RFI: Special Unit Fitness Programs

[MGW]

I’m writing a research paper for a .mil academy. I’m looking for reference material on fitness programs and standards for specialized LEO or military units. If it’s a civilian program that was developed for that unit I would be very interested. This is for research only. I will not share or publish specific information.

I’m particularly interested in the first version of the Ranger Athlete Warrior program. I have copies of version 3.0 and 4.0 but I would really like to see where it began when Mark Twight was involved.

You can PM me or post open source links here if you like. Thanks in advance for your help.

[Joe S]

I would just reach out to Twight specifically for that: https://www.marktwight.com/

For more general resources, reach out to/read from MTN Tactical, Tactical Barbell, and maybe Dan John.

[DpdG]

Not the most rigorous standards (especially compared to military special forces), but the National Tactical Officers Association has PT testing recommendations. While participation/compliance is voluntary, NTOA is often treated as “industry best practices”.

https://www.ntoa.org/pfq/

[UNM1136]

Stew Smith made quite a name for himself. After his SEAL Team time he was assigned to the USNA specifically to prep midshipmen for BUD/S to increase the number of officers making it into the Teams. He claimed that mids who went through his program had an 80% success rate. I knew several guys shipping on Option 40 or 18X contracts who used his books to prep for RASP and SFAS.

pat

[JHC]

https://mtntactical.com/

Quite a few SOF follow this outfit and use their training programs. I know a couple who do. Kevin B was a fan of this outfit's Operator Ugly program. I saw bit of it and thought it overly complex but what do I know.

My eldest son subscribes and had used a number of their programs, he's cycling to one of their running based one's presently.

[JWH]

When I was getting ready to go into the Air Force, I followed the workout plan on specialtactics.com. That url now redirects to afspecialwarfare.com. A cursory look shows a variety of paid and free programs.

[DamonL]

You probably are familiar with this already.

https://sofrep.com/news/physical-tra...a-tier-1-unit/

[okie john]

I served on A detachments in the 7th and 1st Special Forces Groups in the late 80s and early 90s. We trained to support the the AirLand Battle doctrine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AirLand_Battle), but SF did not have an official role within that doctrine (or any other) until the 18 series career field came to life on October 1, 1984. Even then it took a while for the details to trickle down to the team level. Instead, we trained for the unconventional warfare and strategic reconnaissance missions that had been standard for SF up to that point. Most of our senior NCOs and officers fought in Viet Nam, so there was a focus on developing the ability to hump a rucksack endlessly and to run 10-12 miles with individual weapons and equipment on little or no notice.

Individual health was not what it is today. Many people smoked, some lighting up before morning PT formation. I remember walking into the orderly room (essentially the office for a headquarters unit) to find seven or eight people smoking there with all of the doors and windows closed. Most of the guys who didn’t smoke used some other form of tobacco. Heavy drinking was a unit tradition. I remember a furor when the Ft. Bragg commander limited the entire post to three beers at lunch, but for some of us this was a relief. We documented the Army Physical Fitness Test quarterly (I think); most of us maxed the push-ups and sit-ups and only the older guys didn’t max the run. We also documented the standard road march (12 miles, three hours, 40-ish pound ruck) a couple of times a year just to say that we had.

Teams built their own PT programs and schedules based on running, rucking, and calisthenics. Running in boots was forbidden Army-wide when I was in Basic Training. Running with a ruck was common until the SOCOM Surgeon prohibited it in the late 80s due to the injuries it caused, but you’d see people do it on occasion. Most teams trained with a 60-pound ruck. I remember seeing individual guys weighing their rucks on the scale in the orderly room to get them up to weight, and the accountability was other team guys picking up each other’s rucks. I did see rucks get weighed for the road march and for the Expert Infantryman Badge (EIB) train-up.

Most running was on unpaved roads around Ft. Bragg and Ft. Lewis. The team sergeant would set the distance or describe a route and off we’d go. Some days it was, “Run to the airfield.” Other ways it was, “Run to the airfield then run a lap around it.”

Some teams and individuals went to gyms on post for old-school strength training but Groups in those days didn't have unit gyms. I spent a lot of time in lakes and surf when I was on a Scout Swim team. The SCUBA guys spent a lot of time in the pool to train for periodic requalifications, but pool time softened their feet, making it hard for them to hang on ruck marches for the first few weeks after they got back. Occasionally we’d run an obstacle course but you had to coordinate with Range Control and it was more trouble than it was worth. I also hit the rope climb that was across the street from my team room in 7th Group on my own several times a week.

Other than gray sweats, no PT equipment (team or individual) was issued. We wore whatever we wanted until some guys started showing up in neon spandex and the battalion Sergeant Major made us all wear the sweats. We bought running shoes out of pocket. BDUs, boots, and ALICE packs were standard for rucking and for a lot of the swims. We did a lot of stretching to help prevent injuries, but anyone advocating recovery as we know it today would have been laughed out of the room. In a lot of ways, it was like being an endurance athlete with no off season.

By the early 90s, our command had identified a series of events for testing unit readiness and we began to train for those. I don't remember the exact names but I want to say Validation and/or Verification. I do remember that they were truly grueling. I lived in the barracks and I could walk a few hundred yards and be home, but I found guys slumped over their desks in the team room getting some sleep before driving home to get some sleep.

Let me know if you have questions.


Okie John