Protecting brain health in tactical athletes means we must expand our view to include all potential subconcussive mechanisms, ensuring any MOS, or specialty’s unique neurotrauma exposures are considered. Combat divers are no exception. A study conducted at the Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF) naval base with professional divers recruited from the SwAF, the Swedish Coast Guard,… Continue reading Neuronal Damage Biomarker Rises After SCUBA Diving
Author: Dani Fennerty
Maintaining Target Focus Against an External Force: Weapon Recoil
Maintaining target focus against an external force is an important skill and greatly impacts performance. For example, maintaining target focus when experiencing a weapon’s recoil. You don’t want to risk losing target focus with every recoil force. Here’s what happens: This typically happens in less than 15ms and can have a significant impact on accuracy… Continue reading Maintaining Target Focus Against an External Force: Weapon Recoil
How to Add Vestibular Training to Your Plyometrics
Your vestibular system is integral to performance. It is an essential situational awareness system and contributes to movement in low visibility and maintaining position against an external force. The performance of your vestibular system is also vulnerable to repeated subconcussive exposures. That is why it is so important to incorporate vestibular training into your training.… Continue reading How to Add Vestibular Training to Your Plyometrics
Own the Night
Tactical athletes must maintain a high level of performance under no vision conditions. When visual cues are removed, there is a shift to increased dependence on the auditory, vestibular, and somatosensory systems for situational awareness. Maintaining communication with your team in these situations typically involves verbal (auditory system) and tactile (somatosensory system) cues. To maintain… Continue reading Own the Night
Maintaining Position Against an External Force
Force = Mass x Acceleration. Maintaining position against an external force requires the ability to counteract both the mass and the acceleration components. You need to have the physical output capabilities, like strength, to hold your position. But strength alone isn’t enough to hold your position. Take bull riders for example. In order to stay… Continue reading Maintaining Position Against an External Force
Customize Chaos – 10 Visual Chaos Variables
There are 10 variables I look at to customize visual chaos training. I put these together for you to be able to look at the variables and identify which you want to add, remove, and adjust to train with specificity. You can get the PDF download of this list HERE. 1. Target size – large… Continue reading Customize Chaos – 10 Visual Chaos Variables
Peripheral Target Centralization
You want two things to happen when centralizing on a peripheral target: Because the faster you can turn your head and keep that target in focus, the faster you can accurately engage it. Rapid centralization of a peripheral target requires your vestibular system. To maintain that peripheral target focus as you move your head, your… Continue reading Peripheral Target Centralization
Training Speed and Precision with Divided Focus
A foundational capability for you as a tactical athlete is the ability to execute with a divided focus. I strip training this into two parts, where I isolate and then integrate. Isolating the eye movements of a divided focus while stationary is the first step. I train speed of the eyes moving target to target… Continue reading Training Speed and Precision with Divided Focus
Background Systems
When executing in conditions with high cognitive demands, you need certain sensory systems to be working at a high level in the background. I think of your vestibular and somatosensory systems primarily as background systems, meaning they shouldn’t have your attention often. When functioning at a high level, these systems allow your attention to be… Continue reading Background Systems
Identify the Consistent Variables
When preparing for the unpredictable, we must identify the consistent variables. But there will always be unforeseeables. Because of this, we focus on what skills will translate across scenarios. We build the strongest foundation from which to execute. In the gym you optimize foundational movements – push, pull, squat, lunge, hinge, and carry. You put… Continue reading Identify the Consistent Variables