Navy SEALs BUDS Preparation Guide: A Former SEAL Instructor's Guide to Getting You Through BUDS by Christopher Hagerman & Michael Ritland & SOFREP

Author:Christopher Hagerman & Michael Ritland & SOFREP
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Tags: Non-Fiction, Nutrition, Diet, Guide, Illustrated, Self Help, Fitness, Military, Special Forces
ISBN: 9781466841208
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Published: 2014-09-14T14:00:00+00:00

Physical fitness

BUD/S students interval swim training, San Diego Bay, courtesy of the official Web site of the USN

I suspect that most readers are this far into this article for the next topic: physical fitness. Don’t kid yourselves—the mental attitude portion is likely much more important to the vast majority of potential Frogmen. The reason for this is that most men who have a dream of being a Frogman are already physical studs. I say “most” because it’s not always the case. A physical specimen is likely a very gifted athlete. He has probably spent a great deal of time having someone tell him how great he is and being ass-kissed to play well for a team. This ass-kissing of a quality athlete actually hinders his mental development by making him susceptible to self-doubt at the first sign of difficulty. This may sound counterintuitive, but look at it another way. If everything you’ve ever done athletically has been easy for you, and you suddenly find yourself overworked, tired, stressed, and tested, do you have the mental fortitude to get better from the test? Or has a life of ease allowed your mind to become weak and fold at the first sign of adversity? I’ve been there and done that. In my BUD/S class there were many more physically gifted athletes than myself who quit when the pressure put them out of their comfort zone and there was nobody there to praise and nurture them along. On the other hand, many less stellar athletes (from a purely genetic standpoint), and those who worked hard their whole lives to be considered among the best, had a strong work ethic and drive to persevere, especially when things got tough. A desire and a need to succeed in the face of adversity are more essential than being a perfect physical specimen.

With this attitude in mind, let’s discuss the training side of the preparation to be a Frogman. Again, this will be a guideline and outline, not a specific workout regimen. There are countless ways to get yourself physically prepared to go to BUD/S. No one book or article could possibly spell them all out. Most importantly, the strategies behind the methods are what stand out as the keys to a great training system versus an average or even a detrimental program.

Functional training: The first idea I want to discuss is functional training. The idea of functional training should be fairly transparent, but it seems to get lost in most gym scenarios due to typical “gym rat” mentality. This is the mentality that leads to building a pretty body, or drives the need to lift the most weight in a specific lift, but is useless from a survival or life perspective. Take the bench press, for instance. There is virtually no situation in life where that body position would be useful for survival or functionally relevant. The push-up, by contrast, works the same major muscle groups (pectorals, deltoids, and triceps) but also engages the core muscle

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