1.

An initial list of questions you would ask the client

2. Which assessments you would initially run
3. A loose outline of a single microcycle/training week
4. At least 1 paragraph (300 words) on special athlete considerations for progression and any
potential issues you would be concerned about
5. A sample long term calendar outlook - how would you structure from now until the athlete's 1st
event

Tom Jones:notes.
Initial list of questions you would ask the client.
What types of equipment do you have available to you?
How many hours sleep do you get a night?
Rate daily stress 1-10.
Namely in terms of, plate quantity, bumpers/steel, Do you have access to pools,
tracks, rowers and strong man equipment? Specifically yokes.
What did you training look like (if you can, give a loose example of a training
week) , when you began to suffer from your injury?
Gives an example of what potential caused/aggravated the injury, he said it was
from too many pull ups, but it may have been something else. What exercises
cause pain.

Where do you normally miss in a squat?

What does a normal days eating look like for you?
How active does your day look outside of training?.

What are we looking at with this athlete?

potentially, weak quads and over training/under-recovery. He says he struggles
to gain strength, but his training background seems to be mostly endurance
work, My assessment is he is potentially over-training.
His squat implies weak quads cheating back to the glutes.
His goals are more pull ups (but has an elbow injury)
Run a faster mile,
Run a faster 10k
He needs to be good at calisthentics and rucking.
He seems to *want* to increase his base lifts

He should probably have some exposure to swimming (as hes training to be a

navy seal)
Assessments:
1k swim time trial
1 rep max front squat
A video of his pull ups
Close grip push up test: to check for weak triceps contributing to his elbow
issues.
Squat: are his issues mechanical or muscular imbalances
Maybe some kind of Bulgarian split squat test. For his quads.
Watch his frontsquat, potentially a comparision of front/bsq.

The early microcycle:

Should probably contain.
Weighted calisthenic movements
Long distance yoke carries to build work capacity.
A.Squats, pulls, presses etc. as well as intervals on running and swimming,
maybe relatively short Rucks.
less calisthenics, more general preparation of the muscle groups required,
potentially no benching (to minimize loading on his elbows)
B. Less dummy strength, carries, Olympic lifts. More long distance swimming and
running with long rucks.
A rough microcycle:
Monday:
Backsquat: Work up to a heavy paused (1 sec) double
Front squat: 3x2@ 85%, 2x2@80%
For the following 8 minutes perform X2 power cleans per minute, starting with
60% in the first minute and following the order of percentages for the
corresponding minutes.
60%,70%,80%,90%,85%,80%,75%,70%
Track workout:
4x800 @ 2:00 pace. 2:1 recovery
Tuesday:
Strict press heavy triple

Then 4x3.
Push ups 3 sets (stop 2-3 reps away from failure)
Conditioning:
4x150m swim@ 1km pace.
Wedensday:
Strength: nothing
Conditioning: 30-40 mins recovery swim (preferably open water).
Thursday: Lower body volume.
Frontsquat: 7x3
Bulgarian split squats.
4x8 each leg (dumbells)
Conditioning.
40 min T-run
Friday:
EMOM 10
ODD: 7 Pull ups
EVEN:10 push ups
Barbell row 3x8:
1 mile yolk walk, pick a weight you can complete the full mile walking with, or
maybe allow 2-3 stoppages
Saturday:
Strength:
Conditoning:
90 mins of easy hiking/rucking.
Sunday: OFF.
At least 1 paragraph (300 words) on special athlete considerations for progression and any
potential issues you would be concerned about
Fixing the hip issue he has with his squats is certainly a consideration for progression, his
application could suggest he is a relatively novice lifter, which means his good morning squat
may simply be down to an upper-back tightness related technical issue. It may be more likely that
it is due to a muscular imbalance ie, weak quadriceps. His hips shooting up on squats could
make him liable to a lower back injury. Particularly when coupled with any kind of repeated stress
carrying events like weighted running or rucking. Addressing this issue/strengthening the quads
is a big enough consideration for this athlete. Overall I feel the athletes strength is certainly his
major weakness. However hes already pretty lean and relatively muscular for his stature it would
be beneficial to his lifts if he were to gain weight (say 5-10 lbs) the potential for issue arises with
this however though as 200lbs may be too costly a weight for him to maintain during SEAL
training, so the athlete may have to be brought down again closer to the event, the issue that

arises is that he could be given relatively short notice to begin training. So In this sense,
managing the athletes strength with respect to giving him enough room to add strength, while
still keeping him within a safe mark for SEAL training is an important thing to consider for this
athlete.
The medial epicondylitis is a concern for me. The athlete has suffered this injury for a prolonged
period of time and hes still not 100% recovered. This raises programming concerns as the
athlete wants to increase the amount of pull-ups he does and will need a relatively high level of
durability with respect to calisthenics. A lot of the things he may be exposed during SEAL training
(High rep calisthenics in a fatigued state, prolonged planking/holding a push up position, lifting
objects overhead etc) may re-incur is his injury means preparation for this kind of volume and
ensuring the maximum possible elbow health is paramount. As well, front squats may be a very
useful tool in this athletes arsenal, as they could help to strengthen his quads as well as his
upper-back and midline for seal training, My fear is holding a rack position with excessive loading
may exacerbate his condition. To summate a major consideration and concern for this athlete is
managing his epicondylitis, while improving his durability with respect to calisthenics and getting
the proper loading in the proper exercises to improve is overall strength.
.

Macrocycle example.

Time until event 1: roughly 9 months:

Mesocycle 1: Months 1-3
Id really like to see an increase in his barbell strength mainly squats, Olympic
lifting, strict pressing and pulling movements which should hopefully be
manageable on his elbows. The two main goals being reduction of his hips
shooting on squats and hopefully furthering the recovery of his elbow injury. Most
of this athletes goals are conditioning centred, so I would mostly give him
relatively manageable track work, to help get him closer to his conditioning goals
and keep him in touch with running, as well as recovery swims (To keep him in
touch with the water, as hell need to maintain his swimming for SEAL training)
as well as some longer distance moderately loaded strongman work, to help
build and develop his back relevantly and some light but long rucks for LSD work.
Overall though for the first 2-3 months the emphasis would remain on dummy
lifting and building some strength based work capacity. I would also have the
athlete swim once a week for maybe 20-30 minutes of recovery work, this is just
to keep him in touch and comfortable with the water for SEAL training and act as
some light active recovery.
Main movements for this mesocycle: Squats, Olympic lifts, Presses and light
calisthentic work.
Mesocycle 2: 3-6
Assuming the first mesocycle was successful, the athletes elbow health has
improved, hes put 20-30lb on his squat and also improved his presses and
power cleans. The following mesocycle would have a focus on still improving his

strength numbers, but not as viciously. The main focus for this mesocycle would
be improving his higher intensity conditioning and work capacity.
I would keep both his squat and running frequency the same, but reduce his
squat volume and increase running intensity, he would be working in the same
relatively short distances as before (mostly around 800m) but aiming for faster
intervals and slightly less recovery. The reduction of squat volume would give the
athlete more energy to spend on his running, while still hopefully maintaining
enough relative intensity to allow for some squat progress, albeit lessened. The
athlete would also still be involved with the Olympic lifts, to a roughly similar
extent as the previous micro-cycle, just as the athlete seems to enjoy it.
I would begin to really focus on his calisthenics now too, possibly removing some
upper body lifting (or at least reducing the volume) I would probably mostly
program segments that were either long EMOM (15-20 minutes) or things such
as getting the athletes to perform supersets in which they stop themselves at an
RPE than would rank 2-3 reps away from failure, with strict rest intervals.
Depending on the athletes elbow health at this point, weighted pull ups for
moderate reps (8-12) could be programmed too.
I would still have the athlete doing some strongman work, either long yolk walks
(around a mile) without stopping or minimal stoppages or something similar like
long lunge walks if a yolk was not available to him and his LSD would stay as
some kind of hike/march/ruck.
Overall the main emphasis of this mesocycle would be to really hammer the
athletes specific work capacity with respect to running, carries and calisthenics,
with a minor emphasis on making some small last minute improvements to
barbell strength.

Squats gone up still an emphasis on lifting but this is relatively lessened. Elbows
are better.
Harder running intervals, longer strong man carries, more exposure to
swimming, higher volume of calisthenics.
Mesocycle 3: months 6-8
Minimal emphasis on barbell lifting, with the athlete doing the bare minimum
exercises to maintain strength. With the main exercises being front squats, Power
cleans and military press or push press. Calisthenics programming would remain
similar enough, simply focusing on building the athletes endurance and specific
work capacity, so again, mostly long EMOMS and high rep work sets.
Swimming and running would be probably the two biggest components of this
mesocycle. Running frequency would stay around twice a week, with the athlete
having one day of medium length mid intensity work such as 20 minute tempo
runs and one day of medium to long intervals, 800s or mile repeats. Swimming
would be similar enough, 1 day of recovery work, 1 day of intervals.

Long carries would still be in the program, but remain around the same distance,
but maybe with greater loading if the athlete has seen good progress with the
movements. Long ruck would remain as LSD and recovery work.
Mesocycle 4: month 8-9.
Very simple easy month, completely bare bones, mostly maintaining the gains
the athlete has made across the board and allowing them to recover in prep for
SEAL training. 1 day of lifting a week, 1 day of moderate (7-8) RPE carries. Swim
and run program would stay roughly the same, but with lesser intensity.
Calisthenics twice a week to maintain endurance and then an easy hike/march
once a week. Everything would sit at a comfortable intensity just before
challenging, allowing the athlete to go through some steady work, without
entering training completely fatigued.