Ashley Kalym - Armed Forces Fitness - How to pass your Army, Navy, and Air Force selection

Armed Forces Fitness - How to pass your Army, Navy, and Air force selection

Armed Forces Fitness shows you how to train for and pass your military selection. Looking at the strength and cardiovascular tests you will be required to perform, you will learn the best ways to build your strength and fitness in a progressive manner, enabling you to pass your selection with confidence, and start your military career in the best way possible.

Copyright 2012 Ashley Kalym

All rights reserved. No portion of this book, whether in print or electronic format, may be duplicated or transmitted without written permission of the publisher, except where permitted by law.

Acknowledgments

Thanks must go to Chris Frosin for the photography work, and to Jon Leonard for the use of Funktion Fitness Gym.

Chriss photography work can be found at the following link; www.chrisfrosin.co.uk

You can learn more about Funktion Fitness here; www.funktionfitness.com

All armed forces around the world require you to pass a fitness test to enter, regardless of the career path that is chosen. Some of these tests are more vigorous and demanding than others, such as the Royal Marines Commando or Navy SEALS selection, and others are less demanding, such as Army Engineer. Everyone wishing to stat a military career must develop at least a basic level of strength and fitness, which will include the ability to run, carry loads, exert upper body strength in both pushing and pulling directions, and have the ability to keep going when fatigued and tired.

This book will show you how to develop the physical and mental fitness required to pass your armed forces selection, using simple methods and a progressive training program that is suitable for anyone, regardless of your fitness or ability.

All people in the military are expected to be physically fit and capable of fighting if required. To this end, there are a number of exercises that are used throughout the world, and these are listed next:

- Push-ups

- Pull-ups

- Sit-ups

- Running

- Weight carrying

- Lifting heavy loads

The fitness standards in the armed forces vary by country and by the career that you are pursuing. In the following section we are going to take a quick look at some of the more common careers and their fitness requirements. Don't worry if your chosen branch is not featured here; this section is just to highlight some of the required fitness standards to give you an idea of what will be expected of you.

The fitness requirements for your country's armed forces and career path can usually be found on the official website of your armed forces.

Next are shown two examples from the British military, which show the minimum fitness requirements for an officer and a soldier.

British army officer

British army soldier

Depending on which country you live in and what branch of the military you enter, you will have to pass some sort of selection. If this is infantry based then you will most likely be required to perform a set number of exercises that you will be timed and tested on. For example, in the Royal Marines candidates are normally required to perform a push-up test, a sit-up test, a pull-up test, a bleep test, and a run. The exact requirements will be different depending on the branch of the military you join, but all will be guaranteed to include pushing, pulling, core, lower body, endurance, and strength elements.

All of the methods that I describe and demonstrate in this book are designed to make you much stronger than you need to be. It is much better to able to outperform the fitness and strength requirements than it is to just scrape through. If you pass the tests with the bare minimum score then the training team will always be on your back, and there will be a much smaller margin of error for passing or failing the tests.

The two main areas that are tested when applying for the military are your physical strength and your mental strength. The mental strength required to pass some of the tests is often overlooked, but is perhaps the most important aspect of the whole test. This is because it is your mind that will give up before your body does. In fact, it has been estimated that when most people are ready to give up during hard exercise, their body is only at 50% of its limit.

Building up your mental strength and determination is a gradual process, and will increase over time just as your physical fitness will. There is no easy way to train this side of your fitness, and will just require you to push yourself harder and harder each time your train.

The physical fitness required to pass your selection can be built gradually, and is achievable by anyone, regardless of his or her previous fitness or background.

It is worth mentioning that these standards, and your country's armed forces, are minimum fitness standards. Do not be tempted to just do enough to pass. If you do this then there will always a chance that on the day you will fall short. You should aim to train to a point where you can perform the minimum fitness requirements with ease.

Whichever military career you end up pursuing, you will be required to perform physical strength tests of some kind. This can be anything from a push-up test to a load carry, so it is important that you devote at least half of your training time to building up your strength. In addition to helping you pass your selection, increasing your strength will protect you from injury, make all physical tasks easier, and serve as a foundation for the rest of your training.

As has already been said, the specific exercises that you will need to perform and the number of repetitions will depend on the branch of the armed forces that you enter, so when working with the exercises just use the ones that you will be tested on.

If you are new to physical training, or have a low level of strength and fitness, do not worry. I have included a number of ways to make the exercises easier so that you can build your strength and fitness in a progressive manner.

Push-ups are designed to test pushing strength, which is the ability if your chest, triceps, and shoulders to apply force in a direction away from the body. The requirements for your particular branch will vary, but again it makes sense to build more strength than you need to pass the test.

To perform a push-up place your hands shoulder width apart and balance on your toes.

Raise your hips up until your whole body forms a straight line.

Bend your elbows and start to lower your body towards the ground. Try and keep your elbows tucked into your sides as much as possible.

Keep bending the elbows until your chest touches the ground.

Now push hard against the ground until your arms become straight again. This counts as one repetition.

Teaching points

In order to pass your selection, you will be required to perform a certain number of push-ups, to a certain depth. This depth is normally tested by having another recruit place their hand on the floor directly underneath the chest. On each repetition you perform your chest will have to touch the hand of your partner. Poor form or technique will usually result in repetitions not being counted and could even result in you failing the test. Make sure that when training for your selection you perform each repetition to the best of your ability, and do not cheat on the exercise, as this will only make it less likely that you will pass.