Military Training Considerations: Training Block #7

For the Monday and Friday strength sessions all the body-weight exercises have been switched to a traditional set-up as opposed to training them using the oxidative method. Push-ups, dips, and pull ups will now all be grouped together at the beginning of the session. Oxidative work will continue to be used for squats.

 Hill sprints have now been eliminated from the training. There will be two running sessions in this 4 week block. Time covered between 30-60 minutes and heart rates between 120-140 bpm on day #1 with some short accelerations (no longer then 10 seconds + 2-3 minute recovery). Day #2 of running will be a very easy 30-40 minutes with HR between 100-130 bpm.

 On the first ruck session of the week we will be using 40 pounds for all distances now. Distances will now be extended each week with the 40 pounds of added weight. Saturday or Sunday will continue to be used as longer volume with no additional weight. The longest ruck of the entire program will be reached during this phase at week 3 of 20 miles.

 Monday and Friday. On Friday’s session only do half the volume from Monday.

Individual warm-up

A) Push Ups. Rest until fully recuperated between sets (5-10 minutes).

Week 1 - 4 sets to failure

Week 2 - 5 sets to failure

Week 3 - 6 sets to failure

Week 4 - 1 set to failure

B) Pull-ups. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets.

 Week 1 - 3 sets - 20/14/12 reps

Week 2 - 3 sets - 22/12/10 reps

Week 3 - 3 sets - 24/10/8 reps

Week 4 - 3 sets - 12/10/8 reps

C) Dips. Rest 2-3 minutes between sets.

Week 1 - 3 sets - 20/14/12 reps

Week 2 - 3 sets - 22/12/10 reps

Week 3 - 3 sets - 24/10/8 reps

Week 4 - 3 sets - 12/10/8 reps

D) Oxidative Squats. Each series = 40 seconds of work followed by 40 seconds of rest  = 1 rep x 5 reps. Rest until fully recuperated between each series (5-10 minutes). 

 Week 1 - 3 series

Week 2 - 3 series

Week 3 - 3 series

Week 4 - 1 series of Bench Press

Tuesday

Individual warm-up

Distance Running – Ensure HR stays between 120-140 bpm. For the first three weeks, 5-10 short accelerations may be added if desired. These accelerations should be no longer then 10 seconds with 2-3 minutes recovery.

Week 1 – 30-45 minutes

Week 2 – 45-60 minutes

Week 3 – 45-60 minutes

Week 4 – Cardiac run of 40 minutes with HR <130 bpm

Wednesday

Hike in Woods. 12-15 min mile pace, keeping HR <140 bpm. Pack weight as noted.

 Week 1 – 12 mile hike

Week 2 – 14 mile hike

Week 3 – 16 mile hike

Week 4 – 6 mile hike

Thursday

Running – Distance

Weeks 1-4 – 30-45 minutes of very easy running with HR between 100-130 bpm.

Saturday

Hike in Woods. No added weight. 12-15 min mile pace, keeping HR <140 bpm.

Week 1 – 16 mile hike

Week 2 – 18 mile hike

Week 3 – 20 mile hike

Week 4 – 10 mile hike  

Sunday

Complete day off.