Abbreviated Periodization

I read an interesting article from Charles Staley today. http://www.staleytrainingprograms.com/reprintable-articles/strength/direct/structural-vs-random.htm

There's quite a bit I disagree with about what he wrote, but there is also some I have to nod my head yes to.

Considering the popularity of Crossfit and related methods in the media and online right now, it seems that the vast majority of people really, really like the randomized approach. As Charles points out in his article, there are two major benefits to this approach:

1) the new-car smell

2) specificity to randomized and/or varied professional or athletic needs.

"The new-car smell" is, of course, the big seller for shit like Crossfit.

People have short attention spans today.

Seriously, ask a guy in his mid-twenties to read Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. He'll take one look at it, frown, and ask if there is a movie. (Yes, and it's good, but it's not the book.)

MTV and shitty half-assed articles on the internet are responsible for this shit. What's new is good, what's old is bad?

The use and throw-away mindset is appalling. Just because it worked for dad doesn't mean it won't work for you.

Hell, it's MORE likely to work for you! Call it genetics.

A total and complete lack of self-discipline leads to Crossfit. It gets people into "shape" but it doesn't make them elite. It sure doesn't make them a T-Rex.

"Specificity to randomized and/or varied, etc, etc, etc, ad nauseum..."

Let's look at this one from the .mil approach. I was a Ranger, I've got a pretty good grasp on this one, even this late in the day.

Let's take a Ranger private in Charlie Company, 1st Battalion. One morning, after PT and breakfast, they get an OpOrder to do a raid on a suspected Al-Qaeda safehouse in Kirkuk. They run the mission and Joe Snuffy is tasked with grabbing the suspected terrorist and flex-cuffing him. Cool. He's gonna need a few different fitness factors to accomplish that...

1) He's gonna need anaerobic power and endurance. Why? He's got to sprint off the helicopter, and to the target building. He's gonna stack on the door with his team for a couple of seconds, then go barrelling through the door weapon up. This is gonna take a total of less than 60 seconds. IF he's been trained and conditioned right, he's still in the anaerobic threshold zone. Then, he's got to wrestle the suspect to the ground. That calls for anaerobic power and

2) Muscular Strength and Power. He's got to be stronger than the suspect, as well as able to use that strength FASTER than the opponent. Let's say he shoots a double leg, smashes Harry Hajji to the floor, and swarms up into the mount. So far so good. He flips the suspect onto his belly, grabs a wrist and wrenches an arm around to flex-cuff. Now he needs to have...

3) aerobic endurance, because he has to slow his heart rate WAY THE FUCK DOWN in order to manage the fine motor skills task of putting the cuffs on. Cool.

4) Now, he's got to carry the suspect to the exfil bird, because the recalcitrant bastard refuses to walk. Joe Snuffy needs muscular strength and endurance now, cause he's got to walk all the way to the HLZ with his equipment load, PLUS the weight of the suspect.

Obviously, there is a variety of energy demands on the tactical athlete at this point. What is the best method of training them? Is it Crossfit, with its random amalgamation of methods and techniques? Or, is there a better way? I believe there is a better way.

It's called periodization.Now, for the tactical athlete T-Rex, whether a Ranger, police officer, or armed citizen, a classical seasonal-based periodization scheme is going to fall short. He doesn't know WHEN his season is. He needs to be conditioned as tight as possible, all year round.

The method to this is abbreviated periodization (I made that term up-I think- that's why it's a fucking mouthful to spit out. I have a talent with words that way....). Instead of eight or ten weeks for a meso-cycle, and a year for a macro-cycle, we abbreviate it. The entire macro-cycle might take a total of two months, and mesocycles are combined.

"How the fuck do you combine meso-cycles?" You ask. (I know, I asked myself the same question when I was devising this strategy!)

Really though, it's pretty simple, especially if you use the T-Rex Strength Training approach. I lift 5X5s doing a whole body routine with ground-based, multi-joint, compound movement exercises. My strength training workout, with a partner and lengthy rest periods, takes no more than 45 minutes. I do short-duration, high-intensity cardio intervals, in the form of Tabata drills on the treadmill or exercise bike earlier in the day on those three days. On the off-days I do long, steady-duration (LSD) training for 30-60 minutes, trying to keep my heart rate right around 120-140 beats per minute (BPM).

That's for my general conditioning/strength phase. It lasts about four weeks.

Next comes a two week power phase. I do the same 5X5 program, but the first lift is varied each day. One day I'll do the barbell back squats first, then on wednesdays, I'll do overhead push-presses first, and on friday, I'll do power cleans first.

JUST FOR THE POWER PHASE, when I do these exercises first, instead of doing 5X5, I'll do 5 sets of heavy singles, with ascending weight until my 5th heavy single is really my 1-Rep max, or damned close to it. My goal is to get it up as FAST as humanly possible. See, I've already got pretty good rate of power production because I do power cleans and push-presses heavy during my strength phase. This just maximizes it.

My cardio stays the same.

The third phase is actually pretty similar to what Crossfit does. It's the metabolic conditioning phase, and like the power phase, is very abbreviated. No more than two weeks, and usually just a week of three workouts. I mix high intensity intervals with multi-joint, compound movement exercises, from kettleball swings to sub-maximal squats and push-ups. By doing these combined, and then resting only long enough to let my HR drop TO 120 bpm, I'm training my energy systems to work harder, under more stress, with less of a rest interval.

So, in the course of two months, I've managed to increase my strength, power, and energy production, without letting any one factor go long enough, without training, for it to weaken. It's the perfect system for tactical fitness.

Of course, some would ask, "What about skills development?"

What about it? There is nothing in this conditioning program that says you can't keep rolling or sparring, or shooting, or all of the above combined.

For the soldier, the LSD work can be roadmarching. For the BJJ guy, LSD might be rolling, or it might be a run and rolling might be a separate activity.

The key is that the whole program is STRUCTURED. This means that, as long as you follow the structure, you don't miss anything in training your attributes. Too often in the randomized protocol, weaknesses get ignored because training them is not as "fun." Additionally, once a quarter I believe in a total fitness assessment, from blood pressure and resting heart rate, to strength, power, and endurance tests. If you discover a weakness in one area, the structured program allows you to modify the structure to address that weakness.