How Combining Calisthenics, Cardio and Strength Training Builds the Tactical Athlete

Depending on the job you seek in the military, you should address any physical weaknesses in the following components of fitness: strength, power, speed, agility, endurance (run-ruck-swim), muscle stamina, flexibility, mobility and grip. A tactical athlete should be good at these elements to get accepted into training programs, graduate and maintain their abilities to perform their jobs.

Here is a related question from a young man making the transition from sports to the military:

Stew, I do a lot of lifting as a former athlete preparing to go into the military. Should I start to focus on cardio over strength? Can you explain the significance of calisthenics and cardio in building muscle stamina and overall endurance? I am planning to be an Army Officer.

As you build your training routine, remember that each aspect of fitness plays a crucial role in your overall ability and level of performance that yields success and provides durability to withstand injury. Since you will be an Army officer, there is a greater necessity to maintain your strength than to increase your cardio training in running and rucking activities. You will likely do calisthenics as a group workout, and fitness tests will require you to perform non-weighted events. You will be tested in push-ups, plank poses, obstacle courses, longer distance and shuttle runs, and weighted events such as deadlifts, power throws (medicine ball) and weighted runs/rucks.

Given your athletic history, you should maintain your current strengths but focus primarily on the weaknesses that come with your athletic history and current fitness levels. Assess yourself. Take the Army CFT and see how you do. It is a good test that assesses strength, power, speed, agility, cardio running endurance, grip and muscle stamina (push-ups/plank). If you score low on any events, make that your primary focus for the next few months. We use a method called block periodization to help tactical athletes balance their strengths and weaknesses with a 3:1 ratio (Primary: Secondary). It would look like this:

Since you are coming in strong with strength, power, speed and agility, your weaknesses are longer running, rucking and higher-rep calisthenics. These elements are endurance and muscle stamina, which develops your overall work capacity and improves your ability to recover quickly from high exertion levels. This is the first goal of adding calisthenics and cardio to build work capacity, but you will also be asked to perform endurance and calisthenics events throughout your training. You must take more time training these elements than strength at this time; this is your primary focus.

Try three weeks of calisthenics and cardio focus -- no need to add lifting while trying to improve endurance and muscle stamina. Then take a week where you reduce running/rucking miles and calisthenics reps and replace it with a lift week. This lift week acts as a de-load from your primary focus but helps you maintain your secondary focus. Ensure you do not miss out on specific events you will see again as you will be taking the Army Combat Fitness Test and doing airborne training and Army Ranger training. The Army likes its officers to attend these schools as they are good leadership training for the young officers regardless of military occupational specialty, or MOS.

So, yes. You should take a more holistic training plan that introduces many fitness challenges you will see in the Army, outside of lifting weights and any attributes you gained from your athletic history. Ensure you understand the schools, the training, and the actual tests you will endure. Do not leave anything to chance, as that is where most go wrong and wind up failing the standards or getting injuries from overuse because they are not properly prepared.

Check out more articles and programs at the Military.com Fitness Section. The information is vast but well-organized so you can find what you want with the search feature and within the sub-sections. Enjoy the new training as you transition into becoming a tactical athlete.

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