Go Ruck Selection - Practical Programming to Survive The Cut

Go Ruck Selection - For the UN-initiated, here's a link
https://www.goruckchallenge.com/Events/Selection

Looking from the outside in, its like hell on earth. Where the "Tier 1" of GRT's (People who made it through a Go Ruck Challenge), see if they are really tough.

So I finish up an easy day event with Go Ruck on Saturday night, and I get involved in a conversation at the bar with one of the Special Forces Cadre that run the events, and he says to me, You really should do selection, you're a fit dude, you can do selection.

 Honestly, I wasn't sure what to say about that, I mean I'm 31 years old , I've put in my reps... I don't really care about being a Tier 1 type of individual, I abhor GRT's that puff their chest out and think they are invincible... Yes folks - on the Internet, bullets can bounce off of your persona, however its a different story in real life... You don't figure that out in 12 hours of team movement... Not even sure you do after selection either, but I can guarantee ill be closer than those hosers talking up a storm.

So why would I want to do this?  I guess its because the request came from a really good dude that I respect, (not place on a pedestal, as Rachel likes to say). So while I don't believe that bullets bounce off of my GRT Patch, I am still a competitive individual, and you know what I need some reason to do all this training for, and I do like a challenge... So challenge accepted.  Now here comes the easiest part of it... Planning out training..


First thing, before I dig into the basics of periodization.  When planning a lifting cycle, you ALWAYS have to work from the END, and move towards the FRONT..   In periodization you should be planning your conversion or transfer phases, which basically set you up for what you are doing.

First, here's a primer on periodization -

What is Periodization

If you do a rudimentary internet search of the term periodization you will find all sorts of lovely text book sounding definitions. However in plain English it is the act of planning your training out into distinct phases each with a separate short term goal (fat loss, strength, power, speed, etc). These individual phases are designed to build on the prior one to culminate in you reaching peak condition for what is commonly known as the competition phase.How you split out the phases (duration, focus, exercise selection, intensity, training volume etc) will depend on a number of things including the physical requirements of your sport, the needs of the individual athlete, and the frequency and duration of the competition season.
For example Olympic lifters might cycle their training to peak once every four years (an Olympic cycle) whilst a pro basketballer has to focus on getting ready for a new season every year.
An Olympic weight lifter also has to focus on training for an event that essentially requires them to lift once in a matter of seconds. A NBA basketballer on the other hand needs to be able to compete over 48 minutes using a combination of speed, power, strength and endurance.
It is stating the very obvious to note that different sports have different training requirements and as such a periodized approach must be tailored to address those specific needs.

Why Does Periodization Work

Periodization works because it ensures you are always taking steps forwards towards an ultimate goal. In our case, we want to jump higher. So do we build our strength with heavy weights, or maybe we should we drop body fat to make ourselves light? Maybe we should concentrate on plyos to get quick and explosive? Each of those three traits are important in developing a huge vertical jump, but each requires different sorts of training. The key is to identify which one you need to focus on first, then train for that. Once you have reached a certain level of proficiency, then you start training for the next requirement and so on.
Training this way is much better than a hotch-potched approach of weights one week, plyos another, maybe a bit of both in there somewhere.
By focusing your training on the attainment of one short term goal you will reach it much quicker. To illustrate you see people in gyms who say they want to lose fat and build muscle. Whilst this isn't impossible, they are essentially two mutually exclusive goals. Burning fat and getting lean requires calories restriction, and cardio on top of weights. Building muscle on the other hand requires calorie surplus, little to no cardio, and plenty of heavy lifting. It is easy to see why aiming for these two things at the one time is doomed to fail.
If you just focus on building muscle you will get there much quicker by just lifting heavy and eating more. Once you have the muscle you can progress to the next goal of fat loss (the extra muscle will help with that too). In the long run, you will make more consistent, more rapid and much greater gains.

Downsides to Periodization

The type of periodization we discuss here is known as Western or linear periodization. The two most common criticisms of this type of approach are that in focusing on only one athletic trait at a time the others tend to deteriorate, and also, not all athletes have the available time to spend working through all the phases.These are both valid arguments against a linear periodization approach. With regard to the loss of one athletic trait as you change phases, modern interpretations of periodization recognize the importance of certain traits and accordingly programs are designed to minimize any losses of these abilities by incorporating continued maintenance work during the other phases.
For example, an athlete trying to improve their vertical jump having high levels of strength is important as it is the base for their muscular power. Consequently even in the later phases of the program they are advised to continue some heavy lifting in order to maintain the gains they made earlier.
The criticism of time constraints is also valid. To a certain extent this can also be mitigated by shortening the duration of the less directly beneficial phases to allow for more prioritizing of the important ones. For example, if you are already an experienced lifter with decent muscular size and aren't carrying any serious injuries or imbalances, you probably do not need to spend too much time in either the adaptation or hypertrophy phases.

Who Should Use Periodization

This type of planned out training methodology isn't necessarily for everyone but there are two groups of athletes we feel can benefit greatly from this kind of approach. These are people who are new to weight training, or who have the luxury of longer periods of time can benefit the most from taking a linear periodized approach.For our money the main benefits that it provides are in the way it progresses from phase to phase.
This foundation will not only help you minimize injuries, but also helps you to learn the correct techniques of the various lifts, helps you set baselines from which you can improve, and also helps you progressively adapt to the ever increasing demands of the training.
For more advanced athletes, or those with time constraints there is another popular periodization technique known as the conjugate method. This system is preferred by the world class powerlifters at Westside Barbell and many Eastern European countries. This involves mixing and matching exercises, loads, rest, tempo etc in order to train more than one strength trait at a time whilst also avoiding burnout.
It is also a great way to organize your training, but like everything, is too complex to discuss in a paragraph or two. As such we will discuss the conjugate method in much more detail in a future article.

Phase 1: Anatomical Adaptation

The goal of this first phase of periodization is to prepare the athlete for the future demands of their more focused training. During this phase you would work on your flexibility and co-ordination, rectifying any muscle and strength imbalance concerns between agonist and antagonist muscle groups, aerobic and anaerobic work capacity, strengthening ligaments and tendons, and also in the treatment and recovery of any injuries the athlete currently has. The idea is to expose the athlete to a wide variety of exercises in order to have them functioning efficiently. This often takes the form of circuit training or a series of full body workouts.
The length of this phase will depend on a variety of factors including how long you have to devote to your total program, your level of experience in strength training, the level of importance of strength in your sport or activity, and your starting levels of general fitness.

Phase 2: Hypertrophy

The Hypertrophy phase of periodization is as the names suggests designed to increase muscle size and strength. In theory bigger muscles are stronger muscles. The reality is that bigger muscles have the potential to be stronger muscles. This is what we are aiming for here. To build muscle so that you have greater potential to gain strength in the next phase. The training in this phase consists of weights with loads of approximately 65-85% of your 1RM for 6-15 reps per set. Rest periods are generally shorter at around 60 - 90 seconds between sets.
Once again the duration of this phase will depend on the experience of the athlete and the importance of strength for the activity.

Phase 3; Maximum Strength

The goal of this phase of a periodized program is once again self explanatory - build maximum strength. This is obviously very important as power is a product of both your maximum strength and the speed at which you can apply it.Strength is built by working with higher percentages of your 1RM (85-100%) for lower rep numbers (1-5), with several minutes rest between sets. Usually maximum strength training involves less number of exercises, instead focusing on the key maximum load capable lifts such as squats, deadlifts etc. The duration of this phase, as with them all will depend on the athlete and the demands of their sport.

Phase 4: Conversion

Now we are starting to get to the good stuff. This is where you start turning some of that brute strength you have developed into explosive power. You will however need to try and maintain your strength levels during this phase or your total power output may decline. That's the bad news. The good news is that it is significantly easier to maintain your strength than it is to improve it. For an athlete trying to convert strength to power such as a vertical jumper, this phase will generally last 4-5 weeks. It will be made up of plyometrics and ballistic weighted exercises such as jump squats (which don't necessarily have to be weighted but for stronger athletes it is advised), medicine ball throws, kettlebell swings, etc. For the speed component of this phase loads will be much lighter, if any, with the focus more on improving rate of force development and contraction times.

Phase 5: Competition and Transition

The competition phase of periodization is more commonly known as being in-season. The goal here is to try and maintain your strength throughout the season so as to minimize de-training. Often the sport itself provides enough stimulus to maintain the speed element of your power levels. For example a volleyballer in season will be doing plenty of jumping as they play their games. Any extra plyometric work for example could possibly over-tax the CNS and the bodies ability to recover. The transition element of this phase occurs right after the season finishes. This period is used to just recover physically and mentally from the competition. Here you treat any injuries and just take a total break to refresh your body and mind. The longer the competitive season the longer you would require to recover. That said, an athlete doesn't want to rest totally for too long or they again risk de-training.


Now programming back to front... The most important part is Phase 4 - Conversion... This is what im programming for... Now from Tudor Bompa's, Mike Barwis's, and Mike Boyles' perspective, there are 5-6 different types of conversion. Each type of conversion is sport specific... Basically planning on the demands of the sport.

Here's what I believe the "demands of the sport" for GR Selection are:


Out of a 100% conversion rate

Power - 20% (being able to stabilize and move loads quickly at the onset (PST))

Power Endurance - 50% (being able to take a sustained load for a long period of time with quick bursts of power)

Muscular Endurance - 30% (being able to move in general for several days, without sleep)

There you have it... The End result, as I see it.... Planning backwards, this works for muscular development ONLY.   Bio energetic Systems  & Nutrition Planning are a whole other issue of planning. That I will get into in a follow up post.

Stay tuned, due to unfavorable weather conditions, I should be able to start posting my workout plan's both from a strength and bio energetic area. Some of these workouts will be planned with help from military athlete, tactical athlete, SOF Wods, Seal Grinder PT.

The planned workload will be 3 days/week Prime Mover lift, 4 days/week Crossfit Style energy systems workouts, with one or two of them being at Iron Cross Athletics in phoenixville...