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Train Hard. Be Hard. Go Hard.

What do those phrases mean to you?

Does it mean train hard every day in the gym?  Does it mean to be mentally tough? Does it mean going 100% in everything you do?

There are multiple interpretations of the word “hard”.  It’s a catchy word, used in the tactical/LE community. It is thrown around in order to produce an emotional response which will then trigger action.

But how "hard" do we need to train?

How long do we need to train?

Should I be doing more reps, more sets, more cardio, etc?

Sometimes... but more often than not training LESS is better.

I'm sure you are asking yourself "What did he just say?" 

"Less is better? He must have had a typo there..."

No, you read it correctly. 

Training LESS is often better than training MORE! 

Why is training less better?

Being a police officer or a tactical athlete is stressful.

Our body can only tolerate and handle so much...

The Kings of Calisthenic Exercises

Push ups and pull ups are the hands-down the most popular upper-body bodyweight exercises.

While both of these movements are so commonly done in the gym, there is a lack of education and knowledge on how to properly progress them.

Most people just do max effort sets a few times a week and hope that by doing that, they will achieve more reps in a few weeks.

While that works sometimes.. there are better ways to go about it.

We have found that doing more sets of less reps leads to a higher number of max reps in just 4 weeks when compared to performing max rep sets.

Instead of doing 3-5 sets of max reps and waiting 60-120 seconds and repeating, we discovered that doing 6-9 sets of 35-50% of the reps and resting 45-90 seconds leads to better results.

By taking this approach you prevent yourself from fatiguing out after the first set and not being able to achieve the same number of...

Weight loss is EASY, keeping it off.. That's the issue..

First Responders and Tactical Athletes don't have a problem losing weight. Every January, thousands of first responders start dieting. 

The majority are successful at shedding a few pounds through February/March! But.. by April many of them are starting to struggle with their weight-loss and begin adding the weight they all worked so hard to get off at the start of the year.

They get frustrated and blame themselves for a lack of "discipline" or blame their "bad genetics" for their inability to reach their goals.

Introduction

As a first responder/tactical athlete, shift work is part of the job. Throughout your career, you will have both night and day shifts. Often, you may have be alternating back and forth between the two. A massive challenge you will experience is structuring your nutrition plan to help you to achieve your health and fitness goals.

When you finish reading this article, you will understand why eating is so hard during shift work as well as develop an action plan to get you on track towards your performance goals.

Research Statistics:

In the US, up to 18% of the US work force alternate shift schedules. Recent studies have shown that when compared to non-shift workers, shift worked had a 17% increased risk of all cardiovascular events and close to a 20% increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease 

Another study shows that shift workers had a 9% greater risk for diabetes when compared to non-shift workers.

...

Contrary to popular belief, bodyweight training can be a great stimulus to build muscle.

The key to building muscle is that you need to train close to fatigue/failure. While research still argues the exact recommendation of how many reps shy of failure should be performed, a general recommendation would be to be within 5 reps shy of failure. 

The reason why going close to failure/fatigue is important is that as you approach failure you will recruit more muscle units. As the muscles fatigue, more motor units will be needed to complete the same task. Therefore, more muscle fibers are active close to fatigue.

The issue with bodyweight training, is that often the intensity is not challenging enough to get "close to fatigue". 

Have you ever seen someone go to fatigue on air squats?

Probably not.. If so it would have taken them a long time to get there (assuming they are healthy and already workout regularly).

Ideally, we can get "close to fatigue" while...

1. Take Care of Yourself:

Regardless if you are sick or not. Make sure you stay hydrated, eat good food and GET SLEEP! Don’t overeat. We know people like to snack to pass the time however avoid overeating. If you don’t take care of yourself you can’t take care of other people.

"Muscle Confusion" is the concept of changing exercises regularly to "SHOCK" the body/muscles to send them a signal to grow and improve their strength. 

Is this concept a good plan for optimal growth and strength development? What are the pros and cons of this strategy? This article will cover just that.  

To make progress in any movement pattern these 3 principles are the most important to consider. They are in order of most importance. 

1. Consistency - Are you working out regularly enough to make a change? Typically 2-5 days a week is needed to make a change. 

2. Specificity - Exercises that we select should mimic the activities we want to improve. To get bigger legs you should squat.. Not do bicep curls!

3. Overload- We need to do MORE each workout to send a signal for the body to improve strength and build muscle. If you lift the same amount of weight day in and day out, your muscles...

Every training program should start with a goal. Where do you want to be in 12-16 weeks? Do you want to be stronger? Faster? Leaner? More muscular? More endurance? 

Whatever your goal is, it will take multiple sessions of repeated stimuli to achieve the desired result.

If you want to improve your deadlift, it is going to take you weeks of training the deadlift at least 1x a week to improve your deadlift. If you are deadlifting once every 2-4 weeks, you are missing multiple opportunities to send more signals to your body to improve your strength.

Should I train based off how I feel that day?

NO!!

If you are training off how you feel that day, you are wasting so much potential. Training programs are often designed to have athletes overreach at the end of the cycle. This is a period of time where you push harder than normal by doing higher volume and/or intensity for strength and hypertrophy adaptations. During this time...

Bench Press Is King

For many of us, the bench press was the first exercise that we did when we started lifting weights. The bench press has become the king of upper body exercises. Monday is National Bench day.. Because we all want to start the week off with something we enjoy doing!

This article will go over ways to break through your bench press plateau. 

Improve Your Technique

Believe it or not, the bench press is a very technical movement. There is much more to the bench press than just lower the barbell to your chest and push it up.. 

If you have ever been to a powerlifting competition, you will notice the setups are very elaborate. They can take upwards of 30-60 seconds to generate tension and get in the right position before unracking the barbell.

The two biggest technique flaws that we tend to see is the lack of shoulder blade retraction and depression (pinning your shoulder blades back and down into the bench) as...

Recreational lifters often use external support/equipment for multiple purposes. Some use it for injuries, some use it for performance benefits, and others use it because they were taught they need to wear them at all times.

This article will go over how and when to use the equipment to maximize your health and performance.

Injuries

When you walk into a gym, you can get a pretty good idea of who is dealing with an injury/pain based on the equipment they are wearing.

Are you wearing knee sleeves with light activity? Hmm..

Are you wearing wrist wraps for every upper body exercise? Hmm..

Are you wearing a belt with squats and deadlifts under 85%? Hmm..

The same goes for ankle braces, elbow support, etc. 

Let's set this straight... We should NOT be relying on this equipment to exercise!! Our body is meant to be strong and stable without the use of external support! PERIOD.

With all that being said, wearing external support can provide healthy...