Today is a special day
as we remember Sgt Barry Weston from her Majesty’s finest Royal Marines.
On 30th
August 2011 Baz was serving on operations with 42 Commando Royal Marines in
Afghanistan.
His patrol was
participating in an Operation to draw insurgents away from the Civilian
Population in order to disrupt their activity and further expand the influence
of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
During the patrol Sgt
Weston was fatally wounded by an Improved Explosive Device (IED).
A Navy SEALS workout is
different to the goals of a typical fitness or bodybuilding workout. A typical
fitness workout may focus on improving endurance and reducing fat, where as a
bodybuilding workout focuses on the aesthetics of building muscle.
A Navy SEALS workout
needs to deliver so much more than just muscle and endurance. It needs to
deliver strength, speed, flexibility, endurance, power, and mental toughness
and fast rates of recovery.
Power is a key word
here. Navy SEALS are required to deliver short bursts of intense physical
exertion. These short bursts need to be fast and strong. And that is what power
is all about, strength AND speed.
The Navy SEAL also
needs to be able to quickly recovery from these power bursts and become
mentally and physically ready for another burst of activity when required.
3 Elements Of A SEALS
Workout
There are 3 main
factors that a SEALS workout needs to abide by:
1. Portability
SEALS need to be able
to train anywhere and at any time.
Therefore a workout
should require nothing more than the body of the operative himself. No
equipment or weights should be needed.
The workout should also
be able to be completed within a small area of space. Typically no more than
the space required to lie down in.
2. Efficiency
The workout needs to be
quick. Operatives are extremely busy and have a hectic schedule and thus do not
have time to spend hours each day working out.
Ideally the workout
should last between 20-30 minutes.
3. Tactical Relevancy
The workout needs to
improve the key tactical physical skills required. It is not just about
exercising for the sake of it and improving all round general fitness.
A Navy SEAL workout
needs to be specific to the physical requirements of the field: power, speed,
agility, strength, quick recovery, and mental toughness.
Example Navy SEALS
Workout
Below is an example
workout that can be used to build Navy SEAL fitness.
The workout uses simple
bodyweight exercises that I am sure you have already come across.
Instead of doing the
typical 4 sets of 25 reps of each exercise, to make the workout relevant to the
SEALS it is a good idea to perform it like a superset.
This is where you do 25
reps of one exercises, and then go straight onto 25 reps of the next exercise
but without a rest. Continue until you have done all 4 exercises in a row. THEN
rest. And repeat.
E.G: Push-ups x 25 >
Sit-Ups x 25 > Pull-ups x 10 > Squats x 45 > REST > REPEAT
You can try mixing up
this workout with other bodyweight exercises such as dips etc. Also try
increasing the reps and trying to reduce the rest period as you progress.
Navy SEALS Workout
Summary
This page has provided
a simple example of the sort of workout that contributes to Navy SEAL fitness.
The aim is to develop
tactical fitness and not just general fitness.
For maximum intensity,
the exercises should be done quickly, one after the other. The rest period
should only come each time the complete cycle of exercises has been completed.
For more information on
the sort of bodyweight exercises Navy SEALS perform, see the author's related
pages on bodybuilding without weights
[http://musclewithoutweights.com/bodybuilding-without-weights] and chest
exercises without weights [http://musclewithoutweights.com/chest-exercises-without-weights].
A few years ago, I
bought a book about the Navy Seals and how they worked out. I tried to find the
book as a reference for this article, but couldn't find it.
Either way, I've
retained some information from memory that I'd like to share. First of all, there
were four main parts to the Navy Seals program: upper body training, core
training, stretching, and cardio.
For some reason, the
book did not talk about lower body training. Either way, the workouts presented
in the book were very minimalist and 100% bodyweight exercises. I remember in
particular the format of the workouts. The used a pyramid style of training.
For example, lets say
that your workout consisted of pushups and pullups. Here's what the workout
would look like using the pyramid method:
Pullups, 1-2-1 reps
Pushups, 2-4-2 reps
You can either
alternate between the two exercises, or just rest in between each set. The Navy
Seal book actually features 2-3 variations of each variations for each workout.
The core workouts followed a straight set approach. For example, if you were
doing situps and leg raises, the workout would look like:
Situps, 4x25
Leg Raises, 4x25
Naturally, this is not
how the Navy Seals actually train. If they did, then I'd be afraid that the
strength and conditioning programs of out military were not optimal for combat.
However, what this book does is open up people to the idea that they can train
like the military in the comfort of their own homes.
Military Workouts for
Fat Loss
People are marveled at
how incredible well conditioned the military is, despite training with just
their bodyweight. The truth is that the military training program has
transformed over the past few years. They've gone from training primarily with
bodyweight to incorporating a lot of different training methods.
Some military programs
have full gyms were soldiers perform strength workouts similar to bodybuilding
and powerlifting programs. Others focus primarily on Crossfit and Kettlebell
training regimens. But, if you were to enter basic training tomorrow, you'd be
exposed to 100% bodyweight training.
Hence, the base of
military fitness still lies in basic bodyweight movements. The Navy Seal book
focused on pushups, pullups, core training, and swimming as the four
fundamentals of training. I personally feel that all you really need are
pushups, pullups, bodyweight squats, and situps to develop a base level of strength
and fitness.
Military Principles for
Fat Loss
It's not really the
exercises that are special, but it's the principles that the military follows
that gives them such great results. They could probably achieve better results
than you can, even if you had a better workout program at your disposal. The
reason is that they follow two very important principles that can help achieve
success with any goal you may have:
Train Early in the
Morning
Training early in the
morning will jump start your metabolic rate and have you burning fat all day
long. The days I workout first thing in the morning, I feel incredibly hungry
and energetic throughout the day. I'm alert, and ready to get things done.
Training is Mandatory
There are no excuses in
the military. That's why they're so disciplined and they get the results they
get. If you have goals to achieve, there's no way you'll achieve them if you
don't actually do your workouts. Start today by getting rid of all the
distractions and excuses you might have.
Military Cardio for Fat
Loss
We've discussed
workouts, exercises, and principles. Now we get to the fun part - cardio.
Actually, to most people cardio is not fun. Especially me. When you look at
traditional military workouts they do a lot of running, and a lot of swimming.
They also do a lot of circuit training and obstacle course training.
They pretty much do
cardio everyday and all day. They're always on the move. So what can you learn
from them? Well, one of the biggest aspects to their is that they are in a
large group. You don't need to start some workout club, but running, swimming,
or biking with a friend will help you get your extra cardio in.
When I was in Karate, I
performed my best when I was fighting or competing against someone who was able
to push me hard. My friend Dominic and I were of equal strengths and
techniques. So when we fought, there was war. But it was fun, and we both
burned off a ton of calories during the workout.
Putting it All
Together: Military Style Workouts you can Do at Home
Well, if your goal is
to get started with some basic military training, then you should take the
following steps:
Stick to the basics:
pushups, pullups, situps, and squats.
Get a friend to workout
with. Make sure you push each other.
Train first thing in
the morning.
Make sure you train on
a consistent schedule. Don't let yourself make any excuses.
Find a fun activity to
perform. This is the best cardio.
The last step is to
actually get yourself a very basic bodyweight program you can do at home. My suggest
is the Average Joe Fitness Program. For more information on this amazing
manual, check out my site, WorkoutWithoutWeights.Net
[http://workoutwithoutweights.net/]
You have permission to
publish this article in your web sites, ezines or electronic publication, as
long as the piece is used in its entirety including the resource box, all
hyperlinks (HTML clickable) and references and copyright info.
Think about something
you absolutely have to do every day. You might not particularly enjoy doing it,
but it's part of your routine such that, if you didn't do it, it would feel
completely wrong to have missed it.
For me, that thing is
brushing my teeth. I'd really rather proud of my dental hygiene and the
strength of my teeth. I don't have any filling and apart from a grumbling
wisdom tooth a few years ago, I've had not major issues with them. I feel very
lucky as I remember a friend who woke up one morning and her front tooth
dropped out. This would have been fine if she were 6 years old, but in her late
40's it was pretty shocking!
She couldn't go to work
that day as she had to go to the dentist to get a temporary tooth until the
dentist had made her a new one. That for me is the stuff of nightmares - I do
actually dream about losing my teeth and wake in the morning to find myself
checking that they are all there! I'm not saying that my friend didn't bother
to brush her teeth, sometime there are other influencers, but those kinds of
stories make me all the more dedicated to brushing my pearly whites at least
twice a day, and leaves me with a sense of guilt and worry if I do not.
So how does bushing
your teeth relate to exercise?
It's simple really.
When I embarked on an exercise routine I have (and continue to) admit that it
was probably one of the most difficult routines to stick to. It hurt, I was
hot, out of breath and I'd rather be at home watching Netflix. Or working even,
I'd actually rather work than exercise.
More than that I didn't
like and was somewhat resentful of the people who were heading there each day
as if they were off to church to pray to the sweat god. My mother even reminded
me that when I was younger I'd said that I'd never go because I didn't want to
breath in other people's sweat air!
You can see that I was
really not on board with the idea of the gym at all!
So how did I crack that
resistance? It was actually quite simple. I stopped trying to be one of those
people who loved it, I stopped being one of those people that hated it and
instead I thought about it as something that I just have to do regularly, like
brushing my teeth.
Sometimes I might be in
a rush and brushing my teeth could be seen as a time zapping activity, but I'd
never not do it. I just have to. Now when I think about staying at home of an
evening instead of going to the gym, I apply the same feeling as if I were
choosing not to brush my teeth. It feels wrong to make a decision where I am
avoiding doing something I know I have to do, more than that, I'd feel like I'd
let myself down if I didn't do it.
So what is the thing
you do in your life on a regular basis, that if you didn't do it, it would give
you that feeling of the day being a bit weird or disjointed? Tune into the
feeling you get when you think about not doing it and begin learning the
formula for what you feel. Later when you want to go to the gym (or want to
avoid it) tune back into the feeling as you thing about the gym and notice how
you feel compelled to get on and take some action. Now get to the gym!
Being able to take
useful emotions and apply them in different situations is just one of the
benefits of NLP.
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"You are more likely to get injured than you are to compete with the fitness Elite."
It is important to have rolemodels in any Sport. There is a
positive effect of modelling excellence. The standard of today's Athletes is
far higher than anyone expected 10 years ago.
However, most of us will
not get to the compete with the fitness elite, such as qualifying for the CrossFit Games so rather than aim to be the best in the 'Sport
of Fitness,' shouldn't we just enjoy it and reap the benefits?
In order to get maximal
gains you need to train consistantly with this new method.
Only by practicing these
new functional movements will you transform from 'Motor Moron' to 'Motor Master.'
At the start of your Functional Fitness journey you are far more likely to do things in a sub-optimal way and
this could lead to a soft tissue injury.
I want to be crystal
clear. Extreme conditioning programmes like CrossFit do NOT cause injuries if you follow their model correctly.
There is no such thing as a bad exercise, just those not adjusted, adapted and conditioned to that training stimulus.
But doing Extreme Conditioning Programmes without
the correct preparation, knowledge, coaching, technique, training and focus can.
How do I know?
Because I made all the
mistakes that I know you can avoid with a little advice.
I was in a position that I
should know better, but I didn't listen to my body.
With some very simple
guidance I could have navagated my journey with less mistakes.
I want you train in a more
optimal way.
Interested? Please
read on.
Despite being 'Fit' in terms of Military service I was soon to
learn a new definition of fitness and have my weaknesses exposed for the first
time. These weaknesses were then handed to me on a plate and then stufed down
my throat.
Years of Military training had tightened my body. Wearing a heavy
Bergen (Back Pack) over the years had changed my posture.
In conjunction with decades of press ups and sit ups, I realised
that this type of training had stolen my range of movement.
I woke up to the fact that body weight training is NOT strength
training (if you can do mmore than 6 reps).
I had a Gymnastic background but still struggled to perform these
skills when fatigued.
I did too many Plyometric exercises in an attempt to learn double
unders faster than other people. As consequence I gave myself bilateral (both
sides) Achilles Tendionopathy (Illness of the tendon).
I was amazed at how an Overhead squat was so difficult just with a
PVC pipe above my head.
I attempted WOD's that gave me such extreme DOMS (Delayed Onset
Muscle Soreness) that I was unable to put on my clothes in the morning without
significant pain.
All of this despite excellent daily coaching with constant
corrections on my technique.
I kept a list of my so called injuries over my first year of
training.
Not one of them was permanent.
Not one of them really stopped me training.
My injuries were an accumulation of being driven by my natural
competitive spirit, over reaching, under recovery and sub-optimal nutrition.
As a Sports Physiotherapist that has made all the training
mistakes already, I feel in a good position to give advice. I don't just talk
about it, like you, I live it.
I then made it my mission to travel around Europe as a
Physiotherapist treating Extreme Athletes, such as CrossFit athletes, in as many competitions as I could.
This is now my sixth year of specialsing in injury
treatment, management and prevention in extreme conditioning programmes. Most of my time is spent going back to the basics principles of movement excellence.
However, this Blog is not about me, its about you and getting
better never stops.
