Thank you kindly Sir, I will take that into consideration with my training.

Just screw up a lot and you'll get all the extra push-ups, mountain climbers, sprint til you puke, mad russians... you want. :lifter

.

Epic stupid.

Injured and medically separated early.

TR

Duly noted, thank you for your input Sir.

Stupid. Eager, but stupid.
 

I had a slot to attend SFAS last May. I was so excited to get the date and so eager to do well that, starting in March, I really began to lay down the long miles, rucking and running. Man, I was really going to smoke SFAS. That nagging pain on my leg? Probably a sore hip flexor.

Then April came about, and during AT I finally could not move the leg at all without excruciating pain. What? A stress fracture of the femur? No kidding? Who knew that could happen? And I should consider myself lucky that I didn't have to get pins that would have ended my Sf career right there and be grateful that the main price I had to pay was seven months' delay in getting started? Huh.

I didn't get to SFAS until last month. While getting back in shape, I never trained with more than 45 lbs., did mostly 6-8 mile rucks in the deep, beach sand, and never once ran with a ruck. I had about 60 mins to spare on the combined time during Gate Week, and I had no problems keeping up during the transition rucks.

So don't be stupid like me and hurt yourself unnecessarily. There will be plenty of chances to get hurt during SFAS.

Hammock

The Long-Term Approach
 

18 Xray here leaving in June. I would have to say I'm taking a methodical approach to my training routine. With a background in cross country, track, and soccer I think I've developed very good habits that I can use to build a training routine that will prep myself for BCT (first step of the way) and eventually SFAS.

Monday:
3 Mile runs today at a leisurely pace. Roughly 8 minute/mi. Plan on increasing this to at a minimum 6 miles with a 7:30 minute/mi pace.

Tuesday:
Weight training. :lifter I use all free weights to work my core as well as targeted muscles.
Bench press with body weight, seated military press, shrugs, and hammer curls. 4 sets of 15 reps.
I also utilize this day to ruck (currently 30 lbs @ 15 mi/mi pace - although I do have to break into a trot due to me having short legs.. But thats what experimenting is for, to work out the kinks and find out what works so I won't have to trot). Plan on increasing to a maximum 50 lbs and 8 miles at most. No point in hurting myself before I step off the bus.

Wednesday:
Muscle Endurance day. This includes a pyramid workout of Push-ups and Sit-ups.
Only doing 25 to 1 right now with no breaks.
Also incorporating 100 yard sprints to increase anaerobic ability and speed for distance runs (I used to do timed 400m runs during cross country that paid off incredibly on my overall 5k run).

Thursday:
5 Miles on the bike to strengthen my legs and that will hopefully prevent knee pain that will likely occur during SFAS.

Friday:
Another leisurely 3 mile run with the same pace as Monday.

Saturday is reserved for an occasional PT test - self assessed as it is harder mentally to push yourself when no one is watching which will increase my mental toughness.
Otherwise Saturday and Sunday are reserved for R&R.

In addition to this routine I do 250 push-ups and sit-ups throughout the day every week. Even days I do them consecutively (not taking a prolonged break but still taking minor break i.e. 1 to 2 minutes between sets of 50 reps). While on odd days I do them throughout the day.

The most important thing during all of this. STRETCHING. I stretch heavily before workouts and even more thoroughly afterwards. Cool downs are a must for anyone that does physical fitness IMHO. I HIGHLY recommend stretching and cool downs for any person seeking to do daily exercise since this will lengthen your athletic career. Take care of your muscles and they will certainly take care of you during any physical endeavor you may attempt to tackle.

These are all starting routines that will eventually go up. As previously stated, I have an athletic background that has helped me to refine my strategy on constructing this workout. Starting slow and slowly increasing numbers will greatly benefit my overall health. Strain on my muscles will be minimum as they will have plenty of time to heal and grow stronger over time.

R

What is wrong with the School approved and vetted SWCS SFAS PT Prep program?

TR

Oh, that. That's for candidates who aren't already operators. :rolleyes:

TR
 

"What is wrong with the School approved and vetted SWCS SFAS PT Prep program?

TR"

Not one thing! I am doing that along with that new Big Army PT. Works just fine for me. Read a post a while ago, it said that to get time under the green tick, do pushup, situps, pullups.

You may want to do some reading here before you get too far ahead of yourself.

You shouldnt be rucking with more than 55lbs.

Train smarter.

Crip

I have been working out and/or specifically training for something my whole life and before I start I like to do a self evaluation. Well, I just did my self "SFAS pre-training" eval. and boy do I have a lot of work to do.

I have an 8 mile path I run so I strapped on an ALICE pack with 35lbs and started marching. 8miles in exactly 1:45 and i was hurting. Hotspots began around the 6mile mark(wearing running shoes) and the last 2 miles were unpleasant. Shoulders and neck hurt after the first mile but seemed to get better after I just dealt with it for the rest of the trip.

I haven't found a local track to use yet to test my exact 2 mile time. Push-ups are good, sit-ups could be better, and pullups could be better. I can do 6 pullups, but i hope to be in the mid 20's. I have a lot of extra weight from heavy lifting and it hurts my body-weight exercises and distance running.

No more supplements and lowering calories to get into more of a runners body while keeping all the strength I can while losing some mass.

Good initiative, bad judgement..
 

Improve:
Sounds to me that you are not training properly.
Do not ruck in running shoes.
Research proper rucking form/equipment

Sustain:
1h 45m isn't a bad ruck time for 8 miles (for a first attempt). Keep that up

Now working at SWCS, I see a lot of guys getting the boot for failing the Gated Events (PT Test/Ruck/Run/Rope Climb/Pull-up/Swim). And to add insult to injury, this is after 6 months of being in language school with nothing else to do but get into great shape. There is absolutely no excuse nor tolerance for it.

Suerte,

CH

hotshot, thank you for the input. I did that ruck on asphalt and I have not yet found boots so I figured the running shoes would be ok for a quick trial exercise. I actually went into it thinking I was testing my back and shoulders and was surprised when the first thing that i had an issue with was my feet. That's something I have never experienced before even on long runs. That little bit of weight on your back makes a world of difference. I still have a lot of reading to do on this site and others on the whole boot subject. I really want to use nike free boots because I love free soles but have yet to figure out for sure if they are approved for SFAS as a back up pair to some wave soled issue boots.

Don't reinvent the wheel, guys. SWC will tell you how to train.

There are gonna be several points in time at which you'll scream to yourself, "Why did I spend time worrying about that namby pamby "wave sole" crap? My feet went out a million miles ago! I think I'm seriously, actually about to die! I have to quit, because I can't even breathe, much less ruck! I'm tore up and wore slap ass out! I'm permanently injuring myself, I know I am! I'm gonna quit; go to Bennigan's. Yeah... It'll be soooo easy to just get on the truck..."

That's what you need to worry about. Not your boots.