Pat McNamara - Combat Chassis It is important to take care of the combat chassis. I train folks in a system that I developed called Combat Strength Training. CST is a system that retrofits the combat chassis so that it performs with maximum efficiency at maximum capacity. Focusing on self preservation and longevity, CST introduces the chassis and its external components to power, strength, and agility training in all plains of motion within the full muscle spectrum range. It enhance the chassis performance and tactical effectiveness through maintenance, education, and combat replicated movements while following a safe, comprehensive, systematic, and progressive format. As the chassis is upgraded it becomes a battlefield multiplier which in turn becomes a force multiplier. CST improves rate of force production, strength, muscular development, speed, quickness, proprioception, and functional flexibility. The CST methodology works within the individuals own performance level to develop a better, more efficient, stronger, and more capable self. When it comes to weight training, working body parts is virtually an anachronism. Isolated training of the muscle group can actually be weakening the muscle group because it needs to be used in a functional fashion. We should focus on compound exercises as they are much more functional than isolated exercises. A chin up is a compound exercise that when done with a twist can elicit a growth response,...for those of you who want to show off your peaks and valleys. If you are performing fifty Kipping pull-ups until the skin rips from your hands, you are an idiot. Remember your goal when exercising. You are exercising to get healthy. Torn hands are not synonymous with health and fitness. Instead of damaging yourself, add to your carte du jour of exercises a One minute Chin-Up with a long term goal of being able to achieve three in a row. The concentric movement or upward movement should last 30 seconds and the eccentric movement or downward movement should last 30 seconds. You will feel at some point other muscles kick in to assist. This is known as muscle recruitment. All that your muscles understand is applied tension. This exercise offers bang for the buck in muscular endurance and muscular development. Perform Olympic style lifts. Compound lifts, like Olympic style lifts, are not only superior for building strength but are also more calorically challenging and elicit greater responses which generate elevations of testosterone and HGH (Human Growth Hormone). Performing Olympic lifts will result in greater fitness levels, increased caloric expenditure, and improved total body strength and power development. Changing our exercises on a regular basis and manipulating our volumes and intensity every few weeks will stimulate greater growth and strength. Before you touch anything that increases resistance, make sure you warm up properly. The purpose is to increase your body temperature to help improve muscle and tendon flexibility and pliability in order to facilitate an improved range of motion. I am fortunate that I am still in one piece. I spent 22 in the military years as a special operations ground pounder and have had several reconstructive surgeries though at 46 I am fitter than I was at 26. I did not receive proper strength training instruction until I was 34. This saved me as I was probably on a self destructive downward spiral. Here are a couple things Ive learned and are testimony to long lasting performance. The Combat Chassis needs to be worked in all plains of motion and in the full muscle action spectrum. In other words, we need to work in the frontal (laterally), sagittal (back and forth) and transverse (core movements) plains of motion. In addition our combat chassis must produce a variety of actions to effectively manipulate gravity, ground reaction forces, momentum, and external resistance. Therefore we must work in the three different actions that the muscles produce: Eccentric (lengthening of the muscle), Concentric (shortening or contraction) and Isometric (equal force or maintaining length) . I am also a firm believer in breaking down the week into sub-tasks. My four day program includes; Strength, Power, Speed/quickness, and muscular development (hypertrophy). Speed = fast in one direction Quickness = fast in multiple directions Training example = Sprints, focus/ heavy bag work, speed ladder drills Combat Application = movement under fire. Personal application=running up a flight of stairs. Running through a crowd to the safety of your vehicle. Throwing accurate punches in bunches to an adversaries bread basket. Power = rate of force production. How much how fast Training example = power cleans, medicine ball throws, lateral sledge hammer Combat application = hoisting a team mate into a firemans carry. Heaving an ammo can to a top gunner. Personal Application=throwing the table through the restaurant window. Hoisting an injured loved one into a firemans carry. Strength = how much Training example = max squat, max dead-lift (three reps each) Combat application = up righting an overturned vehicle, pulling ones self up and over obstacle. Personal Application=holding a dangling loved one by the hand. Carrying your kids or wife from point A to point B. Hypertrophy = muscular development Training example = 20 reps sets to failure Combat application = self preservation Personall Application=self preservation In addition to my big four, I will work abs every day, functional balance and functional flexibility twice a week. I think it is important that each workout is run as a circuit and lasts 30 minutes or more. Each workout must start with a 5-10 minute warm-up (run a mile, jump rope, row). Work the neglected areas as well. One of the limiting factors to all upper body strength is grip strength. We are load bearing creatures. How much we can carry and for how long is usually determined by what our hands can handle. Ive got a plethora of grip performance exercises I can share if interested. Another area often neglected is our necks. Pencil neck-itus can land you with a serious injury when an eighteen wheeler T-Bones your limo or when you take a spill down some stairs. The neck supports the Command Center. Simple Buddy-assist manual resistance exercises performed twice a week can determine whether you go limp or are able to stay in the fight when taking one on the chin. We all have different goals when it comes to our PT program. For some it is as simple as cosmetics for others it is a requirement. Combat readiness however, is non-negotiable. This should be the main focus and should drive what we do and how we do it. Put your ego aside and understand that we all perform differently and that performance can be measured by doing what you can with what you have. Some of our combat chassis are Porches and some are Mack Trucks. Work within your capability level. - Pat McNamara Link to Pats Training Class Schedule; aliastraining/search.aspx?manufacturer=6 Pat McNamara (Mac) has 22 years of Special Operations experience, 13 of which were in 1st SFOD-D. He has extensive experience in hostile fire/combat zones in the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. He trains individuals at basic and advanced levels of marksmanship and combat tactics. When he worked in the premier special missions unit, he became an impeccable marksman, shooting with accurate, lethal results and tactical effectiveness. McNamara has trained tactical applications of shooting to people of all levels of marksmanship, from varsity level soldiers, and police officers who work the streets to civilians with little to no time behind the trigger. His military experience quickly taught him that there is more to tactical marksmanship than merely squeezing the trigger. Utilizing his years of experience, McNamara developed a training methodology that is safe, effective and combat relevant and encourages a continuous thought process. This methodology teaches how to maintain safety at all times and choose targets that force accountability, as well as provides courses covering several categories, including individual, collective, on line and standards. While serving as his Units Marksmanship NCO, he developed his own marksmanship club with NRA, CMP, and USPSA affiliations. Mac ran monthly IPSC matches and ran semi annual military marksmanship championships to encourage marksmanship fundamentals and competitiveness throughout the Army. He retired from the Armys premier hostage rescue unit as a Sergeant Major and is the author of T.A.P.S. (Tactical Application of Practical Shooting).
Posted on: Fri, 14 Mar 2014 13:11:44 +0000
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