How To Fit Tactical Training To Your Program Without Overtraining

Tactical training workouts are very intensity. Learn the secret to adding intensity to your program without burnout or overtraining.

Obstacle course races and hybrid events are intense. It takes intensity in your training to adequately prepare for these races, but are you overdoing it.

Here are the two biggest problems I see when working with new clients.

First, they think every workouts needs to be as hard as possible and it leads to burnout. Your body can only push so hard and without recovery and varying your workouts it is too hard to maintain. This often leads to just going through the motion versus really training.

Second, again they try and add more and more intensity which leads to injury. For similar reasons, when we push hard all the time the body will eventually give. Now it feels like you are limping from one event to the next and never really feeling like you peak for your races.

So how do we fix this?

We have to add intensity but we have to do it in a smart way. We should have different styles of workouts in our program. I typically refer to these as energy system development (running or conditioning), strength training, and tactical training.

While all of these different styles of workouts can be intense, tactical workout tend to be the toughest. These workouts are simulating race day situations. They involve working on specific skills needed in a race, like climbing a rope, or even transitions that need improvement, like running to a DEKA Zone.

Since they are trying to mimic race day situations, they will be intense. We are working on improving these skills while under fatigue. This often involves a combination of running, strength training, and obstacles or zones.

The Overtraining Trap

When people hear about these style of workouts they get excited because they can be "fun." So they take their normal routine and add these intense workouts on top of what they are already doing.

This leads to the problems we already discussed. They start to experience excessive fatigue, slower recovery between workouts, and more nagging injuries.

How To Fit Tactical Training In

There are many things to consider when putting together a training program that is the best for you. But we do need a combination of these different styles of workouts.

Because we want tactical workouts to be our most intense training sessions, it is a good idea to only include 1-2 of these workouts per week. If you have never done tactical workouts I would start with once a week training. Since you are only doing it once, you can really push the intensity.

As you improve your fitness and recovery you might add a second day into your routine.

But since we are adding in this workout, we likely have to replace one of our other workouts. So this might mean one less strength workout or running workout per week. This will depend on what areas you may be able to back off with.

Mistakes to Avoid

Two things I want you to pay attention to. First, you might love the idea of tactical workouts, make sure they aren't your only form of training.

The mindset that every workout needs to be as hard as possible often leads to burnout and injury. Support your intense tactical days with moderate and light workouts for adequate recovery.

The other important piece to focus on is form. Often when we see intense workouts we also see terrible form with movement.

This is reason why burpees get such a bad reputation. Many fitness professionals will never use burpees because they feel like they are a bad exercise. The exercise isn't bad, but the way many people do them is. We can say the same for most exercises out there.

Race day you might not have perfect form as you are competing for time. But training days are for getting better not just finishing. During your challenging workouts, focus on what is important. Not to just finish as fast as you can, but to resist fatigue and keep better postures and positions the entire workout.

Tactical training is essential for OCR and Hybrid races, but be smart about how you integrate it.

If you want to learn more how you can implement tactical workouts into your program and learn the essential movements to incorporate (specifically for OCR), I put together a free 30 minute training on this topic.

You can watch the Tactical Training Webinar Replay Here: https://ocr-underground.newzen...

Categories: : Programming, Tactical Training