Soldiers serving in the military need to achieve an amazing level of fitness to do everything they are tasked with, especially in combat operations.
While still in training and long afterwards in active duty, soldiers ruck backpacks that weigh as much as 100 kilograms for 40 kilometers a day—and sometimes they carry more even further. Soldiers who need to swim have to be able to pull heavy loads through water in silence and sprint up inclines carrying heavy weapons—while having the stamina to fire accurately once they get to their target. And communications soldiers must carry more than 50 kilos into battle after jumping from a plane wearing body armor and landing safely.
All of these extraordinary physical demands mean that soldiers need to train not only like warriors, but also like Olympic athletes. Their training goals including strength, speed, stamina, and preventing injury.
This soldier workout will help you achieve these training goals and push yourself to excel.
Belly Lift Crawl
If you train hard and often and hold down a job the rest of the time, chances are excellent that you experience some back and joint pain. Sitting at a desk or in front of a computer makes this problem even more serious.
Use the belly lift crawl to stabilize your back and joints and improve your cardio stamina while building strength. Start in push up position with your hands on a low box or step. Make sure you keep your legs straight. Now “walk” your feet up toward your hands as your straight legs make your back do the arching. Press your palms and heels down.
Keep arching and walking up until you can’t go any further without bending your legs. Stay in this max position and inhale and exhale deeply five times. Don’t move your shoulders or other joints, and make sure your breaths are slow. Do five of these.
Now, do your opposing movement. Next to a wall with your feet nearest the wall, get down on your hands and knees. Make sure your hands are right below your shoulders and your knees are right below your hips.
Keep your right knee on the floor as you lift your right foot and slide it up the wall. Keep sliding until your foot and shin are both flat against the wall.
Next, step forward with the other leg. Lift your torso and tighten your glutes. Your back quadriceps and torso should align. Contract your hamstring to pull your elevated heel toward your glutes for 2 to 3 seconds.
Repeat for a total of 30 contractions on that side, and then move to your other side.
Lat Hang
Weak or overly tight upper backs can cause injury. And if you need to do any climbing, farmer’s carries, or pull ups, you need to strengthen your lats. Weakness or lack of mobility in your upper back will also hurt your ability to even use all of your existing back strength; if things you’ve always carried easily have been feeling heavier lately, your overly tight lats may be the culprit.
To loosen your entire upper back, the lat hang paired with deep breathing is the right move. To make this exercise work and give you maximum results, breathe in and out deeply and slowly for each rep.
First, place a bench or something else you can reach with your feet slightly in front of your pullup bar. Hang from the bar while keeping your legs straight and your heels on the bench. (If you can’t keep your legs straight you may need to move the bench closer or choose something with a different height.)
Next, sit back. Your torso should stay at a right angle to the floor. Your legs should stay straight and extend diagonally from your hips. While in this position take as slow and deep an inhale as you can. Exhale and force all of the air out again. Inhale and exhale four more times for your set. Do five of these sets total.
If you are too weak to do this at first, do what you can until you build strength and stamina. Then push yourself further. If you’re having a hard time managing your breathing, try blowing up a balloon as you hang (you’ll need an assistant to hold it).
Leg Circuit
This leg circuit is fantastic for your lower body and promotes strength, endurance, speed, and flexibility. Your goal here is to do five circuits with only 30 seconds of rest in between circuits. A circuit consists of the three exercises in the order they’re listed below for 20 reps each without resting. Ideally you do each rep explosively, but if you’re not able to do that yet, do them as fast as you can.
The squat
Squat with your hips back and your thighs parallel to the ground. Rise back up to starting position. Repeat for your 20 reps. You can add more power to this by holding weights if your fitness level makes that possible. If not, you can cross your arms on your chest, put your hands behind your head, or rest your hands on your hips. Don’t cheat by swinging your arms for momentum.
The lunge
Don’t rest; launch right into lunges. With your torso upright, take a long step forward with your right leg. Lower your body until your left knee is close to the floor and your right thigh is parallel with the ground. Return to starting position and do the same movements with your left leg. To make your 20 lunges, do 10 on each side.
The squat jump
Don’t rest; get to your jump squats right away. Stand with your arms at your sides and your feet shoulder-width apart. First do a deep squat as you did before, but instead of just rising up back to starting position, jump as high as you can. Don’t rest in starting position; when you land, go into your next deep squat immediately. Each squat and jump combination is one rep. Do 20 reps.
After you’ve completed this single circuit, rest for just 30 seconds unless you absolutely can’t go on. After your short rest, start your next leg circuit.
Push Up/Body Saw Combination
Anyone hoping to improve their fitness and performance needs to build a strong core, and this combination gets the job done. You’ll need a Swiss ball or the TRX suspension system for this combination. Aim for 4 sets of each move, with 12 reps of each move every time. Rest just 60 seconds in between sets. Use a Swiss ball for both exercises, placing your feet on the ball.
3-way push up
Start in push up position. If you’re using a Swiss ball, place your feet on it and get into push up position. If you’re using the TRX, adjust the handles to be 12″ off the floor, put your feet into them, and get into push up position. Lower your chest to the ground in a push up. As you rise back up, bring your knees as close to your elbows as you can.
Move your legs back until your body is straight again, and that is one rep. Drop right away into your next push up, but this time as you rise back up, pull your knees to one elbow. For the third rep, pull your knees to the other elbow.
Your goal here is to make the reps flow together smoothly as if your body was in one fluid movement. You want 12 reps here so you’ll do the three variations (center, side, other side) four times. This is one set. First complete one set of the elevated body saw, and then start back on your second set of 3-way push ups.
Elevated body saw
Start with your feet on the ball or in the handles as before, and lower into a plank position. Your forearms should be supporting your weight. Pull yourself as far forward as you can with your upper arms. Your entire body from ankles to neck should stay straight. Now push back; you should at least move your ears back past your elbows, but if you can go further while staying straight, do it.
That’s one of your 12 reps. 12 reps makes one set, and remember to alternate sets of the two moves until you’ve done four of each. Ultimately you’ll do one set 3-way push ups, rest 60 seconds, and then do one set elevated body saw followed by another 60 seconds of rest. Repeat three more times.
Speed & Stamina Intervals
This one allows you to bring in the workouts you enjoy while still meeting your overall soldier training goals. You’ll do three types of intervals, ideally on both land and water to mix it up, every week. You can combine these intervals with other training, but not each other, in the same day.
Stamina
Cycle, row, run, or swim for at least an hour. Maintain a relaxed, steady pace; you should be able to talk to someone as you go. This single interval is enough to do at once.
Speed/stamina
Run or swim at your fastest sustainable pace for 20 minutes to make one interval. As you start out, one interval is plenty. Work up to three 20-minute intervals broken up with 10 minute blocks of active recovery per session.
Speed
This is your fastest interval. If you’re on land you’ll start out with four runs of about half a kilometer each. If you’re in the water, you’ll start out with four 100-meter swims. Between intervals, rest for two minutes for every one minute it took you to complete the interval. Your goal is to work up to 10 intervals per session.
Rucking
This trend is hot because it’s easy to do and stick to, and because it just works. Rucking is just walking (or occasionally jogging) with a backpack holding weight. According to the Compendium of Physical Activities, the average man burns about 125 calories as he walks for 30 minutes; that same man burns about 325 calories with a weighted pack on the same route. Rucking is also a great fat burner.
Rucking also protects your body from injury, especially your back, so it’s a great addition to your fitness routine.
It’s also an ideal way to safely build up your endurance and strength; it burns as much fat and as many calories as jogging, but doesn’t cause nearly as many injuries. And once you add rucking to your regimen, you’ll find that your fitness level increases naturally.
If you walk during breaks at work, after dinner, or anywhere else, just throw on a backpack with something in it. If you’re just starting out choose weight that’s about equal to 10 percent of your current weight.
Work up to carrying more weight as your fitness improves, but 35 pounds is a good limit for most people, maximizing benefits and minimizing the risk of injury.
And remember, if rucking becomes part of your normal routine, you should eventually invest in a sturdy backpack that’s up to the challenge.
Conclusion
Soldiers are asked to do some of the most physically and mentally challenging things in the world. They get the job done based on solid training and, of course, strong will and motivation. Work out like a soldier to produce your most intense, elite level of fitness ever.
