The Most Common Military Service Fitness Training Errors

The list of common mistakes and errors people have made concerning their training preparation for various military programs is quite long. My recommendations to avoid these typical issues have been a constant repeat every year as a new group of recruits starts the process. Here is an email from another coach who makes training recommendations to military recruits and candidates:

What common errors have you seen throughout the years that people preparing for military service often make? I have heard of many issues people have had that were completely avoidable. Have you seen the same ones repeatedly each year? Thanks, Carl.

Coach: Yes, and I am sure you have seen many of these. Here is my list of the most common mistakes recruits make regarding their training as they prepare for service.

Wrong Workouts

Many people are doing the wrong workouts that lack the specific requirements of military testing, basic training and special operations selection programs. Many people will fail to meet the standards, get injured, or become overwhelmed simply because they are ill-prepared. Here are a few samples of wrong workouts many find themselves doing:

Athlete workouts: Training the way you always have for your sports will yield a basic fitness level. However, you may also ignore other requirements such as running longer distances, rucking, swimming or high-repetition calisthenics.

Operator workouts: You can find workouts created by various special operators online that may be ideal for maintaining fitness levels to do a particular job within the military. Still, you may not need them as you prepare for basic training or special ops selection programs.

Any workout that ignores weaknesses: A wrong workout is anything that ignores a weakness that you may have because of your athletic history and newness to the type of tactical training you will soon see. Ignoring the specifics of your training will require more grit than you may have to meet the standards to graduate.

Daily Calisthenics

If you want to improve your calisthenics, such as pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups and plank poses, you must increase the total volume of these exercises during workouts. This requires rest and recovery compared to a lower-volume daily calisthenics workout, which you may see people do first thing in the morning with 20 reps of push-ups each day. Doing these exercises every other day at the most is recommended to see improvement in higher repetition goals.

Too Much Running or Rucking

Some people run or ruck too much and either sustain overuse injuries or neglect increasing strength training to help them be more durable for the long runs and rucks in military training. Progress logically and build up at a steady 10%-15% increase each week until you have reached a moderate level of miles per week needed for your future training.

Not Enough Running or Rucking

Some people do not run or ruck enough and are ill-prepared for the distances and paces needed to meet the standards in training. Suppose you are new to running or rucking. In that case, overuse injuries may also occur at basic or advanced training in the military, so you want some time to progress with your total miles per week in both running and rucking, depending on your branch of service.

Doubling Down on Current Strengths or Undeveloped Weaknesses

Many go wrong when they continue to train what they are best at doing. For instance, if you are a competitive swimmer and have a goal of beating the record on the 500-meter swim test in your training, you may be spending way too much time in the pool instead of running or being in the gym getting more durable and more used to the demands of gravity. Lifters and runners are also guilty of doing this, and they focus on what they are already good at, jeopardizing the time it takes to develop what they are ignoring.

In the end, not being focused enough on the specifics of future training is the biggest issue for more recruits. Most people need to consider that there are two phases to their pre-military training. Preparing for the fitness test to get accepted into the training would be best for your first training phase. Then, it would help if you had some time to prepare for the challenges of your future military training.

If you are joining the Army or Marine Corps, it may require more time to prepare for those basic training programs as you will see more running and rucking than the other services. Suppose you are preparing for more challenging training after basic training at the special ops fitness levels. In that case, you must train longer, ensuring no undeveloped weaknesses. In these selection programs, weaknesses will be exposed within the first week of training.

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