Training template: suggestions, advice and criticisms please

[Joseph Zukowski]

Hello everyone,
Let me preface by saying that I have been reading Performance Menu for a few months now and find it to be one of the most informative fitness journals I have ever read. Also this forum has been an extremely useful resource for me in terms of my fitness goals and I'd like to thank everyone. With that out of the way let me get to the meat of my post. My question pertains to the training schedule I have just created for myself. I am currently training to become a Navy SEAL and have come up with this training schedule after a wealth of reading and some trial and error.

M: SEAL style PT (pull ups, push ups, sit ups and other randomness for added fun)
T: ME Lower Body (Back Squat, Front Squat, Overhead Squat)
W: Rest
Th: Metcon
F: ME Upper Body (Weighted Pull ups, Weighted Dips, Push Press)
S: Metcon
S: Rest

I swim twice a week on Tuesday (long conditioning swim) and Friday (Sprints or Hypox pyramid) in the morning
I do an endurance run on Mondays and usually throw another run or row in on metcon days in the morning depending on the type of work out I'm doing that day.

Every 4th week I plan to unload by cutting the work to 50% and every 4 months take a week off in an attempt to prevent overtraining

My goals with this template are to increase my overall metabolic conditioning while steadily and slowly increasing my strength. For reference some of my pertinent numbers are:

DL: 275lbs
Back Squat: 175lbs
Overhead squat: 135lbs
weighted pull up: 60lbs
weighted dip: 60lbs
70 pushups on the floor and 42 on rings
18 strict pull ups
80ish sit ups
9:20 500m swim
9:45 1.5 mile run

My main concern with this template is being unprepared for the sheer amount of running required at BUD/S, yet I am apprehensive of sacrificing my metabolic condition or strength training for an increase in running. I'm also concerned with overtraining and/or under recovering. Therefore, I was wondering if you fitness gurus could weigh in on my template with any suggestions at all. I’m open to all constructive criticism. This is a working template that I am willing to change it or scrap it completely. As far as my diet is concerned... I eat fairly clean during the week; however, on the weekend I have a terrible time eating clean which I will attribute to being in college. I have just finished reading all I can about IF which I am going to begin to implement it during the week and on the weekends as well once school ends. I currently consume roughly 2500-2750 calories a day in a zoneish fashion with 3x the fat during the week and probably well above that on weekends between beer, wings and other food. I currently weigh 167ish @ 10ish% BF. Thanks in advance and sorry for making you dredge through such a long post. Also I apologize if I posted this in the wrong forum...feel free to move it if necessary.

[Allen Yeh]

Do you have a timeline/deadline? That will be a driving factor in how you would want to schedule things.

[Josh Whiting]

DL: 275lbs
Back Squat: 175lbs
Overhead squat: 135lbs
weighted pull up: 60lbs
weighted dip: 60lbs
70 pushups on the floor and 42 on rings
18 strict pull ups
80ish sit ups
9:20 500m swim
9:45 1.5 mile run

Is that what you can do or what you want to do?

[Joseph Zukowski]

My deadline is about a year from now and those numbers refer to what i currently can do. Thanks for the replys

[Allen Yeh]

My deadline is about a year from now and those numbers refer to what i currently can do. Thanks for the replys

Since you have a year I would try not to do so many things at once. I've made this mistake many many times in my training past and I'm still somewhat guilty of it but I'm doing better.

Right now you have ME days + running days + metcon + swimming. Yes all 4 of those are things you will most likely need but doing all 4 at once will keep gains in each category lower than if you went with a focus on one or 2 at a time. A really great strength base will serve all help almost all other aspects of fitness.

[Robb Wolf]

I agree with Allen. As you get say 3 months out from testing shift to more running. An easy place to do that is adding 800m runs to your met-cons. Also jumping pull-ups are good for work hardening the feet to minimize the risk of stress fractures.

build that strength base and everything else will fall into place quite nicely.

[Joseph Zukowski]

Would you guys recommend doing a routine similar to the Mass Gain routine outlined in PM Issue 17 for strength gain? Also if I choose to go on a strength program like that should I drop the swims from training or do you think it would be feasible to swim twice a week to keep up my technique and endurance while still making good strength gains? Thanks again for the replies :) Hope everyone has a good day

[Neal Winkler]

Joseph,

There's nothing wrong with doing a couple easy "cardio" days, like swimming, per week while strength training. Just keep them very light. A rule of thumb you should follow is that that at the end of the session you should be able to perform just as well as you did at the beginning. These session will be a form of active recovery, where you just get the blood pumping to get those broken down metabolites from strength training out and get the recuperative nutrients in.

[Allen Yeh]

What Neal said just ensure you're eating enough.

I can't speak to the efficiency of the Mass Gain Routine since I have yet to use it but some others have like Chris Forbis I believe has been using that.

Perhaps a focus on strength (i.e. deadlift squat, bench weighted pullup) then a shift in focus after a month or 2 to power over strength (i.e. olympic lift variations).

[Russell Greene]

I dunno, that plan looks very good but you're also going to need to be prepared for ridiculously high volumes of work, usually on the same exercises (running, pushups, log work, flutter kicks, swimming) and usually day after day after day. Being really strong and good at Crossfit definitely will help you do your job after BUD/s, but it won't mean much if you can't pass because you're out with a stress fracture or another overuse injury after a few weeks because you didn't do a high enough volume of work to prepare.

Then again all I know about this stuff is what I read in books and saw on the discovery channel, so take it with a grain of salt.

[Joseph Zukowski]

Thanks for the great replies everyone. As Allen and Robb have mentioned I am going to build my strength base and then shift toward an endurance based approach. The current plan now is to do 6 months of pure strength training using Bill Starr's 5x5 template with a few changes: switch bench with weighted dips and rows with weighted pull ups, as well as including an abs and back circuit 3 days a week a la the Mass Gain template in PM 17. After I build this strength base, I plan to switch to an endurance/strength based template for 3 months. This would be something like the ME black box program outlined in the PM journals. For the final three months I plan to train for volume and endurance and really get at it until my ship date.

Russell, I appreciate your post on overuse injuries and stress fractures. To address this I plan to jump rope as a warm up and cool down for my work outs. Hopefully this will address any lower body stress related issues I may encounter when I begin the shift towards endurance. Let me know what you guys think of this revised plan and I'd like to thank everyone again for taking the time to read and reply to this.

Cheers