When Your Training Goals Are 
Taking You in the Wrong Direction

Quite often, athletes who decide to take the path of becoming a member of the tactical population (military, police, fire, spec ops) have a history of training a certain way.  Most tend to continue their previous training models that focus on improvement in a few of the elements of fitness. This can leave a few important elements of fitness underdeveloped in a tactical world, as the tactical athlete needs to be good at ALL the elements of fitness.

This means, strength/power, speed/agility, cardio conditioning (run, swim, ruck), muscle stamina, flexibility/mobility, and grip needs to be organized well into the preparation process regardless of the background an athlete is coming from. 

Common Errors Taking You In The Wrong Direction

For the sake of this article, let's focus on the athlete preparing for any one of the spec ops / SWAT programs.  For regular military, police, fire, you still need to train specific to your fitness test/job, but the athletic history you have can help you with the basics. You can mostly take the skills of your athletic history and get accepted with some focus on your testing and basic training skills. However, for the spec ops candidate, the level of fitness required is higher, and the competition of these professions requires the recruit to shoot for high marks to get TO and THROUGH the training.   

Here are many errors seen in the years of coaching and answering questions about preparing for any profession that requires a fitness test to join and a selection program to enter the community of public service to your community or country.  

The Strength / Power athlete - Training to bench press or deadlift more weight than you currently do prior to entering spec ops training programs is the wrong focus. I have seen guys trying to maintain 600 lb deadlifts and 400 lbs bench presses while "trying" to improve with timed runs and high-rep calisthenics. These two goals do not mix - at all. In fact, typical weaknesses for most strength athletes include cardio endurance and muscle stamina.  Add in swimming and fast-paced timed runs, and you have a journey ahead of you that requires more time doing calisthenics and cardio training. You will still have above-average strength coming from this world of athletics, even if you do not lift heavy for quite some time. Your goal is to become a PT and cardio animal if you want to get TO and THROUGH the training. The spec ops triathlon (running, swimming, rucking) and PT Pyramids/SuperSets/Max Rep Sets should make up a majority of your training time.  Be patient - this transition takes time. Drop the heavy weights and start running, especially if you think a one-mile run is long distance.

18 yr old Stew

The Endurance athlete (runner) - Training to drop your mile pace for timed runs from a six-minute pace to a five-minute pace is also not needed. Striving for sub-six-minute miles for timed runs and even slowing down to a 7-minute mile pace when running 4-6 miles is still above average in tactical fitness programs.  This athlete is neglecting strength and potentially muscle stamina (strength-endurance) for high-repetition calisthenics by focusing on timed run speed vs. working to put on some muscle for general durability under the load of rucks, logs, boats, and other equipment or personnel carry abilities. Runners also need to get into swimming shape, especially if future training or testing requires significant swimming and/or diving. My advice is to drop the volume as there is no need to run 50+ miles a week when you are trying to also put on muscle mass in the weight room. Typical runners need to put on 15-20 lbs of muscle to be more durable under the loads and stresses of spec ops level training. 

The Endurance athlete (swimming) -  Many swimming athletes err when trying to break the swim record for the 500 yd CSS and be in the sub-6 minute time.  That is great, but when you can coast at 8 minutes and be in the top 10% of your class in testing and swimming-related skills, why not focus on the elephant in the room?  The fact is most swimmers break when it comes to running or load-bearing activities, mainly due to the fact they spent most of their time in athletics in zero gravity.  Getting in the weight room and running progressions are more important than a 5:40 CSS 500 yd swim time.  Besides, once you are at BUDS, 99% of your swims will be with big SCUBA fins (Rocket or Jet Fins), so make sure you can handle those in the pool, tread water, lifesaving, and drownproofing - that is what it is in the water for you.  Swimming should only be done in extra workouts if your shins, knees, or tendons hurt from running - which they will as you progress into 20+ miles per week. Instead of trying to swim sub 6 minutes, focus on your running and strength scores; otherwise, you will break as you experience gravity for the first time in your athletic career. 

The Endurance athlete (rower) - The rower is a cardio beast and is typically pretty strong in the legs and pulling muscles, but has a weakness in pushing.  You can see it in bench press, pushups, and overhead push presses, typically in the rowing athlete.  Specifics of swimming can be a challenge too if you have not learned the proper technique of swimming.  Do not think your cardio / VO2 max is the same in a boat / running as it is in the water. The cardio abilities will transfer over well into swimming, but you still have to get into swimming shape.  Many rowers I see have this problem in the pool - Dude YOU are not in swimming shape!.

Not the same kind of rowing...

The Wrestler / MMA Athlete - These athletes are tough as hell, as they are used to going one-on-one in combative situations and train extremely hard for their sport.  Usually, I say, "wrestlers are good to go for BUDS/diving type special ops units IF they can swim.". Treading water, swimming techniques for drownproofing, and underwater swimming are all challenging to the wrestler IF they do not have a background in swimming or have spent time learning how to swim.  I don't care how tough you are on land, the water is a different animal and it takes time practicing swimming, both technique and conditioning to build up the water confidence needed to make it through aquatic spec ops programs. 

Most wrestlers - not so good in the water (at first)

The Hybrid Athlete -  With programs like CrossFit, X Games, to some extent Triathletes, and multi-sport athletes, these athletes may not have as long to prepare as other specialized athletes. However, it really depends on their strengths and weaknesses in running longer distances, swimming, high-repetition calisthenics, and overall strength. Once again, having a mix of all the elements of fitness in your background of athletics is helpful but to successfully get THROUGH the training/selection program, you have to get specific with your training and focus on any weaknesses you may have.  See assessment tools for TO and THROUGH selection for more ideas on what I am talking about - even for the more well-rounded athlete. 

The Non-Athlete - One thing is for sure, you do not have to be an athlete to be in killer shape.  Many people have made it through spec ops-level training and were non-athletes, but they were hard workers, mentally tough, team players, and grew up doing some form of manual labor or training programs that worked to develop them fully. Do not think because you were not a D1 collegiate athlete you cannot make it through spec ops training. But you still have to assess yourself and work on your weaknesses, as you will have them just like all others. 

I am sure there are other athletes I missed in this list, but you get the gist. These professions do require a lot out of you, but there is a reason. You have to be smart and in good shape when you find yourself in life-or-death situations, as it is your life, your buddy's life, or someone you are trying to help that depends on your abilities (physical, mental, tactical skills). 

In the end, it really does not matter what your athletic history was or was not. What matters is you worked hard in your preparation to specifically prepare yourself for the challenges of not only your fitness test so you get accepted into the training, but specifically for the events of your training.  You will notice as you start to make of list of the events you need to be prepared for that they all cover the chart at the top of the page and engage all the elements of fitness.  The tactical athlete needs to be good at all the elements not great at any one as being great at a few elements of fitness typically leaves a weakness in another area.  It is just the nature of the beast. 

Related Podcasts with Jeff Nichols: 

Tactical Fitness Report 68 - The Hockey, Baseball, Rowing Athlete (and others) Prepare for BUD/S.

Tactical Fitness Report 67 - The X Games Athlete Prepares for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 66 - The Non-Athlete Prepares for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 63 - The Lax, Rugby, Soccer Player Preps for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 62 - The Wrestler / Combatives Sports Athlete Preps for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 61 - CrossFit Athlete Preps for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 60 - Powerlifting / Football Player Preps for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 59 - The Swimmer Preps for BUD/S

Tactical Fitness Report 57 - Cross Country Athlete Preps for BUD/S

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