Super Soldier Protocol

Bigger Stronger Leaner
21

Coach just want to a pick your brain:
My primary goals are to lean out/decrease body fat and maintain/increase strength. I am also in the military and need to maintain decent conditioning. Often times I have only an hour to get my work in immediately after my morning PT. Is this a good program to implement for I’m constrained for time/still trying to maintain conditioning required for the Army?

Thanks for your help!!

22

Totally! Then just use the mandatory conditioning you have to do to replace what I outlined. So you’re square! And thank you for your service!

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23

Hey Paul, I follow you on IG and Facebook, read all your articles and you are a huge influence on my training and way of think.

I workout 5-6 times a week, I’m currently cutting and looking to lose weight while retaining muscle (like everyone, haha), would this be the workout for me?

I should also mention I work in the oil sands and my diet is limited to the foods available at my camp. Thanks!

24

Totally. The book will go over what foods (to some degree) to eat and not to eat and help YOU build your own template.

25

Paul,

I recently bought the Super Soldier protocol and jumped straight into the second phase. I love the hops. I have two questions:

  1. What would your recommendation be for adding weight in the hops, for example for a press I’ll do incline dumbbell bench I’ll do 30,35,40,45,50,60,70,80 for 6 reps, hitting 80 for 6 on my final hop. (Dumbbells in my gym move up by 10 after 50lbs). Should I wait until I get 8-10 reps on my final hop to move up to 90lbs?

  2. For conditioning, I always start out with 15-20 minutes of jump rope before I do some incline walking. How would you implement jumping rope for conditioning under the SS protocol?

I appreciate your time Paul, and thank you for writings, they inspire me to be better every day.

26

  1. You can def do it that way, and I like that idea because it brings in the idea of progressive overload along with the metabolic stress.

  2. Throw the jump rope in the trash.

LOL

I hate jumping rope But you could implement it into the interval work where you do 15 seconds really hard, then 45 seconds easy.

And thank you for your words! Much appreciated.

27

Paul, I bought a copy of the super soldier protocol with the intent of building mass. I consider myself to be a hardgainer, as I typically have a hard time putting on any weight. Is the intermittent fasting portion of the nutrition section going to be optimal for my goals? It seems like eating in a smaller window of time would be counterintuitive if I have a hard time eating enough to gain weight.

28

Definitely not. I wouldn’t advise someone to do TRF (time restrictive feeing) if mass gain were their primary goal. Adhere to the rest of the rules but make sure you’re eating as often as possible.

29

Hello Paul.
Please excuse my English.
I’ve always been a fallower of your articles here, and just purchased SSP because I appreciate all the stuff you write for free since now.

Cant’ wait to read it.

Mat’

1 Like
30

One more thing coach, I currently try and do intermittent fasting as a dietary goal. Will this work for the programming. And how long do the sessions usually take?

Thanks coach! And thank you for your support!!

31

Intermittent fasting is actually outlined in the SSP and a huge part of the nutritional and supplemental paradigm there. So it would be an easy transition for you. :slight_smile:

32

One more question, is it better to keep the same primary exercises between the shield and the stars and stripes phases? I know a lot of strength coaches like to keep exercises in a program for longer than 4 weeks. Also, what would be a good home gym substitution for the leg press? Belt squats, hack squats, dead squats?

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33

No you can swap out movements. If you’re not competing in something there’s no need to marry yourself to a particular movements. Pick the ones you can execute well, and that you have a strong mind to muscle connection with.

Front squats would be a substitute for the leg press.

34

Hi Paul.
In reference to the 3 way laterals,

  1. would one use the same weight for all three movemnets?
  2. In what order would you recommend?
  3. How many reps for each, per set?
    Cheers in advance!
35

It’s one movement. So you do a side lateral then immediately bring the dumbbells to the front, then immediately overhead before reversing it.

For these I stick to “8 reps”, which is one full rotation of the above.

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36

Hi Paul !
Is the BB high-pull from hanging position like a delt accessory movement (and done one day 2), or a trap-like exercise (done in day 3 in that case) ?

Thanks ,
Mat’

37

My question about these movements would be this - why would you use such a move to build mass (which is what I believe you’re asking) when it’s high risk and low reward?

The high pull has a much higher potential for injury compared to say, some side laterals and shrugs, and offers basically no eccentric portion to emphasize in the movement.

Not only that, but because it’s a fast lift, the TUT even in the concentric is very short.

38

Paul,

Bought and read the book, love how you touch on some of the more mental aspects of life and how it affects everything.

Questions I have…

  1. AVT: Maybe I’m taking it too literal, do you actually want 25lb increments for the main lift (using your Incline Press example)? I know my TM for each lift and I can do more hops going in 10% increments, especially for upper body lifts, rather than 25lbs. Squat and DL might be closer to 25lb increments by default with how the percentages work out. Or perhaps 5% jumps might be better or is that just too little?
  2. I didn’t note anything about Ab or Oblique work. To this point I’ve done one maybe two exercises and typically no more than 2 or 3 sets of each. Are you not recommending any direct work with this protocol or is it just assumed to do a little without impacting recovery?
39

  1. Your increments will be congruent with your strength level and the number of hops you settle on. I personally like 8-12 hops per round, or somewhere in that range. The number of reps you settle on for the rounds will be taken into account as well. So it’s a mixture of those things.

  2. I don’t do ab work as I find it boring and I never wore a belt in all my years of competing. So I learned how to really brace with my abs for the big lifts. If you want to do ab work then my suggestion is to pick ab work that…

  • doesn’t put you in a state of spinal flexion
  • reduces hip flexor involvement

This is why the ab wheel and plans are often suggest as “best” ab movements. They force someone to adhere to these principles while working abs.

1 Like
40

I don’t mean to challenge anyone’s opinion, but I remember that Christian Thibaudeau (which I know you share many ideas with) has talked extensively about how the snatch grip high pull is a great mass builder and can change one’s appearance in a short span of time by developing the “power muscles,” namely the traps and delts.

I have read some of your works in the past and I believe you’re extremely knowledgeable and a great lifter, as well as I’m a huge fan of Christian Thibaudeau.

However I’m finding it difficult to come up and figure out if the high pull is or isn’t good for size. Maybe you two just have had different experiences with it?

I would love you to go more in depth with this topic!