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.htmlIn 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.