As a strength coach and physiologist, I often get asked about tapering and how it fits into a training program. Simply put, tapering is the final step in a training plan to ensure athletes are at their best for a competition.

Rucking and load support in full kit is an activity that many Tactical Human Performance teams will help soldiers prepare for as part of their normal responsibilities.  The need for this may be due to preparation for selection, school, exercise, or deployment.  

When strength and conditioning coaches enter the weight room, the main goal is to develop the primary physical capacities that are most related to the athlete’s sport. The most common objectives of strength training are increasing maximal strength and power output. However, as a part of most periodized training programs, strength coaches often include high volume/repetition training phases with the goal of increasing muscle size, and additionally work capacity and metabolic alterations which can support greater strength adaptations down the road.

Today we are very excited to announce the closing of a strategic growth capital investment and the acquisition of Game Plan, the leading learning management system built to serve athletic organizations and teams. The combination of BridgeAthletic and Game Plan offers the industry's first integrated athlete development solution trusted by every major professional sports league and more than 10,000 sports teams and tactical groups globally. 

All views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the United States Government, The Department of Defense, or The Department of the Air Force.

Strength and conditioning programs designed for law enforcement officers can overexert the conditioning in a workout. These men and women often carry a strong and “more is better” mindset that we love as coaches and is a requirement for their work, but it can be detrimental to their long-term training progress. If not programmed appropriately, the conditioning workload will catch up and lead to exercise burnout, potential injury, or, at a minimum, a lack of improvement.

At a minimum, a police recruit's time during the academy will feel overwhelming. These future officers are spending several months just trying to keep their heads above water with the goal of graduation.

In the popular book, Extreme Ownership, co-authors Jocko Willink and Leif Babin discuss standard operating procedures (SOP's) extensively.  They describe SOPs as a means of creating a clear process to make commonly performed tasks as efficient as possible.

Question: Who plays a game of life and death with no time outs, no ability to periodize training for the big event, and often no knowledge or closure of if they even won or lost?  These games may be sporadic, clustered, or even non-existent for months, yet these individuals continue to train as if the situation is imminent.