevity? For example, you may need awesome conditioning. But you probably don’t need Ironman level conditioning because it’s extreme.
You need strength. But training to be an elite level powerlifter might be overshooting it.
So this comes back to adjusting those training metrics to achieve the maximum benefit from the minimum dose, so to speak.
So if you can throw out some baseline levels of importance, then we can work with that.
Thank you for the response, I appreciate you taking the time.
I haven’t done any Bodybuilding routines in years, my primary workout is a lot of landmine presses, sandbag and kettle bell carries, heavy bag work, sledge hammer on tires, etc. “cardio” is working the heavy bag and farmers walks.
You are correct, I don’t need iron man type conditioning, but, I do need to move from alley to alley or room to room carrying 100 lbs of gear and weapons in 115 degree heat or below freezing in the mountains.
Yes, I need strength and I need it to last anywhere from 4 hours to 48 hours, because most of my life is “hurry up and wait”. An elite level power lifter strength would probably not help me at all.
I train primarily in Crossfit , however, I am not a die hard CrossFitter, if that makes any sense.
For the last month, I have been doing a lot more body weight exercises, which seems to be helping with the little injuries.
Example of a work day: geared up in battle rattle, left on a bird for a 10 minute flight, landed, drove 3 miles, set up on a house by lying in an abandoned building. Stayed in the house for 6 hours, got the go, did a controlled run down 6 flights of stairs, across the street up two flights of stairs carrying a full weapons load, made entry, secured the guy. took 8 hours to get back due to weather. Type winter crap here. nothing special, but, as team leader, I have to act like days like that don’t get to me anymore, so,I train.
I hope that will give an idea of a work day. Not asking for you to write a program or anything, just if you have worked with any tactical teams before, just some general thoughts. Unfortunately, my world has a lot of “IG Tactical Experts” and I believe the fitness world suffers from the same fate. I have read you articles on TN for years and respect your opinions. Thank you, again.
Lots of guys get caught in the trap of constantly needing to train the conditioning hard without understanding that you can actually build a base of conditioning from brisk walking two or three times a week, that has great restorative properties, and is easy on the joints as well. Throw in one day of moderately hard interval work and you’re golden.
Strength wise, you clearly need a mix of some strength and strength endurance. This is good because that can be accomplished by using sub maximal loads with minimal rest periods (if you look at how I set up the AVT2 method in the super soldier book this will give a great idea).
Movement syntax is also key for maintaining joint integrity and keeping the connective tissue from getting too beat up. Starting off leg work with leg curls first helps to create stability in the knee, and prepares them for the compound work. Start off chest work with bicep curls helps to keep the elbows loving you because the biceps play a role in elbow stabilization.
Making sure to get into a full protraction with the scapula on rows and pulldowns (which are also more elbow friendly than chins) is great for keeping the shoulders non cranky.
Consider these implementations in your training and let me know how it goes.
Fantastic to have you here too, your articles are always a gold mine. I have some questions for you, maybe you can answer one if you have the time
How would you train the deadlift for maximum strenght with your current knowledge?
Have you trained conjugate/westside based and what were your experiences with it ?
How would you increase Eddie halls deadlift, kiryls bench and williams squat ? (Or how to make the best even better)
I would train the deadlift the way I trained it when I was competing. Never trained at westside but I’ve used some of the principles, and those guys don’t need any help. They seem to be doing ok.
When my eldest boy is reaching the age to start lifting, he will read everything Paul Carter and Dan John ever wrote. Good, wise, solid, sensible advice, really well written with great humour.
