Preview – PT – The Missing Links

Illustrations by Chris Bywater

Photography by Shinnosuke Tanaka

A Former Delta Operator Urges You to Kick Your Clone’s Ass

“One should not pursue goals that are easily achieved. One must develop an instinct for what one can barely accomplish through one’s greatest efforts.” This Einstein quote is perfect to explain some of my drills and to help define my training methodology.

Take a moment to read that quote again. We’re talking about goals that would be difficult to achieve, but are still doable. An example of this is posed in this question: If you had cloned yourself yesterday, could you kick your clone’s ass tomorrow? The timeframe is relative, of course. The point: Are you making continual incremental gains to improve your mind and combat chassis? Are you truly pursuing goals that are not easily achievable?

If you’ve been following my articles on the Combat Strength Training (CST) program, you know that the week should be broken down into a strength day, a power day, a speed and quickness day, and a hypertrophy (muscular development) day. Workouts should be done in a circuit and should last between 25 to 30 minutes. Individual exercises should be performed in anaerobic chunks to near metabolic threshold to achieve an aerobic goal as well.

As you may recollect, I’m not a fan of bodybuilder-type workouts. I don’t harbor disdain for bodybuilders, but I think it is a wasted investment — unless, of course, you’re a competitive bodybuilder. Besides, there’s no ass-kicking quality to peaks on biceps. Your clone will not be impressed.

To summarize previous articles, we need to work compound movements, in all planes of direction and within the complete muscle spectrum.

This “missing links” article focuses on just that — the final pieces of the puzzle that bring everything together. These are done in conjunction with your workout or at the end of it. They may even be incorporated in the workout. Let your imagination run wild.

Muscular Imbalances
If you’re nursing a bad knee or back or have joint pain that is unexplainable, it might not be your body breaking down, but rather an imbalance in your combat chassis. This is common with those of you pseudo-bodybuilders who work the front (the parts that are closest to the mirror) much more than the back. For example, if you do tons of bench presses or heaps of leg extensions, but don’t work the opposing groups as much.

You will suffer from muscle imbalance when opposing muscles around a joint exert tension in different directions due to tightness and/or weakness. You may be overworking in one area and underworking in another. They may also occur simply because of patterns you create and constantly replicate. I developed an imbalance simply because of how I stand…or rather, stood. My normal stance was my fighting/shooting stance — shoulders semi-square, lower body slightly canted to the right. Left foot oriented forward and right foot oriented oblique to the right. This is how I stood for everything I did. Because of this habitual behavior, I developed bursitis in my right knee to the point where the pain was incapacitating. I had to change patterns, starting with changing my stance. Changing my stance and a good stretching regime mitigate my muscular imbalances — and will give me an edge on my clone’s mobility.

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