Optimizing the Conditioning of New Tactical Trainees

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Learning Objectives:

1. Explain the influence of tactical trainee fitness on injury risk and task performance
2. Outline the requirements for conditioning the tactical trainee
3. Explain the factors influencing the effectiveness of a conditioning program on the tactical trainee conditioning process
4. Design a physical preparation program for a new tactical trainee

Initial training for tactical populations like military, police and firefighters is typically arduous as the intent is to prepare members recruited from the general population for service as tactical athletes. On this basis, basic recruit training courses can include a variety of physical activities such as weight load marching, obstacle courses and general physical training often performed at a high intensity (Jones et al., 1993; Ross & Allsopp, 2002).  In addition to planned physical training sessions, trainees are often required to walk, march or run around the basic training facility in a formed group between different training lessons: Examples of these distance covered during this informal loading can range from 6-11 km per day (Knapik, Darakjy, & Hauret, 2007; Orr & Moorby, 2006; Trank, Ryman, Minagawa, Trone, & Schaffer, 2001).

As a result of both the formal and informal requirements, many trainees may be required to participate in training that exceeds their previous training loads  and current capabilities, the results of which may lead to injury  (Prigg, Jones, Kolonel, Warfe, & Colgrave, 2000). Apart from the impacts of the injury to the trainee, these injuries present as a considerable burden to the tactical institution. As an example, injuries to trainees cost the military in terms of lost working days, limited duty days and diminished military readiness (Defence Health Services Branch, 2000; Jones, Cowan, et al., 1993; Jones & Knapik, 1999; Kaufman, Brodine, & Shaffer, 2000; Orr, Pope, Johnston, & Coyle, 2011). In addition to the heavy financial burden due to medical dismissal of seriously injured trainees (Rosendal, Langberg, Skov-Jensen, & Kjær, 2003), comes costs to replace an injured trainee costs. As an example New South Wales State Government in Australia is said to invests $85,000 per annum to train and employ a single new police officer (Weatherburn, 2004). 

Fitness and Injury Risk

Poor metabolic fitness, both aerobic and anaerobic, has been associated with a higher risk of training-related injuries in tactical populations (Jones, Cowan, et al., 1993; Meigh, Steele, & Orr, 2012; Orr, Stierli, Hinton, & Steele, 2013a; Pope, Herbert, Kirwan, & Graham, 1999).  As an example, Pope et al. (1999) found that the  risk of attrition through failing to complete military training was approximately 25 times greater in trainees who score poorly on the 20m Progressive Shuttle Run or ‘Beep’ test when compared to trainees who score highly. As such, improving metabolic fitness to meet a minimum standard before entry into initial basic training in the US Army has reduced attrition and lowered injury rates (Ross & Allsopp, 2002). Even following a sustained training conditioning program during initial training, poor metabolic fitness has been associated with an increased risk of training injury. A study by Meigh, et al. (2012) found that Army cadets with lower levels of fitness, again measured by ‘Beep’ test results, were more likely to be injured during a trainee field exercise than those with higher levels of fitness.

Similar results have been found when employing intermittent metabolic fitness assessments like the 30-15 Intermittent Fitness Test (30-15 IFT). A study of NSW police trainees found that those officers with lower levels of intermittent metabolic fitness were also more likely to be injured than those with higher fitness levels (Orr, Stierli, et al., 2013a). On this basis, the metabolic fitness of a new trainee is of vital importance to any conditioning program to minimise the risk of injury and chance of training completion. 

Apart from metabolic fitness, research on muscular strength, power and endurance and their relationships with injury risk are varied. Jones, et al. (1993) measured male and female army trainee push-up performance in 2 minutes (as per the U.S. Army Physical Fitness Test). The researchers found that the three least fit quartiles of men as measured by push-ups were at significantly greater risk that the most fit group. Conversely, no such association was found with the female trainees. However in a study by Knapik et al. (2001), fewer push-ups were associated with higher injury risk in both male and female trainees undergoing basic combat training. Similarly, in soon to be presented research, police trainees who were injured in trainee training significantly lower push up and vertical jump (a measure of lower limb power) scores (Orr, Stierli, Hinton, & O'Connor, 2014).

Fitness and Task Performance

Apart from its association with injury, fitness is also associated with tactical task performance (Hendrickson et al., 2010; Orr, Stierli, Hinton, & Steele, 2013b). One such task is tactical load carriage; a core requirement of any tactical athlete and one that forms part of all tactical basic training. The generalist police officer can carry loads of around 10 kg daily with a specialist SWAT officer carrying around 27 kg (Blacker et al., 2013; Carlton, Orr, Stierli, & Carbone, 2013). Firefighters can carry loads of up to 37 kg made up of various forms of breathing apparatus, protective clothing, and firefighting equipment while performing tasks that include stair climbing and dragging or carrying other people (Louhevaara, Smolander, Tuomi, Korhonen, & Jaakkola, 1985; Park, Hur, Rosengren, Horn, & Hsiao-Wecksler., 2008; Richmond, Rayson, Wilkinson, Carter, & Blacker, 2008; von Heimburg, Rasmussen, & Medbo, 2006). Soldier loads are even greater, with soldiers found to have carried, and are currently carrying, mean loads of 47 kg, and up to 58 kg, on combat operations in Afghanistan (Orr, Pope, Johnston, & Coyle, 2012; Task Force Devil Combined Arms Assessment Team, (2004). Given these load weights, tactical load carriage is well known to cause a variety of injuries that impact on the general soldier (Orr, Pope, Johnston, & Coyle, 2013) and trainee (Rudzki, 1989).   Considering this, research suggests that specific load carriage conditioning, and a combination of strength training and metabolic fitness, can improve load carriage performance (Knapik, Harman, Steelman, & Graham, 2012; Orr, Pope, Johnston, & Coyle, 2010). 

Conditioning for the tactical athlete

With the importance of fitness and conditioning acknowledge, providing a conditioning program that will optimise initial training success whilst minimising the potential for injury is vital. In order to achieve this, the nature of the tactical athlete’s requirements need to be appreciated as do factors associated with initial training that may impact on the conditioning process.

Tactical athlete’s requirements

Training the tactical athlete requires a very different focus to the general fitness training encountered in gymnasiums and typically undertaken by personal trainers. The primary focus for the conditioning must be task based, as failure to complete tasks can ultimately lead to the loss of life (Orr, et al., 2011). Aesthetics is a secondary factor. A caveat to this is the purposeful reduction in non-functional mass to improve functional task requirements. Again however, the focus is on what is needed to improve the capability of given tasks as opposed to what would improve the aesthetic ‘six-pack’.

On this basis, typical resistance training or metabolic conditioning performed in a single movement plane (typically sagittal plane) along predictable surfaces (like on a gym floor, a flat road or a treadmill) not only fails to optimally conditioning the athlete, but may predispose them to injury when moving along other planes of movement and surfaces (Orr, 2013). As such, exercises need to focus on movement patterns across multiple movement planes and surfaces rather than muscle groups (e.g. Push, pull, lift as opposed to chest, back and legs or running over rugged terrain rather than on a concrete path). 

It is also important to remember that a key concern for new trainees is an overuse injury. As such, the volume of movement across the movement planes, both during conditioning and though lifestyle and other pursuits, must be taken into account.  For example, rather than performing excessive volumes of push-up training, even to pass an entry fitness test, contrasting movement patterns must be trained. These contrasting movements will assist in limiting muscle overuse (a trainee is unlikely to pass a fitness test if injured) and aid in preventing the detrimental impacts of specific pattern overload (e.g. muscles range of motion being reduced, impacting on length-tension relationships and reducing the ability of the muscle to generate force).

The clothing that the tactical athlete wears when performing these tasks must also be considered and incorporated into the conditioning program, albeit progressively. This is vital when considering the negative impacts of the tactical athlete’s clothing on their task performance. For example, load carriage has been found to reduce the marksmanship and mobility of police, firefighters and military personnel. Furthermore, backpacks / breathing apparatus, body armour and firefighter personal protection clothing can alter the carrier’s movement patterns (increasing their chance of a trip, fall or injury), and create a microclimate between the tactical athlete and their clothing (increasing their risk of heat stress/illness) (Cadarette, Blanchard, Staab, Kolka, & Sawka, 2001; Law & Lim, 2008). As such, the tactical trainee needs to be conditioned to perform in their occupational clothing requirements. 

Factors influencing the effectiveness of a conditioning program

Apart from the current fitness level of the trainee, several key factors need to be considered when developing and implementing a conditioning program for a tactical trainee or trainee population, these include other training requirements, fatigue and poor recovery, and Program Induced Cumulative Overload (PICO).

When it comes to other basic training requirements, it is important to recognise that conditioning is part of the initial training process not the sum of it. On this basis, a trainee is typically required to complete other physical tasks in a training day apart from conditioning. As such, the conditioning stimulus cannot be such that the performance of these other tasks becomes impaired. For example, when practicing tactical skills, the trainee is typically required to wear loads akin to those worn on duty and perform short intensity sprints, stair climbs or long range patrols. If the training stimulus was such that there was a high level of skeletal impact or muscle load prior to the tactical session (e.g. heavy legs training to fatigue), the trainee’s potential for injury is increased or decreased performance. 

Fatigue, through poor recovery, also presents as a key complication to optimising any conditioning program. Notably fatigue induced outside of the conditioning stimulus. Communal living can reduce the quality of sleep (Okpala, Walker, & Hosni, 2011), and therefore recovery. Furthermore, fatigue from late nights studying, breaks in diurnal variations for those not accustomed to rising early in the morning, and that imparted by the other sessions (equipment handling sessions, defensive tactics, etc.) can likewise reduce recovery potential. On this basis it is vital that the new trainee does not begin the training course in an already overtrained and fatigued state. This can occur when new trainees have to increase fitness levels to meet entry standards. As such, trainees and their Personal Trainers see the entry test as the culmination of training (the final event) rather than the initial trial. This misunderstanding may lead to trainees beginning their training course having already reached their physical peak.

PICO is a term used to describe ‘…the cumulative training dose imparted by a basic or unit training program on an imbedded conditioning program…’ (Orr, 2014, p. 1). As noted earlier, physical conditioning during basic training is only a portion of the training. As such, other physical tasks must be considered when developing the conditioning program. This means that the program cannot be developed in isolation from the overall program. For example the conditioning program may have a run session scheduled the day after a resistance training sessions, failing to realise that following the resistance sessions, the trainees walked an addition 6 km around the training area between lessons and spent two hours on the drill square.

Encapsulation and Application

The above discussion highlights that fitter tactical trainees are

• less likely to be injured;  and
• may perform their occupational tasks to a better standards. 

Furthermore, the conditioning process must:

• be task based across multiple movement planes and terrains;
• progress to allow for conditioning in their occupational clothing; and
• consider external influences like other tasks, fatigue and poor recovery, and PICO.

Given the above considerations, a conjugate periodization approach is considered the most effective for tactical personnel who are required to be physically capable across multiple components of fitness (Wenning, 2013). Conjugate periodization increases focus on one component of physical fitness while attempting to maintain other, often opposing, components.  An example conjugate physical preparation program for a new trainee about to undergo tactical basic training is shown below.

Rotation 1: Metabolic Focus

Session descriptors:

Continuous Running across various terrains (yellow)

• Non-stop running over distances progressively increasing by 10%
• Across terrains varying in both incline grade and type

Neuromuscular  Training 1a (dark blue)

• Sled push (15-20m sprint)
• Rope pull (15-20m pull-fast)
• Woodchop (15-20 Repetitions L&R controlled pace)
• Tyre flip (15-20 Repetitions – slow pace – technical lift )
• Bilateral arm Curl, Press, Extend
• Hanging knee raise with pelvis rotational tuck

Running with agility (light yellow)

• Running at varying speeds with agility content, including: dodging, weaving, ladder running, quick weaving, side stepping, stop/prop, stop/drop, etc.

• Distance of up to 100m non stop 

Aquatic active recovery session (green)

• Shallow water or Deep water running (moderate intensity)

 Neuromuscular  Training 2a (8-12 Repetitions 3-5 rotations, RPE 6-8) (light blue)

• Lunge with Upright Row
• Renegade Row (Push Up with Upright Row)
• Squat and Shoulder Press
• Rotational Sit Up
• Assisted Chin Up
• Push Up with alternating tuck under

Weight Load Walking (brown)

• Progressing to walking in required footwear (i.e. boots) carrying loads in backpack to facilitate conditioning to tactical loads 

High Intensity Intermittent Training (orange)

• Explosive anaerobic training following Tabata or Gibala protocols
• Preferably partial weight load bearing (e.g. cycling or rowing) 

Rotation 2: Neuromuscular Focus

Session descriptors:

 Neuromuscular Training Heavy (4-8 RM x 3-4 sets) (purple)

• Deadlift
• Bench Press
• Chin Up (resisted)
• Overhead Press
• Full functional sit up with 10kg load

Continuous Running across various terrains (yellow)

• Non-stop running over distances progressively increasing by 10%
• Across terrains varying in both incline grade and type

Running with agility (light yellow)

• Running at varying speeds with agility content, including: dodging, weaving, ladder running, quick weaving, side stepping, stop/prop, stop/drop, etc.
• Distance of up to 100m non stop

 Neuromuscular  Training 2 (12-15 Repetitions 3-5 rotations, RPE 6-8) (blue)

• Walking diagonal Lunge with Upright Row
• Hand walking Renegade Row (Push Up with Upright Row)
• Squat and Throw
• Lying with sit up to standing
• Incline (Flat) Chin Up
• Push Up with modified Burpee (Step forward into Squat and stand, lower and step back into plank)

Weight Load Walking (brown)

• Progressing to walking in required footwear (i.e. boots) carrying loads in backpack to facilitate conditioning to tactical loads
• Can add short duration equipment carry (eg ammunition boxes, stretcher)
• Include varying terrain types/grades and speed (4.5-6.0 km/h)

High Intensity Intermittent Training (orange)

• Explosive anaerobic training following Tabata or Gibala protocols
• Preferably partial weight load bearing (e.g. cycling to rowing)

Neuromuscular Training 1b – Dressed in Occupational Clothing (Loads no more than 10% Body Weight) (dark blue)

• Bilateral Dumbbell Lift and Carry (15-20m moderate pace)
• Rope haul (15-20m haul-fast)
• Sledgehammer  tyre slam (15-20 Repetitions L&R controlled pace)
• Tyre flip (6-8 Repetitions – fast )
• Unilateral alternating arm Curl, Press, Extend
• Rope hanging knee raise with pelvis tuck (lower limb rope lock technique if applicable)

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