Long post warning
The “Military Police total” and training
So, I’ve been observing and having a bit of a chit chat with one of our higher officers on training in and out if the gym. Not really a whole lot, (it’s not like I interviewed him or anything) but enough for me to kind of get the grasp of what he’s doing. He definitely has an interesting training approach, which was obviously inspired by Westside, but it has a couple of tweaks. I’ll reference to it with "MP training - it’s not an official Military Police training program, don’t get confused. He also has his own “big three” which I like to call the Military Police total, as that is our branch. In this post I’d like to give you an idea of how you could train if you wanted to become a good soldier and especially a good MP. (I should probably open a new thread just for all of these training program ideas I’m pushing out) I’s like to try this out for myself as well some time in the future - yes, I have about a dozen of things lined up for trying but that’s just what I like to do and it really benefits me professionally. But to be clear; I haven’t tried this personally yet.
So, military police training and total, what does it look like?
The total consists of three movements that are:
- Front squat
- Bench press with medium/narrow grip
- Deadlift
(And no, I’m not kidding - I’ve accidentally been training for the MP total)
This is a solid set of exercises if you ask me. In my opinion they are really good measures of overall strength and they have a low risk of injury when performed correctly.
Now, what’s MP training like? Like I said, it’s Westside-inspired, but it’s done with movements that you can perform in any gym that have even the most minimalistic equipment. So you do not need bands, chains and specialty bars. (Although investing in one semi-light band helps as it gives you a couple of really good rear felt exercises)
Now, for a military police, what are some of the most important skills and muscle groups to improve on?
When we are on the field, fighting we mostly battle in built environment. There are a lot of houses, walls and corners. So, you’ll need to be able to keep your gun up for long periods of time and still be able to shoot accurately. This requires a lot of shoulder and upper back strength. Another thing you’ll need to be proficient in is staying in and getting out of the kneeling position, as you must make yourself as little of a target as possible while being able to switch positions quickly. Thirdly, you need to do a lot of GPP. Built environment is tricky and risky. A lot of injuries happen and a lot of evacuations need to be made. So you must be good with carries and drags for both long and short distances as well as sprints.
So, on the field, overall performance is important. Both explosive and endurance based.
When we are doing guard duty, we must be able to maintain peace. Now how does that happen? Well, it helps if you are intimidating. Do you think that anybody would want to start a fight or break some windows if there are swole military polices around? No. But if they do for one reason or another, well need to be able to take them down quickly and efficiently. So, for guard duty both muscularity and strength help.
To my eyes, MP training takes care of these needs pretty well. As you read through it keep in mind that this is not a powerlifting or a bodybuilding program (even though it could be either one with little adjustments) it’s a program for soldiers that need to be performing well and look the part. The workload of this program can be pretty high depending on what kind of GPP combinations you come up with, and it should be. On the field you don’t get two days to recover. Just make sure that if you do try this you don’t go out of the gates too fast and burn yourself to the ground.
The program is split into four days, and it uses an upper/lower split. In my opinion they are a bit unbalanced, but I’m going to give it to you as it is.
The days are
Upper Max/Speed
Lower Max/Speed
Upper Volume
Lower Volume
The upper body days consist of mainly your show muscles, so chest, shoulders, arms and midsection. Lower body sessions include midsection and back as well. In my opinion this is not balanced and I would either add some back work to the upper body days or move some of it from the lower days to the upper days.
So, what’s the program lay out? How do you rotate your exercises? How many reps and sets?
For your max/speed days you begin by working to a specific rep max with good form and decent speed. Especially on the Deadlift. You should not grind on the Deadlift variations as that will place unnecessary stress on your nervous system. On bench and front squat variations some grinding is acceptable.
As I said, you work up to a spesific rep max on the lifts. When you hit that you decrease the weight so that you can perform good, fast reps for the same amount of reps and for multiple sets. The sets should still be hard, so don’t just cut the weight in half. Reduce it by 8-12% and if you need to reduce it again at some point to get the reps in, do so.
So, how many reps and how many sets for each exercise? I noticed that this was copied directly from Westsides speed day. Only difference in terms of sets/reps/weights is that you use a lot more weight so it’s not really all that much of an speed workout.
For Front Squat, 10-12 sets of 2
For Bench, 8-9 sets of 3
For Deadlift, 6-10 sets of 1 (remember, no grinding)
That applies to all of their variations as well.
Speaking of variations, how do you pick them? How do you rotate them? You have two options (depending on how advanced you are) if you are a beginner, rotate your main lifts every three weeks (so you do every lift three times, then switch) and your assistance every six weeks, if you are more advanced, rotate every two weeks and your assistance every four weeks. Now this was not a part of the original program at first but I suggested it to him to avoid injuries and ti develop a more well-rounded physique.
So, the Max/Speed day looks like this:
Upper:
- Bench variation 8-9x3 total sets (45-60s rest)
This rotates every 2-3 weeks
- Bench assistance
- Arm work
- Shoulder work
- Midsection work (1-2 movements)
These rotate every 4-6 weeks
Now I’d add back work here after you’ve done your bench assistance work. Just, say one movement. That’s all. Here you see “Arm work” and “Shoulder work” for those, just pick one bicep and tricep exercise and superset those as well as two to three shoulder movement that you’ll superset as well. The objective here is to create lactic acid buildup and fatigue. The exercises should be isolating, so no close grip benches and overhead presses here.
Lower:
- Front squat variation, 10-12x2 total (45-60s rest)
- Deadlift variation, 6-10x1 total (45-60s rest)
These are your main movements and they rotate every 2-3 weeks.
- Squat assistance
- Deadlift assistance
- Back work
- Midsection work (1-2 movements)
These rotate every 4-6 weeks
For assistance work you pick 1 exercise each. (2 for midsection) Here you should remember that you can play with this a bit (and it’s not really set in stone) if you have a weak back and deadlift and a strong squat, you could do good mornings as squat assistance, rows as Deadlift assistance and more rows as a back movement. Also, the order of assistance exercises is not set in stone. You should do the one you need the most first. And if you feel that you need two exercises for a muscle group, by all means do it. The program should adapt to you.
As you see, the upper body session is a lot shorter and that’s why I’d move the back work there. You also may notice that you don’t get to rest a whole lot. That’s because you must be able to perform at a high level with little rest on the field. For assistance exercises I didn’t write out rest periods on the layout (to make it look a bit cleaner) but they should be pretty low as well, think 30-60 seconds depending on how big of a movement you are performing.
Also, the set/rep scheme for assistance is not written in there, but I’ll go over it in a bit.
Now, volume day - what does it look like?
It’s the exact same in terms of layout, apart from the fact that it misses deadlifts. (So squat variation is your only main movement on lower days) The real difference comes from the set/rep scheme.
If you rotate every three weeks, your volume days would look like this:
Week 1 - 10x6
Week 2 - 10x8
Week 3 - 10x10
Switch exercises and repeat
If you rotate every two weeks it’ll simply be
Week 1 - 10x6
Week 2 10x8
Switch exercises and repeat
You’ll use the same weight for the three week block on both occasions. Rest periods should be 60-90 seconds.
Assistance work progresses in. a kind of similar fashion:
Assistance cycling:
If you rotate your main lift every three weeks, your assistance will go:
Week 1 - 3x12
Week 2 - 3x15
Week 3 - 4x15
increase the weight
Week 4 - 3x12
Week 5 - 3x15
Week 6 - 4x15
If you rotate every two weeks, go
Week 1 - 3x15
Week 2 - 4x15
increase the weight
Week 3 - 3x15
Week 4 - 4x15
This is because generally the more advanced guys have harder time making progress as in reps per set, so we’ll just increase the sets to get more volume in. That rep scheme applies to both upper and lower body assistance exercises. For core work, simply doing 2-4 sets of 12-20 reps rep exercise is recommended.
Picking the exercises
When you are picking the exercises for your own, personal plan, you must think in terms of what do you need. What are your weaknesses and how can you target them? You should also keep at least one exercise that is either full range or close to it on the squat and the bench at all times (by full range I mean touching the chest on bench or going deep on the squat) this doesn’t have to be a main movement. It could be a dumbbell press or a goblet squat. Just go through that motion so you don’t forget what it feels like. If you are a beginner you should pick your exercises so that they target your whole body pretty evenly. If you bench 170 pounds, you shouldn’t be worrying about getting a specific muscle to be stronger, rather you should focus on getting stronger overall.
Okay, now you have the lifting portion laid out for you, what about GPP?
As a soldier, you need to be able to exert power in both long and short duration, and often they must be mixed. So your GPP work should mirror that. You should also mix weighted and non-weighted stuff together, such as farmers walks and sprints. A GPP session could consist of:
400 meter farmers walk
25 burpees
2x50m sprints
Rinse and repeat for 30 minutes
As you see, even though there are “only” three exercises, you are getting in a wide variety of stimulus in. With GPP you’ll need to keep it down to a degree that allows you to recover well enough to hit the weights hard, but you should be winded by the end of it (or the halfway point)
As far as the weekly layout goes, it’s like this:
- Upper Max/Speed
- GPP
- Lower Max/Speed
- GPP
- Upper Volume
- Lower Volume
- Rest
Of course this must be scaled to your recovery ability. If you need an extra recovery day, take it. But you should always try to increase your work capacity.
To give you an idea of what the program could look like as a whole, I’ve put together a six week sample program for a beginner. I put reverse hyper in there but you can substitute it to some kind of back extension ist you do not have access to the machine. Enjoy.
Reps/sets are marked as Week 1/Week2/Week3
Monday - Max/Speed Upper
- Close grip bench up to a max triple, then reduce the weight by 8% and perform the remaining 7-8 triples (60s rest)
- Full-Range DB Bench 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Skull crushers and Hammer curls superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Full-Range front raises with a plate and face pulls superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Hanging leg raises and 45° back extensions superset 2-4x12-20 each
Tuesday - GPP
Rowing ergometer for 20 minutes
(Just keeping it light to be able to hit it hard the next day)
Wednesday
- Front squat up to a max double, drop 8% and perform the remaining 9-11 sets
- Snatch-Grip Deads from a deficit up to a smooth single, drop 8% and perform the remaining 5-9 singles
- Lumberjack squat 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Cable pull through 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Pendlay row 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Russian twist and reverse hyper as a superset, 2-4x12-20 each
Thursday - GPP
Farmers walks for 100 meters
Kettlebell swings for 50 reps
Done as a circuit for 10 rounds
Friday - Upper Volume
- Decline bench 10x6/10x8/10x10
- Overhead press with Dumbbells 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Overhead tricep extension and reverse curl as a superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Side and rear laterals as a superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Decline sit ups and supermans as a superset 2-4x12-20 each
Saturday - Lower Volume
- Front squat to a box 10x6/10x8/10x10
- Reverse lunge 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Good mornings 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Dumbbell row 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Cable crunch and reverse hypers as a superset 2x12-20 each
Sunday - rest
Weeks 4/5/6
Increase weight on assistance exercises
Monday - Max/Speed Upper
- Floor press up to a max triple, then reduce the weight by 8% and perform the remaining 7-8 triples (60s rest)
- Full-Range DB Bench 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Skull crushers and Hammer curls superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Full-Range front raises with a plate and face pulls superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Hanging leg raises and 45° back extensions superset 2-4x12-20 each
Tuesday - GPP
Rowing ergometer for 20 minutes
(Just keeping it light to be able to hit it hard the next day)
Wednesday
- Front squat with a pause up to a max double, drop 8% and perform the remaining 9-11 sets
- Snatch-Grip Deads up to a smooth single, drop 8% and perform the remaining 5-9 singles
- Lumberjack squat 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Cable pull through 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Pendlay row 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Russian twist and reverse hyper as a superset, 2-4x12-20 each
Thursday - GPP
Farmers walks for 100 meters
Kettlebell swings for 50 reps
Done as a circuit for 10 rounds
Friday - Upper Volume
- Paused bench 10x6/10x8/10x10
- Overhead press with Dumbbells 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Overhead tricep extension and reverse curl as a superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Side and rear laterals as a superset 3x12/3x15/4x15 each
- Decline sit ups and supermans as a superset 2-4x12-20 each
Saturday - Lower Volume
- Front squat to pins 10x6/10x8/10x10
- Reverse lunge 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Good mornings 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Dumbbell row 3x12/3x15/4x15
- Cable crunch and reverse hypers as a superset 2x12-20 each
Sunday - rest
So, there you have it; the Westside-inspired Military Police program. As you see, it’s pretty high volume and it emphasizes conditioning and fatigue quite a lot with it’s low rests and bodybuilding-style assistances. Again, I have not tried this myself so if you decide to test it be conscious of that.
