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