Kosman - Military Athlete: Train right!

WORKOUT: AFGHANISTAN PRE-DEPLOYMENT TRAINING PROGRAM ARMY PHYSICAL FITNESS TEST (APFT) 6-WEEK TRAINING PROGRAM 4-WEEK HYPERTROPHY PROGRAM FOR SKINNY GUYS MILITARY ATHLETE FOR CROSSFITTERS 8-Week Introductory Program ULTIMATE MEATHEAD CYCLE Afghanistan Pre-Deployment Training Program This program is designed to build your legs and lungs in preparation for deployment to the steep, rocky environment down range in Afghanistan. It is also designed to use minimal equipment, and thus be utilized to train up personnel without access to full featured gyms, bunches of equipment, and/or personnel who have little lifting experience. This is a 6-week long program and makes the assumption that athletes will be training 5 days/week, yielding 30 total training sessions. The program is build around the following exercises and activities: DOT Drill - The DOT drill is a basic-level plyometric drill used in collegiate and high school weight rooms across the country. It serves as a great warm up. Also, it helps build ankle and knee joint strength, key for hiking and rucking over uneven terrain.

Leg Blasters - Leg Blasters are an intense, body weight only, lower body complex of exercises which builds incredible leg strength, and lactate tolerance. Also, weve found it key to building eccentric leg strength. Down range, youll be climbing plenty of steep hills, but youll also be hiking down them. Coming down forces your legs to work eccentrically, and can lead to crippling soreness in the early weeks. Leg Blasters will help you prepare for this. Just because Leg Blasters use only body weight, dont discount their effectiveness in building strength.

In my gym we did a 6-week cycle heavy in Leg Blasters and subsequently tested front squat max lifts shortly afterward. The max effort front squat for nearly all my athletes increased. These things are incredible. Note: Midway into the training program youll be doing full Leg Blasters with just 30 seconds rest in between. Thirty seconds rest is just that, seconds, not a second more. Dont milk the rest! (Sorry about the fire in your legs ) Step Ups - Step ups are a basic, butt-kicking single mode exercise used to build sport-specific climbing leg strength and cardio in a controlled, gym environment.

During this program, expect to do thousands of step ups with a 40# pack. This is the primary exercise Ill use to get your legs and lungs ready for long patrols in hilly Afghanistan. 300m Sprint - This sprint is divided up into twelve, 25m lengths. The athlete shuttles back and forth between two cones, 25m apart for 6 round trips (12x lengths). Sprinting is a key survival fitness attribute for military athletes facing combat, and the 300m sprint will help build leg strength and anaerobic endurance in a very sport-specific way. By the end of this program, youll be doing six 300m sprints in a full kit and helmet.

Sandbag Getup - Weve found that core strength is a huge determinate of performance. Even more important, a strong mid section protects vulnerable limbs. Im using this exercise to make you not only strong, but durable. The sandbag getup is an old school, basic exercise which builds core strength like no other, plus it makes you breath like mother. Expect to do hundreds of these with an 80# sandbag. Tabata Calf Raises - One of the first muscles to fatigue when hiking steep hills is the calf muscles.

We use the Tabata interval protocal and calf raises to help strength your calves. The Tabata protocol is a 4-minute long interval of 8 rounds, 20 seconds work, 10 seconds rest. Tabata Calf Raises are 20 seconds continuous, rapid calf raises, un loaded, for 20 seconds, followed by 10 seconds in a holding rest position up on your toes (its really not a rest.) 1/4 Tabata Calf Raises would be just 1-minute long, or 20 sec. work, 10 sec. rest, 20 sec. rest. 1/2 Tabata Calf Raise would be 2-minutes long, or 20 sec. work, 10 sec. rest, 20 sec. work, 10 sec. rest, 20 sec. work, 10 sec. rest, 20 sec. work, 10 sec. rest, etc. rest, etc.

Upper Body Strength Endurance - One thing youll notice about this programming is you wont be spending much time doing upper body training. Weve purposely limited upper body work to a circuit of strict pull ups, dips and push ups, which double in volume over the course of the program. Why the limitation? Because you wont be climbing hills in Afghanistan on your hands. Everything begins and ends with the legs. We put our attention here. Rucking - Youll be doing bunches of rucking down range, and nothing will prepare you for rucking like rucking.

On the other hand, too much rucking can lead to nagging joint and other overuse injuries. Youll ruck once a week on this program, in a full kit, helmet, carrying a weapon, with an extra 25# in a ruck sack. Weve kept the total volume of rucking down, but continually amp up the intensity. Note also that we are not loading you super heavy and we understand that you may carry much greater loads down range. We are seeking a balance here. Our aim is to get you strong for your deployment, not break you down before you get there.

When possible, ruck over broken, uneven, hilly terrain. Distance Running - Youll run relatively short distances at a moderate pace on this program. Moderate pace distance running will help build your aerobic base, add durability to the connective tissue in your joints, and work to flush out the lactic acid and other waste products from your sore legs and other muscles. Pacing - For the purposes of rucking and running in this program, we prescribe two paces. Here are their definitions: Moderate Pace - Comfortable, but not easy Threshold Pace - Fastest pace you can hold without straining.