pmcimagazine.com
HEAD TO HEAD
For this issue of PMCI we decided to ask our two tame contractors who have worked “The Circuit”,
one British and “new skool” and one American and “Old Skool” the same question to see where there
are similarities or disparities. This time my question to them both was “how do you prepare physically
before a contract and how do you keep fit with very limited resources in-country?”
Rob S (USA)
So how do I physically prep for a security contract?
I have consulted with many clients for many years who
ask me about getting ready for overseas “merc work” or even
“younglins” for their selection. This question can be a tough
one to answer. That is it would be tough if I was looking for
the politically correct marketing of complex programs of the
current time. Ha! But here we go, ready for this? The answer,
do less. Yep, less. If you are genetically cut out for this job
and have been trained (skills) right, almost everything will
be about preventing injuries. For example, if you walked into
selection and aced it without much prep simply because you
are mentally stable, physically capable and avoided getting
injured then you understand what I’m getting at. Less is more.
Having owned gyms and personal training companies in
the past and in a time before the internet and all its lies, aka
marketing fairy tales people want to hear, we used to study
and test everything, no guessing, find what worked. My clients
usually had plenty of money and very little time. They cared
not about being seen with a trainer (some even hid the fact-
talking to you Quantico boys ha ha), but they wanted results.
So we tested and tried many, many programs. Funny enough,
most programs of physical training worked well towards a
progressive goal. Some much faster than others, but the ones
that led to injuries due to such mistakes as improper form, to
fast of speeds, repetitive poor form injuries and over training,
the biggest culprit, always slowed progress big or stopped it
completely. So things that don’t cause injuries, that part was
easy. This narrowed what we did considerably. Next was time
constraints. My clients were busy saving the world or controlling
it (yes, officers and politicians I speak of you) and they had no
days off and no spare time. This meant I needed something
that could be done in small bites daily or one mid-sized bites
once or twice weekly. So keep it simple, avoid injury and do the
least possible to get a result. Less!
I try to start my physical prep work up with Doctors visits
and chiropractic visits to ensure I’m healthy, up to date on shots
and my alignment is good. Too many people forget it starts
at base health. I’ve seen guys sent home because their blood
pressure spiked or a back injury flared up they hadn’t taken
care of. Believe me we all have injuries suffered as a result of
combat and other uncontrollable factors, but if you knew about
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it ahead you could get it taken care of or be better prepared. Go
see your docs first.
So we move onto the actual physical stuff. As a strong
believer in Pareto’s principle, I look for the 20% or less that will
produce 80% or more of the results. That means something I can
do almost anywhere, that is quick and simple. Remembering
that getting fit is different than maintaining fitness as well. My
goal is to keep my strength, my endurance and my health up,
maybe even improve it on a contract, all while working our
typical 14+ hour nights and seven days a week start to finish. I
want to train as I will be when working. Heard something like
that before? It may not be what you think. So, I split my training
into 3 categories, strength with endurance is one. Flexibility
maintenance is another. Posture and movement is the last.
These all have crossovers of course but you will get the idea.
Warm ups? I don’t really warm up so much as check my joints
to ensure they have range of motion and no injury flare ups
or such. For me hip and shoulder injuries in my past from
parachute and well, fights. LOL I use a bit of movement typical
of Russian martial arts guys, simple slowly move each joint and
see or feel how it flows through its motion from neck to toes.
Again it isn’t so much a warm up as a safety check of my
body. We always try to condition to react on demand. You
don’t do stretches and bends before using the stairs when the
elevator is out, you don’t do push ups before lifting the car off
your wife to retrieve your credit cards from her purse after the
accident, you just do, well it.
Onto the training; let us keep it simple. Yeah KISS. I have
found that the majority of my body can be worked with only 4
simple exercises and I can maintain my overall fitness, health
and keep them. I do one arm alternating clean and presses
progressive 20x10 tabat style (twenty seconds of lifting and ten
seconds rest, repeat) as my base. I prefer dumbbells but have
used everything from sand bags to local kids. That’s another
story. My method is work from light to heavy, if possible, over
six to nine sets. I do four reps, two each arm, and rest ten
seconds then repeat till I can’t do anymore or I hit the nine
max sets. It’s simple and it works. Usually I rest for one or two
minutes max then onto the next exercise. My next exercise is
Long step farmers walk lunges up to one hundred steps max.
Put on your ruck, grab a spare ruck for the front (weight
vests work too), then grab two heavy dumbbells (again sand