An Cosantóir

11 who has to almost drag their buddy to the ground while using them as a lever to get themselves up off one knee. So how can the tactical athlete condition their body for the demands of these chaotic activities? Quite similar to how any athlete trains, with a few extras such as battle P.T., military circuits, route marches etc. When I am designing a training programme, I look at the body using the joint by joint approach developed by strength and conditioning coach Mike Boyle and physiotherapist Gray Cook. The joints alternate from a primary function of mobility to stability (Boyle 2010). • Ankle: mobility. • Knee: stability. • Hip: mobility in multiple planes. • Lumbar spine (core): stability. • Thoracic spine: mobility. • Shoulder: mobility & stability. If the required mobility or stability is inadequate at a particular joint, this may lead to issues at the joint or joints above or below, due to compensation. Mobility can be improved or maintained during any warm- up by including mobility stations in a circuit, in stand-alone sessions such as Yoga or Pilates, or as a form of active rest in between working sets in a resistance training session. Stability can be improved or maintained in a variety of ways also: • Plyometrics: Jumps (both legs), hops (taking off and landing on same leg), and bounds (from one leg to the other), with emphasis on technique and landing mechanics initially. • Sprinting: Progressively introducing sprinting, (both uphill and on flat ground), to your own training will greatly reduce the risk of a hamstring injury when you suddenly have to move into top gear for any number of reasons. • High-speed running: extensive to intensive tempo running. • Change of direction drills: Accelerate, decelerate, reaccelerate. • Resistance training: Using bodyweight, Pilates, resistance bands, medicine balls, power-bags, kettlebells, suspension trainers, free weights, or a combination of all of the above. Any resistance training workout or programme should include a balanced amount of: a) Explosive exercises: Jumps, Med ball throws or slams, swings, cleans or snatches. b) Knee dominant: Squat progressions, split squats, lunges, lateral squats or lunges, single leg squats. c) Hip dominant: (Hip Extension) Bridges, hip hinge, hip thrusts, deadlift variations, single leg deadlift variations. (Knee Flexion): Supine leg curl variations, Nordics. d) Push: (Vertical) Overhead pressing, (Horizontal) push- up variations, flat and incline dumbbell and barbell bench presses. e) Pull: (Vertical) Pull-ups, chin-ups, band pulldowns, lat pulldowns. (Horizontal) rows, single arm rows, band pull- aparts, horizontal chins (inverted rows). f) Core: (Anti Extension) Plank variations, body-saws, dead-bugs, crawl variations. (Anti lateral Flexion) side plank progressions, and (Anti Rotation) planks with arm or leg lifts, shoulder taps, shoulder tap and flye, Renegade rows, Pallof press. g) Weighted carries: Farmers carry, suitcase carry, rack carry, overhead, mixed. (These will help keep you upright and your arm in its socket, the next time you have to carry your buddy, or heavy, awkward equipment for an unspecified time or distance over difficult terrain). h) Prehab: Hip abduction & extension, band walks, Internal and external rotation, face pulls, IYTW. Of course, sometimes injury can be unavoidable, however, time well spent in or out of the gym, with smart structured training, combined with implementation of progressive overload and adequate recovery and nutrition will greatly improve performance and efficiency while participating in chaotic high intensity activities with external load, and also help reduce the likelihood of injury. Physical activity. Mobility. Stability. INVINCIBILITY? Well, a degree of physical robustness at least. Trained soldiers taking part in a casevac & ammo resupply drill Troops on 2 - 3 star course marching across the top leve l of Fort Davis after a morning of MOUT training Troops on 2 - 3 star course on a route march Marching out from the Fort Davis top level ACOUIRING PHYSICAL ROBUSTNESS

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