Practical Physical Training for Anything Part 2

In our last installment of The Practical Physical Training Series I introduced the concept of what is called "General Physical Preparedness" aka GPP and some very basic concepts of how to arrive at this kind of conditioning. I CANNOT emphasize enough that routine is the enemy here. For review, please check out that article.

In this article, I will discuss how to implement those principles in your cardiovascular training and also how to carry that over into program design. Here we go...

Cardiovascular Training with a Twist

Keep it simple, keep it varied.

This shouldn't be rocket science. Remember, our bodies improve in form AND function by having to adapt to new stimuli. By varying, longer steady state runs on one day, Sprint work on others and still yet intervals on others, one can achieve a well rounded cardiovascular conditioning base. One of the keys is to NOT put all your eggs in one basket. All of the earlier mentioned modalities of cardio training are important. Additionally, mix in other things besides running where equipment allows. For example, biking, rowing, swimming, and hiking are all great cross conditioning tools.

Program Design

I can't say it enough, ROUTINE is the enemy. Don't sucked into thinking that things will get neglected if you don't train them regularly. There certain movements that can and in some cases should be in a warm up fashion each time, but it shouldn't be the core of your training session.

If you follow my workout postings from the blog site, you probably alread have noticed a trend of combining body weight resistance movements with intervals of running of some sort. Occasionally we throw in external load(weightlifting) into the mix as well. All of this is important as these are all elements of what any given real world situation may throw at us.

We tend to favor a bulk of our resistance training being bodyweight type stuff like they do in the military. One, because it can be done anytime and anywhere and two, it simulates most real world  situations. Additionally, recovery is very quick.

Here are some examples:

4 rounds of 1/4 mi run and 25 pushups.

3 rounds of 1/2 mi run and 50 situps

Both of these follow the criteria I have set forth in the above paragraphs and actually are great workouts in and of themselves.

A Word about intensity...

If you follow the Patriot Workout you will notice they have a time element in them. One of our goals is to improve work capacity. By timing the events, keeping track of your results then striving to improve, work capacity increases. I do recommend easing into this, especially if you are new to this type of training. Do not let your ego get the best of you.

In closing, I hope you enjoy this series as I have enjoyed sharing this info with you. Again..please if you are new, don't hesitate to contact me for help.

Til next time, God Bless...

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