SandBag training for SWAT: week 1

[www.BrinkZone.com]

Gents. As mentioned in prior threads I do seminars and such for law enforcement, generally tactical LEO and SOF*. A regional SWAT/RRT team plans to compete in Connecticut SWAT Challenge, which is the 4th largest SWAT competition in the United States.**

I have been put in charge -as Senior PT Advisor -for the team, and am in the process of getting them ready for the match. The PT portion of this match is the toughest in the nation. The events schedule is found here:

http://ctswatchallenge.com/06Events.html

In particular, take a look at the “UNDER ARMOUR/STORM CASE PHYSICAL FITNESS CHALLENGE.” I have been to the other larger challenges, and none of them had a stage like that! That’s one mother-fer of stage right there!
This was the fist week, so I was looking to get a baseline with the guys. Nothing high tech or expensive is needed here. A great way to work on functional strength, unbalanced loads, and conditioning, as well as grip strength, is by using sand bags.

Sand bag training is  difficult and challenging and is particularly useful to MMA fighters, tactical law enforcement, SOF, strong man competitors, and others, where functional strength is essential. It’s also great for grip strength as there is nothing to hold onto. This type of training is perfect for preparing this team for such a challenge.

In the future, there will be rope climbing, wall climbing (in full tac gear), phone pole lifting, tire rolling, and ever increasing difficulty of combing sand bag training with shooting drills. All designed to increase functional strength, body weight to strength ratio, dealing with unbalanced loads that shift, grip strength, and of course, shooting under great physical stress, as these competitions demand, which attempt to parallel the “real world” for these teams.***

That’s just the PT portion of the training. Additional shooting drills take place separately, and they are well equipped to deal with that part.  However, I feel it’s essential to combine shooting with the PT to keep focus on shooting under stress as these competitions generally stress.

As stated, this was a baseline day to where we all stood. The rotation of the day was:

30 pushups, followed by 10 over head presses with 75lb sand bag, run with sand bag, 10 more over head presses, run back to start position, put bag down, run to 7 yard line, and shoot 10rnds to slide lock.

Shooting was scored using an IDPA target, which means center mass and head shots add no time to your score, outside that, it adds time to your score. So, you have to shoot accurately, or your score goes down. They had to do that rotation 3 times.

Second rotation was, chin ups using a rope. Using a rope is very hard on your grip, so that’s why I used it. Right after chins, run to the truck, throw 75lb sand bag over shoulder, run to 12 yard line (I actually moved the red cone back from 7 yards to 12 without telling them to make life harder…) and shoot. Two rotations of that. End of the two rotations, who ever had the slowest times had to do it again! It pays to be a winner if you are on my system…anyway, here is a short vid of the two PT rotations we did today:



Yours truly is in the white shirt and black cap. If looking to add something new to your training, sand bags are a great addition.



* = http://www.brinkzone.com/articledetails.php?acatid=3&aid=63

** = http://www.ctswatchallenge.com/


*** = It should be noted I am not a shooting instructor, but I know enough about shooting to integrate it into the PT sessions that will mimic what they will face in competition. The members of this SWAT team practice their shooting regularly as you would expect.

[benchthis]

do these guys train on their own time or is it part of there 40 hour work week

[DK II]

do these guys train on their own time or is it part of there 40 hour work week

german SWATs are actually paid to train, they train in their own facilities during 'work time'.

Normally, SWAT teams are mostly waiting for sth to happen, so despite "working", they have tons of free time. They work out, shoot, combat training, go to psychology lessons and so on.

[www.BrinkZone.com]

do these guys train on their own time or is it part of there 40 hour work week

Both actually. Training for their jobs in SWAT is part of their work week. Training for a competition like this is on their time as it's not technically job related per se. Some depts see it as training and fund/support it, and some don't, seeing it as more of as personal time and don't see the benefits. It's good training for them, and at the very least, great PR f they do well, but not all depts "get it" when it comes to that type of stuff

[www.BrinkZone.com]

german SWATs are actually paid to train, they train in their own facilities during 'work time'.

Normally, SWAT teams are mostly waiting for sth to happen, so despite "working", they have tons of free time. They work out, shoot, combat training, go to psychology lessons and so on.

US SWAT teams have the same set up depending on the size of the team/dept. A busy big city SWAT team like LA, Dallas, FBI HRT, etc are full time dedicated SWAT teams that train all the time and they are full time people. Smaller cities, towns, etc, it varies depending on need, funds, etc. BTW, I was at the World SWAT Challenge a few years ago, and a team from the GSG9 competed and won. They were a great team and nice guys. I have kept in touch with a few via email.

[DK II]

US SWAT teams have the same set up depending on the size of the team/dept. A busy big city SWAT team like LA, Dallas, FBI HRT, etc are full time dedicated SWAT teams that train all the time and they are full time people. Smaller cities, towns, etc, it varies depending on need, funds, etc. BTW, I was at the World SWAT Challenge a few years ago, and a team from the GSG9 competed and won. They were a great team and nice guys. I have kept in touch with a few via email.

GSG9 is a superb team.

I knew a guy from the german SEK (~SWAT) and he was training all the time, like i wrote above. I admired his overall performance, he was an excellent runner (long and short distances), fighter, had a good build and he also was a sniper. Needless to say, he didn't only train in his "working time", but also went to the gym or running in his free time.
He could also party hard. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spezialeinsatzkommando

[www.BrinkZone.com]

GSG9 is a superb team.

They do travel to the US to compete (and win!) in the SWAT competitions, which is cool I thought.

[DK II]

They do travel to the US to compete (and win!) in the SWAT competitions, which is cool I thought.

Well, they don't have a lot to do (fortunately) so they can do that.

"Normal" hostage or terror situations call for the SEK, foreign situations often call for the KSK (military).

GSG9 is so special, they nearly have no situation in which they are called. 

[www.BrinkZone.com]

Well, they don't have a lot to do (fortunately) so they can do that.

"Normal" hostage or terror situations call for the SEK, foreign situations often call for the KSK (military).

GSG9 is so special, they nearly have no situation in which they are called. 

That's the irony of it in some respects. Teams like LA SWAT and Dallas SWAT are very busy, and so it's tough for them to put a team together, much less their A team, so you often have depts not nearly as experienced winning such things some times, but it's all for fun and good training, so everyone takes it in stride and supports each other. I have never seen any bad sportsman ship or attitudes at a big match like that.

[DK II]

That's the irony of it in some respects. Teams like LA SWAT and Dallas SWAT are very busy, and so it's tough for them to put a team together, much less their A team, so you often have depts not nearly as experienced winning such things some times, but it's all for fun and good training, so everyone takes it in stride and supports each other. I have never seen any bad sportsman ship or attitudes at a big match like that.

well, the SWAT challenge is more like a sports event, but on the other hand i think it's an interesting question who will be better in "real life" situations: the SWAT team who has little stuff every day and trains less or the highly trained SWAT team with nearly no  real life experience?

After all, they are trained to be almost emotionless, so (very very easily said) "going in and smacking ass" isn't so much different from a good training, maybe?

[www.BrinkZone.com]

Here is a short vid of the work that was done on week 2. Today was strong man style training, with 800lb tire flipping, alternating grip chin ups, sled dragging, and other movements designed to greatly improve the type of functional strength and endurance needed for the CT SWAT match, not to mention just good training for tactical LEO’s and SOF. Put this up on my photobucket account below

We did all that at my buddy John’s gym, Excel Sport & Fitness (1)

From there to the range. At the range, additional rotations of running approx half mile in full tac gear, going over 5ft wall, followed by shooting on the move Mozambique Drills and others. I didn't get any vid due to heavy rain however.

Nest week, we incorporate some of the work done in week one, and week two, so it’s going to get considerably harder….
yours truly is in the black polo shirt and tan cap

(1) http://www.excelstrength.com/




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[www.BrinkZone.com]

Folks, if you enjoy the above, I now have full vids on weeks 1-10 training on my youtube site. For example, week 9:

Enjoy! 

[The Coach]

Here is a short vid of the work that was done on week 2. Today was strong man style training, with 800lb tire flipping, alternating grip chin ups, sled dragging, and other movements designed to greatly improve the type of functional strength and endurance needed for the CT SWAT match, not to mention just good training for tactical LEO’s and SOF. Put this up on my photobucket account below

We did all that at my buddy John’s gym, Excel Sport & Fitness (1)

From there to the range. At the range, additional rotations of running approx half mile in full tac gear, going over 5ft wall, followed by shooting on the move Mozambique Drills and others. I didn't get any vid due to heavy rain however.

Nest week, we incorporate some of the work done in week one, and week two, so it’s going to get considerably harder….
yours truly is in the black polo shirt and tan cap

(1) http://www.excelstrength.com/




__________________

That looks like Eric Cressy's gym, is it?

[www.BrinkZone.com]

That looks like Eric Cressy's gym, is it?

There's a link to the gym right in the post. Gym is owned by John Sully, local strong man and trainer, though he may have some partners, don't know. 

[www.BrinkZone.com]

Not a major interest for you all I know, but I thought there might be a curiosity factor at least. As you may know, I have been involved in one form or another with law enforcement, and to a lesser extent, military, via articles, seminars, and some training. This was all peripheral work to my regular gig in the bodybuilding, fitness, weight loss, and longevity industry.

My articles, vids, etc, relating to law enforcement and military was sort of mish mash on my Brinkzone site and such, so I decided it was time to put something specific and focused to the tactical LEO and (hopefully) SOF community to place related stuff in one locations. I present to you Optimal SWAT.

http://www.optimalswat.com

It's my official site dealing with the LEO and mil community. Some fun vids there BTW.

[www.BrinkZone.com]

Gents. As mentioned in prior threads I do seminars and such for law enforcement, generally tactical LEO and SOF*. A regional SWAT/RRT team plans to compete in Connecticut SWAT Challenge, which is the 4th largest SWAT competition in the United States.**

I have been put in charge -as Senior PT Advisor -for the team, and am in the process of getting them ready for the match. The PT portion of this match is the toughest in the nation.

Well  I am back from above mentioned event for which those SWAT training vids were in preparation for. My guys took 15th out of 34 teams, and 4th at the all important PT Challenge, so there was proof of concept results there from the training.

For a first attempt, I am happy with the results. There’s no reason at all they can’t break top 10 next year with some tweaks to their training, and additional bang bang time on their part.

No major issues or screw ups, but plenty of nerves induced small stuff and high Murphy factor stuff which accumulated rapidly, as it always does! I will have video up shortly from the match for those interested….

Here is part 1 vid of the 2008 CT Challenge. I did the PT course first. I was not able to get vid of all the stations unfortunately, but got enough to give those were not there a good idea of the event.

The PT Challenge:

The shooting stages:

A vid I call Guns, Gear, and Gadgets 

[www.BrinkZone.com]

GSG9 is a superb team.

True enough. See new vids above!