Good advice and a job well done. Respect.
Thought for the day:
The author of the piece below has tailored his comments to the military side , however, the line is getting very blurred (IMHO) between LE and military, especially in the training of tactics. I believe every patrolman should go through 80 hours of basic SWAT training. There are some areas of the article that appear a little ambiguous to me, but, that’s just me.
I know the author’s background and respect him. It is worth reading for a general overview and their is solid advise on training. One thing I do agree with, there is no off season for the tactical athlete.
This is a difficult section to explain with regards to the tactical athlete. There really is no season. We can argue that deployments are the season and then the off season is after returning stateside and the pre-season is the train-up, HOWEVER, that is not truly accurate. Depending on if you are attending schools, doing some sort of mission training, or going to the field for extended periods of time, your training periodization might be erratic where you are able to train regularly for 3 weeks and then here and there for two weeks and back on again, etc. etc. etc. Your transition through the periodization won’t be as smooth as someone focusing on a regular sport such as football, ice hockey, or crochet.
Though you have an erratic schedule you still need to make sure you working through the phases in such a manner as to not cause injuries, this means making sure you take de-load weeks or even a total rest week if your body is destroyed from training or a school. The biggest part of periodization for the tactical athlete is being able to listen to their body. I had my athletes keep a training log/journal which had a section for each day that listed: (1) Sleep: (amount and quality); (2) My body feels: (On a scale of 1-10); (3) Motivation: (On a scale of 1-10); (4) Body weight.
Most service members I have worked with, myself included, are EXTREMELY type-A and would rather give up sleep than give up a workout. We are willing to push to the breaking point because working out is part of our culture, our life, and our livelihood. Either that or we have a fear of getting weaker and letting our team/buddies down. If that is you then listen to this profound wisdom given to me by a mentor of mine,
“MORE IS NOT MORE, if you are injured from stupidity you will be letting your team down a lot more than if you take a few days off to make sure your body is rested and recovered from training.”
Final Thoughts
There are no magic programs, miracle pills, or black magic secrets that will effectively prepare you for combat because nothing can mimic the absolute chaos and infinite number of variables that can influence the situations. However, you can prepare yourself by being as physically ready as possible by following a quality program and listening to your body.
This is a huge topic and we are merely scratching the surface, my hope is that after reading this article you can take an objective look at your program, or ones you are thinking about following, and see if it meets the needs of your profession.
A tactical program isn’t a sexy program. Hypertrophy makes you heavier and means you are carrying additional weight on long movements, not only that but you have to feed that additional size if you want it to remain after long missions which means carrying more food (i.e. more weight). You can throw in fat arm Fridays to keep those sleeves tight for your favorite polo shirt but focus on what is needed to accomplish your missions.
Stay focused, put in the work, and recover right.
To summarize:
Assess programs by looking to make sure they include GPP, SSP, and Periodization.
GPP builds the foundation of strength, endurance, and mobility but make sure it includes accessory work and not just the major lifts.
Strong is great but quality of movement is better.
SPP for tactical athletes is variable external loads, unilateral movements, and odd object strength. If all of these are not included in your program then you are selling yourself short.
Periodization sucks when you’re a tactical athlete. Listen to your body but still follow a progression as well as you can.
Rest when your body needs to rest.
LISTEN TO YOUR BODY!
Mobility is important, start early.
Strong, stable joints are happy joints.
Strong cores save lives.
Training:
Deadlifts, trapbar farmers walks, tennis ball and punishment pushups, pellet rifle shooting.
Question of the day:
When was the last time you examined your training?
Thought for the day:
Training:
range work, rucking and Judo class.
Question of the day:
This came up two days ago: You are on backpack trip and your watch and GPS goes out. You need to make camp before dark and gather fuel for a fire. Do you know how to judge how much daylight is left? If not, here is a simple guide:
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Thought for the day:
This came up in a very rural area with LEO’S making a starvation salary. As an instructor, your job is teach and demonstrate the fundamentals. Going into a unit or department that has only basic equipment is not the time to show off your skills with a 7 thousand dollar race pistol and make shitty little comments on their weapons selection. These men and women face the same daily threats of being killed in the line of duty as big city cops. Making them feel like trash is only making you look like a privileged asshole. Fortunately, I had enough rank to remove this asshole, who has since filed a complaint with my boss. Fuck him.
Here is another view:
There are tons of different issues I have with some instructors teaching so-called defensive shooting techniques. Instead of talking about EVERYTHING that I see wrong with teaching methods, I want to focus on a single important point of hypocrisy among many different instructors. This point of focus will be on the fact that many INSTRUCTORS lecture their students about how the fundamentals will help them shoot effectively no matter what firearm. I have seen that many of these instructors preaching their methods to be universal end up proving that they do not follow the advice or lessons that they themselves preach.
It is on the instructor, in my opinion, to be a shining influence of how well you can shoot with any firearm if you apply the fundamentals. This includes the claim that the fundamentals work regardless of the firearm used. Many of these instructors, when they preach this, use modified firearms with red dot sights and hair triggers. This to me, screams hypocrisy.
A credible instructor, in my view, should be able to use a variety of different stock firearms in order to prove their point. This could go as far as to use a students firearm to show how the firearm is not the issue, but the shooters ability to follow the steps required to hit right where they want to hit.
Train yourself to be ready for the worst possible situation so that way you can be prepared for anything. When you train to a higher standard, the real thing becomes simpler.
if an instructor learns to master several different guns, I think they will learn how to teach their classes in a more streamlined way. Not all guns are the same, but the instructors should be able to demonstrate that the fundamentals are always the same.
The last tactical athlete games for 2019 was held last weekend in Lakeland, Florida. here are a few pictures of some of the events. I was not able to attend, so I picked these at random. If you ever get a chance to compete or attend, it is certainly worth your time.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B4e0GSwApDi/
Training:
work and a hotel gym.
Question of the day:
Yesterday was Pat Mac’s “basic dude stuff” on his IG page, did you check it out ? funny as always
For Batman730: This is one of my favorites.
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Over the years I got to shoot regularly with some top notch competitors who were sought after trainers in the .gov and LEO world. One of them was especially aware of what you speak. He would find out what (and how) the unit he was going to be training carried and would run it. He would also present some suggestions for upgrades (keeping budgets/procurement in mind).
It was refreshing and inspiring to see how effectively a Beretta 92 out of a triple retention rig can be ran or what can be done with a stock 870. His philosophy was along the lines of ‘I’m not here to make you me. I’m here to help you be a better you.”
BDS Wednesday is pretty good. I’m amazed how much of that basic stuff is absent from the minds of grown men.
Always good to know knots. I keep a few short lengths of cordage in my center console to practice when I’m stuck in traffic.
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Nice one, lol…
Agreed wholeheartedly about instructors demoing with race guns at tactical courses. Respect the crap out of Kyle Defoor for his ‘I’ll shoot yours’ approach to running students’ bone stock and issue pistols and entry level carbines and still getting performance out of them by applying rock solid fundamentals.
I was of the attitude that it’s a poor tradesman that blames his tools (and still am to a great extent). Then my issue pistol broke while I was at my IPSC black badge course and I had to finish the course on a borrowed competition ready CZ Shadow with a red dot. Not even the same universe as that boat anchor I carry lol…
Here’s my best run to date with the old boat anchor. Course of fire, 25, 15, 7, 5, 3 meters. 50 rounds total.
What a professional. Mike Pannone is also known through out the training world for always using what the unit or PD is issued.
Brother, it is good to see you back. I am going to steal your idea of knot tying sitting in traffic. Damn, I just wish I had thought of that trick.
Defoor is one of the best out there.
That is damn good with what you carry. I know the SWAT quals are coming soon, best of everything.
That CZ has a good feel. A tricked out CZ-75 basically shoots itself:)))
Thought for the day: My thanks.
Anyone who has made their living around firearms will always have a few “accidental discharge stories” . It happens to a lot of shooters both military/ LEO/ and civilian. Recently, a person who should know better, was clearing a stove pipe jamb and manged to shoot himself in upper leg, partially clipping the femoral artery. Bleeding became heavy and fortunately, a paramedic was on scene and stabilized the bleeding and saved his life.
To all the paramedics, medics, EMT’s, Firemen and first responders. Thank you, all my respect.
The most important rule in training: have a medic available. second most important rule: have two medics available.
“it is far easier to take a life, than save one”
Training:
Krav Maga class.
Question of the day: something different*
Do you know what this is used for?
Cutting Hipsters pizza?
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Cutting their ratty beards off
abs rollouts?
You are correct. A knife company makes custom pizza cutters for the “man who has everything crowd” . Nothing wrong using a knife to cut your pizza, but, I guess I have no class.
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now there is an idea!
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Thought for the day: A follow up on my last post.
Training:
17 hour work day, so, nothing yesterday.
Question of the day:
Can you pick your poison?
Man l have killed acres of Virginia Creeper, thinking l was totally immune to poison ivy…haha.
Hope l don’t catch the lymphoma the ambulance chasers are advertising.