Be World-Class in Recovery Not Athletic Performance to Get Through Spec Ops Selections

Believe it or not, you do not need to be a world-class runner to graduate from Ranger/SF training. You do not need to be an Olympic swimmer to graduate from BUD/S or PJ Training. You do not need to be a world-class lifter to handle the boats, logs, rucks, and other load-bearing activity to make it through any special ops selection. You just need to be a lifter who can run/swim, a runner who can lift/swim, and a swimmer who can run and lift. No need to waste training time getting great at your strongest event, just be good at all of them.  

Once an instructor sees a weakness, it is like blood in the water for sharks.

A Recent Discussion with a Candidate

A few weeks ago, I had a discussion with a BUD/S candidate. He was a collegiate swimmer, putting in 10-12 hours a week in the pool (that's 2+ hours a day). WHY? I asked. He said he is trying to get his swim time down to sub-6 minutes. His run time was flirting with 8-minute miles; he could not lift his bodyweight in bench or squat. Needless to say, he needed a training adjustment. This meant no swim time per week, get into the weight room, and start progressing logically with running and load-bearing. You have to realize, no one cares about your 6-minute 500-yard swim or your 7-minute 1.5-mile run. If you have a weakness because you spent all of your prep time focusing on your strength, that is what the instructors will focus on. Once they see you are great at one thing, they know a weakness is coming. Once again, there are plenty of fitness elements to get good at, and you can prepare properly with a program that does not allow you to ignore any of them. 

The Good at All Standard

In the world of athletics, a 6-minute mile won't get you on a high school track team, and a 7-minute mile won't get you on a cross-country team, but they will get you TO and THROUGH BUD/S. Candidates who can swim 500 yards in 8-9 minutes are most likely not going to make a swim team, but that is fast enough to be above average at BUD/S and other military diving programs.  The same holds true for lifters. A 3x bodyweight deadlift and squat is not needed either (BTW, not even close to world-class lifting), but 1.5 x bodyweight puts you in the strong/durable group in spec ops selection classes.  See the self-assessment tool for other activities to "get good" at doing. 

Run, Ruck/Load Bearing, and Swim - Get Good at All Three

Be World-Class in Recovery

Recovery from rigorous physical activity, mental/emotional stress, and generally all stress is the key to both optimal mental and physical performance and longevity. How quickly you recover from any stressor is the basis of resilience and a balance of physical durability, mental stability, and work capacity. You improve recovery by practicing the recovery tools ingrained in our survival as a species - our nutrition and sleep. From there, the remaining recovery relies on your training progressions and the consistent application of good sleep, good nutrition, well-timed deloads, and ways to work out aches and pains from hard work and tension. This is what we need to become "world-class" in before/during/after spec ops selections training.

The mastery of recovery is the one thing we need to become experts in if we consider any high-stress job in the tactical professions.

Sleep and Nutrition - Good news! 90-95% of our recovery can be achieved through the two most powerful natural processes we use every day. Whether it is physical, academic, or emotional stress (or all three), we need to address how we eat, hydrate, and sleep to keep stress from becoming chronic. Chronic stress is deadly, decreasing our performance and shortening our lives.  Sleep (get 7-8 hours) # 1 recovery tool. Do it well.  Nutrition (eat well) is nearly as important as sleep, but just as critical to fuel, recovery, and energy to train and compete at the highest levels. 

Hydration (Drink more water) - You will die without water!  Yes, there is now a significant lack of water consumption that can affect your performance. A hard day of spec ops training can turn into one of the worst days of your life without water. Heat casualties are killers to your performance. I often say, half of fatigue is body heat. Stay hydrated, my friends.  

Exercise (move more with purpose) - Usually for high performers preparing for intense spec ops selections, as a coach, I have to pull the reins on them and have them do less. See why Less is More when it comes to some people on the border of mentally tough and stupid. 

But Also Be Still (breathe and relax) - Focus on Learning HOW to Breathe (box breathing is a good start) - Learning HOW to breathe to slow down your nervous system.  Simply lengthen inhale and exhale with a short pause in between, both in through the nose / out through the mouth. Take a few minutes and try box breathing for starters (4 secs IN, 4 sec hold, 4 sec OUT, 4 sec hold). 

Mobility Days / Deloads for Recovery - Smart training is also helpful in dealing with high-intensity / high-volume training needed for various special ops selection programs. Adding an easy day/rest day each week is smart, but on occasion (every 4-5 weeks), place a deload week where you focus more on technique training, less volume in all reps, and miles will also help you become a master of recovery. Do NOT skip mobility day.  The goal here is to reduce over-training symptoms:
 

Here is where most people go wrong with their training and recovery:

Sleep - If you ruin a good night's sleep with mindless scrolling, drinking alcohol, or too much caffeine/nicotine during the day, you will start to feel the effects of missed sleep. In fact, your nutrition and training may be perfect, but a few poor nights' sleep, and you could start to feel many of the symptoms on the list above. 

Nutrition: There is more to being well-rested and ready to go than a good night's sleep. That is a big part of recovery, for sure, but when you are training hard, you also have to eat well for both fueling your training and recovery after that day of training. Add rest / easy days, and relax. In my opinion, recovery is represented well in the unscientific chart below: 

Sleep, Rest, Relax 50%
Nutrition 40%
Ice, Heat, Stretching, Mobility 5%
Gear, Massage, other Services 5%

The problem is that most will spend all their time and money on the missing 10% of recovery. While that is important, ignoring nutrition and sleep is the downfall to good recovery. 

Optimal Performance is Made in the Bed, Kitchen, and Gym (largely in that order)

The Two Podcasts Recently Done with Nick Barringer (PhD - Nutrition) and Dr. Kirk Parsely (Sleep Remedy) discuss the importance of both their specialties on both optimal performance and longevity, and how they are intertwined but often neglected by both young and old athletes:

Nutrition for Spec Ops Level Performance

The #1 Recovery Tool with Dr. Kirk Parsely

You Have To Get Serious At Some Point & Drop Some Bad Habits Too...

Smoking, Drinking Alcohol, Doing Drugs, and Too Much Caffeine

All of the above are habits that are difficult to break due to the addictiveness of these substances. There are things in that list that can be done with moderation (alcohol/caffeine), but tobacco products and narcotics are NOT something that will be helpful in a quest for longevity. These absolutely ruin your ability to recover - mainly sleep well - but some are just deadly and horrible for your health period. Sorry to be the VICE cop but it is true. Though you may still live a long life with a lifetime of bad habits, eventually those final years will be the result of their accumulation. 

Who is Stew Smith? Coach, Trainer, Author, Podcaster 

I'm the former Navy SEAL that future military, police, firefighters, and special ops candidates go to for books, ebooks, and online coaching to prepare them to get through and qualify for service in their chosen tactical profession.  See More at StewSmithFitness.com