NAVY SEAL (BUD/S), SWCC, EOD & MARINE RECON TRAINING GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS SFAS & RASP TRAINING GUIDE Introduction�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3-4 Step 1: Assessment������������������������������������������������������������������� 5-16 Step 2: Conditioning���������������������������������������������������������������� 17-34 Step 3: Strength Training��������������������������������������������������������� 35-45 Step 4: Work Capacity������������������������������������������������������������� 46-52 Step 5: Movement������������������������������������������������������������������� 53-62 Step 6: Mental Skills���������������������������������������������������������������� 63-72 Step 7: Nutrition���������������������������������������������������������������������� 73-76 Step 8: Monitor & Adjust���������������������������������������������������������� 77-85 Step 9: Putting the Pieces Together������������������������������������������ 86-91 Wrap Up����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������92 02 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE INTRODUCTION This training guide was designed to help you create a comprehensive training program. You might be wondering: Why is creating a training program so complex? Why not just give me a template to follow? Well, anywhere from 50-90% of the individuals who show up for a SOF selection will fail. If a template training program worked to adequately prepare someone, this wouldn’t be the case. It’s not like the majority of people showing up to selection are just winging it. They are all If you’d rather not go through the process of building your own training program by reading through the articles on this site you have three options: » Buy our book: The BTE book is the most comprehensive resource available. It organizes everything on this website and provides a lot of other content not found here. With hundreds of 5-star reviews (over 98% of them), it’s worth your time and money to read if you’re serious about making SOF your career. » Sign up for our training app: Our training programs automatically do everything outlined in this training guide and more to create a program for you. It provides a goal-specific, individualized, and adaptable program that includes mental skills training. » Buy or find a template and hope it works for you: This is what most people do. It’s also the reason why failure rates are so high. If you’re unwilling to invest yourself in preparing like a professional, go ahead and close this tab and become a statistic. If you’re going to continue working through this training guide, we suggest the following: » Work through the steps in order. Each step will take some time to read and apply. » Be patient. Creating a well-thought-out training program won’t be a thirty-minute process. We’ve done our best to distill decades of knowledge into as few steps as possible, but it will take time. If you’re feeling impatient, consider the process it takes to rise to the elite ranks in any other profession. For example, a future doctor has to go to school for four years while taking many extra and very difficult courses while volunteering and getting medical experience. Then, they have to study for hundreds of hours for the MCAT (the test to get into med school). That’s just to gain entrance to another 6-10 years of 60-80 hour weeks of training before they can finally say that they’re an MD. 03 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE If you’re trying to rise to an elite level in a military profession, don’t expect to do it by watching some youtube videos and skimming a pdf on your phone. Those who make it through this process are not entitled to any piece of it. They earn it - slowly and effortfully. Your success (or failure) at your selection course will be the culmination of your life experiences and physical & mental skills. Just wanting it badly isn’t enough. Any weaknesses will be exposed and exploited. If you put in the time now, you can identify and address them before your career is on the line. 04 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 1 ASSESSMENT ASSESSMENT, PART 1: LIFESTYLE FACTORS The first step in creating a robust training program is understanding where to focus your efforts. Of course you’ll have to ruck, run, swim, and do pushups and pullups. But, you probably have some other questions: What about strength work? How many days per week should you run? How far? What should my pushups and pullup workouts look like? Do I just do as many as I can everyday? What’s the right mix of strength, conditioning, and calisthenics for my stage of training? How do I adjust as I prepare to leave for selection? How do you learn how to ‘just not quit’ or be ‘tougher’? Before you can answer any of these questions you have to get your lifestyle in order. The research is clear - the more fit you are, the better your chances at passing selection. The less fit, the more likely you’ll wash out. There are, of course, statistical outliers who will pass without training intelligently, eating well, or caring about getting enough sleep. But, unless you want to count on being that rare lucky person, you’ll want to do everything you can to prepare. How fit you are now and will become is only partially determined by your training. Doing the work - running, rucking, swimming, strength training, calisthenics - is no guarantee of a large improvement in fitness, no matter how hard you train. How well you eat, how much sleep you get, and how well you manage all the other stressors in your life governs the trajectory of your fitness. Your body adapts during the 20+ hours of the day when you’re not training. 05 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE So, before you focus on what your training looks like, it makes sense to set up your life to get the most out of whatever training you are already doing. This is where lifestyle comes into play. Your lifestyle is how you organize your life to prioritize your time and energy. In other words, how you are spending the coin of your life. Before we talk about what your lifestyle should look like and how to assess, we’ll discuss why it matters. ADAPTATION In order to understand how to train, you first have to understand how and why your body responds to training. When you understand that framework, things like how much running to do, how fast, and how often become much easier to program and adjust. Just like programming, adaptation is a complex subject that people spend their entire careers studying. We are going to discuss the principles that you need to understand when coaching yourself or others, without getting lost in the weeds with small details. ALLOSTASIS Your body is always adapting. Everything that you do places a stressor on the body and it responds accordingly to keep you alive. This ever-changing process is called allostasis. Technically speaking, allostasis is the total physiological reaction of your body to the stressors that you place upon it in order to maintain function. Your body has two main responses to any stress: a short-term response and a long-term response. The short-term one is simple - get through the moment. This is usually characterized by flooding the body with hormones and redistributing blood flow and energy to the appropriate system and local area within the body. Once the stressor has been dealt with, the long-term adaptation component kicks in - prepare for the future moment. Your body releases enzymes or signaling hormones that start a cascade of responses which create a more permanent adaptation. The outcome of this is the body being able to deal with the stressor in future. The magnitude of the signaling response is directly proportional to the load of the stressor. This is why the body stops adapting when the same stressor is imposed repeatedly (such as doing the same workout plan every week). TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING While these adaptations can lead to the improvements we are looking for, the problem is that most of us spend way too much time accumulating stress and not enough time recovering. So, our allostatic load (i.e. the total load of all stressors in life) is constantly elevated. This leads to a high cost of adaptation to exercise. People generally tend to fall into one of two camps described below. 06 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE » Net Positive Adaptation Process: the body has a surplus of resources created by balancing recovery and training stressors, so the body utilizes these resources to create an adaptation to the training you’re doing (gain muscle, more mitochondria, new or stronger neural connections in the brain, etc). » Net Negative Adaptation Process: the body adapts to your training stimulus, but by doing so you become vulnerable to other problems because of the cumulative and progressive nature of stress. Do this for long enough and you can get injured, burned out, sick, hormonally imbalanced, etc. In other words: if you train hard, your body will adapt, but the cost of adaptation varies. Both processes are utilizing resources to create an adaptation, but one comes at the expense of health, while the other maintains it and improves resilience. Before we talk about how to create a net positive adaptation process we need to explore some of the nuances of adaptation. EVERYTHING IS A STRESSOR Stress is anything that elicits a response from the body. Food, light, sound, movement, exercise, emotional events, and mental strain are all stressors. Anything that has an effect on your body must be considered when planning and executing a training program because it will change your response to training. This is especially important when considering writing a program for an individual whose entire life doesn’t revolve around training. Outside stressors such as relationships, work, and sleep / recovery constraints will play a large role in how the trainee adapts. YOUR BODY IS ALWAYS ADAPTING Adaptations are almost always useful from the perspective of your body. For example, if you bury yourself under an extreme load of endurance work, your body may ramp up cortisol, slow down sex hormone production, and a bunch of other ‘negative’ effects, but it’s doing so to protect itself. This adaption is serving the purpose, really, of trying to stop you from being stupid. It’s only negative from your perspective, but from the body’s perspective, it’s doing what it needs to do to survive, and to get you to stop doing so much because it can’t cope effectively. The magnitude of the signaling response is directly proportional to the load of the stressor. In other words, the total load controls the intensity of the stress response. There’s a sweet spot in this process - creating a stimulus that leads to the adaptations we want, without leading to the ‘negative’ adaptations we don’t want. LIFESTYLE ASSESSMENT This brings us back to your lifestyle. In order to create a net positive response, you need to optimize your recovery. To figure out where you need to focus, complete the assessment below. The lifestyle (recovery) category is broken into three domains: 07 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 1. Sleep - Quantity and quality both matter. You may feel ok with 6 hours, but that doesn’t mean that you perform and recover at your best at that level. 2. Nutrition - How much and what food you put into your body plays a big role in your body’s ability to adapt. 3. Stress - The amount of perceived (subjective) and objective stress you’re under throughout your day plays a big role in how well you’ll adapt to your training. Nothing is free - stress in every aspect of your life has to be accounted for. SLEEP Quantity and quality both matter. In terms of quantity, unless you’re getting 8+ hours of uninterrupted sleep, you’re leaving results on the table. On the quality front, if you’re not waking up feeling rested and refreshed most days, your sleep quality likely needs some work, regardless of how much sleep you are getting. Sleep hygiene fundamentals: » Regular schedule: Go to bed and wake around the same times (within an hour) as often as possible. » Limited stimulants, including electronics: Total daily caffeine intake below 200mg, nothing within 8 hours of bedtime. No electronics within one hour of sleep. » Dark, cold room: Use blackout curtains and keep the room cool. » Light: You should get sunlight first thing upon waking to help regulate your circadian rhythm and improve natural sleep cycles. NUTRITION Just like sleep, both the quantity and quality of your food matters. Most 18-25 year olds’ diets look something like this: mostly processed foods, sporadic feeding schedule, no food prep, veggies appear sporadically, and they need to gain or lose some weight. That’s a recipe for poor results. In terms of quality, your diet should like something like this: almost no processed foods, consistent eating schedule, balanced meals, and close to ideal body composition. You should be eating 3-4 larger meals each day (no snacks) composed of the following: 08 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PROTEINS FATS CARBOHYDRATES VEGETABLES 1g per pound of bodyweight each day / around 50-70g each meal / 2 palms worth each meal .5g per pound of bodyweight each day / around 20-30g each meal / 2 thumbs worth each meal 1-1.5g per pound of bodyweight each day / around 50-80g each meal / 2-3 cupped handfuls worth each 8+ cups per day with a 2:1 ratio of veg/ fruit / 2 fists worth each meal Any non-processed grass fed, pasture raised, wild caught (fish) meat Avocado, coconut, nuts and nut butters, seeds, olives, animal fats Rice, oats, quinoa, ancient grains, potatoes, beans, corn All fruits and vegetables can be eaten (starchy vegetables fall into » Total calories: 18-20x bodyweight (total, not lean mass). In rare cases, up to 25x bodyweight. If you’re losing weight, eat more. If you’re getting fat, eat less. If you’re right where you want to be, stick with that. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that so it isn’t. STRESS Stress is both objective and subjective in nature. You might be very effective at managing your stress response, but if you work long hours at a challenging job, you have a lot of objective stress and it will take a toll on recovery. At the other end of the spectrum, your life might be objectively easy: you hardly work and have very few responsibilities, but your relationship with your family is strained and you don’t deal with setbacks well. In this situation, despite not having many demands, you still have a high amount of stress due to your subjective response and your recovery will suffer. When analyzing your systemic stress levels, you need to consider your total daily demands and how you think about and respond to them. » Do you work long hours at a challenging job or are at school in a very challenging academic environment? » Do you have a spouse or other family members you are responsible for that require a significant amount of time and energy? » Do you often feel emotionally or cognitively burned out? » Are you able to regulate your emotions and thoughts in challenging situations? There is no easy way to assess your overall stress outside of training. As we discuss in depth in our book, how you think and manage yourself plays a huge role in your allostatic load. To help manage your overall stress load, you should have: 09 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE » a highly organized schedule, » consistent routines, » manageable professional (or academic) demands, and » and work on your mental game. MONITORING Since sleep, stress, and nutrition tend to be variable from day to day and week to week we suggest periodically revisiting this assessment to get an accurate idea of your average recovery status over time. MAKING ADJUSTMENTS After going through these assessments and reflecting on your lifestyle, you should know where your strengths and weaknesses are on the recovery front. The next step is to adjust your lifestyle and cut out the unnecessary to make room for sleep, nutrition prep, and simplifying life to reduce stress. When doing this exercise, don’t stop at the superficial. It’s easy to target the obvious time wasters in your life - superficial bullshit like Netflix, social media, and social obligations you could care less about. Dig deep. Think about your relationships, your career, your dreams. Reflect on your purpose. Ask hard questions: Are you really giving 100% to every aspect of your life? Where are you trading comfort for happiness? Comfort is sneaky. It’s not as simple as taking the easy road at work or putting in the minimum effort with your relationships. Comfort can look and feel challenging. It can look like long days at work followed by soul-crushing workouts and feel like mental and emotional burnout. Just because you’re working hard doesn’t mean you’re doing what is required to give yourself the best shot at passing selection. If you want to be a SOF operator you need to live the lifestyle now. That means living with commitment and following through in every part of your life - not just training. 10 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE ASSESSMENT, PART 2: PHYSICAL STANDARDS “How much running, rucking, swimming, calisthenics, and strength training should I be doing to prepare for selection?” This is one of the most common questions we get from aspiring SOF candidates, and understandably so. Of course you’ll have to do all of these things, but the volume and intensity of each can and should vary wildly based on your strengths and weaknesses. In order to answer the question, you need an assessment process that accomplishes two things: 1. Identifies areas of strength or competence (these will be the capacities you want to maintain, but won’t need improvement - at least right now) 2. Identifies limiting factors (these will be the areas you emphasize during training) These two pieces of information will dictate which areas you emphasize when building your workouts. Now, this might seem obvious, but let’s compare this to the normal training process. “I’LL HAVE THE USUAL.” THE NORMAL PROGRAMMING PROCESS Most coaches start with a program and then fit that program to an athlete in hopes of meeting a specific goal. The problem with this approach isn’t that it will never get the required outcome, it’s that you won’t do so reliably, efficiently, or without unconsidered consequences. At the core of any template program is a series of assumptions, mainly that you can handle the volume, intensity, and specific modalities, and that you have the requisite psychological skills and lifestyle in place to safely perform, recover from, and adapt to the work. This is why you should do a lifestyle assessment BEFORE considering what you should be doing for training. At the end of the day, you need to be capable of achieving specific physiological outputs to pass your selection course; but the path to that end point will be different for every candidate. For example: A really strong individual doesn’t need much strength to maintain what they have. A really fast runner doesn’t need the same running workouts as the strong guy who hasn’t been running much. This is obvious. But, how many of you reading this are working off templates or ignore the thing you aren’t good at? Remember: knowing a thing isn’t the same thing as consistently making it part of your behavior. 11 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE It’s not that a simple progression or general template can’t work well - it can. If you haven’t been running and need to hit a running standard, the first step is to start running with some kind of intelligent plan. In this situation, a template will work well for most people for a little while. But, this isn’t a comprehensive approach. You should always be maintaining all physical qualities while working on plugging the holes in your fitness. We only have so much time and adaptive capacity, and making the most of both requires some strategy. This calls for a more comprehensive approach than adding more and more pieces over time or ignoring necessary aspects of your fitness to improve a glaring weakness. You can’t start with a running program, sprinkle in some powerlifting, then add in some calisthenics, and then start rucking on your off days and finally add in some beatdown circuits. But, this is what most people do. Instead, you should be varying the volume, frequency, and intensity of each component of your program over time based on limiting factors. PHYSICAL PROFILE Before you worry about the perfect mixture of workouts, you need to run a battery of assessments to see where you are relative to the physical norms (standards) necessary to pass selection. As we’ve discussed at length in our book and on our site, hitting all the physical standards does not guarantee success - it just gives you a better shot. Mental and emotional factors play a massive role in your success, or failure. CONDITIONING: The tests below are useful for developing a comprehensive profile of your conditioning status, from short-duration (power) to multi-hour endurance (extended capacity). If you’re going to a land-based, ruck-intensive program (SFAS, RASP), the extended capacity test is extremely important, and the 400m run (power) would be the least important. If you’ll be attending a maritime program and timed rucks won’t be a part of your selection process, you should focus on swimming and not worry about your walking-around-with-abackpack times. Choose the most relevant tests for your specific program in each category. If you haven’t been running or rucking close to the distances of the tests, don’t attempt them. Focus on building a foundation first and test once the distances aren’t a challenge. 12 BUILDING THE ELITE SFAS & RASP TRAINING GUIDE EXTENDED CAPACITY TEST STANDARD 8-12 MILE RUCK WITH 50# 15:00 MIN / MILE AVERAGE PACE 8+ MILE RUN 8:00 MIN / MILE AVERAGE PACE YOUR SCORE CAPACITY TEST STANDARD 2000M CSS SWIM (no fins) 40:00 MINUTES 5 MILE RUN 37:30 MINUTES YOUR SCORE EXTENDED POWER TEST STANDARD 1.5 - 2 MILE RUN 6:30 MIN / MILE PACE 500M CSS SWIM (no fins) 9:00 MIN YOUR SCORE POWER TEST STANDARD 400M RUN 1:05 MINUTES YOUR SCORE STRENGTH & POWER: There is no strength test in a selection program. Instead, you’ll have to carry heavy rucks, boats, logs, and your fellow classmates in a variety of tasks. Bigger people have the advantage when it comes to these kinds of tasks because they don’t need as much relative strength (strength compared to your body weight) to move the same object. But, if your relative strength is up to the standards below, you’ll be able to deal with these challenges regardless of your size. 13 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE It’s important to note that you don’t get bonus points for being stronger than necessary. As we’ve discussed throughout our book, too much of one thing often comes at a cost of another. If the strength numbers are easy for you to hit, you’re likely spending too much time lifting weights and not enough running, swimming, and/or rucking. Based on your body type and background you may have a movement or two that you just can’t get to the standard. That’s OK. As long as it’s not a glaring weakness (not even close), it likely won’t hold you back. Focus on trends, not single data points. When testing, you don’t need to do every exercise, but do try to do at least one test for every movement pattern (e.g. do at least one squat or deadlift variation). Power is related, but not the same as strength - this is covered in detail in Chapter 17 of our book (in the updated 2nd edition). Power standards are relatively low, and should be easily attainable if you can also hit the strength standards. POWER TEST STANDARD BROAD JUMP 8 FEET VERTICAL JUMP 25 INCHES YOUR SCORE LOWER BODY STRENGTH 14 TEST STANDARD TRAP BAR DEADLIFT 2X BODYWEIGHT FRONT SQUAT 1.5X BODYWEIGHT BACK SQUAT 1.75X BODYWEIGHT STRAIGHT BAR DEADLIFT 1.75X BODYWEIGHT REAR FOOT ELEVATED SPLIT SQUAT 1X BODYWEIGHT BUILDING THE ELITE YOUR SCORE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE UPPER BODY STRENGTH TEST STANDARD BENCH PRESS 1.25X BODYWEIGHT KETTLEBELL OVERHEAD PRESS (1 ARM AT A TIME) 45% OF BODYWEIGHT (1 ARM) WEIGHTED PULL UP 50% OF BODYWEIGHT YOUR SCORE WORK CAPACITY: We measure work capacity using the types of tasks you’ll be required to do for your PT tests and job. That translates to a focus on pull-ups, pushups, and grip endurance. To test your grip strength, we use a bodyweight hang in place of a standardized weighted carry because it’s easier to measure. Everyone has a body, and nearly everyone has access to something to hang off. Not everyone has heavy free weights available. You’ll notice the situps aren’t listed as a test; that’s because they are a waste of time to train outside of when it is absolutely necessary for a PT test. WORK CAPACITY TEST STANDARD PULLUPS 15 PUSHUPS 80 BODYWEIGHT HANG 90 SECONDS YOUR SCORE PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER When you have completed all the necessary tests, you’ll have your scores in each of the three categories outlined in this article. This data will help you objectively determine which areas you need to target and which areas you should be putting less emphasis on during the training process. 15 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PHYSIOLOGICAL PROFILE CATEGORY SUB-CATEGORY YOUR SCORE POWER STRENGTH AND POWER UPPER BODY STRENGTH LOWER BODY STRENGTH WORK CAPACITY EXTENDED CAPACITY CAPACITY CONDITIONING EXTENDED POWER POWER WRAP UP The physical standards outlined above are not an exhaustive explanation of all of the specific physical capabilities and skills you’ll need for every selection. A cursory internet search will provide a more detailed overview of the specific capabilities and events you’ll face in the selection you’re preparing for. Even though these courses constantly change, the general events and capabilities needed to pass do not. 16 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 2 CONDITIONING CONDITIONING, PART 1: RUNNING Running fast requires two primary things: 1. Good running technique 2. A strong foundation of aerobic fitness If you’re missing either, you won’t be able to run a fast time on your PT test. The deeper into your selection course you go or the longer you have to run, the more weakness in either will be exposed. RUNNING AND FITNESS Unless you are a highly skilled runner who has built a strong foundation of running fitness over multiple years, your running efficiency likely isn’t high enough to develop aerobic fitness via running. In other words, running reveals your fitness more than it develops it. Until you’ve reached a certain threshold in your development, it’s more effective to train for running than it is to run as a form of training. That’s not to say that you can’t improve your fitness via running - you certainly can. However, running is best thought of as a way of enhancing the output of an existing aerobic foundation, not building one. In most selection courses, you have about one or two timed runs per week, at most. And, the required run times are equivalent to a mediocre pace for a high school cross country runner. In other words, the standards aren’t high relative to what a dedicated runner can do in isolation. It’s not running a 9-minute 1.5-mile run that’s terribly hard, it’s doing it in the context of a SOF selection course alongside countless other demands. This is where the challenge lies in training for selection. 17 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE For this reason, when programming running, we use pacing instead of heart rate zones to dictate training intensity. When programming, we think of running as a distinct skill to develop outside of our energy system work. RUNNING EFFICIENCY Preventable soft tissue injuries are one of the primary reasons for failure in special operations selection courses. So, efficient running is as important as fast running. This requires a high level of motor skill. Outside of timed runs, you’ll spend a lot of time on your feet in selection running from event to event, to the chow hall, to the barracks, and everywhere else. You need to be efficient to cover all that ground without breaking down. We place as much emphasis on technique as speed, knowing that the two will go hand-in-hand over time. It’s important to note that when changing your running technique you’ll often see an initial drop in performance (this is an opportunity to apply the concept of investing in loss). This occurs because you are loading tissues in new ways and building new motor patterns, and your fitness will take some time to catch up. When it does, your run times will speed up and your aches and pains will decrease. In summary, efficient running is fast and safe running. Running cues: click on the image below to watch a video overview 18 » Relax your back - Think of dropping your ribs to your belt buckle. » Push the world behind you - Don’t reach with each stride, focus on short and quick strides with your foot landing underneath you. » Rotate your trunk - Your sternum should move from 11 to 1 oclock. Think of driving your elbow behind you to drive this motion (don’t reach forward). Your elbows should drive forward and backward (no rotation) as though on rails. » Relax your head - Think of tilting your chin up and keeping your gaze straight ahead while your head floats over your shoulders. BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE RUNNING METHODS In normal circumstances, we program 2-3 running workouts per week depending on the training phase, selection course, and individual’s fitness level. Running methods are broken into three categories: foundation, speed, and support work. Both foundation and speed will always be present in your program. Support work is the bridge between foundation and speed work and is utilized once a foundation has been established to help translate the foundation you’ve built into faster run times. Before we discuss these methods you need to do an assessment to use as a baseline to determine running pacing for each method. ASSESSMENT: If you’ve been running consistently and can easily run for 30 minutes, you’ll do the following test. We have athlets perform the following test on a day when they are well-rested: • Warm up with a 10-15 minute jog that includes at least five 15-20 second sprints. • After the warm-up is complete, rest for 4-5 minutes before beginning the test. • On a relatively flat surface, run at the absolute fastest speed you can possibly maintain for 30 minutes. • You should be using a GPS device (phone or watch) or running at a track where you can easily measure total distance over the 30-minute trial. At the end of this test you should have your average pace over the 30 minute trial (time per mile). This is your threshold pace. You’ll use this pace to assign running paces for all the methods described below. FOUNDATION WORK: The most common mistake that most trainees make with their running is always running as fast as possible on each run. This can work well for a while to build fitness if you haven’t been running. But, you’ll often plateau quickly without other developmental work. The purpose of foundation work (long runs) is to improve efficiency and drive aerobic adaptations. By slowing down and focusing on technique you’ll be able to improve efficiency and drive aerobic adaptations while recovering more efficiently compared to running as fast as you can on each run. These runs are essential for improving your run times at every distance. Also recall from earlier that we work to drive a lot of systemic aerobic adaptations with training methods other than running, so volume here doesn’t have to be terribly high. 19 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Foundation runs can be broken up as much as is needed to protect quality during initial training blocks. If you find running technique, breathing patterns, or your heart rate gets out of control during distance runs, it’s ok to add in short rests throughout the workout until you’ve reached the prescribed volume. For example, you’re better off doing 6 reps of 5-minute blocks with a one minute rest between sets than grinding through 30 minutes with poor technique. Over time you’ll be able to lengthen these blocks while maintaining quality. You need to be careful when adding volume to your long runs. Stick to around a 10-20% increase per week until you are up the longest run you’ll need to do in selection (usually 5 miles). If you have taken a long break from running, start with 10-15 minutes total on your long run (broken up as needed) and build from there. That may seem like a small start, but you’ll be able to make progress much faster by incrementally building on success. Once you can easily do your distance runs without stopping, adding in surges (also known as fartleks) will help add speed to your runs and get you used to dealing with more variable terrain. These runs also help teach you how to modulate your stress response when forced to mix in periodic ‘sprints’ during long and non-stop activity. Physiologically, these sprints target fast-twitch muscles that aren’t normally used at slower speeds or until deep fatigue sets in. Pickups, where you finish the long run at a faster pace, can also be added in after distance runs can easily be executed. These are a great way to develop mental skills by pushing yourself to finish strong despite exhaustion. They also help build confidence that you have a deep reservoir of fitness available, even when fatigued. Methods: METHOD DISTANCE RUNS DURATIONS 15-60 min SETS & REPS Break up as needed to protect quality. INTENSITY / PACING Threshold + 30-60s / mile REST none ADAPTATIONS >Can be broken up with short rests to maintain quality, reduce systemic fatigue, or build duration with less overall stress. >Increase volume by 10-15% per week. > 1-2x per week SURGES OR FARTLEKS PICKUPS 20 BUILDING THE ELITE “ “ 15-40s sprints every 1-2 miles Increase in pace the last 2-5 minutes at the end of a run “ “ “ “ >HR should return to baseline before the next sprint. >Teaches athlete to finish strong and to increase output under fatigue. >Surges, fartleks, and pickups added later in base building. NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE SPEED WORK: Sprints, or speed work, are an important part of your running programming. They serve multiple purposes: » They help improve running technique and neurological efficiency . » They help make you more resistant to injury by preparing tissues for high intensity activities. » From an energy system perspective, sprints drive adaptations in the aerobic properties of fast-twitch fibers, the speed at which your body can metabolize oxygen, and the rate of maximal ATP utilization via the ATP-PCr system. » Practically speaking, they are a part of pretty much any selection process, and being able to do them without injury is extremely important. Sprints can be included in every phase of training, from building an aerobic foundation to peaking for selection. In later blocks, where you might have a threshold and repeat run day in your training process, you can integrate sprints into your distance runs or as part of repeat days Methods: METHOD SPEED ENDURANCE SPRINTS DURATION SETS & REPS 20-40s 800-1000m or 2-3 minutes of total work 5x150m 4x100m, 2x200m 4x200m INTENSITY / PACING 80-100% effort on each sprint REST 2-4 min Extended duration speed work helps the athlete maintain quality under fatigue ADAPTATIONS Slight uphill grade reduces impact / injury risk of this work Volume kept low due to recovery demands 8-20s ABSOLUTE SPEED SPRINTS Up to 20 reps for shorter sprints (810s), or 800-1000m total work 80-100% effort on each sprint 1-4 min 10-20 x 8-10s, 10-15 x 15-20s Hills are easier on the body, so this is a good place to start and progress to flat over time. ADAPTATIONS Intensity should always be protected. If it drops, the session is done. Sprint volume should build during base period and drop to minimums when peaking. 21 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE SUPPORT / PACING WORK: Support or pacing work is the bridge between long-distance and speed work. To bridge the gap effectively requires a relatively well developed aerobic foundation. If you can already hit your long run times (3-5 mile run) or are close (within 30s / mile) to the desired pace, the repeat method described below can be implemented immediately. If you haven’t been running those distances consistently or can’t stay within 30s / mile of your required pacing, you should stick with two foundation runs per week until reaching the required pacing with your long runs. Repeats are an extremely effective method of slowly working up to your desired 1.5-2 mile time through slow increases in the distance of each repeat at a set pace. For example, you’ll want to start with mostly 400m repeats at your desired pace and slowly work up to 800m repeats at the same pace. Once you can complete a full workout of 800m repeats you can start adding in threshold runs. This will be the final step to reaching your desired 1.5-2 mile run times. If you find your pacing on threshold runs feels easy, you can slowly increase pacing (faster than threshold). This is common when running consistently with an intelligent plan for the first time. 22 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Methods: METHOD DURATION SETS & REPS THRESHOLD RUNS 15-30 min Up to 6 reps 5 min on / 90s off x4 INTENSITY / PACING 0-30s / mile slower than threshold pace 8 min on / 2 off x3 REST ADAPTATIONS 1-3 min @ easy jog or fast walk Start with 15 minutes total (2 sets) and progress up to 30 total minutes over 2-3 reps. 10 min on / 3 off x3 Threshold runs are used to improve shorter run times and transition from base work to peaking protocols. Athlete should be able to respond in short sentences. Rep length shouldn’t be so long that the athlete is barely ‘holding on’ to finish the rep. METHOD DURATION SETS & REPS REPEAT RUNS 1-4 min 2-3 miles total work 6-12x400m 4x600m, 4-6x400m 2-4x800m, 2x600m 4-6x800m INTENSITY / PACING Goal 1.5-2 mile pace as long as goal pace isn’t more than 45s / mile faster than threshold pace REST ADAPTATIONS 1-3 min Start with 400m @ goal 1.5 or 2 mile pace and slowly reduce rest periods to 1 min. Once 8-12x400m @ goal pace can be maintained, start adding in 600m repeats for half of total volume and finish with shorter intervals. Continue increasing distance until 800m intervals can be completed for 2-3 miles @ goal pace. Once 800m repeats can be done @ goal pace threshold runs should take you the rest of the way to your goal pace for a 1.5 or 2 mile run. 23 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE WRAP UP Running is just one of the many capabilities you must possess if you want to pass your SOF selection. In our book, Building the Elite, we cover this topic in more depth, and how to fit running into the larger process of preparation for a selection. 24 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE CONDITIONING, PART 2: RUCKING Regardless of what selection program you’re training for, you’ll spend countless hours walking around with a heavy ruck on your back. In some selection courses (SFAS, RASP, British SAS, CANSOF), rucking is the primary physical task you’ll have to do day after day. If you want to be successful, you need to be comfortable walking long distances, at quick paces, with heavy loads. And, like any skill, an intelligent approach to training leads to much better outcomes. Rucking can and should be a driver of physiological changes. It should always align with your overarching energy system development plan. For example, long-duration rucking to develop aerobic capacity should be guided by heart rate zones while building a foundation. HEART RATE ZONES You should use a 30-minute threshold test to set the heart rate zones we use to dictate rucking pace. You’ll use the same test outlined in the running section (just above) to assign heart rate zones. Running and rucking are slightly different modalities that will result in different thresholds. But, doing a threshold ruck is a terrible idea unless you enjoy injuries, and the data is accurate enough to set useful parameters for rucking intensities. If you’re looking for more information on this topic we discuss why and when we use heart rate zones and the specific adaptations for each zone in depth in our book. Once you have your average heart rate over your 30-minute run, setting heart rate zones is simple using the calculations below: Average heart rate over the 30-minute run = threshold heart rate = THR ZONE LOWER RANGE UPPER RANGE Zone 1 Anything below >>> THR x .7 Zone 2 THR x .7 THR x .8 Zone 3 THR x .8 THR x .9 Zone 4 THR x .9 THR x 1 Zone 5 THR x 1 Max HR For example, if your average heart rate over the 30-minute run is 165, this is what your heart rate zones will look like: 25 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE ZONE LOWER RANGE UPPER RANGE Zone 1 Anything below >>> 116 Zone 2 116 132 Zone 3 132 149 Zone 4 149 165 Zone 5 165 Max HR TECHNIQUE Technique plays a role in rucking efficiency, but less so than running. Rucking is really just walking with weight on your back, so how you move at rest is the primary predictor of how well you move when rucking. There are some specific breathing and technique cues to be aware. These are covered in the video below: TRAINING FREQUENCY Depending on the program you’re training for you should be rucking one to three times per week. If you’re prepping for a rucking heavy selection like RASP and SFAS you should be rucking at least twice per week and up to three times per week. If you’re preparing for a maritime program like BUD/S where rucking comprises a smaller percentage of the work you’ll be doing during selection we suggest you ruck once per week. 26 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Regardless of which program you’re training for, you should do at least one long duration ruck (60+ minutes) per week. Before you ship for any selection you should be doing 2+ hour rucks with at least 40 pounds every week. Rucking with heavy weights is also hard on the body. For this reason, we do just enough rucking to ensure fitness, but not so much to beat you up. If you’re training for a more rucky heavy selection your second and third ruck each week should be limited to 60-75 minutes. PACING Heart rate guidelines should be used to drive pacing during the initial training phases. During your initial aerobic foundation training phases you want to exclusively stay in zone 2 during rucks. If you’re rucking on varied terrain your heart rate will rise into zone 3 from time to time - that’s normal. As long as your average heart rate is in the zone 2 range over the length of the ruck you’re getting the most bang for your buck Rucking rewards volume. Initially, forget your pace per mile, and put in the time with heart rate guided, lower intensity, longer duration rucks. Over months, your pace will improve without higher levels of exertion, and eventually, a 15-minute pace will feel doable even when completely exhausted. If you stick to heart rate zone 2 as you build foundation over months (4-6 months), your pacing should slowly improve until you can do a 2.5-3 hour ruck with 50 pounds at a 15 minute-permile pace. This is assuming relatively flat and hard (not sandy, muddy, or icy) ground. If you’re less aerobically fit or have a strength deficit it may take longer than six months to reach that fast of pacing. If you’ve already been rucking, it might only take a few months to hit these paces. As you get closer to your selection course it is useful to do some timed rucks with strategic ruck-running to build a mental model of what a really fast (12-13 minute / mile) pace feels like. But do not start this too soon. If you don’t have the underlying aerobic foundation, you won’t be able to hit the necessary ruck times when fatigued and/or in poor conditions and you’ll be spinning your wheels while needlessly risking injury. RUCKS, BOOTS, WEIGHT, VERTICAL GAIN, ENVIRONMENTAL AND SURFACE CONSIDERATIONS Buy a decent pack. You don’t need to spend $500, but your Jansport isn’t going to cut it. If you’re looking for brands, consider Tactical Tailor (their Malice packs and Rhino Rucks are excellent), Eberlestock, or Tasmanian Tiger. Keep in mind that in many courses you’ll be required to use an issued pack and can’t bring your own cool-guy gear. Also, you don’t get bonus points for using terrible shoulder or hip straps. Your hips and shoulders will get used to the weight even with a nicer pack. And, instead of fixating on how much your traps hurt, you’ll be able to focus on rucking with good technique while practicing other mental skills. You’ll get enough time under ridiculous loads in selection, now isn’t the time to make it harder than it needs to be. 27 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Ruck weight should be increased slowly. If you’re new to rucking, start with 25-30 pounds and no more than 60 minutes of total ruck time in a single outing. Increase time by 15-30 minutes per week with a deload every 4-5 weeks. Example progression: METHOD RUCKING - 30# PACK - HEART RATE = ZONE 2 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 60 min 75 min 90 min 45 min WEEK 5 WEEK 6 WEEK 7 WEEK 8 90 min 105 min 120 min 60 min WEEK 9 WEEK 10 WEEK 11 WEEK 12 120 min 135 min 150 min 75 min *The progression above is just an example. You should adjust starting volume, weight, and changes from week to week based on your response to training. Just because you should be able to extend your ruck time, weight, or pace doesn’t mean you should. Individuals adapt at different paces. Once you can do 2.5-3 hours at a given weight you can increase in intervals of 5-10 pounds every four to six weeks. Even if you’ll need to carry a 70 pound ruck at selection, you’re better off not training with more than 55-60 pounds including your water, or you’ll enter selection already beat up. Decent boots are also crucial. You can look up approved boots for any given selection course. Figure out how long it takes to break in new boots (you’ll have to do this several times) and make sure you know how to layer socks, foot powder, etc. to keep your feet healthy. There are plenty of brands out there, so as a general rule look for: (1) a wide toe box that allows your toes to splay, (2) minimal heel rise, and (3) a solid heel cup that provides good lateral stability. As you start training, your initial rucks shouldn’t be done in terrible conditions (extreme heat, wet, cold). But, before you leave for selection it’s important to know how and when you’ll need to trade out socks in order to keep your feet healthy in various conditions. For this reason, spend some time researching and experimenting in inclement weather during the training process. Vertical gain isn’t something you need to train for. Almost all selection courses will include some hilly terrain, but not enough to throw you off if you’ve done the work with long-distance rucks. Rucking on overly steep terrain also doesn’t allow you to improve efficiency at higher cadences necessary for fast ruck times. Surface conditions are worth considering. If you’re going to an extremely sandy area for your selection course, it would be good to have spent at least some time in this environment. This is the least important factor, so if you don’t have similar conditions in your area, you don’t need to 28 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE book a plane ticket to Los Cabos so you can train on the beach. If you’re adaptable and resilient, you’ll figure it out. RUCK RUNNING Ruck running should be avoided until the final phases of prep for a selection course. We’re going to repeat that because it bears repeating. Ruck running should be avoided until the final phases of prep for a selection course. And even then, it should be applied sparingly. It’s much more of a display-oriented practice than a developmental one, so save most of it for testing rather than training. Below are some guidelines: » Only ruck-run on slight downhills or flats, never on steep downhills or uphills. » Run (more of a fast shuffle) 20-50 paces and then walk 50-100 paces. Over time, you can condense the ratio closer to a 1:1 ratio of run:walk. » Avoid ‘blowing up’ by ruck-running to fixed points and then recovering. This will lead to wild swings in pacing and fatigue you much faster. » Never ruck-run with more than 50 pounds in training. During rucks where you add ruck-running, your heart rate will increase into zone three often. That’s OK. This type of training is meant to help peak performance before a test or selection. WEATHER / ACCLIMATION CONSIDERATIONS If you’re going to selection in a particularly hot, humid, cold, or rainy environment, you should spend some time preparing for it. If your selection course will be occurring in a hot and humid environment, and you’re not acclimatized to those conditions you’ll likely see a significant drop in performance. It takes about a month for your physiology to become fully heat-adapted. 90-120 minutes per day is enough to provide a significant head start on these adaptations. So, even if you live in a colder climate, spending an hour or two in a sauna daily (100-120 degrees) while doing light aerobic activities can help prepare you for the heat. Regardless of the physiological adaptations, spending time in uncomfortable situations is valuable. If it’s snowing, raining, cold, hot, etc. that’s a good reason to do your ruck. Learning to manage difficult and uncomfortable situations is what you are being selected for. It’s best to practice developing these skills when you have the luxury of mistakes serving as learning opportunities and not the end of your career in SOF. Wrap Up Being patient and following the guidelines in this article will help you improve your rucking week after week, month after month. 29 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE CONDITIONING, PART 3: SWIMMING SWIMMING TECHNIQUE Like treading water, swimming is not a problem that can be solved with sheer physical effort. Your speed and endurance in the water is heavily dependent on your technical skill. Your swim training should be focused on skill development, with fitness coming as a byproduct of that training. If you use swimming as a means of conditioning without considering the technique you’re developing and reinforcing along the way, you’ll only become good at swimming poorly. That’s about as effective as putting a bigger engine into a car with flat tires. Preparation for SOF selection requires a huge base of submax aerobic capacity - working away for hours and hours with your heart rate in zone 2 or the low end of zone 3 (or in the 130-ish range for most people). It’s much more effective if you can spend that aerobic training time doing something productive and dynamic rather than slogging away on a hamster wheel. Swim practice is a great way to do that. If you focus on the motor patterns necessary for efficient swimming, the physiological adaptations will follow. FIRST ELIMINATE DRAG, THEN CREATE POWER. There are two aspects to swimming speed and endurance: drag and power. For most people, drag is far more of a limiting factor than power, and until your drag is minimized and you’re able to efficiently glide through the water, the amount of power you can express won’t really matter. It’s kind of like breath-holding - it’s only helpful to tolerate CO2 well if you can stay relaxed and not burn through your oxygen in 20 seconds. Efficiency comes first. Efficiency Step 1. Small hole A good cue to think of is to make your body like a pencil moving through the water. Think of the difference between holding a pencil perpendicular to a piece of paper and punching it through compared to holding the pencil flat against the paper and then pushing it through. You want to make the smallest “hole” in the water as possible. This means that learning to balance your body to stay horizontal in the water is extremely important. The combat sidestroke makes it especially easy to unknowingly drop your legs and feet lower than the rest of your body and angle your body downward, which substantially increases drag. 30 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE There are many different drills that can help you to learn this, as well as the streamlining concepts described next. We strongly recommend that you check out Total Immersion coaching (www.totalimmersion.net) for in-depth courses, video examples, and TI-certified coaches. Efficiency Step 2. Stay long At a given volume, longer objects have less drag in the water. A key part of swimming efficiently is learning how to stay stretched out and streamlined in the water by keeping one arm stretched out in front of you for as much of the stroke as possible while your hips generate propulsion and your other arm provides a stabilizing force to help your hips. Generating force If you attempt to solve problems in the water with sheer effort, the physics involved will quickly punish you. You’re probably familiar with the equation for calculating force from somewhere in high school: Force = Mass x Acceleration. If you try to move faster through the water by just paddling your arms or kicking your feet faster, it requires eight times (23) the effort (via acceleration) to double the amount of force you produce. If, however, you increase the mass side of the equation and improve the propulsion generated by your entire body, starting with your hips, you can dramatically increase your force through the water without moving your arms or legs any faster. This is much more efficient. Think of a fish swimming through the water. Its long, streamlined form moves fast and efficiently with a full-body movement that propels it forward. Nothing is wasted. Now imagine if instead of moving its body, the fish held rigidly still and tried to move forward by frantically paddling its fins, like a wind-up bathtub toy. Lots of motion, not much progress. As silly as it sounds, this flailing-limbs-on-a-rigid-body method is how many people start out trying to swim. It’s not terribly intuitive, but good swimmers move through the water more like fish than like paddling ducks or dogs. Whereas fish use their full body in a rhythmic side-to-side motion, good human swimmers in a freestyle or combat sidestroke manage somewhat the same effect by using their body to generate rotational force, starting with the hips. Just as with a boxer throwing a punch, a batter hitting a baseball, or a breacher knocking down a door, powerful, efficient propulsion in the water starts at the hips. The arms and legs transfer this force, more so than generate it. Your hands, feet, and arms should only contribute a small amount to the overall propulsive force that moves you through the water. In efficient swimming, your hands don’t really move water, it’s more like they’re anchors that “grip” the water as you pull your body along. Arms and hands help to stabilize your body and counterbalance the force generated by your hips, so that you can use full-body propulsion. TRAINING METHODS Swim training for special operations is so heavily slanted toward technique that there is not much need for intricately varied training protocols and nuanced energy system guidelines. Those sorts of things are more productively managed in the gym and on the track. In the pool, your primary goal should always be technical practice. The local muscular adaptations and 31 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE energy systems needed to swim fast will come along for the ride if you do the work. Thus, programming swimming training sessions is mostly about volume. And, how much volume you can do each training session depends on how much time you have available and how much volume you can handle given your fitness level and technical skill. Remember the principles of motor learning and stress inoculation. There’s no use adding stress to a skill that you haven’t mastered. Don’t beat yourself up in the water until you’re confident that you’re inducing metabolic stress with a motor pattern (your swim technique) that’s technically solid, efficient, and isn’t breaking down halfway through your workout due to fatigue or inattention. Only push your physiology in the water to the extent that your technique can keep up. LEFT OR RIGHT SIDE PREFERENCES You’ll probably find that one side or the other is more comfortable when you begin swimming combat side stroke. You don’t want to develop a preference here. During training, you won’t have a choice because you’ll generally have to alternate sides on each lap in the pool by facing toward the same wall throughout swim training. You’ll also have to swim on either side in selection in order to accommodate your swim buddy, since you’ll swim facing each other in the ocean and you don’t want to be the guy who can only swim on one side because you valued comfort more than growth in your prep training. Alternating sides also helps you to rest each arm and leg, as the asymmetrical nature of the combat sidestroke means that your arms and legs aren’t doing equal amounts of work. By regularly switching sides, you give the hardest-working limb a rest. Lastly, while you may feel more reflexively comfortable on one side when you first begin swimming, this will probably not last as you work through months of technique-oriented practice. You may find that the side that felt least comfortable in the beginning becomes your stronger side after months of practice because it could be more receptive to new motor patterns. Since everything initially feels awkward on your non-dominant side, you may be less likely to cling to older, inefficient-but-comfortable patterns and will learn new skills faster on that side. STROKE GOLF The fastest swimmers tend to use the fewest strokes for a given distance. They’re faster because they are more efficient, not because they generate more propulsion with each stroke. Instead, they get the most out of each ounce of energy expended through reduced drag. With stroke golf, you’re simply playing a game to see how few strokes you can take on each lap across the pool. As with golf the lower the number the better. Start by swimming a lap without paying too much attention or using any particular drills. Just swim. Count how many strokes it takes. From here, work to beat that number on each lap. This can be a good way to assess your progress with technique improvements. For example, you could work on better head alignment, practicing keeping your head more in line with your torso rather than lifting it excessively and dipping your hips and legs lower in the water in the 32 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE process. If that produces an improvement in your efficiency, you should notice a change in how many strokes it takes you to get across the pool. This can also be used to measure the effectiveness of drills that inherently slow you down. For example, you can practice swimming with your hands closed in fists to reduce how much pull you can generate with your hands, highlight the importance of good elbow bend and a vertical forearm to create a propulsive surface, and force you to rely more on rotational full-body power. This should initially slow you down, but if you’re counting your strokes per lap, you’ll also have immediate feedback to let you know when you’re becoming more efficient with the drill. INTERVALS Like anything else in training, swim practice is ultimately about the extension of quality. You develop a good movement pattern and then you work to execute that movement faster or against greater resistance, for longer. Using intervals in your swim training can be a way of managing energy systems demands. By adjusting intensity alongside work to rest ratios, you can manipulate peak and average heart rate during the session, and shift the predominant energy system being emphasized. But, as we discussed at the beginning of this section, it’s generally more effective to think of swim practice through the lens of skill acquisition, with only a secondary focus on the energy systems involved. Thus, swim intervals are primarily a way to extend the distance for which you can maintain a given pace at a high level of quality. For example, let’s say you can swim a 500-meter combat sidestroke in 10 minutes flat. That works out to two minutes per 100 meters when done continuously. You may be able to hold closer to a 1:45 pace for 100 meters if you swam that distance in isolation, which would be equivalent to an 8:45 500-meter swim if you could string those 100s together. This is what you’re working on with intervals: through various changes in total volume, pacing, interval distance, and density (work to rest ratios) you’re gradually improving your ability to hold a given pace for a given distance. You can do this through a variety of different methods, such as: • • • Progressively decrease rest Progressively increase the interval length Progressively increase the total volume CONTINUOUS SWIMMING PROTOCOLS Continuous pool workouts can be broken down into two categories: 1. Intense, threshold-level, or test-pacing. Here, you’re working to test and improve the fastest pace that you can sustain for a given distance. 2. Sustainable, submaximal, or efficiency-oriented pacing. Here, you’re working to improve the longdistance pace that you can make feel easy and sustainable. These are both predominantly aerobic workouts, but they will emphasize different aspects of the aerobic system. The intense, maximally-paced swims will generally keep you close to your 33 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE anaerobic threshold. The sustainably-paced swims will more in the zone 2 or 3 heart rate range (below about 150 bpm as a rough rule of thumb), which as we discussed in our earlier section on energy systems will produce different cardiac and autonomic adaptations. Long, maximal-effort swims also present an opportunity for mental skills development, in that you’ll often find yourself getting into your own head on these swims. Longer swims can take quite a long time, and there’s not much to think about or pay attention to aside from your own thoughts. You’ll be doing something intensely that will probably be at least mildly unpleasant the entire time, and the only way to make it stop - especially in the ocean - is to see it through and finish it. This presents some good opportunities to work on your self-talk and other mental skills strategies, as we cover in chapter 13. With either of these methods, your primary form of progression is through volume. You do it well, and then you work to do it more. Within those boundaries, there are some other more nuanced factors to be considered. For example, with submaximal-effort swimming, you can keep the pace fixed and work to decrease the amount of effort that a given distance costs you. You can also work to swim at a faster pace while keeping your effort fixed at easy and sustainable. As you become more efficient, you’ll be able to swim a given distance at a lower and lower cost. Eventually, your easy go-all-day pace will also be fast and competitive. These types of swims are also good places to work on subtle improvements in technique. The progressions here look less technical than for intervals, although there are still complex things happening in the background as you work on mental skills and constant small technique adjustments. YOU DON’T NEED SPACE MATH These examples show fluctuations in volume, intensity, or work density but in many cases you don’t need to change anything numerically from week to week. Swimming is so dependent on technical proficiency that you could put years into swimming the same distance, but better, with more efficient technique, and still make steady progress. MORE RESOURCES Check out the following resources for more information on swimming related training: • • • 34 BUILDING THE ELITE Water Confidence Training Treading Water Underwater Knot Tying NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE STRENGTH TRAINING 3 STRENGTH TRAINING FOR SOF STRENGTH TRAINING METHODS Strength is the peak force that can be produced during a movement. In other words, it’s the amount of force you can apply to an external object (ground, barbell, log, another human, etc) during any activity. More simply, it’s the ability to lift heavy things and move them around. When we refer to strength anywhere in this book we are talking about what most people think of as ‘functional strength’ or force production that you can use in the real world to do things other than picking up barbells in the gym. How much you deadlift is a form of strength, but it only loosely correlates with the strength used to carry a 70-pound ruck for 12 miles, scaling a wall, or dragging a partner. However, if you train according to the principles outlined throughout this book you’ll develop a broad base of strength that will allow you to transfer those general capacities (think squatting, lunging, deadlifting, pressing, pulling) to specific capabilities when you go through the SOF training pipeline. TRADE OFFS All adaptations lead to a cascade of effects in other related systems in the body. Strength and power training are no different. As we discussed in our book, maintaining movement capacity and reinforcing movement fidelity during the training process is essential for staying healthy. Increasing force production (strength and power) is often at odds with both of these goals. This is why we focus on how we do things as much as what we are doing. This often leads to slower short-term numerical progress, but avoids the pitfalls of strength and power training methods developed by powerlifters or football players whose primary objective is force production, not becoming a special operator. Those types of athletes are willing to make the trade-offs in movement necessary to become freakishly strong and powerful. In fact, those trade offs are often necessary to excel in those sports. There is a reason why powerlifters look like they are stuck in max back squat posture they are. 35 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE So, why even play this strength and power game? Because having relatively moderate levels of strength and power allows you to harness the upside of those qualities without leading to the downsides that accompany higher levels of force production. The stronger you are, the less the 70# pack will break you down, or the less the boat or log will feel. You’ll be working at a relatively lower percentage of your max force output, so you have more of a buffer zone as you fatigue. This reduces both mental and physical fatigue. You’ll also be more capable of absorbing forces if you stumble with a heavy ruck, or if someone stumbles and shifts the load of the boat or log onto you. In other words, you’re less likely to get injured. Our strength standards are at or slightly above the point of diminishing returns for the relationship between force production and movement capacity. We intentionally overdevelop strength going into selection because we know that 1-2 years of running, rucking, swimming and doing calisthenics will lead to strength losses. By going in with a strength buffer, you can weather these losses with falling below what you’ll need to survive selection and training. COORDINATION The primary means by which your body learns how to produce more force is via coordination of the nervous system and muscles. The more you do a movement within the methods described in this article, the more efficient, faster, and thus powerful the contractions within a muscle group become. Your brain also learns how to synchronize the contraction of multiple muscle groups throughout a movement to produce more force in specific movements. Over long periods of time, this also leads to other structural changes to tissues throughout the body that helps you produce and absorb more force. You don’t need to know the physiological details of how this happens to put strength training into practice and realize the results. Focus on coordination via exercise technique, program design, and effort (see below) to optimize your strength and power production. EFFORT The second component you want to focus on during training is effort. The more intention you put into each rep, the more force you will produce. For example, if you are doing a barbell back squat and you move the weight at a peak velocity of 1.2 meters per second, you’ll produce significantly more force than the same weight at .8 meters per second. If your effort is to always move the object as quickly as possible regardless of load, you’ll get more out of each set. There are a few caveats to the statement above: Technique As discussed, coordination is the most important variable during strength training. How you do a movement (technique) dictates what muscles work in what ways. You always want to put 100% effort, but not at the expense of ideal technique. For this reason, sometimes you’ll have to use lighter loads and slower speeds (reduced complexity and stress) to 36 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE improve learning. Seen from a different perspective, training with ideal technique is just another form of focused effort. Eccentrics and Isometrics To focus on improving a specific portion of a movement we implement intentionally slow eccentrics (lowering or lengthening portion of a lift) or isometrics (holding position). Effort still needs to be high to maintain quality movements and contraction, but speed won’t be the indicator of effort in these situations. Energy System Demands If your focus is on developing work capacity, strength endurance, or targeting a specific energy system capacity, maximum contraction on each rep is usually not desired. Instead, the focus will be on total work done per unit time. In these situations, focus on the cues and intentions of the method being utilized. STRUCTURE OF WORKOUTS VOLUME & INTENSITY The next variables to consider when building your strength workouts are volume and intensity. Volume is really the only variable to consider since intensity is dedicated by the adaptation you are targeting. For example, if you’re lifting at 90% of your one rep max, the only capability you’re targeting is strength. However, all capabilities can be developed in a range. For example, extensive strength and hypertrophy methods (high volume) tend to fall between 60-75% of your one-rep max. Extensive, or max strength methods fall between 75-100% of your one-rep max. With strength work, the lower the intensity the more volume you can recover from and adapt to; thus in most cases it’s helpful to adjust intensity within the range that allows you to program more total work. Each of the methods below provides a general range and example for both intensity and volume. Remember that performance is idiosyncratic - while guidelines are helpful, you need to adjust based on objective and subjective feedback. Keep this in mind when creating training programs for yourself or others. MOVEMENT CATEGORIES We structure strength workouts based on movement categories, not muscle groups. As discussed above, force production adaptations are specific to movements you train. While the movements we train are general in nature, they are specific enough to translate well to real world strength and power as an operator. Every primary lower body movement is a variation of triple flexion and extension of the hip, knee and ankle joint. A hip hinge movement (think deadlift) emphasizes movement at the hip, with some movement at the knee and very little at the ankle. A split squat variation emphasizes movement at the ankle and knee with some hip movement. Think of these movements as occurring on a continuum from more hip dominant to more knee / ankle dominant. 37 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE The execution (technique) of a movement changes what muscles and connective tissues are stressed and how. This is why we place such a large emphasis on the quality of work. What you do only matters as much as how you do it. We focus on training the movement categories outlined below because every locomotion activity (walking, jogging, running, sprinting) combines some combination of triple flexion and extension. By training coordination of the muscles (and the axial skeleton that they control) across this continuum, you improve your ability to produce and absorb force regardless of the activity you are doing or the type and amount of load you’re dealing with. This is why you’ll see different types of stances and various loading patterns in specific exercises from the categories listed below. The only time we use isolation movements are for part practice. To review, part practice is designed to target a specific part of a movement you want to improve before integrating it into a more complex movement. For example, single-leg hip lifts are a great exercise to learn how to control the position of the hip and rib cage while creating hip extension with the hamstrings and glutes. You might use single-leg hip thrusts as part practice before integrating that component pattern into a larger, more complex movement like a deadlift. Primary Lower Body Movement Categories: • Squat variations • Hip hinge variations • Lunge & step up variations (one foot leaves the ground) • Split stance variations (both feet stay in the same position) Primary Upper Body Movement Categories: • Vertical push variations • Vertical pull variations • Horizontal push variations • Horizontal pull variations Secondary Movement Categories: 38 • Lower body accessory • Core - anti flexion / extension • Core - anti lateral flexion / anti rotation • Core - hip flexion • Core - complex BUILDING THE ELITE SFAS & RASP TRAINING GUIDE Other Movement Categories: • Lateral movement • Linear speed • Running drills • Change of direction • Breathing • Warm up • Movement capacity • Part practice • Shoulder health STRUCTURE & FREQUENCY Every strength workout is organized as a full body workout with the following structure: Warm-up • Breathing Exercises • Movement Capacity Exercises • Bounding / MB Circuit Movement / power* • Lateral or linear speed / movement, change of direction, power (1-3 exercises) Primary: • Lower body • Upper body push • Upper body pull *The movement / power and secondary sections vary widely based on the individual, their goals, training stage, etc. 39 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Secondary (accessory work) • Lower body (secondary emphasis) • Core *The movement / power and secondary sections vary widely based on the individual, their goals, training stage, etc. We use this structure because we program one to three strength workouts per week depending on the needs of the individual and how close to selection they are. No other structure allows enough volume to maintain or build strength. Sometimes we’ll use an upper / lower body split for an operator who doesn’t need to do long duration runs / rucks for the foreseeable future. If you’re training for any selection, this isn’t you. Use the following guidelines when creating programming for each section of the structure outlined above: » Movement / Power: Use the methods described below in power training, in our book » Primary Strength: Use the methods outlined below » Secondary (accessory work): Lower volume and intensity targeting specific weak areas or focusing on learning / reinforcing a movement competency » Typically 2-4 sets of 6-15 reps (rep-based) or 30-60s (time based) A training week should include at least one movement from each of the primary upper and lower body movement categories split between all strength training sessions. We program anywhere from 1-3 power / strength training sessions per week depending on the individual and where they are at in their training process. Below are basic guidelines based on your capability and where you are at in the training process: » Strength deficit (not anywhere close to standards) - three training sessions per week » Slight strength deficit (within 20% of most standards) - two training sessions per week » No strength deficit (can hit most standards) - one or two training sessions per week » 40 BUILDING THE ELITE » Often times we’d do one full volume session and one half volume session » This is also where we may bias sessions more toward power, once strength is easily at or above standards Peaking (assuming you’ve prepared properly and are at least close to most strength standards) one or two sessions (at most) per week in the final month or two leading into a selection NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE METHODS We separate strength into two subtypes of programming – extensive and intensive. Extensive training blocks are used to refine movement quality, build movement fidelity, and drive work capacity. Loads are typically lower (50-75% of a one rep max) and volume and quality (along with other psychological skills) are the primary goals of this type of training. Methods used during these blocks are not suitable for higher loads since the volume tends to be so high. Intensive strength falls into the more ‘traditional’ strength programming with lower volume and wider variety of intensities and speeds. These methods are used to develop max strength and to maintain strength once you have a solid foundation. There are literally hundreds of methods that can be used. EXTENSIVE STRENGTH METHODS EUSTRESS Covered in depth here. CLUSTER SETS A cluster set is a way to do a given number of reps with a heavier than usual weight by breaking the set up into segments separated by a quick rest. This allows you to use more weight, and do more total work, while still doing the movement well. You stay “fresh” and maintain good form. For example, a set of 6 single-arm dumbbell rows might be broken into a cluster of two quick sets of 3 reps. You’d do this by performing 3 rows, setting the weight down for about ten seconds (just long enough to take a few breaths) and then — with the same arm — complete the next 3 reps. When doing bilateral work, we break up higher rep sets with specific breathing rests. For example, in the 5-3-2 protocol, the trainee does 5 reps of a lift, sets the weight down / racks it and performs 3 deep breaths followed by 3 more reps, 3 more breaths and finally 2 more reps. Total volume is similar to eustress methods – 30-100 total reps with intensity always relatively low (less than 80%). INTENSIVE STRENGTH METHODS GYM PR A Gym PR, also known as a daily max, is done by testing how much weight you can lift for one single max-effort rep without grinding the rep or losing speed, range of motion or technique. It’s the heaviest weight that you can lift easily, and without the use of belts, wraps, stimulants or death metal psych-ups. It’s different than a meet PR, which you would do in a powerlifting 41 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE meet with all the assistance legally available, death metal, and a nose full of ammonia salts and where you’d grind out a rep no matter what as long as it meant getting the number on the board and setting a new personal record. The Gym PR is something you can do every day, calmly, easily and without risk of injury. You work up to it using an open format. There’s no fixed number of sets and reps. Say you’re doing a Gym PR for a deadlift and you can usually lift around 300 at the most. You warm up and load 135 on the bar and pull a few sets of 2-3 reps, breathing easily between sets and moving fast. Then you add another 50 pounds on the bar (185) and pull a double. Toss tens on either side (205) and pull another two reps. Still fast and easy. Consolidate it down to two plates, take a sip of water, and pull another rep. Easy. 245 goes up almost as fast for one rep. You add another twenty pounds and 265 feels like you could still get some more weight on the bar and stay fast. So you add ten more pounds. 275 feels good, and it’s still pretty fast but definitely heavy. You add ten more pounds and it goes up with perfect form but you’re pretty sure that any more weight would slow you down and make you grind the rep out or lose technique. So you cut it there and move on. That’s your gym PR for the day - 285 pounds. This shouldn’t take more than 10-15 minutes total and it should feel pretty easy the whole time. For some lifts like the bench press, we typically use a triple instead of a heavy single. That means it’s a Gym PR for three reps instead of one. This is to save your joints and reduce the odds of you chewing on a barbell if your spotter isn’t paying attention or you don’t have one. ESCALATING DENSITY TRAINING (EDT) Escalating Density Training is a way of doing as much work as possible within a fixed amount of time. For instance, you might choose a period of 5 minutes, and see how many total reps you can do in that 5 minutes. Next time, you might try to do more total reps with the same weight as before. As you get better, the time gets “denser” — in other words, you do more reps in the same total time. EDT is a good way to get an intense workout in a relatively short amount of time. It also depends on your ability to regulate the pace of your workouts yourself, and sense into your level of energy and fatigue, so that you can work in your “zone of optimal challenge” and get the most out of your workouts. Unlike some of our other training protocols, there’s no limit to how high you get your heart rate in EDT workouts. You can make the session as intense as you want to with one catch: the movement quality 42 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE has to be excellent. Thus, it’s usually better to do fewer reps (say 3-5 reps at a time) with short breaks, instead of trying to do more reps in a row. In other words, instead of doing 15 reps all at once, do: 3 reps + a moment of rest + 3 reps + rest + 3 reps + rest + 3 reps + rest + 3 reps Your goal is to do as many of these sets as possible within a fixed amount of time (usually 5-15 minutes) with good form. EDT can also be executed as a circuit with two exercises. When more than two exercises are included in an EDT circuit the effectiveness drops significantly. EXAMPLE PROGRAM - MODERATE VOLUME FOUNDATION PHASE There are a lot of variables to consider, so don’t worry about being perfect. The human body is amazingly resilient and your training program doesn’t need to be perfect. Listen to your body and adjust accordingly. The goal of this phase is to build a foundation of movement competency with moderate loads. Movements are fairly basic (nothing complex) and total volume is moderate, but not towards the higher end of what is possible. This was an introductory block for a new client to see how they responded. WORKOUT 1 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 Total rep sets - same Eustress Principles as before. Sets should be 3–5 reps at a time. Focus on controlled breathing dropping into deep squat breathing if you feel your back start to lock up. A Box Jump and Lateral Bounds - 5x5 5x4 5x3 3x3 B BB RDL - slow lowering 30 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 15 total reps C Bench Press 30 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 15 total reps D Weighted Pullup variation 30 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 15 total reps 90s rest between sets Move quickly between exercises - Total time for each set should be less than 5 minutes. Warm up sets not included in working sets listed below. 43 E1 SLRDL 2x10/leg 2x10/leg 2x10/leg 2x10/leg E2 Landmine Rainbow 2x5/side 3x6 3x6 3x6 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE WORKOUT 2 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 A Broad Jumps and Rotational MB 5x5 5x4 5x3 3x3 B Anderson Front Squat 30 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 15 total reps CS plit-Stance (trailing leg knee on 30 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 15 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 30 total reps 15 total reps Throws - 90s rest between rounds ground) Band Row D Single-Arm Split-Stance Landmine Press Move quickly between exercises - Total time for each set should be less than 5 minutes. Warm up sets not included in working sets listed below. E1 Single-Leg Hip Lift 2x15-20 2x15-20 2x15-20 2x15-20 E2 KB Pullover 2x8 2x8 2x8 2x8 EXAMPLE PROGRAM - INTENSIVE PHASE The goal of this phase is to increase intensity while reducing volume. This gives the trainee the opportunity to realize the strength gains from improving work capacity and coordination over the previous two blocks. WORKOUT 1 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 Short-Seated Breathing (mix in 5 breaths 5 breaths 5 breaths 5 breaths as recovery breathing) Slowly work up in weight over the month. Each superset should be about 2–2.5 minutes. Same principle as Eustress, but with progressively more weight. Quality should be perfect on all of these. A1 Broad Jump Bounds 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 A2 Trap Bar DL 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 B1 Bench Press 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 B2 Weighted Pullup Variation 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 Move quickly between exercises - Total time for each set should be less than 5 minutes. Warm up sets not included in working sets listed below. C1 Cross-Over Step Up 2x10/leg 2x10/leg 2x10/leg 2x10/leg C2 S traight Leg Sit Up (weighted) - 2x8 2x8 2x8 2x8 toes hooked or in GHR 44 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE WORKOUT 2 WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 Short-Seated Breathing (mix in 5 breaths 5 breaths 5 breaths 5 breaths as recovery breathing) Slowly work up in weight over the month. Each superset should be about 2–2.5 minutes. Same principle as Eustress, but with progressively more weight. Quality should be perfect on all of these. A1 KB Squat Jumps - 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 A2 RFE Split-Squat 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 B1 KB Alternating Overhead Press 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 B2 Single-Arm Ring Row 5x5 6x4 7x3 7x2 hold 20-30# KB Move quickly between exercises - Total time for each set should be less than 5 minutes. Warm up sets not included in working sets listed below. E1 S ingle-Leg Hip Lift (heel 2x10-15 2x10-15 2x10-15 2x10-15 2x30s 2x30s 2x30s 2x30s on bench) E2 Landmine Rainbow 45 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE WORK CAPACITY 4 WHAT IS WORK CAPACITY Work capacity is a blend of power and capacity. » Power = the amount of force you can express in a short, fixed amount of time such as a max power clean or broad jump » Capacity = how much force you express repeatedly over a long period of time, such as your 10 mile run time There is a tradeoff when it comes to either power or capacity within a specific trait. The greater your capacity (amount of work you can do) the lower your max power will be. This is why an ultra-marathon runner might not be able to run a very fast 100m sprint but can run for hours on end at the same pace. Olympic lifters have a ton of power but their capacity in nearly every other area is relatively low (compared to someone with a large capacity). SOF operators are masters of work capacity. They aren’t overspecialized in any physiological capacity; instead, they can do a lot of everything. This allows them to be extremely adaptable and resilient in the field. For someone looking to attend a SOF selection course, work capacity refers to your ability to sprint, run, ruck, swim, carry things, climb things, and do calisthenics. All of these movements require a reasonable amount of force output, but are also repeated over and over, requiring a large capacity as well. UNDERPINNINGS OF WORK CAPACITY There are three primary components that dictate your work capacity: 46 1. Aerobic power and capacity 2. Movement capacity and fidelity 3. Relative strength BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE If your goal is to crush your PT tests and deal with the never ending work in selection you need to have a blend of these three capacities. 1 - AEROBIC POWER AND CAPACITY Most work capacity exercises are high enough in load to force you to recruit type II or intermediate fibers (i.e. fast twitch or high force output muscle fibers); especially as you fatigue. Thus, if you aren’t strategic about the methods you’re using to develop work capacity you’ll fail to develop the aerobic capacity of your fast twitch muscle fibers and will quickly hit a wall. Breathing, another important component of aerobic fitness that is covered in depth here, plays a huge role in work capacity performance. This is especially true during PT tests and repeated beat down sessions meant to stress your ability to recover while still doing work. The methods described below focus heavily on driving improvements in your underlying physiology and coordination of mental skills to moderate your stress response and breathing. 2 - MOVEMENT CAPACITY AND FIDELITY Movement capacity, fidelity and related concepts were covered in depth later in this guide. A quick overview: Movement capacity is how well you move: Can you do a deep squat? Can you lift your arms straight over your head without arching your lower back? Can you touch your toes? More movement isn’t necessarily better, but you need enough to do a deep squat or pull-up without compensations. When you add volume or intensity to your training, small limiting factors in movement lead to excessive strain on tissues in ways they weren’t built to handle. This is when ‘out of nowhere’ injuries occur. If you’re as flexible as a 2x4 you should focus on developing movement capacity first or you will get hurt if you increase work capacity volume too quickly. Movement fidelity is how well you can sustain technique under volume and load. Your pullups can’t degrade into a kipping, air-humping mess. Regardless of what you program, you should always be aware of technique and stop workouts if / when it starts to slip. And, if you have movement capacity concerns you should address those before incorporating work capacity into your training program. 3 - RELATIVE STRENGTH Relative strength is simple, it’s a measure of how strong you are relative to your bodyweight. Here are a few examples: 47 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Relative strength is simple, it’s a measure of how strong you are relative to your bodyweight. Here are a few examples: • Pullups – 5 chest-to-bar bodyweight pullups • Back Squat – 1.5x bodyweight • Deadlift – 1.5x bodyweight • Bench press – 1x bodyweight Having a solid foundation of relative strength in the basic movements ensures you’ll be able to handle the volume of bodyweight exercises and target the specific physiological qualities each method is designed to stress. If you don’t have a reasonable strength base upon which to build your work capacity, your work capacity workouts will effectively be strength workouts and you will quickly hit a ceiling. MOVEMENTS, STRUCTURE, AND FREQUENCY Example Template: EXERCISE PULLUP PUSHUP WEIGHTED CARRY EXERCISE PLANK OR CRAWL EXERCISE SHOUDLER HEALTH EXERCISE MOVEMENT CAPACITY EXERCISE You’ll notice situps aren’t a part of this structure. Why? Because they are a silly exercise and doing too many will negatively affect your posture and generally beat you up. You should only do the bare minimum volume to pass your PT test. This is generally accomplished by doing a single AMRAP (as many reps as possible) once per week in the 4-8 weeks leading up to a PT test or prior to selection. 48 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE We program anywhere from 0-4 work capacity training sessions per week depending on the individual and where they are at in their training process. Below are basic guidelines based on your capability and where you are at in the training process: » Strength deficit (not anywhere close to standards) - zero training sessions per week » Slight strength deficit (within 20% of most standards) - one or two training sessions per week » No strength deficit (can hit most standards) - two or three training sessions per week » Peaking (assuming you’ve prepared properly and are at least close to most standards) - two to four sessions per week As you can see, work capacity has an inverse relationship with strength training sessions. If you’re weak, you should spend your energy improving strength first. If you’re strong, you should focus on improving your work capacity while maintaining strength. HOW TO THINK ABOUT BUILDING YOUR WORK CAPACITY Work capacity sessions are not strength workouts. While they may have a small strength benefit, they primarily stress energy systems, not strength. By slowly ramping up volume within the specific parameters outlined below you can protect quality and avoid burning out due to accumulated fatigue. The focus of the initial months of work capacity training should be on developing aerobic adaptations in the specific tissues used for the various movements outlined above. These have been labeled as ‘extensive’ methods below. Once a foundation has been built, you can move onto exploiting those qualities to build max outputs necessary to smoke PT tests. Think max rep pushups, pullups, situps, etc. These are labeled ‘intensive methods’. The foundation built during the extensive phase(s) are what is going to help you survive the daily onslaught of beatdown sessions without breaking down. EXTENSIVE METHODS: HICT: Do a set of 2-5 reps every 10-20 seconds, leading to 12-20 reps per minute for the entire time period. You should be able to maintain perfect technique, but you should feel pretty tired at the end of each movement set. Total volume should be 5-20 minutes. TIMED REPEATS (ALTERNATING): One set of 12-20 reps of pushups is completed as quickly as possible (within 12-20 seconds) followed by a similar set of a pulling exercise (chest supported or inverted rows) during a 1-2 minute rest period. A longer rest period is used initially; but over time the rest period can shrink to as little as 60 seconds. Up to 30 rounds (15 per movement) 49 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE TIMED REPEATS (SINGLE MOVEMENT FOCUS): Total work time for each set is constrained to the 8-15s range and rest lasts from 60-120s per set. This can be repeated for up to 15 total sets per movement. EUSTRESS: A set number of reps are performed throughout a workout with only as much rest as is needed to maintain quality and composure. Reps should be kept even throughout and shouldn’t be anywhere close to your max output (i.e. sets of 5 pullups for 50 reps). Volume will vary depending on the exercise: • • • Pullups: 20-100 reps Pushups: 50-200 reps zInverted Rows: 50-200 reps INTENSIVE METHODS: AMRAP: These sets are great for ‘practicing’ your PT test methods and strategies. They are very stressful though, so AMRAP sets should be limited to 1-2 sets of an exercise in a single workout and only be done twice per week at most, and usually only once per week. When executing an AMRAP set, this shouldn’t be the absolute most reps you can do, but the most you can do continuously without grinding out reps. VOLUME BASED TRAINING (VBT): Volume based training is simple: do the set volume throughout a workout by breaking it up into manageable chunks. Oftentimes volume training is combined with AMRAP training by having the athlete do a single AMRAP set followed by a total volume of work afterwards. This method is similar to eustress workouts, but volume per set is higher. The goal is to finish the total reps in the least amount of sets without compromising technique or falling off a cliff with reps per set. BREATHING LADDERS: A listed number of reps are performed followed by the same amount of breaths before the exercise has to be done again. Breathe through the nose. Longer breaths mean more recovery time, so the better your self-regulation under stress the more rest you get. Reps vary by going up and down a ‘ladder’ throughout a set. For example, a 1-5-1 ladder would consist of one rep, rest for one breath, 2 reps, rest for 2 breaths… continue up to 5 reps and then back down to 1. You can breathe freely while working, but your rest intervals are defined by how long it takes you to complete the prescribed breaths. EMOM: Every minute on the minute. For these workouts you do the prescribed reps at the top of each 50 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE minute for the listed duration of time. Since recovery time is low, total rep count has to be limited to the 10-15 rep range for pushups and 5-10 reps for pullups. Recommended volume: • • 6-12 minutes total Can be broken into two shorter sets with 4-5 minutes rest between sets EXAMPLE PROGRAM The goal of this phase is to build a foundation, slowly increasing total volume each week by never approaching failure or accumulating fatigue from set to set. You’ll do this by using methods that spread out the work over long periods of time. As you’ll see in the examples below we combine methods on different days. Some exercises (weighted carries, core work, shoulder health) don’t work well with some methods and should be added on after the primary emphasis of the workout. Think of these as ‘accessory work’ in work capacity workouts. Day 1 Day 2 Day 3 HICT Eustress Volume Timed Repeats (alternating) HICT Movements: » » Pushups Inverted Rows Structure: » » » » Week 1 = 2 x 6 min each movement Week 2 = 2 x 7 min each movement Week 3 = 2 x 8 min each movement Week 4 = 1 x 6 min each movement Eustress Volume Movements: » » Pushups Pull-ups Structure: » » » » 51 BUILDING THE ELITE Week 1 = 70 reps pushups / 30 pull-ups Week 2 = 85 reps pushups / 35 pull-ups Week 3 = 100 reps pushups / 40 pull-ups Week 4 = 50 reps pushups / 20 pull-ups NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Timed Repeats Movements: » » » Minute 1 = 4-8 pull-ups Minute 2 = 15-20 pushups Repeat structure for allotted time Try to move quickly and powerfully during the work period so that you’re done moving within about 15 seconds or less. Structure: » » » » Week 1 = 20 minutes Week 2 = 24 minutes Week 3 = 28 minutes Week 4 = 14 minutes Day 1 EXERCISE WEEK 1 WEEK 2 WEEK 3 WEEK 4 A1 HICT Pushups 2x6 min 2x7 min 2x8 min 1x6 min B1 HICT Inverted Rows 2x6 min 2x7 min 2x8 min 1x6 min C1 Farmer Carry 8x30s on / off 10x30s on /off 12x30s on /off 6x30s on /off D1 DB External Rotation 3x10 3x10 3x10 3x10 A1 Pushups 70 reps 85 reps 100 reps 50 reps A2 Pull-ups 30 reps 35 reps 40 reps 20 reps B1 Single-Arm Farmer Carry 8x30s on / off 10x30s on /off 12x30s on /off 6x30s on /off C1 Face Pulls 3x10 3x10 3x10 2x10 20 min 24 min 28 min 14 min C1 Side Plank (knee to elbow) 8x30s on / off 10x30s on /off 12x30s on /off 6x30s on /off D1 ½ TGU 3x5/side 3x5/side 3x5/side 2x5/side Day 2 Day 3 A1 Pushups A2 Pull-ups 52 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 5 MOVEMENT MOVEMENT CAPACITY, FIDELITY, AND VARIABILITY Movement is the expression of your physical potential. In other words, it’s the process through which all physical work is done. Under that frame, movement becomes one of the most important capacities to train. The most well-developed energy systems or the most powerful muscles are worthless with the movement required to display those capacities. The human body contains an immense amount of redundancy, or different ways to execute a skill. This allows you to effectively manage variability or changes in your environment. These two factors are what allow you to successfully ruck through rugged terrain or navigate an obstacle course without looking like a robot. Movement capacity is the total movement available to you in each moment to execute a task.. This means that your movement capacity is constantly changing based on factors such as fatigue, breathing, and load. Movement fidelity is how well you maintain movement quality and performance outcomes despite stressors. When someone with a high level of movement fidelity executes a PT test, their 70th pushup doesn’t look much different from their first one. MOTOR LEARNING PRINCIPLES The following principles should be applied during the training process to help you get the most out of each training session. (1) Stress and speed kill learning All of the movement strategies outlined below are programmed to occur in a no or low-stress situation (before a workout, during rest breaks, on recovery days). This allows you to learn and adapt quickly. How you do anything is as important as what you’re doing. When learning to integrate a new range of motion or simply re-learning or refining a movement, you should perform it without stress first (so, with a lighter weight or using a skill-based movement) and slowly increase difficulty without sacrificing quality. This is true whether you’re talking about a warm-up 53 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE movement, strength training, or your running technique. The more you slow down the movement and focus on the quality of each rep, the more you’ll enhance learning. While you might not get as much of a strength or conditioning training effect from these practice reps in the short-term, you’ll open up your ability to reach a higher peak of capability in the long run. If you apply this approach over thousands of reps you’ll be able to execute movements exactly how you want, even under very high levels of stress. (2) Start with part practice When you’re working on changing a movement pattern, first work on improving the smallest possible part of that movement and then reintegrate it into the global movement over time. Focusing on a small part of the movement first is called part practice. For example, let’s say your overhead position is terrible and you can’t put your arm by your ear without arching your back, which leads to you struggling to swim your sidestroke without your technique breaking down. The first step would be to improve your overhead position using a breathing or mobility drill. Once you have the motion, you can begin integrating it with swimming drills designed to work on that specific position in the stroke. Finally, you’d integrate that new motion into the full side stroke motion. Other examples: » Upper body – scapular rhythm drills, overhead carries » Core work – supine dead bugs, roll-outs, landmine rainbows, anti-rotationals, plank variations » Lower body – hips-elevated leg curls, hip thrusts, glute-ham raises Each of these drills targets a different part of a larger skill or movement pattern and works on refining it. For example, various forms of core work will help you to maintain good positioning at the spine and ribcage when reaching overhead. With that component in place, practicing your ability to breathe and move well during an overhead carry in the gym will then carry over to integrating a good overhead reach and glide during the sidestroke in the pool. (3) Integrate part practice skills into whole practice This brings us to whole practice, or practicing complete movements. Part and whole practice should occur concurrently (back to back) in order to teach yourself to integrate skills into more complex and realistic movements on the fly. In other words, you should still run, ruck, swim, squat, deadlift, lunge, press, etc. even while working on part practice for many of these movements. The intensity and volume of complex movements is always limited by the competency of the limiting factor of each movement, which is usually what you will want to target with part practice. For example, if you are working on hip and rib cage control during pressing movements, you will only add intensity and volume to your presses while maintaining good movement. 54 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE In some cases, there may be a movement (say, an overhead press or squat variation) that you cannot do at all with sufficiently safe movement quality. Within the SOF training population, this is most likely to occur when someone is coming back from an injury. In these cases, you would focus solely on part practice only and develop the components of the more complex movement until you were confident in your ability to safely integrate bigger movements into your program. However, it’s rare that people can’t do a complex movement at all, but usually the case that they can only do it with a certain level of intensity and volume. By integrating part practice with whole practice, and moderating the complex movement by keeping intensity and volume at a level that allows earned success with each repetition, you’ll be able to safely train and improve complex movements and keep yourself on a path for long-term progress. As you move through the stages of stress inoculation training (see below for more on this), you should work to display competency under progressively higher levels of intensity, fatigue, and pain. If your motion starts to break down, you need to reduce stress until the motion can be completed perfectly. Your goal is to stay at the edge of your ability while building on successful execution under progressively more challenging conditions. Quality training leads to quality performance. Your training will always involve some mixture of part and whole practice. As your training advances, that ratio will shift from mainly part practice to predominantly whole practice. Once you can complete a motor skill at high levels of stress without a breakdown in execution, you can phase out much of the part practice and only maintain key exercises that help reinforce and maintain the aspects that tend to break down under stress and fatigue. These are your normal warm-up and recovery movements covered in depth later in this chapter. Examples: » Rucking – During weekly rucks, we’ll have athletes focus on using the same breathing mechanics we practiced during workouts. We’ll also focus on how they create tension or stability with the ruck, and how to shift that tension from side to side and from back to front over the course of a long training session. » Pushups – Core position, breathing coordination, and scapular rhythm drills are all reinforced with pushup execution. As soon as one of these areas breaks down (even if it’s before pushup set / rep protocol failure occurs), we shut down the movement to protect the movement fidelity of the exercise. As we get closer to the testing environment of selection we allow (and actually want) the athlete to practice ‘cheat’ or non-ideal reps so they know how to adjust as they reach fatigue and how to move efficiently to preserve energy. For example, in training we’ll ensure that every pushup is done with a full range of motion featuring good downward rotation of the scapulae at the bottom of the rep, and full protraction at the top. If you’re doing a max-rep test in selection or are just knocking out reps in a beatdown, it’s wise to shorten the range of motion and put less emphasis on scapular mechanics that sap energy but aren’t necessary for the immediate goal of doing pushups until the angry instructor gets bored. 55 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE BUILD ON PREVIOUS MOVEMENTS Progress through movements slowly. Every client we work with has to prove they can bodyweight squat well before they goblet squat and so on. Each movement adds a bit more complexity or intensity, but is only assigned once the previous movement can be executed with a high level of fidelity. You should periodically practice foundational movements like goblet squats as a way of building redundancy in the skill acquisition process. No matter how skilled or fit you are, you always have to revisit the fundamentals from time to time to rebuild some of the basic underlying competencies that tend to break down under higher levels of intensity, fatigue, and stress. A “basic” movement like a goblet squat is only easy if you do it without sufficient intensity, density, and/or volume. Low-complexity movements like this are a useful tool for ramping up training intensity in a way that challenges your metabolic system and mental skills with minimal risk of technical breakdown and injury, which is a valuable piece of the stress inoculation process. As you’ll see later in this chapter, we try to integrate fundamental movement practice into every training session by using specific warm-ups that target the less complex underlying movements that create the foundation for more difficult or complex movements. METHODS To be as efficient as possible, we integrate movement work into other training sessions. This has multiple benefits: 1. Movement work also serves as a warm-up. 2. By increasing movement capacity before you train, you can integrate any new range of motion into your movements. 3. Alternating between work that is targeting another physiological quality and movement work allows you to train multiple qualities simultaneously with a compounding effect on the quality of both. We use several different types of movement drills. Below is a brief overview of each movement intervention: SOFT TISSUE WORK Foam rolling, massage, and other forms of soft tissue work are helpful, but should play a small role in staying healthy and moving well. We suggest spending no more than 5 minutes on soft tissue work on a few areas that are a little tender from recent training. If you consistently need more than that, you likely have more global movement restrictions. Spending thirty minutes foam rolling is treating a symptom and not the actual limiting factor. RESPIRATION 56 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Your ability to breathe properly is intimately tied to healthy posture, and bad breathing habits propagate aberrant postural patterns. The rhythmic nature of good respiration helps maintain mobility and elasticity in joints. Breathing also has a major effect on soft tissue pliability throughout the body due to its effect on autonomic nervous system tone, circulation, and tissue oxygenation. Proper stabilization of the spine during strenuous activities and heavy lifting is dependent upon the proper synchronization of deep core musculature coordinated with respiratory patterns. In other words, if you don’t breathe properly you can’t stabilize your spine and you’re at increased risk of injury. Muscular structures that are related to breathing become locked up when breathing patterns aren’t optimal. This creates a positive feedback loop because when these muscles are overly tight or restricted, they can restrict breathing. These overactive muscles are in a state of constant contraction which causes them to become ischemic, so they don’t recycle waste products efficiently, which further reinforces the ischemic environment that promotes chronic inflammation. Focused respiration also enhances the quality of mobility and soft tissue work. By focusing on full exhales, a 3-5 second pause, and a controlled inhale you create a strong parasympathetic (rest and relax) state that signals safety to your brain. This allows ‘tight’ or overactive muscles to relax more effectively than just tugging on them (stretching) or smashing them (soft tissue work). For these reasons, and many more, we spend a lot of time on breathing mechanics throughout workouts. A much more in-depth article on breathing can be read on our site. MOVEMENT EXERCISES Movement exercises are designed to improve capacity, coordination, and warm up tissues by moving through full ranges of motion in joints throughout the body. These movements include active work (muscles creating movement) combined with passive support (e.g. holding onto a squat rack) to help facilitate a full range of motion. These drills help maximize movement capacity (total motion) while also engaging muscles through that range and helping prepare them for more intense work. Drills can range from very specific to you (individualized movement exercises) to very general in nature (general warm up drills). PROGRAMMING We break movement work up into four categories: 57 1. Individualized movement exercises 2. Warm ups 3. Part practice 4. Recovery circuits BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Here’s how we program each of these parts of a training program: 1 - INDIVIDUALIZED MOVEMENT EXERCISES Exercises targeting specific limiting factors identified during the movement capacity assessment should be executed first in preparation for a training session. This will be a circuit of 3-5 exercises performed for one minute each. Exercises should be performed back-to-back with no rest between exercises. 2 - WARM UPS Warmups should not just consist of light cardio and a few minutes of stretching. Instead, warmups should help improve movement capacity, prepare the body various body systems for intense work, and stimulate adaptations necessary to become more resilient. Once you have the process down, warm ups should take around 10-15 minutes to complete. Warm-ups are broken into three parts: 1. General Warm Up: 3-4 minutes 2. Medicine Ball or Bounding Circuit: 2-3 minutes 3. Movement Specific Warm Up: 2-3 minutes Let’s take a look at each of the component parts. General Warm Up This part of the warm up incorporates general movement patterns and helps to increase body temperature, tissue extensibility, and prepare the body for more intense exercise. The movements performed are broad in nature (squat, lunge, crawl) and usually consist of 3-6 exercises performed in succession with very little rest for 30-60 seconds each. While no single movement will feel very intense, the constant full-body movement is often enough to elevate your heart rate when exercises are done in a back-to-back flow. The dynamic warm up is also a great place to reinforce movement principles and dial in less complex versions of movements you’ll do in your training session. Dynamic Warmup Movements: Squat » » » Lunge » 58 BUILDING THE ELITE Plate squat Band squat Squat to stand Walking lunge with reach NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE » » » Press » » Crawl » » » Pull » » Rolling » » » Reverse lunge with reach Spidermans Reverse SLRDL Inchworm to pushup Spiderman pushups Bear crawl Lateral crawl Bear sit-through Band pull-apart Inverted rows Forward rolls Backward rolls Backward side-to-side This is not an exhaustive list. More examples can be found on our Youtube page. Extensive Medicine Ball Circuits We’re big fans of the medicine ball. Med ball circuits are great for preparing tissues to move in a variety of odd ways that you’ll likely encounter in the chaotic selection environment. Small strains and tweaks can become major issues in these environments. Being prepared for dynamic movement by consistently practicing it is the key to avoiding injury. Extensive means a lot of volume at a relatively low intensity. We start with extensive medicine ball circuits and slowly build to intensive circuits with higher demands over the course of months. Each circuit is used for a dedicated block. Example circuits can be found on our Youtube page. Volume: 100-300 total reps For example, you’d do 2 sets of 10 reps on each exercise, resting 1-2 minutes between rounds. Bounding Circuits Similar to med ball circuits, bounding circuits are used to develop tissue resilience to a variety of different demands. Start with low intensity / high frequency and slowly transition to high intensity / low frequency over the course of several months. Complexity and load also slowly increase by transitioning from Circuits 1 to 3 listed below. Each circuit is used for a dedicated block. Volume: 5-20 yards per exercise. Example circuits can be found on our Youtube page. 59 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Movement Specific Warm Up This part of the warm up consists of a series of movements meant to prepare you for the specific demands of the movements targeted in that training session. For example: Running warm up » » » » » » » A-march A-skip Carioca (sometimes people call these ‘grapevines’) Lateral shuffle A-run Power skip 90/90 arm march Squat warm up » » » » Front-foot-elevated split squat Deep goblet squat breathing Goblet squat Jump squat Hip hinge warm up » » » » Inchworms Single-leg hip thrust Kb deadlift Kb swing These are the last step in the warmup process and should take 2-3 minutes to complete. Putting it all together A well-constructed warmup should prepare you for your workout, improve movement capacity, and help prepare tissues for the demands ahead. While fifteen minutes might seem like a lot to dedicate to this process of preparing for a training session, applying yourself to this process will often make the difference between staying healthy or not as you increase volume and intensity. Video examples of all of these movements can be found on our Youtube Page. 3 - PART PRACTICE Movement work doesn’t end with the warm up. During every training session you’ll always want to focus on the technique of your primary movements; especially those identified as breaking down faster during your movement fidelity test. We use part practice, or drills focusing on smaller parts of the global movement to help reinforce this process. Part practice drills can be broken down into two categories: 60 1. Movement capacity drills 2. Movement fidelity drills BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Movement capacity drills are specific mobility or breathing exercises threaded in between strength exercises or throughout a workout. These are the same exercises you’re using during your individualized movement exercises. We program these between sets of the primary movements in a strength training session. For example, lat hang breathing between sets of overhead presses helps improve overhead position and then reinforces using this new motion with the strength movement. Movement fidelity drills are focused on improving coordination and fitness in a specific part of a more complex skill. For example, we often prescribe a specific running drill like the ‘A Run’ between 400m repeats to reinforce ideal running mechanics. Another example of part practice is the last block of exercises in strength training sessions. We typically include a core, shoulder health, and a lower body movement. All of these types of movements focus on component parts of more complex skills and are extremely effective for improving coordination and fitness in parts of movements that break down under pain, fatigue, and stress. 4 - RECOVERY CIRCUITS We use recovery circuits to either help speed up the recovery process and enhance movement on ‘off days’, or as a second workout on lower-volume training days. These are similar to a warm-up, but tend to be heavier in breathing work and focus on movement throughout the entire body. These are far more effective than standard soft tissue and static stretching exercises. While breathing exercises often emphasize ‘stretching’ or expansion in specific areas, they also facilitate changes in motor learning, which leads to changes in movement capacity being maintained for much longer. Each exercise is targeted for 30-60 seconds and each circuit is repeated up to three times (depending on time constraints). Below are a few examples of recovery circuits: 61 BUILDING THE ELITE CIRCUIT 1 CIRCUIT 2 CIRCUIT 3 Short seated breathing 90/90 breathing Feet up the wall breathing Inchworms Spidermans Hook-lying paraspinal release Kneeling rotations Ankle mobilizations Lateral line breathing Left crawl breathing Hook-lying overhead lowering Child’s pose with rotation Lat hang breathing Pec inhibition breathing Pec minor mobilizations V Sits RF inhibition Photo shoot breathing Stuck beetle rolls Forearm mobilizations Deep squat breathing NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE WRAP UP You should now have a comprehensive model of how to assess and train movement skills in your daily workouts. Most of the concepts and examples covered in this chapter are much easier to understand after seeing them in action, so visit our Youtube Page for video examples of these movements and full warm-ups. 62 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE MENTAL SKILLS 6 PART 1: IKIGAI WHY DO YOU KEEP GOING? “The two most dangerous years of your life are the year you’re born and the year you retire.” – Dan Buettner Dan Buettner’s research focuses on the world’s Blue Zones, areas in which people live inordinately long, healthy lives. The Blue Zone with the longest disability-free life expectancy in the world is the archipelago of Okinawa. Here, men and women routinely live to exceed 100 years of age. At this age, they are still physically capable, fully alert and involved in the world around them. They work in their gardens, play with their great, great-grandchildren and when they die it is generally quickly and in their sleep. Their rates of disease are many times lower than much of the world. Okinawans don’t have a word for retirement. What they have is “Ikigai” which roughly translated means “passion” or “reason for living.” While conducting their study, Dan’s group used a questionnaire with the Okinawans and one of the questions on it was, “What is your Ikigai?” Nearly everyone was able to answer immediately. For a 102-year-old karate master, his Ikigai was to teach his martial art. For a 100-year-old fisherman, it was to continue going out and bringing fish back to his family three days per week. For a 102-year-old woman, her Ikigai was to spend time with her great, great, greatgranddaughter. In Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club, Tyler Durden turns to his passengers in a car and asks them, “What do you want to do before you die?” As Tyler lets go of the wheel and the car veers off the freeway, two men are able to immediately answer. “Build a house.” “Paint a self portrait.” Jack, the fourth man in the vehicle, yells in bewilderment and fear for Tyler to turn the wheel and steer back onto the road. 63 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Tyler ignores him and says, “You have to know the answer to this question! If you died right now, how would you feel about your life?” “I don’t know, I wouldn’t feel anything good about my life, is that what you want to hear me say? Fine. Come on!” It’s at that moment that Jack has an epiphany and begins to see what Tyler has been talking about. It’s a much different means of conveying the idea than an Okinawan matriarch playing with her grandkids, but ultimately it’s the same concept: Why did you get out of bed this morning? The word passion is derived from the Latin verb pati meaning “to suffer and endure.” This is where stories like “The Passion of the Christ” get their name. Eventually, the word came to mean not only suffering in itself but also the thing that sustains a person who suffers; what enables them to keep going. In Man’s Search for Meaning, Viktor Frankl describes his experiences as a prisoner in two different concentration camps during the Holocaust. The stoic nature of the philosophy he developed there led to his founding of the school of Logotherapy, which is a form of psychotherapy based on man’s will to meaning, derived from the Greek word logos (“Meaning”). Logotherapy is based on three main principles: 1. Life has meaning under all circumstances, even the most miserable ones. 2. Our main motivation for living is our will to find meaning in life. 3. We have freedom to find meaning in what we do, and what we experience, or at least in the stand we take when faced with a situation of unchangeable suffering. As a young candidate in Naval Special Warfare selection, Craig once asked a mentor, a highly respected former Team Leader from Development Group, what his first piece of advice would be for guys about to go through training. He related it to his family. “Just don’t quit. All I thought about was that I was going to have to face my family when it was over, and I could never face them, or live with myself, if I quit.” Over the years, we’ve found a similar attitude among nearly everyone who made it through the selection process. While the ones who quit were able to rationalize that it was somehow acceptable, those who did not almost invariably centered on the thought of their loved ones as if they were watching over them and expected them to succeed. Craig’s own deepest reason often came down to a visual image of a pair of boots, sitting by the front door of his family’s house, dripping with melted snow. This section in Viktor Frankl’s book is a striking example of this concept: 64 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE ” … We stumbled on in the darkness, over big stones and through large puddles, along the one road leading from the camp. The accompanying guards kept shouting at us and driving us with the butts of their rifles. Anyone with very sore feet supported himself on his neighbor’s arm. Hardly a word was spoken; the icy wind did not encourage talk. Hiding his mouth behind his upturned collar, the man marching next to me whispered suddenly: “If our wives could see us now! I do hope they are better off in their camps and don’t k xow what is happening to us.” That brought thoughts of my own wife to mind. And as we stumbled on for miles, slipping on icy spots, supporting each other time and again, dragging one another up and onward, nothing was said, but we both knew: each of us was thinking of his wife. Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife’s image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I heard her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.” In this case, Viktor’s passion, the meaning behind his life and the reason to continue suffering through it, his Ikigai, was his wife. What is your Ikigai? PART 2: ATTENTION We were standing in ranks on the beach in Coronado, California, in front of the Naval Special Warfare Center. We were about to start an open-ocean swim, and each student was being inspected. Along with the mask and fins, we each carried an SRK dive knife, emergency flares and a UDT life vest. The vests were simple gray inflatable rubber contraptions, worn around the neck and in emergencies inflated either by popping a CO2 driven actuator or by inflating them by mouth through a little tube. Along with the SRK, which was made out of some sort of steel that rusted almost immediately when placed in saltwater, these vests were a source of a good deal of failures on swimmer inspections. My swim buddy was across from me as the instructors went over his equipment. In one hand he held his knife and in the other his CO2 cartridge. The instructor peered inside the CO2 actuator and saw several grains of sand. When you spend the better part of your day soaking wet and covered head to toe in sand, it’s pretty tricky to keep the stuff out of your hair, your ears, and your equipment. But that’s the point. “Are you fucking kidding me? So you’re gonna go ahead and bee-bop your way into the ocean with your lifesaving equipment clogged with fucking sand? You didn’t bother to check this before you came out here? Attention to detail! Drop on down.” With that my swim buddy dropped into the pushup position, and I along with him. Down the ranks men were being dropped for similar violations: Knives that weren’t sharp enough or had a spot of rust, a twist in the strap of a UDT vest, or the wrong type of knot tied in the little string that pulled their actuator. - Craig 65 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE You’ve got a lot going on as a student going through SOF selection. The mental and physical stress is tough to match anywhere in the world. Despite this, one of the concepts hammered into you is attention to detail. Even though you got two hours of sleep the night before, have already ran seven or eight miles in boots and fatigues, just spent an hour or two in a “beatdown” of calisthenics in loose sand mixed with sprints in and out of the ocean, there are countless small details regarding your uniform, your equipment and military protocols that must be adhered to. There is no acceptable excuse for a failure to meet these standards and in the middle of all the chaos and fatigue, you must always be conscious of the condition of your gear, your swim buddy (who can never be more than six feet away), and yourself. Right around the time Craig was going through NSW selection, about an hour’s drive up the coast, our friend Marshall was going through Marine Scout Sniper School. Scout Sniper selection is a process of similar brutality as the Naval Special Warfare schools (in some ways it’s worse), and because of the importance of observation and attention to detail in the sniper profession, Marshall’s training had some even more interesting components. They would be on the range shooting for a marksmanship qual when the instructors would approach, dump buckets of water over them, cover them with dirt and rocks, twist all of the dials on their scope adjustments and then tell them that they had 30 seconds to hit their target. After taking their shot, they would be ordered to grab all their gear and get the hell out of there as fast as possible, running several miles to a new location. At this new location, after another round of burpees, mountain climbers and being covered in mud, a tarp would be lifted off the ground. Under the tarp would be a random assortment of objects one might find on a battlefield. The Marines would have another 30 seconds to memorize every detail they could before it was all covered back up. Anywhere from 20 minutes to two weeks later, they would be required to recall everything they had observed under the tarp, describing in detail its position and condition. Ultimately, in any selection course, the candidate who is capable of paying attention to small details under fatigue, stress, and states of utter confusion will graduate and maintain this mentality. Later on during deployments, despite incredible fatigue and chaotic conditions, their weapon will always be cleaned and well maintained. They will at any time be able to reflexively state the condition of their weapon - whether a round is chambered, whether the safety is on or not and how much ammo is remaining. They will have every essential piece of op gear on them in good condition, they will know the location and status of every person around them and their eyes will constantly be scanning for targets, threats, and anomalies. The mind becomes a constant catalog of small details. Attention is a rare state, and although not generally due to reasons of life and death or keeping sand out of your ears, still applicable as a civilian in day to day life. Think back to moments in your life in which you were totally engaged and alive. Psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi called it flow, and defined it as the mental state of operation in which the person is fully immersed in an activity, accompanied by a feeling of energized focus, full 66 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE involvement, and success in the process of the activity. The most rewarding moments in our lives often come from our ability to maintain full attention during simple, day to day activities. Think about the last time you shared a two-hour dinner with friends and family. How long has it been since you did that? Was your attention fully focused on that moment, or were you off somewhere else checking your phone, thinking about tomorrow’s day at the office and wondering which way the interest rates were going to go? When we’re only partially involved in life’s moments because of an inability to focus, we’re never really there. We don’t work as well, we don’t play as well and our relationships are less fulfilling. Practicing the skill of attention ties into at least two critical psychological characteristics that are selected for in the SOF community: Conscientiousness and low rumination. Conscientiousness is one of the primary “big five” facets of personality. It’s what’s behind the “attention to detail” being constantly tested for with things like inspections, timelines and gear checks in selection. It’s the capacity to do the right thing when the right thing is hard. Low rumination is related to another big five facet: emotional stability. It’s someone’s capacity to not “be in their own head” when doing a stressful task. Those with ruminative personality types spend a lot of time making difficult situations worse by stewing on them. They struggle to focus and often look like they’re “performing for the camera.” Those who are low in rumination go from task to task, and as soon as a challenge has been met they move on to the next objective. They cleanly shift focus from one thing to the next without blurring the lines and dragging needless preoccupation into their thoughts. It’s the ability to clearly distinguish between what can be controlled and what cannot, and to focus effort and attention on the things within one’s power in order to keep moving forward. These attributes play just as much of a role in someone’s ability to succeed in selection as their physical performance. It’s not enough to be strong in only one area, or even in most areas. A glaring limitation in any one dimension is enough to drag down everything else. Attention is a skill, and like any other, it can be developed. If you’re going into selection, the time to start building this skill is now, well before it’s tested under extreme conditions in a place where your career is on the line. 67 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PART 3: COMPARTMENTALIZATION Take away thy opinion, and then there is taken away the complaint, “I have been harmed.” Take away the complaint, “I have been harmed,” and the harm is taken away. -Marcus Aurelius, Meditations Compartmentalization is the practice of mentally setting things aside that are unnecessary or counterproductive to your immediate purpose. Think of a soldier who has to drag a buddy out of a firefight despite his own shrapnel wounds. Think of an executive coming home and putting a $300 million merger out of their mind in order to spend time with their family. Think of an Olympic sprinter rounding out the last turn of a 400-meter dash, and pushing harder despite pain, fatigue, and the fact that the success of their career (and the return on the last two years of training) depends on a few hundred milliseconds. Effective compartmentalization doesn’t mean coping with problems by ignoring them. It means that you have an understanding of what matters most right now and what can either work itself out or be dealt with later. Craig: As a Brownshirt, one of our jobs was to assist the instructors during Hell Week. We’d set up various training evolutions or medical check stations, and whenever possible sneak extra food or shots of Gatorade to the students. Around Wednesday, the students get their first nap, inside a series of large green tents staked on the beach. Two of us were tasked with hanging out on the beach and keeping an eye on them. We were looking out for any medical issues that might crop up and mostly spent our time getting the students to walk the 50 yards to the bathroom instead of peeing in the sand that we’d all be doing pushups in the next day. One of these students shuffled toward me in his saltwater-soaked cammies. His fists were clenched at his sides, his body tensed as if he was trying to draw deeper inside himself or at least walk without having to touch cold, wet cotton. He paused in front of me, staring off at the horizon. His body relaxed for an instant and then he suddenly convulsed in a full-body shiver. Still in a thousand-yard stare, he paused in a moment of thought and declared, “Fuck I’m cold.” With that, he resumed his determined, hypothermic trudge to the bathroom. That was it. He didn’t dwell on his suffering. He simply paused for a moment to acknowledge and accept it, and then set it aside in order to continue on his mission: to pee as quickly as possible so he could get back to his cot. 68 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE I saw that student months later after I’d classed back up into SWCC. He had graduated BUD/S with class 248 and was in CQT. There is a distinction between pain and suffering. Pain is what you experience, suffering is how you respond to it. Pain is built largely out of nerves and your brain telling you something is wrong. Suffering is you telling yourself something is wrong. You can suffer without being in pain, and you can be in pain without suffering. Learning to separate the two is an important part of what training is. That BUD/S student was borderline hypothermic (and trust me, hypothermia hurts) but he wasn’t suffering. He didn’t dwell on his discomfort. He compartmentalized it. Again, this does not mean passive avoidance. As the psychologist Steven Hayes said, “if you cannot open up to discomfort without suppression, it becomes impossible to face difficult problems in a healthy way.” One way to acknowledge and accept your passing thoughts and feelings without conflating them with your identity is to mentally add the words “I am feeling” to your self-talk. Instead of saying “I am cold,” say “I am feeling cold.” This helps to create some distance between the feeling and who you are as a person and what you need to do in the moment. The goal is to think of feelings and impulses (“Fuck, I really need to not get back in this cold water.”) as passing weather--just clouds drifting by. You notice them come and go, but the earth underneath them remains unchanged. You may feel transiently miserable, cold, exhausted, whatever; but that doesn’t mean that you have to stray from your course. There are countless areas of our lives where we add our own imaginary catastrophes to our real discomfort and make it actively worse. Anything from the resistance you may feel when getting out of bed early for a morning workout, to the discomfort of holding a fast pace in a sprint interval, to the mental inertia that many of us have when grinding through to-do lists at work. Learning to effectively harness the skill of compartmentalization starts with self-awareness and an honest understanding of what’s happening in your body and mind. From there, assess for what matters and set aside the things that don’t so that you can focus on your real objective. 69 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PART 4: SEGMENTING A little-appreciated fact about selection is that a surprising amount of the quitting happens on a Sunday night or Monday morning, not in the middle of training evolutions. That’s right, GI Jane was a lie. It’s not the immediate prospect of doing push-ups for another hour that really messes with your head, it’s reflecting in a calm moment on how much life is going to suck for the next six months. It’s easy to become more worried about what lies in the shadows of our imagination than by what we can see right in front of us. But, the opposite is also true - you can change your perceived stress by altering how you think about it. One of the most effective and common strategies for this is known as segmenting. Segmenting is exactly what it sounds like, the process of breaking an event down into smaller and more manageable pieces. Most of the time, it’s totally unproductive to think ahead in your course by more than a day or two. Even thinking about what will happen in the next week can bring an unnecessary and unproductive level of preoccupying dread. The most successful candidates are the ones who focus purely on the task in front of them. They do not get distracted, they do not ruminate. Then, when the task is finished, they can “change channels” or “switch targets” and immediately move on. One of the best ways to do this is by breaking your day down into meals. Forget about the rest of the week or even the rest of the day. Instead, make it to breakfast. Once you’ve done that, your only goal is making it to lunch. Then, dinner. Craig: One of the most useful mantras we had as students at the Naval Special Warfare Center was “the worst part of the day is getting out of bed.” We’d gather together for roll call in the pre-dawn darkness outside of the barracks, and it was a common form of greeting. “Morning. How you doing?” *Shrug* “Well, the worst part of the day is over.” This was an even narrower form of segmenting than breaking the day down into meals. The worst part of any voluntary ordeal is often the first part, and many times you’d have some form of momentum to carry you through the day once you could muster the willpower to get yourself out of bed and face the storm. We would segment our mental energy down to that small moment, acknowledging and fully focusing on the magnitude of that task: Getting out of bed. That was our first and most important small victory of the day. When things get especially challenging, the next meal might be too far away to seem meaningful. Lunchtime may as well be a Hollywood gala on a yacht that you’ll never see. 70 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE In those moments, break things down even further. Don’t even think to the end of the swim, run, ruck or beatdown session that you’re in. Narrow your focus down to the next small chunk of time, and drop everything else from your mind. Getting through the next 4 miles of soft sand running might be too much, but you can make it to the next little pile of rocks. You can take 5 more steps. You can always swim one more stroke. You can always do one more pushup. That’s all you will ever need. In your pre-selection training, you can practice this by mentally breaking workouts or other challenging portions of your day down into smaller pieces. Don’t do a 50-rep deadlift workout. Pick a weight that’s on the edge of your ability--heavy, but manageable with good, fast form. Deadlift it. Reset. Then do it again. 50 times. This concept applies to far more than selection courses. Living in the distant future is not just a way to camp out in your own nightmares. It’s also an easy form of escape. We can sit idly and imagine what success will look like once we finally start this business, finish this degree, or put in the decade or more of training necessary to attain a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. That fantasy becomes mental opium. It allows us to shortcut all the work--the early mornings, late nights, daily sacrifices and monotonous grinding--and have a quick taste of the end result. As Ryan Holiday put it, one of the biggest obstacles to success is the idea of success. In SOF we knew them as the I-was-gonna’s. “I was gonna try out for SFAS/Pararescue/Recon/Whatever but….” These guys wanted the end result. They spent time dreaming of what it would be like if they made the commitment and did the work. But they never shifted their focus away from the abstract, distant future and back to the hard reality of what to do with the minutes and hours of the present day that would move them incrementally closer to what they wanted. Unlike every person who enters selection - whether they succeed or fail - they spend their lives with an unanswered question. “I was gonna start a business, but the paperwork alone is a nightmare.” “I was gonna go to school for that, but there’s no way I’m going to deal with four years of that shit.” “I was gonna budget for that, but I can’t possibly set aside 500k for retirement so I’m not going to save anything.” Whether it’s paralyzing yourself with the compounded difficulty of a months or years-long process, or slaking your desire for the achievement of a difficult goal by mentally skipping to the fun part at the end, you’re distracting yourself from what matters: Doing the fucking work. Right now. If you effectively segment the task, no matter how daunting the total process, you’ll be able to break it down into small enough pieces that every step is doable. One day you’ll finally look up and realize that you’re standing at the end of innumerable small steps forward. 71 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PART 5: MORE RESOURCES While physical capability plays a role in success in any SOF selection process; mental and emotional factors are the deciding factor for the majority (over 70%) of candidates that quit. Telling yourself that you’re just not going to quit isn’t enough. That’s an outcome, like running fast, and doesn’t describe the underlying set of skills and capabilities you need to possess in order to not quit. The topic of mental performance is too vast to even scratch the surface of in an ebook like this. However, you can find a bunch of other helpful resources below: » » » » » » » » » » » » » » » A Pair of Boots The Attention-Pain Trade-Off You Will Have Your Waterloo Commitment, Control, and Challenge Optimization They All Wound The Downside of Mental Toughness More Carry Weight Secondary Emotions Visualization Events, Beliefs, and Consequences Quit Tomorrow Reimagine, Revise, Re-store Stress Inoculation in Practice: Cold Water Exposure Self Talk Our training app also builds in the exact process we use with our one-on-one clients to develop mental skills over months of preparation. 72 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 7 NUTRITION FUNDAMENTALS Nutrition, like many topics covered in our book and on this website, are vast topics that people spend decades studying. However, the majority of people we work with can get everything they need for a successful career without ever diving into the weeds. The trivial details obsessed over by most supplement companies and anyone selling you a magic diet don’t matter compared to nailing the fundamentals consistently. If you find yourself obsessing over your post workout nutrient mix, which type of creatine you take, or the difference in blood glucose levels when eating rice vs. potatoes, you’re missing the point. Before we get started, there is another important caveat: the guidelines in this article assume that you are healthy, young and free of any medical conditions that require specific nutrition considerations. While we aren’t going into extreme detail, nutrition is a vital part of the overall process of building and maintaining physiological resilience. Having energy on demand, regardless of circumstances, is key to thriving in the chaotic environment in which special operations units work. Nutrition also plays a significant role in recovery, which is half of the adaptation process. FOUNDATIONS FIRST We recommend spending at least a few months dialing in the basics, until you can do them regardless of the normal ups and downs of a challenging life. If you’re reading this, you likely have at least a basic knowledge of nutrition and some reasonable eating habits in place. However, you probably fall into at least one of the following problematic categories: • • • • • 73 BUILDING THE ELITE Under-eating Intermittent fasting Low carb Poor nutrient intake (low quality foods) Really strict periods followed by free-for-alls NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Combine this with far too much of the wrong kind of training, and you’re likely in a poor state to stress your body with advanced nutritional phases (we’ll cover those in another article). Advanced protocols only work well when the proper foundation has been built. The purpose of the foundational phase is to balance out systemic stress, and position the body’s various systems to adapt well to future training. By dialing in food quality and quantity and correcting any nutrient imbalances present, you will likely see improvements in systemic hormonal function. Pair the nutrition strategies in this phase with training that emphasizes lower-volume strength work and low-intensity aerobic work. Your goal should be to optimize body composition and wake up feeling good every day. This phase also serves as an opportunity to work on skills and routines such as shopping, food prep, and generally not eating like an oversized child. You don’t need to be a robot. Give yourself some flexibility as long as you stick to the guidelines below about 90-95% of the time. BASIC DIET TEMPLATE DURING THE FOUNDATIONAL PHASE: • • • No refined sugars, alcohol, plant seed-based oils, dairy, or wheat-based products Primarily whole, minimally-processed foods (think: things you have to prep and cook rather than things you take out of a box and microwave) 3-4 larger meals each day (no snacks) composed of the following: PROTEINS FATS CARBOHYDRATES VEGETABLES 1g per pound of bodyweight each day / around 50-70g each meal / 2 palms worth each meal .5g per pound of bodyweight each day / around 20-30g each meal / 2 thumbs worth each meal 1-1.5g per pound of bodyweight each day / around 50-80g each meal / 2-3 cupped handfuls worth each meal 8+ cups per day with a 2:1 ratio of veg/ fruit / 2 fists worth each meal Any non-processed grass fed, pasture raised, wild caught (fish) meat Avocado, coconut, nuts and nut butters, seeds, olives, animal fats Rice, oats, quinoa, ancient grains, potatoes, beans, corn All fruits and vegetables can be eaten (starchy vegetables fall into the carbohydrate category) Total calories: 18-20x bodyweight (total, not lean mass). In rare cases, up to 25x bodyweight. ___________________________ We’ll eventually reintroduce dairy and wheat once a good dietary foundation has been established for several months in order to assess tolerance. Some people do fine with these things and some don’t. 1 74 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE GENERAL RULES OF HOW MUCH TO EAT / HOW TO ADJUST DURING THE FOUNDATION PHASE: » If you’re getting fat – eat less, specifically carbs and fats in equal portions » If you’re losing weight – eat more, specifically carbs and fats in equal portions » If you’re leaning out but not losing weight (maintaining) – you’re doing it right » If you’re struggling with recovery – eat more, specifically carbs and fats in equal portions and adjust training (more on this later) That’s all. It doesn’t need to be more complicated, so it isn’t. Assuming you’re healthy and don’t have any medical conditions, once food quality is dialed in, you don’t need space math to adjust your total food intake. Note: You do not get to move onto the next phase until you are below 15% bodyfat. Similarly, if you’re below 9-10%, you are likely to be under-eating and under-recovering. Very low bodyfat can make your life miserable in maritime selection courses due to reduced buoyancy and increased susceptibility to hypothermia. Forget about your abs. SUPPLEMENTS: The following supplements are suggested because these are common deficiencies in nearly all populations (athletes included). » Omega 3 / Fish Oil - Even with a healthy diet, intake of these fats is too low. They are essential for optimal immune, cardiovascular, and nervous system function. We suggest 1-2 grams of EPA / DHA per day as a baseline. » Zinc - Mineral that the majority of athletes are deficient in. Plays a large role in anabolic hormone function, sleep, and immune function. We suggest 30mg per day. » Magnesium - Similar to Zinc, nearly all athletes are deficient in this mineral. Over 300 enzymes in the body need magnesium to function properly. We suggest 400mg per day. » Vitamin D - Without significant daily sun exposure you’re likely deficient in this very important vitamin. We suggest 1-2,000 IU per day. » Creatine - Can help with explosive power and strength and has no negative health effects. We recommend 3-5g of creatine monohydrate daily. None of these are expensive, and the generic versions are usually fine. WRAP UP Once you have mastered the basic template above and you are able to do your food shopping, prep, and cooking consistently, and you aren’t experiencing any wild changes in weight, energy, or performance, you’re ready to move onto more advanced phases that we cover in our book and 75 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE in less detail on our website. This typically takes anywhere from 4-12 weeks, but may last longer depending on your current body composition and nutrition habits. Your goal here is to reach the stage of unconscious competence. Nutrition should be something that you do well, consistently, no matter what’s happening around you, without having to stress out over it. Once it’s an automated skill, you have the foundation necessary to experiment with more advanced protocols and handle the intense training needed for your occupation while supporting your resilience and longevity. OTHER RESOURCES: Check out the other Nutrition Articles on our site for more advanced methods and concepts. 76 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE MONITOR & ADJUST 8 PART 1: ADAPTATION PRINCIPLES In order to understand programming, you first have to know how and why your body responds to training. When you internalize that framework, things like how much running to do, how fast, and how often become much easier to program and adjust. Just like programming, adaptation is a complex subject that people spend their entire careers studying. We are going to discuss the principles that you need when coaching yourself or others and will not be going into the weeds. ALLOSTASIS* Your body is always adapting. Everything that you do places a stressor on the body and it responds accordingly to keep you alive. This ever-changing process is called allostasis. Technically speaking, allostasis is the total physiological reaction of your body to the stressors that you place upon it in order to maintain function. Your body has two main responses to any stress: a short-term response and a long-term response. The short-term response is simple - get through the moment. This is usually characterized by flooding the body with hormones and redistributing blood flow and energy to the appropriate system and local area within the body. Once the stressor has been dealt with, the long-term adaptation component kicks in - prepare for the future moment. Your body releases enzymes or signaling hormones that start a cascade of responses which create a more permanent adaptation. The outcome of this is your body being able to deal with the stressor in the future. The magnitude of the signaling response is directly proportional to the load of the stressor. This is why the body stops adapting when the same stressor is imposed repeatedly (such as doing the same workout plan every week). *Allostasis, homeostasis, periodization, and general adaptation syndrome are all complex topics worth spending some time reading on. However, in the name of simplicity and effectiveness, the terminology is simplified here in a way that isn’t technically rigorous for the sake of usability. 77 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE TOO MUCH OF A GOOD THING While these adaptations can lead to the improvements we are looking for, the problem is that most of us spend way too much time accumulating stress and not enough time recovering. So, our allostatic load (i.e. the total load of all stressors in life) is constantly elevated. This leads to a high cost of adaptation to exercise. People generally tend to fall into one of two camps described below. » Net Positive Adaptation Process: the body has a surplus of resources created by balancing recovery and training stressors, so the body utilizes these resources to create an adaptation to the training you’re doing (gain muscle, more mitochondria, new or stronger neural connections in the brain, etc). » Net Negative Adaptation Process: the body adapts to your training stimulus, but by doing so you become vulnerable to other problems because of the cumulative and progressive nature of stress. Do this for long enough and you can get injured, burned out, sick, hormonally imbalanced, etc. In other words: if you train hard, your body will adapt, but the cost of adaptation varies. Both processes are utilizing resources to create an adaptation, but one comes at the expense of health, while the other maintains it and improves resilience. Before we talk about how to create a net positive adaptation process, we need to explore some of the nuances of adaptation. 78 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE EVERYTHING IS A STRESSOR Stress is anything that elicits a response from the body. Food, light, sound, movement, exercise, emotional events, and mental strain are all stressors. Anything that has an effect on your body must be considered when planning and executing a training program because it will change your response to training. This is especially important when considering writing a program for an individual whose entire life doesn’t revolve around training. Outside stressors such as relationships, work, and sleep / recovery constraints will play a large role in how the trainee adapts. YOUR BODY IS ALWAYS ADAPTING Adaptations are almost always useful from the perspective of your body. For example, if you bury yourself under an extreme load of endurance work, your body may ramp up cortisol, slow down sex hormone production, and a bunch of other ‘negative’ effects, but it’s doing so to protect itself. This adaption is serving the purpose, really, of trying to stop you from being stupid. It’s only negative from your perspective, but from the body’s perspective, it’s doing what it needs to do to survive, and to get you to stop doing so much because it can’t cope effectively. The magnitude of the signaling response is directly proportional to the load of the stressor. In other words, the total load controls the intensity of the stress response. There’s a sweet spot in this process - creating a stimulus that leads to the adaptations we want, without leading to the ‘negative’ adaptations we don’t want. TWO TYPES OF STRESS There are two main types of stress: 79 » Specific Stress: the specific signaling and adaptive response that occurs based on the type of stress that is applied to the body (think strength workout vs aerobic conditioning workout). » General Stress: the cumulative stress load or the total amount of stress applied to the body from all stressors is referred to as general stress. BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Training disrupts homeostasis, which creates a signaling response to the various systems within the body that cause specific chain reactions depending on a variety of factors, including: • • • • Genetics Fitness Level Training Load Training History The degree of the hormonal response, and your body’s sensitivity to that response, depends on a variety of factors including genetics, receptor sensitivity, and where your body is in the stress response. RESIDUAL STRESS Residual stress is any pre-existing accumulated stress from a previous training session. If incomplete recovery occurs between sessions, residual stress becomes a part of the equation. A good example of residual specific stress is muscle damage. Your central nervous system might be fully recovered but the local muscle might still be recovering. Think squats for volume on Monday followed by squats for volume on Wednesday - you probably feel just fine, but your quads are smoked. In this situation, your brain can signal the muscle to contract as intensely as it had in the previous training session, but the local musculature might not be able to deal with the stressor and could lead to injury. Of course, residual general stress also affects your body - one example would be running ten miles on Monday, and swimming laps to exhaustion on Wednesday - different local stressors, but large endurance load. If your cardiovascular system was insufficiently recovered from the previous day’s training session and you decide to perform a cardiac intensive workout, not only will your workout performance likely be poor, but your stress response will be amplified, increasing the cost of adaptation and pushing out the recovery timeline systemically and locally (cardiac system). DIFFERENT RECOVERY CURVES The example above also illustrates another important concept: the stress/recovery curve is different for various systems. In our example above, the central nervous system progressed through the adaptation process faster than the local muscular system. This is always occurring in various systems throughout the body. It’s vital to develop these systems concurrently over time so that systems don’t develop imbalances between each other. Intelligent partitioning of workouts through the week and training block also allows you to get the greatest adaptive response per workload. 80 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE RIDING THE WAVE When training is executed properly, you apply enough stress (local and systemic) to elicit the desired adaptation response without flattening the readiness curve (always training, never improving) or adapting at the cost of another physiological system. Over time, you want to stress the system enough to create a large specific adaptation response and then allow the body to recover. More is not necessarily better – you need enough stress to create an adaptation response, but not so much that you overwhelm the body or never back off and allow the body to adapt to the training response. How much volume you can handle in each physiological capacity (strength, energy systems, work capacity) depends on your fitness, but always falls within a predictable range. We’ve covered this in-depth in our book, and throughout this guide. The graph below illustrates the process of stress accumulation, recovery and improved fitness over time when stress is managed effectively. The graph below illustrates the process of stress accumulation, recovery and improved fitness over time when stress is managed effectively. 81 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE SUMMARY: Your body’s response to training is both very specific and general in nature and the more variables that you can take into account the more effective your program will be. Understanding these principles will demystify the training process and help ensure that you make continual progress. Thus, your goals are fairly simple for training yourself or someone else: 82 » Manage the training process so that you receive adequate stress to cause adaptation, but not so much that your adapt at the cost of general health » Monitor general and specific stress (covered throughout this guide) to avoid local injuries » Improve performance in specific traits by applying the right stress at the right time » Consider all stress including psychological and emotional stress, sleep, and nutrition to effectively manage total training volume BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PART 2: TRAINING PRINCIPLES Regardless of your age, background, or what you are training for, principles should guide your training process. The following principles can be used to help guide your thinking when developing or considering whether a training plan is appropriate for you. 1 - SPECIFICITY Specificity is the principle that training should stress the exact systems and capabilities needed to execute the task you are training for. When misapplied, you find people barbell back squatting on bosu balls and juggling handguns while navigating a minefield of agility objects. Don’t be that person. It’s easy to confuse what is meant but specificity, by focusing on the wrong level of skills that are needed to be a SOF operator. For example, let’s break down the role strength would play in a SOF job: » Job: Infil 10 miles with a 50# pack over varied terrain in 2.5 hours, perform a raid that requires breaking down a door and fireman carrying a person 50 yards. Then ruck two miles in 25 minutes to the exfil site. » One step out: Live training exercises simulating nearly every aspect of the situation mapped out above. » Two steps out: Ruck 12 miles while navigating at night in an underfed and fatigued state followed by completing a difficult obstacle course. » Three steps out: Rucking 12 miles in a well-fed and recovered state. Strength training to improve the ability to maintain posture, carry heavy objects, and sprint fast under load when needed. The military will take care of every step except for the initial one (three steps out) - being a strong and well-conditioned human who can still move well. The greater your development at this initial stage, the more capable and adaptable you will be in the later, more job-specific stages with the military. Trying to replicate your job at the gym misses the point of general training. You need to master the fundamentals before adding stress or complexity. Training of physiological capacities should be guided by the same principles. Even operators currently deployed need to continue some basic strength and conditioning training to maintain the underlying capabilities. If they neglect this base for too long their on-the-job performance will start to falter. If you’re preparing for selection, you are years away from doing your tactical job and your focus should be on the general capabilities that will allow you to thrive when you shift your emphasis to more specific military training. To do that, you need to train the specific movements and intensities that lead to physiological changes in your ability to produce force. This is why CrossFit + jogging or doing random metcons is inefficient - the training isn’t specific enough to create a strong adaptation stimulus. 83 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 2 - OVERLOAD Your body adapts to stressors based on the magnitude of the stress response. In other words, the stronger the disruption to the normal baseline, the stronger the response is from your body to adapt to the stimulus. However, this only occurs up to a point. If you absolutely crush yourself, your body will have to spend so many resources just getting back to baseline it won’t have enough left to adapt appropriately to the stimulus. There is a sweet spot with overload, which is why we provide guidelines when talking about methods for strength training, work capacity, running, rucking, etc. Overload is also why we program training blocks that last anywhere from 3-6 weeks. Longer than this and your body has adapted to the initial overload and you can no longer produce an overload effect with the same method. Shorter than three weeks and you’ll miss out on significant improvements by changing methods before you’ve created a strong overload stimulus. 3 - RECOVERY Balancing stress and recovery is essential to facilitate adaptation without compensation. You become more capable during the recovery phase, not during the stressor. Training is only half the work; the other half is managing allostatic load, getting enough sleep, and eating well enough to allow your body to adapt to the training you’ve already done. If the overload stimulus is strong enough you’ll adapt regardless of your recovery status; but, this will occur at the expense of another system or quality. This is when injuries occur. Nearly every client we’ve worked with has fallen into this trap - constantly doing more workouts at higher intensities until that ‘out of nowhere’ injury occurred. Balancing recovery with stress is the key to long-term progress without injury. You can implement the recovery principle into the training process by using periodization (changing total load from week to week) and monitoring recovery status and adjusting workouts based on that data. 4 - VARIATION We all know someone who goes to the gym and does the exact same thing week after week, month after month, and is baffled why they don’t get any more fit. This person doesn’t have enough variation in their program to create a sufficient overload stimulus and the corresponding improvements in fitness. Changing the stimulus of a workout is the principle of variation. This principle plays out at different time scales: 84 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE » Day to day - Emphasis will vary each day over the course of a week (strength, conditioning, work capacity, and recovery days). » Week to week - Day-to-day structure remains the same, with small changes in sets, reps, and load from week to week. No change in methods. » Month to month - Methods and exercises shift and build upon one another each month. This leads to larger changes in sets, reps, and load. » Quarter to quarter (3-ish months) - As your limiting factor changes, you’ll need to make large changes in your day-to-day schedule, methods, load, volume, exercises, etc. to emphasize a new physiological capacity. As you can see, variation needs to be applied at different levels of programming depending on the time scale. This is what allows for consistent progress. “Muscle confusion,” random “metcon” programming, or other equally misguided concepts only work for short periods of time because they violate this concept of variation. They provide so much variability that the body never gets an overload stimulus once you have at least a moderate level of fitness. 5 - IDIOSYNCRASY Every person has a different background (your training history) and genetics. Both of these factors change how each individual responds to the same training stimulus. While all humans generally adapt to a stimulus in a similar manner, the exact speed and degree of adaptation varies greatly. We call this individual adaptation process idiosyncrasy. The guidelines provided in our book and articles are guidelines - not a recipe. Your response will be idiosyncratic to you. This is why we give only very general guidelines to programming methods and have gone to great lengths to give you the mental models and principles to make sound decisions based on your personal experience. WRAP UP This isn’t an exhaustive list of every principle we utilize when creating training programs, but it will serve as a good baseline for sanity-checking your own programs or any that you’re looking to start. 85 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE PUTTING THE PIECES TOGETHER 9 PROGRAMMING 101 Programming is tough. There are a lot of things you could do each day: run, ruck, swim, lift weights, water confidence, calisthenics, metcons…..the list goes on. Obviously, you need to do many of those things, because they are what you’ll be screened for in selection. But, how much, how hard, how often, and how to combine them isn’t easy to figure out. To compound the problem, more isn’t necessarily better. You need to stress your body enough to create fitness, but not so much that you end up injuring yourself or burning out. In step 8, we discussed some of the underlying principles of adaptation and managing stress. While those concepts are very helpful, today we are going to talk about the programming model we use when designing training programs. Combined with the concepts covered in part 2 of step 8, you’ll have what you need to create robust training programs. Before we get to that, we have to talk about some physiology so that you understand the why before the what. This will give you the requisite knowledge to make independent decisions based on your situation without just copying and pasting what you find here or elsewhere. TWO TYPES OF ADAPTATION Structural adaptations are physical adaptations such as mitochondrial density, actin / myosin density, heart adaptations, capillarization, changes in neurons in the brain, etc. These changes take a long time to develop, but also take a long time to degrade and thus are the building blocks of higher levels of fitness. The great thing about foundational capabilities is that they can be developed simultaneously, which is a more efficient process and leads to a more effective response to training loads over time. Functional adaptations are the coordination of different structural adaptations to produce a specific physiological capability. Control of the stress response, breathing, and tactical considerations for getting through a specific workout – think pacing, control of attention, and cueing – and coordinating these in a specific manner is an example of a functional adaptation. 86 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE If you ever do a workout, repeat it a few days later, and continue to improve, it’s because of these kinds of adaptations. They are the ‘how’ you perform, not the ‘what’ you use to perform. Basically, if structural adaptations are the car, functional adaptations are the driver. Many trainees who come to us have hit a wall with their training by spending far too long chasing functional adaptations, and not enough time building structural adaptations. Typically, they are doing ‘beatdown’ type workouts (think circuit training, exercise racing, HIIT, or high-volume calisthenics) far too often, and go way too hard when doing their endurance training. It’s not that these workouts can’t be part of an intelligent plan (they can) or don’t develop structural abilities (they do). The problem is that when done too frequently without an emphasis on other workouts that target underlying structural capabilities, your performance stops improving. Your training focus should be on building structural adaptations first, because these are the drivers of trainability, or a more effective adaptation response. You’ll always be building some functional qualities concurrently because no system works independently of the other systems (your energy system is active during strength training), but functional adaptations are always dependent on the structural adaptations they exploit. If you want to raise your ceiling of performance, you have to invest in building foundational adaptations instead of constantly exploiting what you already have. You have to build a higherperformance car instead of driving the hell out of the Honda Civic you’ve already got. A good example of the power of structural adaptations are high-level Crossfit Games athletes. What makes them so capable of performing the scattergun kind of events that they compete in (e.g. max pullups, followed by a 5K run, followed by max squats), is the fact that they all have high relative strength, a powerful aerobic engine, move well under load and fatigue, and can do a lot of work in a short period of time. This allows them to excel in nearly any physical task put in front of them, assuming they have the necessary skills to execute it. However, no high level Crossfit athlete built those capabilities via testing-based Crossfit workouts. Competitions are where these abilities are displayed, but not where they are developed. Nearly all of these athletes come from backgrounds of more formalized training (e.g. gymnastics or traditional Olympic lifting) and from there use a model similar to what we described in this chapter for a majority of their training. They treat Crossfit style workouts as sport-specific skill practice. A CLOSER LOOK AT STRUCTURAL ADAPTATIONS So, what are they? The following is a list of structural adaptations (with their biological definitions), and how to develop them. Strength and Coordination What it is: Coordination of CNS and muscular system How to develop it: Power and speed training; strength training; specific strength exercises 87 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE Aerobic system What it is: A combination of adaptations in the cardiovascular system, respiratory system, and local tissues (capillarization, mitochondrial density, etc). How to develop it: aerobic work; cardiovascular intensive work; local muscular work, respiratory training Psychological (tactical / technical skill) What it is: A combination of skilled control of systems throughout the brain How to develop it: develop awareness of current abilities, tendencies and traits; build skills concurrently with physical training program using skill building framework Endocrine (the hormonal system) What it is: A combination of ANS, CNS, and digestive systems How to develop it: strength training; nutrition protocols; allostatic load management; psychological training As you can see, each of these primary structural adaptation methods tends to have an effect on the coordination of many systems throughout the body. Nothing happens in isolation, and training methods often have effects across multiple systems in the body. (Looking at the specific details of each system can be beneficial, but beyond the scope of this book. We are assuming that anyone using the framework outlined in this book is young, healthy, and has a solid physical foundation before utilizing these methods.) COST OF ADAPTATION Developing any adaptation has a cost. The good news about foundational qualities is: they reduce this cost. They trade off each other, and coordinate their efforts. For example, a strong athlete with a large aerobic base who moves well and manages stress, fatigue, and pain effectively can do much more work while accruing less physiological damage. Not only that, but it allows the trainee to utilize the desired systems during each training phase (e.g. they can focus on the adaptations they want). On the other hand, think of a super-heavyweight powerlifter with a poorly developed aerobic system. He is severely limited in the amount of aerobic work he can do until that system comes up to par with other systems. Not only that, but his systemic volume - even in other training sessions - will be limited because all recovery is aerobic in nature. If we push his aerobic training volume too high (which would be quite easy), it would severely interfere with his ability to recover even from max effort squat sessions that he would be used to. Also, when the aerobic system is taxed, perceived fatigue, pain, and stress will increase, leading to the brain needing more resources to cope. These examples are fairly simple, but oftentimes the cost of adaptation compounds dramatically when foundational qualities and coordination of them is not trained sufficiently 88 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE before training intensity is increased. This is why our programming starts with a focus on building foundational qualities and the coordination between them - it reduces the cost of adaptation and raises the ceiling of future performance. BALANCING COMPETING DEMANDS There is a reason why competitive powerlifters are not also great endurance athletes. As you reach the higher end of human potential, you have to become more and more specialized. Often, all other physiological qualities will fall to the minimum necessary to maximize other abilities. If you looked at the physiological profile of a world class powerlifter, it will look very different than that of a SOF operator. Some traits are mutually beneficial to a certain degree. For example, an extremely powerful person (think long jumper, javelin thrower, weightlifter) also tends to have very high maximal strength relative to a normal individual, a high-level endurance athlete, or even an average special operator. Many people with diverse athletic backgrounds can pick up new sports quite quickly because of the carryover of previously-developed adaptations. CONCURRENT EMPHASIS METHOD Now that we have the physiology lesson out of the way, let’s discuss training methodology. When writing training programs we always use a concurrent emphasis training model. Concurrent means “done at the same time.” When using this model, all physiological qualities are targeted simultaneously, with an emphasis on one or two specific qualities for three to six weeks. As the famous track coach Charlie Francis described it: “Everything is done, only the volume varies.” During each 3-6 week block, a much greater load (volume) is assigned to one or two physiological capacities to emphasize their development. Other capacities are not neglected, but only a maintenance load is used. Further on in this article you’ll find links to articles discussing methods for all the major components of your training program. Overall, around 50-75% of your training volume should be spent training the emphasized capacities, while the remaining time should be spent on maintenance of everything else. Before programming a new training block, you’ll need to reassess what your current limiting factor(s) are and potentially adjust the emphasis. Your target physiological capacity may change from block to block. Or, if a particular physiological capacity hasn’t been well developed, or has been neglected for a while, you may focus multiple blocks on that one capacity. For example, if you haven’t been running or rucking and need to develop aerobic capacity in both, it will take multiple blocks (at least) to bring these up to par. You shouldn’t neglect every other capacity (strength, movement, work capacity) during these phases, but do the minimum work in each area as you focus on your aerobic capacity development. 89 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE BLOCK EMPHASIS BLOCK 1 AEROBIC CAPACITY BLOCK 2 EXTENSIVE STRENGTH BLOCK 3 MAX STRENGTH, AEROBIC POWER BLOCK 4 DELOAD / ANAEROBIC POWER This is not a recipe. Do not blindly copy and paste this series of training blocks or you could easily miss the target of your individual needs and compromise your chances of success in selection. Use what you learned from assessing your lifestyle and physical standards (covered in Step 1) to identify limiting factors. SEEING THE BIG PICTURE: PRINCIPLES TO KEEP IN MIND The following principles should be considered and implemented as you go through the process of developing your training program. 1 - MOVEMENT CAPACITY AND FIDELITY SHOULD BE ADDRESSED FIRST As we discussed in our book and on our site, movement capacity and fidelity have to be developed before you layer on volume or intensity. If you skip this stage, you won’t have the requisite competency to handle the large variety of tasks and not break down with the volume you’ll face during selection. Once movement capacity and fidelity are good enough, keep enough movement work in your program to maintain those qualities as you shift your emphasis to other capacities such as aerobic capacity and strength capacity. Examples of how to do this are outlined in the example program at the end of this guide. 2 - BUILD CAPACITY FIRST; ADD INTENSITY OVER TIME Capacity comes before intensity/power. Extensive, or capacity-focused methods should be used before using intensive or power-focused methods. If you focus on intensity before building a foundation of volume, you won’t have the requisite structural adaptations to improve your outputs week after week, month after month. Remember: Develop it before you display it. 90 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE 3 - THE CLOSER TO SELECTION YOU ARE; THE MORE YOU’LL FOCUS ON FUNCTIONAL ADAPTATIONS The closer you are to selection the more specificity you’ll add to your training programs. This will come in the form of open-ended workouts, intensive strength, and work capacity methods, and power-oriented energy system training. Below are guidelines to help you decide when you can transition your focus to functional adaptations: » Energy System: You should be able to handle the longest swim/ruck/run distances easily, and at the required pace (covered in Step 1). Conditioning is covered in depth in Step 2. » Strength: You need to be close to the standards in every movement category (covered in Step 1). Everyone has strengths and weaknesses – our preference is to focus on weaknesses because a limiting factor is usually more important than being better than necessary at barbelling. You don’t need to be amazing at anything, but you can’t have huge weaknesses or they will be exploited. This is covered in-depth in Step 3: Strength Training. » Work Capacity: You should easily be able to pass your PT test when tired or if done back to back. Additionally, you should be able to do 200+ pushups, 100 situps, and 20-30 minutes of weighted carries without any residual soreness or fatigue. This is covered in-depth in Step 4: Work Capacity. » Mental skills: You should be comfortable with ambiguity and managing yourself through the ups and downs of the training process. You should possess a deep understanding of what situations make you uncomfortable, how you respond, and how to effectively navigate them. This is covered in-depth in Step 6: Mental Skills. WRAP UP You should now have a robust understanding of the underlying principles that govern effective programming. You’ll still run into problems - doing too much or too little of something. That’s part of the process. There is no magical program - any coach who tells you otherwise is lying to you. The best coaches have principles that they follow and adjust based on the person in front of them and how they respond. You’ll have to do the same. If you give yourself enough time to prepare, build the right mental skills and attitudes, you’ll overcome challenges as they occur and come out the other side prepared as you can be for your selection course. 91 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE WHERE TO GO FROM HERE WRAP UP We know that this guide is a lot to take in. But, if you want to be the quiet professional who shows up to selection prepared to excel and begin the real training process to become part of the SOF community, you will have to do more than follow templated workouts and echo cliche slogans in your head. If you’d rather leave the programming process up to us so you can focus on consistency and quality, you can check out our training app by clicking on the picture below. Even if you end up using our App or buying training elsewhere, we highly suggest picking up a copy of the BTE book. It will give you a deep understanding of the process you’ll be working through for the next several years of your life. 92 BUILDING THE ELITE NAVY & MARINE SOF TRAINING GUIDE