Military Fitness Brainstorming

Check out SOFWODs or TF Black for free programming that's SOF oriented.

Thanks. I have looked at both, but don't have the time or money to get into a gym regularly.

Yeah, RASP is definitely a running mans game. Not that you should skimp on the other stuff, but I think someone who is a good runner but mediocre strength will do better than someone that is great in the strength department but mediocre at running. The goal is to be well rounded though, and with the amount of time you have, I would focus on mobility stuff like crazy as that will prevent injury once you get into the real deal. Many a stud has fallen by the wayside due to injury that many times could have been prevented with mobility prep months in advance.

Thank you, Ranger goon175. By mobility prep do you mean stretching and rolling, or something else? I have a good stretching book (Stretching Your Boundaries by Al Kavadlo), and have been meaning to get into rolling for a while.
 
Someone should make mwod.com a sticky here and in the SOF Prep section with big red arrows pointing to it.
 
Someone should make mwod.com a sticky here and in the SOF Prep section with big red arrows pointing to it.

Yes, after I posted that message I remembered mwod and checked it out before school started. Thanks again for the reminder.
 
Thanks again for the pointer to MWod. I borrowed (stole) the kids' tube of tennis balls, cut up a cheap bike inner tube, and have been hitting myself with those nightly. The tack and floss has helped immensely with some elbow issues I've been having the past week (the beginnings of tendinitis), and the tennis balls have helped with very sore calves.
 
In case anyone is interested today or tomorrow...

“Mogadishu Mile”

4 RFT:

19 KB Snatches (each arm)
19 KB Goblet Squat
19 KB Push-Ups (each arm)
400m KB Run

(You are not to lose contact with your KB at any time during the WOD. If your hands leave the kettlebell, you will be served a 5 burpee penalty to be served immediately.)

The Mogadishu Mile refers to a route that was run by United States Army Rangers and Delta Force soldiers from a helicopter crash site to an appointed rally point held by the 10th Mountain Division on National Street during the Battle of Mogadishu (Somalia) on October 4, 1993.
 
Check out SOFWODs or TF Black for free programming that's SOF oriented.

I concur with the above statements. I tend to through in a mixture of TF Black, MA, and my most recent finding: Stew Smith Recon Prep, throughout the week. TF Black is great and I love how I am done within 1 hour. But some training sessions last 2:30 hours due to the long endurance events (rucking). And plus, [Name auto-filtered; he is not welcome here] is one great Coach/Mentor/Writer/Motivator. I started looking at the Stew Smith Recon Prep since I am prepping for Recon while stationed in South America, and it is lethal. I can't do some of the events since they require a Run, Swim, Ruck all in one session. I have to drive to the pool which is only open for 2 hours in the morning, and I can only ruck at night (due to OPSEC). I really want to complete the program, but some just require too much time...

The below is just in the second week of training.

Spec Ops triathlon
4 mile run
swim 1000m with fins
4 mile Ruck march with
25-40 lbs

^That is around 2 hours, maybe more depending on fitness level.

Sorry for the long rant. I really wanted to put my two cents in after reading everyone else's about the amount of time these training sessions take. I do apologize for any punctuation errors cited in my above comments (taking online courses at the moment to better my writing and literature).
I hope this helps someone here find a great program. Consistency is key. Mount up, lean foward, and step it the heck out!

-HR
 
I figured this is as good a place as any to ask this. I understand how everyone feels about weightlifting, and with a background in powerlifting, I agree as far as anything legs is concerned. I was a powerlifter in high school and graduated with Squat-460, Deadlift-400, Bench-315. Decent numbers, but I would like to get better. My coaches never significantly trained anything other than the big muscles excluding shoulders, abs, and lower back (probably led to the weak deadlift). It was always a short circuit thrown in at the end of training. However, for all upper body and core (including lower back), has anyone ever considered gymnastics strength progessions? My thought process is this:

When I would work with my dad, and we had to move heavy shit from A to B, he would destroy me despite being 20lbs smaller and weaker as far as the gym numbers that he said he ever did. I attributed that to gym muscle-me-being different from functional muscle-him(dad has been a logger for well over 20 years), and I am trying to build a solid base using gymnastics strength progressions that lead to what they call multi-planar strength(Ex: Planche and Free-standing HSPU) instead of single plane motion like bench and OHP. I like this because it is impossible to progress without shoring up your weakest link, therefore, building a solid base in all connective tissue and smaller muscles, and I would believe lead to being more injury resistant. I didn't workout for 2 years after high school and am progressing rather quickly due to former training. My regimen at this point in time is almost completely bodyweight, but I use cinderblocks for kettlebell swings and high-rep front squats, thrusters and presses. When I approach the point of slowing gains from the high-rep leg exercises, I will return to the weights. Most likely this summer. Time is not an issue as I have over 2 years until I graduate.

Article on gymnastics strength training here: https://www.t-nation.com/training/all-muscle-no-iron

My schedule:
3 days on: Strength-Muscular Endurance and Conditioning(the main calisthenics and cinderblocks)-Strength
1 day off- Stretching and Mobility

3 days on: opposite of 1st
1 day off: same

As many microcycles of this as I can handle until I start seeing diminishing returns, then recovery week which consists of 1 week half volume. Thank god for foam rollers and lacrosse balls

This combination puts me on a weird 8 day microcycle instead of the normal week, but I like it better than 6x a week with 1 day off because it allows me to keep my intensity up. On Strength days I finish with runs (alt. longer distance with short and fast) and Muscular Endurance&Conditioning days with sprints. When funds improve in the summer, I am getting a ruck and good boots and will swap out two runs for rucks.

As you might have guessed from the powerlifting background, I never ran 2 miles in my life. I tried months ago to progress too quickly running and ended up with shin splints. Now, I am taking the 15% rule to heart and raising the distance slowly. All the focused core work definitely helps with the running.
 
Does anybody have any Yoga recommendations? Been working in light Hatha routines from YouTube lately, but I'd love to find something with more targeted applications to military endurance.
 
Does anybody have any Yoga recommendations? Been working in light Hatha routines from YouTube lately, but I'd love to find something with more targeted applications to military endurance.
Are you looking for stretching/mobility or are you trying to get your Zen on as well? Or are you in it for the yoga pants? (serious questions)
 
Are you looking for stretching/mobility or are you trying to get your Zen on as well? Or are you in it for the yoga pants? (serious questions)

Definitely stretching/mobility and also hopefully core strength for running, but a little Zen never hurt anybody. I could definitely benefit from it. As far as yoga pants, I practice in my living room, which is free of Lululemon-clad posteriors. But I moved back to LA, so... Throw a rock.

...It'll probably bounce off an ass in stretchy pants and land in a kale smoothie.
 
http://hprc-online.org/physical-fitness/files/STRENGTHTRAINING.pdf

This is an article I found called Strength Training for the Warfighter published in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research I thought may be of interest. Fairly basic, but a good read nonetheless. To my eyes, it looks like they advocate programming similar to Pat McNamara’s Combat Strength Training.



I have no formal education on the topic of strength training and realize I know somewhere between jack and shit, so I was hoping to bounce ideas off members of the site. Right now, I am focusing on military “sport-specific” training with some deadlifts, squats, and weighted pullups added. I am still lean at 5’10”, 164, age: 22 with weak numbers on the main lifts. I have not benched in months, but my most recent working sets before the foot injury was: Squat (185x5)x3, Deadlift (255x3)x3, Pullup (BW+50x5)x3. While surely not perfect, I do all lifts with as strict a form as possible, especially no kipping pull ups.

To my knowledge, the type of programming advocated in the article above and by Pat McNamara is ideal for those with an already strong base in the main lifts. I obviously do not have that, and while this discussion is irrelevant in the near future as I go through initial training, my hope is to be able to hit the ground running with a well thought-out plan, regardless of where I end up.

My initial goal is to get the main lifts to respectable numbers while learning some of the key Olympic Lifts. Research has led me to believe that the first step should be to increase muscle cross-sectional area through mainly high volume, moderate intensity workouts. In Chad Wesley Smith’s recently released (Dec 2015) Juggernaut Training: A Thoughtful Pursuit of Strength, one of the auxiliary programs given was the Championship Program. The first 4 weeks include a hypertrophy phase that I was planning on being my first step. The program rotates variations of the main lifts with assistance exercises and varying (low, medium, high) intensity days. Additionally, in his previous book, The Juggernaut Method 2.0, he advocated using medicine balls as an alternative for people lacking skill in the Olympic Lifts. Below, I will provide the link to the video showing the throws, but my plan was to use these while learning the Oly Lifts.

My main point of uncertainty is how long this hypertrophy phase should be. I was thinking 8-12 weeks. After building muscle, the plan is to begin one of the many cookie-cutter programs such as 5/3/1, Juggernaut Method, or Military Athlete.

Hopefully I am on the right track, but if not I would appreciate a nudge in the right direction. Additionally, I enjoy reading about this, so I am up for some recommendations. My next two books I plan on purchasing at some point are; Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett and Scientific Principles of Strength Training by Chad Wesley Smith, Dr. James Hoffmann, and Dr. Mike Israetel. Eventually I would like to build up enough knowledge to program for myself, but I realize many years of research and time under the bar is needed before that can happen. Thanks for the time spent reading this.

 
@x SF med - Understood. I did not mention it in this question, but I have become a huge proponent of "pre-hab". In my foot injury thread, I mentioned this as one of the first things I learned from this site. While it could always improve, I perform a fairly comprehensive routine 4-5 times a week at night, alternating static stretching and foam rolling. I pay special attention to calf flexibility and rolling/stretching the IT band due to their relation to injuries commonly experienced in SOF pipelines. I have done this over the past year or so and my flexibility has improved drastically. Furthermore, the book I mentioned as next on my "to buy" list is authored by Kelly Starrett, the creator of MobilityWOD referenced a few posts above.

The main thing I am working on now is shoulder/chest mobility in order to perform a correct OH squat.
 
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