1. Military Fitness Exercises Workout
2. Military Fitness Workout Routines
3. Army Workout
4. Military Fitness Training Program Pdf
5. Military Fitness Workout Programs For Women

8 Weeks To Tactical Fitness. “We can all can benefit from training in a tactical style,” says Steve Weatherford, NFL player and True Grit athlete. “Balancing strategic strength work, power training, and running intervals has been a game changer for me—literally! It leaves me lean, conditioned, and packing more strength per pound than ever.

1. Military Workouts. Navy SEAL veteran and Military.com's tactical fitness expert, gives us his top fitness picks of 2018. Rules Regarding Second Workout of the Day After Military PT Sessions.
2. Training a special operator costs about $250,000, and the military can't afford to lose guys because of injuries that develop from years of combat and outdated physical training.
3. The military's physical fitness test consists of push-ups, sit-ups and a timed run. Though the fitness test is crucial to assess a baseline level of fitness for everyone who takes it, it equates for only half of the Army Physical Fitness Program -- the other important component is the weigh-in.
4. The militaryfitness community on Reddit. Reddit gives you the best of the internet in one place. Stew smiths 1.5-2 mile run program (6 weeks) (self.militaryfitness) submitted 13 days ago. Has anyone tried any of the Hard to Kill fitness plans? Looking for a new workout routine. (self.militaryfitness) submitted 3 months ago by bill13b.
5. I designed this workout to give the average civilian a taste of some of the intense training that I put those military guys through. The routine nails your entire body with simple, yet brutally.
6. We all have that favorite workout that is the GO-TO plan when you miss your normal workout. Here are some I have used over the years. Top 10 GO-TO Workout Plans| Military.com.

AMERICA IS 11 YEARS INTO THE LONGEST PERIOD OF WAR IN ITS HISTORY. THE MILITARY IS RELYING MORE ON ITS SPECIAL OPERATIONS FORCES TO CARRY THE FIGHT. In fact, Special Operations Command (SOCOM), which oversees units from the U.S. Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Army, sent 13,000 men to 75 countries in 2011.

The typical enlisted special operator is 29 years old (34 for officers) and married with at least two kids. He has 8 years of experience in the general forces and earns around $70,000 a year. Incidentally, he has banged out about 40,000 pushups. (And you're worried about repetitive stress injuries?) He deploys more than ever, with annual tours lasting 6 to 8 months. His missions can range from black ops, like the raid that killed Osama bin Laden (a dozen such raids are conducted every night), to village stability operations, which involve tasks like building schools and training police.

Combat is debilitating, both physically and psychologically; yet having soldiers with combat experience is critical. As one Green Beret captain, who prefers to remain anonymous*, told Men's Health, 'You want the old guy on your team, but not the old broken guy.' That's why SOCOM initiated a performance program, which each service branch is customizing. The aims: Boost combat effectiveness for healthy soldiers and return wounded ones to full strength more quickly. Training a special operator costs about $250,000, and the military can't afford to lose guys because of injuries that develop from years of combat and outdated physical training. The program is a mind-body-spirit overhaul, treating elite soldiers as professional athletes. That's why civilian strength coaches, dietitians, and acupuncturists now rub shoulders with military psychologists, explosives experts, and drill sergeants.

Of course, the stakes on the battlefield dwarf those on the sports field: Suicide rates among active-duty personnel are higher than ever, and in early 2009, for the first time in history, more service members killed themselves than were killed in action. As Marine Corps vet Karl Marlantes writes in What It Is Like to Go to War, 'Warriors must touch their souls because their jobs involve killing people. Warriors deal with eternity.' To understand how the military is forging the modern warrior, and to learn from these men who must be both violent and sensitive, MH spoke with special operators in all four branches, and identified skills you can use every day, even if the only combat you engage in is the career kind.

*Many special operators want to remain anonymous, a preference that Men's Health respects by using only first names and identity-protecting photographs in this story.

1. Build a Combat-Ready Body

Special-ops men need strength, speed, stamina, power, and agility. Here's how they achieve total-body fitness—and how you can too

The U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group gym at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, has a spartan quality, with its wall of squat racks and weight plates and large central open area. Clusters of gear—rocks, kettlebells, Swiss balls, and Bosu balls—guard the corners. TRX straps dangle from the ceiling like kudzu. Most of the Green Berets here are wearing 50-pound weight vests (to simulate body armor) and standard-issue short shorts (affectionately known as Ranger panties). The place has no TV, no women, no smoothie bar. The words on one guy's T-shirt spell out the vibe: 'Train like your buddy's life depends on it.'

Major Kent, a 39-year-old amputee, personifies the credo: He's doing a dumbbell chest press with his back on a Swiss ball, slowly raising and lowering 40-pounders.

In 2007, Maj. Kent was the executive officer on a 12-person Green Beret team in Iraq. The team had been sent into downtown Karbala to support other special forces on a raid to capture a Mahdi Army leader. As they fast-roped from a helicopter into the thick of it, the unit was attacked from three sides. The major's actions in the firefight saved American lives, and the team nabbed its man. But he was hit four times, in the leg and back, and had to be evacuated.

For 20 months, Maj. Kent tried everything to salvage his right leg. 'I didn't want to be defeated by my injury,' he says. But the nerve damage was too severe; doctors at Walter Reed had to amputate his right leg below the knee.

Within 5 months, he was running. In 2010 he served in Afghanistan in a limited role, on base. He continued to strengthen his body, working with Ray Bear, the group's strength and conditioning coach.

Bear came on board as part of the army's new special forces program, Tactical Human Optimization Rapid Rehabilitation and Reconditioning, or THOR3. The program treats soldiers as professional athletes, monitoring their workouts and providing on-site strength coaches, physical therapists, and dietitians. 'The THOR3 team can put you back together,' Maj. Kent says. 'They help you find a new 100 percent—your max potential—and get you back into as much of the fight as possible.' This year Maj. Kent will return to Afghanistan as a commander. He'll be 'outside the wire' (off the base) on patrols.

Essential to the THOR3 program are regular functional-movement screens to test balance and mobility, and a 10-part strength, speed, agility, power, and endurance test, which the Green Berets keep classified. This allows Bear, the former strength and conditioning coach for the NHL's Atlanta Thrashers, to customize a plan for each soldier and to synchronize the program to the soldier's deployment schedule and mission-specific needs.

'Broadly speaking, we have replaced most of the long-distance running with intervals, agility training, metabolic circuits, and battling-rope drills,' Bear says. In place of bodybuilding-style exercises that isolate individual muscles like biceps or lats, the men are doing more functional strength training, focusing on power and incorporating more standing exercises that use lots of muscles in coordinated movement.

Bear pulls exercises from a mix of disciplines. His workouts combine Olympic lifts, calisthenics using weighted vests, strongman exercises (heavy carries, tire flips, rock lifts), and a range of core work. The benefits of this kind of program were confirmed in a study of air force special-operator trainees who used similar workout techniques. Although they were running less than they had in their first year of training, their VO2 max (a measure of aerobic fitness) increased. What's more significant, their overuse injuries declined 67 percent.

The aim, Bear says, is to build soldiers who have balanced fitness—decathlete, rugby player, and MMA fighter rolled into one. On missions, Green Berets wear 50 pounds of body armor and carry another 50 pounds of gear. They may have to jump out of a chopper, haul ass several miles to reach a target, and then sprint for cover and dive to the ground when the enemy starts shooting. Andrew, a 5'10', 36-year-old sergeant first class, says he used to weigh 200 pounds. On a mission in Afghanistan, he had to sprint up a hill carrying a 25-pound machine gun. He was so out of breath when he reached the top that for a few seconds he couldn't fire accurately. Now 20 pounds lighter, he's faster and stronger.

Bear says one of his toughest jobs is figuring out how best to deploy a Green Beret's type A mindset. 'They're conditioned to push through pain. So I often have to slow them down and say, 'That's enough for today.' They have to learn to understand their bodies, which starts by listening to them.

The message seems to be getting through, especially when Bear sells postworkout recovery—including stretching and foam rolling—as something they should add to their training. Many Green Berets also do yoga, which has the added benefit of helping them control their breathing. As Staff Sergeant Keith, 32, told me, 'I do hot yoga on the weekend. You know, the aggressive kind.'

MUST-DO MOVES: Green Berets

'This pushup-bodysaw combo smokes your core,' says Ray Bear, strength and conditioning coach for the U.S. Army's 3rd Special Forces Group. He likes the TRX suspension system both for its versatility and because it's easy to transport. Do 12 reps of each move, rest 60 seconds, and repeat. Do 4 sets of each. No TRX? Use a Swiss ball for both exercises, placing your feet on the ball.

1. 3-WAY PUSHUP
Set up the TRX so the handles are 12' off the floor. Put your feet in the cradles and assume a pushup position. Lower your chest to the floor, and as you're pushing up, pull your knees toward your elbows.

Then push your legs back, and when your body is straight, drop your chest for the next pushup. On that rep, pull your knees to the outside of your right elbow; on the next rep, pull your knees to the outside of your left elbow.

2. ELEVATED BODYSAW
Keeping your feet in the cradles, lower yourself to a plank position, with your weight resting on your forearms. Using your upper arms, pull yourself forward as far as you can, while keeping your body in a straight line from neck to ankles. Then push back as far as you can, until your ears are past your elbows. That's 1 rep.

PROFILES IN MUSCLE

Captain Chane
30

'After starting THOR3, the 11 guys in my team went from 15-17 percent body fat to 11-14 percent, and our scores in all the fitness tests improved. You notice that downrange because guys can go hard for longer, and they're more alert. The biggest change in training is the emphasis on core exercises. We schedule at least three core sessions a week and hit the TRX a lot. We also take the TRX with us when we deploy, and Ray [Bear] e-mails workouts to us. On a personal level, I was already a black belt, but now I'm doing even better in competitions.'

Major Kent
39

'My core and hip flexors have to be even stronger because I'm dealing with different kinds of instability. I do a lot with the TRX, as well as medicine ball rollouts, sometimes with my legs elevated. But the exercise that's helped my whole body work together is the Swiss ball dumbbell press. I shoot for 3 sets of 12 with 40-pound weights. It's a smoker. Sometimes I do it with one arm, and that works your core more because you're less balanced. I also cycle and swim because that lets me maintain the stamina level I want without pounding my body.'

Captain Alex
29

'We're running less, but all the guys on my team improved on the 2-mile test. It's probably because we're doing more intervals, plus Ray [Bear] has a 42-part battling-rope circuit that we do as a team once a week. It's 20 seconds on and 20 seconds off, so it takes a half hour. We change positions, using staggered stances, lunge positions, and jumping jacks. My favorite exercise: Put on the 50-pound vest and do squats with a 30-pound rock on a Bosu. We're now a group that's training smarter and harder. A fitter team has a greater chance of mission success.'

2. Excel as the Ultimate Team Player

Good communication skills are critical in the workplace. Here's what you can learn from some men whose lives—and the lives of their fellow soldiers—truly depend on it

Ambush. The village was in Herat province, near the Iran-Afghanistan border. For 4 hours, Taliban rifle fire and rocket-propelled grenade rounds had been streaming from the rooftops, ripping apart the 10-member Army Special Forces team. Surrounded and outgunned, the Air Force combat controller attached to the unit, Staff Sergeant Robert, 31, emptied clip after clip of his M4 carbine. Then he felt the sting: An armor-piercing round had entered through his shoulder and corkscrewed through his chest, breaking two ribs and a shoulder blade. His lungs collapsed. He was bleeding out from a softball-sized hole in his back.

While coughing up blood, he read out bombing-target coordinates for two F-16s, and then visually guided strafing runs from three A-10Cs. He doesn't like to talk about it now, mainly because he doesn't remember a lot. 'I was just thinking, I'm already dead, but unless I keep this radio working, my team's gonna die,' he says.

A medic inserted a 6-inch decompression needle into his lungs. The enemy continued its attack, edging nearer and nearer. So S.Sgt. Robert guided two more strafing runs from the A-10Cs at 'danger close.' He told the pilots to fire less than 15 feet away from the team's position. The air strikes blew out his eardrums but repelled the enemy, allowing the team to escape. Then the staff sergeant ran a mile to the evacuation site, where he passed out. He lost 5 1/2 pints of blood, but his actions earned him the Air Force Cross, an award second in prestige only to the Medal of Honor.

Just 460 combat controllers exist in the Air Force. They were among the first troops on the ground in Afghanistan in 2001 and will be among the last to leave. These certified air-traffic controllers operate communications systems, coordinate air strikes, organize medical evacuations, and set up landing zones in austere environments. On missions, they lug over 100 pounds of gear—more than other special operators—because they're carrying radios as well as their weapons, ammo, and armor. During their 2-year training, they also learn the standard special-ops stuff, such as scuba diving in rivers at night and free-falling from extremely high altitudes.

Military Fitness Exercises Workout

But unlike all other special operators, these men go solo. They must temporarilyjoin a unit from a rival branch of the service.

'A lot of strong guys can't do our job because they don't have that mental capacity, and in particular that curiosity to learn it,' says Staff Sergeant Travis L., 25, who has two Afghanistan deployments and one Iraq tour under his belt. 'And a lot of smart guys don't have the physical drive to do it.'

Military Fitness Workout Routines

Combat controllers have huge individual responsibilities, but they're also the ultimate team players. Their ability to calmly assess a chaotic scene and clearly communicate instructions can be a matter of life and death—often their own.

At Hurlburt Field in Florida, MH conducted a roundtable with several instructors, along with controllers just back from Afghanistan. Their skills can help all men perform better, even in the relatively calm areas of civilian life.

SHOW YOUR WORTH
You've just been dropped into a tightly knit team of special operators. They are justifiably suspicious of an outsider joining their unit, someone who might get them killed. 'When you first meet the team, it's basically a lot of butt-sniffing, like strange dogs,' says Staff Sergeant Schaffer, 28, who recently returned from Afghanistan. 'They look at you, like, 'Can I trust that guy?'

'Recently I was assigned to a team out in Helmand Province in Afghanistan. I gravitated to their weapons specialist, helping him break down the guns. They see you break down an M-240 machine gun and then help mount all the weapons in the trucks and it's, like, Well, we haven't even rolled out yet and he's already proving useful.' The other controllers agree: As soon as you finish your own tasks, volunteer for any job—chopping wood, working on vehicles, whatever. Helping out will also make you fast friends in less-hostile environments, like your office.

TREAD LIGHTLY
'I've heard the 'chair force' cracks,' says Staff Sergeant David, 28, a proud Texan who after four tours in Iraq and Afghanistan is now an instructor at Hurlburt. 'Your natural instinct—my natural instinct, anyway—is to jump up in somebody's face. But I knew that would be counterproductive, that I should tread lightly. I make it a point when I introduce myself to remember each teammate's first name. But I'd never address them by their first names until they asked me. People remember little things like that.'

GIVE CLEAR DIRECTIONS
Orchestrating air support is complex. Controllers stack as many as 10 planes at different altitudes; when they call in air strikes, they must take into account the size of an aircraft and the type of weapons it's carrying, says Captain Travis M., 31. In order to transmit all relevant information quickly and clearly, controllers use a standardized set of instructions called the Nine-Line Brief. It details the information required by pilots who are providing air support, including target descriptions and locations of enemies and friendlies. Once an aviator reads back the data, the controller issues a 'cleared hot' call, granting permission to release ordnance. It's simple but effective. Have an important mission of your own? Give your teammate clear instructions, then ask him to run them back by you to ensure he's on target.

MANAGE UP
Controllers must defer to the decisions of the team leader, who always outranks them. Here's how S.Sgt. David describes it: Most leaders recognize that the combat controller is a 'value-added force multiplier.' They will usually take the controller's suggestions on how, where, and when to call in air support. But once in a while a team leader decides to pull rank. That's when you have to assert your position, he says. 'For instance, you might say, 'Sir, I strongly suggest we do this now.' That usually does it. When it doesn't, rank wins out. Use the tactic with your supervisor: Respectfully state your position once, and then back off.

KNOW YOUR ROLE
'Sometimes you envy the dude with the gun kicking down the door,' says S.Sgt. David. But, says his colleague S.Sgt. Schaffer, 'It's hard to be the guy that kicks in the door and the guy who controls the aircraft and the guy who coordinates [communication] between the two.'

Knowing your role often means accepting that your own responsibilities are crucial to the mission, even if they aren't the most gratifying in the moment. 'And sometimes you do get the chance to do those kick-in-the-door things—'kacking off' a full magazine, but still having the composure to hold the whole picture together,' says S.Sgt. Travis L.

MUST-DO MOVES: Combar Controllers

'Combat controllers carry over 100 pounds, including their communications equipment and body armor, so they need exceptional strength and stamina in their core and legs,' says Vint Anderson, fitness instructor for the U.S. Air Force Special Tactics Training Squadron. One workout method they use is a leg circuit. Do 20 reps of each of the three exercises in the order shown, with no rest. After you finish one circuit, rest for 30 seconds, and repeat. Shoot for five circuits. Do each repetition explosively if you can. If you can't, just do them quickly.

1. SQUAT
Push your hips back and squat until your thighs are parallel to the floor. Push back up and repeat. If you're not using weights, you can put your hands behind your ears, across your chest, or on your hips.

2. LUNGE
Take a long step forward with your left foot and lower your body until your left thigh is parallel to the floor and your right knee is close to the ground. Keep your torso upright. Step back to the starting position and repeat with your right leg. Alternate legs until you've done 10 lunges with each.

3. SQUAT JUMP
Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart, arms at your sides. Squat and then jump as high as you can. Land and immediately drop down for the next jump.

3. Win the Mental Battle

Use these strategies from Marine Corps special operators to build psychological resilience and make smarter, faster decisions—even under extreme stress

One of your men is dead, killed by automatic-weapon fire. Several others are wounded, as is one of the Afghan commandos fighting alongside you on this raid on a Taliban safe haven in western Afghanistan. The battle has raged for 40 minutes. Bullets, rocket-propelled grenades, mortars, and the screams of wounded men cut through the air. In your left ear, you can hear your commander at a base 45 minutes away relaying information provided by a plane circling the site; in your right ear, your remaining 13 team members are reporting their positions as they establish cordons of security. The men want to push their advantage, and the enemy appears vulnerable. But there's no reliable intel on how many fighters could be hiding in the village. Captain Steve, a 36-year-old Marine Corps critical skills operator, has to make the call.

'You don't let your heart race. This helps you stay emotionally calm,' the captain says. Back in the States, he's now standing outside a tent in a forested part of Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he's instructing operators taking part in Raider Spirit, an intense training exercise. 'You evaluate all the available information. You never have 100 percent; 80 percent is great. And then you're decisive. The person who's faster and more decisive usually wins.'

In this case, the captain had called for a retreat and helicopter medical evacuation. As it turned out, the Afghan casualty died on the helicopter. 'That means perhaps we could have pushed more aggressively,' says Capt. Steve. 'But over the next 6 months we received valuable favors from our Afghan partners because they knew we tried to save one of their men. Every decision has ripples, positive and negative.'

The captain has lost two members of his various teams over five deployments, losses he says he will carry with him his whole life. To help ease such burdens, the Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command last year introduced a program called Performance and Resiliency (PER-RES). Its aim is to incorporate mind, body, and spirit into a principle-based ethos that helps soldiers withstand all kinds of stress. These are some of the lessons that have helped the captain.

BE MORE DECISIVE
During their yearlong training, critical skills operators learn to constantly run the 'OODA' loop—observe, orient, decide, and act. 'We present problem sets in increasing degrees of complication,' Capt. Steve says. 'We increase pace, take out rest, and increase points of friction with the enemy. How trainees react defines how successful they will be.' He tries to help them become decisive even in ambiguous situations. That involves making decisions quickly and dealing with the ramifications. 'You need to learn your limits and reconcile confidence with humility. To be a leader requires taking ownership. Sometimes that means saying, 1 screwed up.'

FREE UP YOUR BANDWIDTH
When you're constantly making decisions, your mind tires and looks for shortcuts; you may make impulsive choices or duck the decision altogether. Over months of combat, this can lead to declines in memory, verbal ability, and focus, according to a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association. One way to prevent this is to establish protocols, schedules, and lists so decisions become automatic. This applies to complex tasks like positioning team members on recon, and seemingly mundane stuff like packing a rucksack—critical if you need to find your secondary weapon in the dark.

It's also relevant to civilian life. Setting up a workout schedule, for instance, eliminates the need to think about it. The idea is to conserve willpower for important decisions. And in a situation that calls for instant mental muscle, Dartmouth research reveals, you should eat a snack rich in glucose. Not surprisingly, many special-ops guys are partial to a ration called Zapplesauce—applesauce spiked with maltodextrin, a source of fast energy. In less austere environments, you can accomplish a similar effect by eating a fresh apple, an orange, or some grapes.

SALUTE THE SMALL STUFF
According to Capt. Steve, slower-paced operations in Afghanistan are more mentally exhausting than the full-tilt missions. 'You squeeze the trigger, you see a result,' he says. 'It's not like that with village stability operations.' He recalls the recruiting of construction workers to help build an Afghan army base in a village where his team had been shot at 2 weeks before. The first week one guy showed up. The second week, five guys. There were 25 the third week.

'It's important to give positive but honest feedback to the team and the local elders so that everyone realizes we're moving forward, even if the pace is slow,' he says. In fact, thanking people for their efforts in situations where progress may not be obvious is even more critical.

REACH INSTRUCTOR LEVEL (IN ANYTHING!)
More than any other service branch, the Marines emphasize martial arts. They established their own brand in 2002, a hybrid of seven disciplines, including muy thai and Brazilian jujitsu. The tan stripe on the black belt Capt. Steve wears indicates that he's qualified to train Marines to reach black belt status. 'It's part of the warrior spirit: Trusting that you can fight anyone hand to hand.'

But he's also found intangible benefits. Instructor training made him a better leader. 'It forced me to become comfortable in front of a group. I was training the group but also training myself.' The lesson: Find your own win-win activity—something that challenges you and also helps others.

RECOGNIZE DEPRESSION
One goal of the PER-RES program is to integrate mental fitness into Marine life. Talking to a psychologist is like talking to a strength coach. 'That's why critical skills operators see psychologists before, during, and after deployment,' says Lieutenant Commander John D. Garbrecht, a physical therapist with the 1st Marine Special Operations Batallion. The latest thinking emphasizes stress perception over stress inoculation. In other words, you gain a greater awareness of your feelings and emotions so you can respond to stress rather than react impulsively.

Critical to that is the ability to self-diagnose problems, says Craig J. Bryan, Psy.D., a consultant on suicide prevention for the Department of Defense. 'It's not about crying or feeling sad,' says Bryan. 'It's usually about not being able to enjoy stuff you normally like—watching sports or hanging out with friends.' He adds that exercise is often the first casualty. Men on the verge of depression often say they have no energy. Those are the moments—when you don't feel like doing something—when it's most critical to do it.

The second casualty is sleep, Bryan says. If you find yourself staring at the ceiling, try these strategies: (1) Relax your body by imagining you're floating in a pool, your whole body is limp, every muscle is relaxed, and gravity is pulling you down. (2) Quiet your mind by imagining thoughts passing by on a conveyor belt and disappearing around a corner.

GROW THROUGH TRAUMA
Trauma frequently causes stress disorders, but it can also lead to growth, says Colonel David M. Benedek, M.D., a professor of psychiatry at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Maryland. 'Finding meaning in your experience—whether it's combat, cancer, or financial hardship—often means talking about it.' This is why soldiers and civilians need to maintain close ties with family and friends. Consider yourself lucky if you have more than two truly close friends—that's the national average for men. Reach out now, before you're in a crisis, to express your appreciation of their support.

Capt. Steve says he draws great strength from the relationships he has with his team members. 'Our experiences in training and combat foster trust—we're loyal to the Corps, and that means supporting each other downrange and at home.'

4. Perform Under Fire

Based on experience in sensitive missions, Navy Seals are now sharing their mental-toughness tips with Olympians

It's pitch black. You're slicing through the air, free-falling at 150 miles an hour. When your altimeter reads 5,000 feet, you pull the rip-cord on your chute. Only it doesn't deploy properly. You have 10 seconds to save your own life. 'It's actually not the worst feeling,' says Chief Chase, 40, an intelligence operations liaison who has endured two parachute malfunctions in his 20 years with the SEALs. 'You do what you're trained to do: Stay calm. First you pull the ring to release the main canopy. Then you deploy your reserve chute.'

If you panic, you end up in what SEALs call a 'soup sandwich' situation, which is as messy as it sounds. The SEALs are trying to figure out ways to rewire the brain to avoid soup sandwiches. 'If you can control the stress response, both physical and cognitive, then you can optimize performance in any environment,' says Commander Eric Potterat, Ph.D., command psychologist for the Naval Special War Group One. 'It boils down to handling stress: Can you do your best when the pressure is highest?'

Potterat has teamed up with neuroscientists at the University of California at San Diego, and psychologists at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California, to study the brains of extreme performers. Using real-time brain imaging during threat-response tests, the scientists are discovering that the neural networks of elite athletes and soldiers light up in different ways than those of regular Joes. Now they're trying to figure out the most efficient ways to train these kinds of brain-body responses.

Initially, Potterat was concerned because about 75 percent of SEAL trainees—the U.S. Navy's best of the best—were washing out of the 6-month Basic Underwater Demolition/SEAL (BUD/S) training course because of psychological pressure. Potterat identified four critical skills—goal setting, visualization, positive self-talk, and controlling stress—in which mastery is a strong indicator of success in combat and sports. He also introduced a cognitive adversity-tolerance screening test. Using this combination contributed to an 8 percent improvement in the BUD/S course pass rate.

The team also created a mental toughness training program—think of it as boot camp to panic-proof your brain—in which SEAL instructors drill these skills with Olympic athletes. This cross-pollination between combat preparation and sports psychology takes place on the beach obstacle course at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California. The results aren't pretty.

'I had sand everywhere—ears, mouth, eyes,' says Giuseppe Lan-zone, 28, a national team rower who recently completed the program. 'It was 4 hours in, and six of us were sprinting on soft, wet sand, carrying a 400-pound IBS [or itty-bitty ship, in SEAL slang]. We had no idea how far we had to run. I was at my breaking point.'

Here's how you can develop SEAL-style mental toughness. No Abbottabad duty required.

SET SMARTER GOALS
Two things distinguish the SEAL approach to goal setting, says Chief Rick, 39, a covert-entry specialist. First off, during BUD/S, they learn to 'chunk' each mission into manageable goals. 'For instance, your aim could be to survive to lunchtime,' he says. 'Once you do that, you pat yourself on the back, refocus, and set the next goal: Make it to dinner.' SEALs also apply the principle of chunking to mission planning, learning to evaluate a goal by asking if it's 'specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely'—or SMART. This approach applies to any goal, whether it involves fitness, relationships, or work. Eventually, Chief Rick says, 'goal setting becomes second nature. You're constantly seeking ways to improve every aspect of your performance.'

Elite athletes use a similar approach to goal setting, says Tim McLaren, U.S. national team rowing coach, who also took part in the brain-stress boot camp. But McLaren is quick to note that SEALs deal with dynamic, highly unpredictable environments and not static events that have a clear start and finish.

That's one reason the second essential aspect of SEAL goal setting is planning for worst-case scenarios. 'It's not just plan B, but also plans C, D, and E,' says Petty Officer Tommy, 31, a SEAL explosive breacher. 'At a certain stage in mission planning, we'll ask the team to shoot holes in the strategy.' The focus on negatives means that SEALs need thick skins and an absence of arrogance—attributes rarely found in tandem in the civilian world. 'Every SEAL knows it's not about you; it's about the team,' Petty Officer Tommy says. The takeaway: Ask your colleagues to spotlight any weaknesses in a proposal. It may hurt, but your outlook for success will be brighter.

VISUALIZE MORE EFFECTIVELY
SEALs learn to visualize in BUD/S by practicing first with simple tasks (retrieving an object from the bottom of a pool, for example) and progressing to complex ones (dealing with a malfunctioning parachute). 'Before they jump, SEALs will have reviewed every step in their minds 10 to 12 times on the plane, including what they'll do if the chute malfunctions,' says Chase. 'You see it as a movie in your head.'

The goal is to make the action so familiar that your brain can function on automatic pilot when you're under stress. This kind of imaging is widely used in pro sports, and it can help with things as basic as swishing a perfect free throw, or nailing a bench press, says McLaren. For instance, if your goal is a personal-best deadlift, imagine yourself walking up to the bar, setting your grip, locking your body into position, and then pulling the weight off the floor and completing the lift. Visualize it several hours before, and then again several seconds before, your lift. Researchers believe that such imaging, done before a specific activity, prepares your body with small but beneficial neuromuscular adjustments.

TALK YOURSELF UP
Neuroscientists estimate that we say 300 to 1,000 words to ourselves every waking minute. In times of stress, that internal monologue can become a high-pitched shriek from your brain's anxiety center, the amygdala. SEALs override these self-generated fears by learning to emphasize, over and over, the positive aspect of whatever they're doing, says Petty Officer Buck, 31, a SEAL sniper. 'If you need to lift more, you tell yourself, 'Stronger. Stronger. Stronger.' If you need more speed, you tell yourself, 'Faster. Faster. Faster.' Unless you train yourself to do this through repetitive practice—thousands of iterations—the negative voice will drown out the positive.

Our Olympic rowers agree. 'You learn to trust yourself and your training,' says Dan Walsh, 32, a bronze medalist rower in the men's eight at the Beijing Olympics. 'What drives me is thinking I can't quit on my teammates. I'll shout out loud, 'Go, go, go'—words you can say in one breath.'

Walsh says he has also seen how negative thoughts can go viral in his head. 'Perhaps you didn't sleep well, and that's in the back of your mind. Then if the other boat nudges ahead, you think, 'It's because I'm not fully rested.' That voice creeps in and you think, 'That wasn't my best stroke.' But the truth is you can push yourself much harder than you ever thought.'

Army Workout

The 'itty-bitty ship' carry in the boot camp also revealed the same thing, says Lanzone. His red-line training is in 5-or 15-minute intervals to match the length of his events, but the IBS carry was a maximum effort that went on longer than he'd anticipated. He had to dig deeper. When he's hurting the most, Lanzone says, he focuses on trying to smile. 'It helps me ignore whatever my brain is trying to tell me.' That echoes a popular SEAL instructor aphorism: Pain is just weakness leaving the body.

BLOW AWAY STRESS
No matter how much you've trained, you never really know how you'll react under fire until it happens—with you as the target. Petty Officer Buck recalls an ambush one night on a street in an urban location in a country he can't disclose because it's technically one of our allies. 'Rounds were flying by my head. My adrenaline spiked. I took cover and returned fire. But I realized I wasn't shooting accurately.'

That's when his training kicked in: He began to inhale deeply through his nose, an action that instantly calmed him. 'I noticed an increase in accuracy immediately,' he says. The SEALs call this 'tactical breathing': 4 seconds in through the nose, 4 seconds out through the mouth. They practice it in 4-minute intervals, imagining that they're filling their lungs, quarter by quarter, from the bottom up. But the physical and mental benefits happen faster: The deep breaths calm your nervous system and slow your heart rate—and by focusing on your breath, you're effectively stuffing a sock in that screaming amygdala.

MUST-DO MOVES: SEALs

'To build speed and stamina, do three kinds of intervals every week, both in the water and on land,' says Mike Caviston, director of fitness and the Tactical Athlete Program for the Naval Special Warfare Center, where SEALs are selected.

1. STAMINA
Run or swim for at least an hour. Go at a steady, relaxed pace that allows you to hold a conversation. This applies to rowing and cycling too.

2. SPEED/STAMINA
Run or swim 20 minutes at the fastest pace you can maintain. Once will be enough your first time out, but progress to three 20-minute sessions, with 10 minutes of active recovery in between.

Military Fitness Training Program Pdf

3. SPEED
Start out with four 1/4-mile runs or four 100-yard swims. Rest for double the time it took you to do each interval. Progress to eight to 10 intervals.

To ensure that soldiers, sailors and marines meet minimum physical fitness standards, the military uses a physical fitness test -- commonly referred to as a PFT -- to test strength, cardiorespiratory fitness and overall ability. The test consists of three components. These comprise timed pushups and situps, followed by a timed 2-mile run. To improve your PFT score, pursue appropriate training.

A 20-Minute Circuit

Circuit training entails a collection of exercises, with each performed for a specific number of repetitions or time. For a physical training workout, you can create a 20-minute circuit. Start with one minute each of pushups, squats and pullups, followed with three minutes of running. Add another minute each of shoulder presses, lunges and biceps curls. Run for another three minutes, add a minute each of leg extensions and leg curls, before finishing with two minutes apiece of situps and crunches.

Metabolic Conditioning

Metabolic conditioning workouts work to improve your overall cardio endurance for the running portion of the PFT. Your options include cycling, indoor rowing, swimming or running. Use a stationary bike in a local gym or fitness club or spend 20 to 30 minutes with the middle of the workout devoted to peak resistance and effort. An indoor rowing machine provides a total body cardio workout that improves aerobic and anaerobic conditioning for an improved PFT. And interval running workouts can be used to train for a specific time in the PFT.

CrossFit's 'Murph' Workout

The CrossFit program uses functional exercises and minimal equipment. The workouts focus on high-intensity, total body movements. Performing CrossFit workouts exposes you to a mixture of weight training, gymnastics exercises and metabolic conditioning. For example, the “Murph” workout calls for running one mile followed with 100 pullups, 200 pushups and 300 squats, with another mile run at the end. This type of training is ideal for military physical training.

Military Fitness Workout Programs For Women

Strength Training

Strength training promotes strong muscles and bones along with joint flexibility. For a member of the armed forces, strength training improves the ability to score well on the PFT. A sample workout includes five rounds of maximum repetitions on pullups followed by five repetitions on the bench press with the weight set at 50 percent to 75 percent of the one-rep maximum. Additional strength training exercises include Olympic lifts, kettlebell training, squats, lunges, deadlifts and shoulder presses.

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