Episode 174 - Q&A: SMU Prep/Standards, 12 Mile Ruck Prep, Best Socks/Boots for Rucking, BUDS/CDQC Train-up, Direct Support Selection, Programming Carries (SFAS), BEST Mobility Routine & MORE!

(00:00:00):

What's going on everyone? Welcome to another episode of the Terminator Training Show. I'm Kevin Smith. Today we're going to do a q and a episode from my Instagram stories where I post, ask me anything and you guys can ask me whatever you want. And then I sometimes answer a bunch on Instagram, sometimes a little bit less, but I try to get to a bunch more here on the show. So this is going to be a little bit of an overflow from the one I did a couple weeks ago. I got to maybe a third, maybe not even of the questions. So I've got plenty [00:00:30] left over that we're going to go over today and going to try and give you guys some answers and do so in a way that you can implement these things into your life and benefit from them and continue smashing. So hopefully everyone had an awesome 4th of July and is ready to continue crushing this summer.

(00:00:50):

I just got back from playing golf with my wife. My wife's and I eight eighth anniversary was a couple days ago, so we went out to eat last night [00:01:00] at a really amazing restaurant called Elliot's in Pinehurst, North Carolina. It had been several years since we've been there, and all I remember from last time we went with a bigger group of people and all I remember from last time is the fact that it was one of those types of places where you have to stop for food on the way home. We stopped at Chick-fil-A afterwards, but they have come a long way since then. Either I just misremembered it or I ordered the wrong thing or something last time where I was still super hungry afterwards. [00:01:30] And that's usually the case for most restaurants. I'm still hungry after, so I'll eat something on the way home or when I get home.

(00:01:37):

But last night, really we just got two apps. I got a salad, my wife got a plate of scallops. I should say it was three scallops for 21 bucks. It was one of those types of places, but they were the most delicious scallops we've ever gotten. And then I got a meal and then they gave us a free dessert to split and it was kind of enough. We didn't stop a Chick-fil-A on the way home. So that was good and [00:02:00] it was just a great experience, really good hospitality, great service, great environment, ambiance, and the food was just top tier. I got a plate of elk, grilled elk like on the bones, and it was one of the better meals I've had in a long time. But then this morning we played golf. We had the first tee time of the day, so we were done pretty quick and my wife started to get into golf, which is awesome because I've always been really into it.

(00:02:26):

Although the last few years before this year, I've talked about this recently so I won't beat [00:02:30] it up too much, but the last few years before, pretty much like a month ago, I hadn't really played much at all just because I was kind of focusing on getting the business up and running. And now that my wife's on the team, and it's not just me doing literally everything, I have a little bit more time and I feel a little bit more okay with breaking away for a couple hours to go play golf. And I live in just the golf mecca basically of the United States Pinehurst area, literally nicknamed the home [00:03:00] of American Golf and so may as well go enjoy it. And that's what we did this morning and it was awesome. So now we're going to get into some questions and answers. Let's begin with the first one, fitness standards and your advice prior to SMU selection.

(00:03:16):

Okay, so there are a few different SMU selections. I'm going to assume that we're talking about CAG selection, Delta force selection. That's the only one that I've been to. That's the only one I know anything about, the only one I've prepped for. So hopefully you're talking about that one, [00:03:30] but honestly, if you're going to the other one, the orange one, if the other color one for Task Taskforce orange, it's probably pretty similar, but I really just don't know much about it at all and I'm not going to get into the details of that selection. Just out of respect for the unit, I'm not going to get into any details of any selection, but I'll just give you some general advice. And as far as standards, because you asked about that, I don't know what the standards are. I don't think really anybody knows what the standards are.

(00:03:57):

I'll talk about some of the things that occurred in my class as [00:04:00] far as times and things like that, but honestly, even probably most of the cadre at Selection don't really know what the standards are. It's probably just a very small group of people, like the guys who are higher up, the sergeant major, the commander and things like that, that run the selection and they keep it that way for a reason. Obviously you don't want people war gaming it, not that it would really matter. You could literally go to this selection and know literally every single thing about it. You could have all the maps, you could study them, you [00:04:30] could go and walk that area and so on and so forth. And guess what? You still got to go and perform on game day. That's the case with all selections. But some people try to game SMU selection a little bit more than what I think they should.

(00:04:44):

Honestly, if you do the right things in prep, which I'll kind of talk about here in a second, and you show up and you do what you're told to a high level every day, that's really all you can do and that honestly does apply to pretty much every selection. Prepare, don't leave any stones unturned, cover all your [00:05:00] bases, whatever you want to call it, show up and listen to instructions and follow instructions and do your best. That is my general advice for selections. But for SMU selection, so we'll talk standards, that selection is mostly rucking, but you will run two miles at the beginning, so you'll have a two mile, basically a PT event. And I would say in my class, most guys were finishing under 13, so probably in the 12 to 13 range there were probably a handful or more that were down in the 1130 ish range.

(00:05:29):

I think I [00:05:30] finished in like 1124 or something similar, and I was the fastest dude in my class. That won't be the fastest guy in every class, but it just happened to be that for my class. But if you're under 13, I would say probably way better would be under 12 30, 12 minutes even better. I think they're being very stringent on even allowing people to go in with the PT test that they do beforehand. It seems if it's a little bit more competitive and harder to [00:06:00] get in because lots and lots and lots and lots of guys apply to every single class, they only do two per year and if they just accepted everyone, the classes would be massive. And most classes in my estimation are 90 to a hundred guys. So it's pretty competitive just to get in and it's not just the PT test that gets you in.

(00:06:18):

You also have to do an IQ test and you I think have to do some other things to get accepted. You have to do a big packet where you send in pretty much everything about you and they determine whether [00:06:30] you're potentially the right person or not just to get in. So shoot, to run as fast as you can on that two mile 12 minutes would be a pretty solid time to shoot for. If you're a little slower than that, not a big deal. If you're faster than that, great. However, that is just one little thing. It's literally just getting your foot in the door so you could go run a 9 32 mile and just crush everybody by several minutes and not even make it past week one. Of course, you could get hurt, you could just somehow butcher the ruck. If you're running [00:07:00] that fast, I highly doubt you'd butcher the 18 mile ruck, but you could and you just really never know As far as the 18 miler that by the way, everything I'm talking about right now is wide open.

(00:07:12):

It's on open source, so I'm not giving away any secrets and even if I was, like I said, really wouldn't matter all that much. So the timed ruck a great time for that would be give or take about three hours. If you're a little slower than three hours, awesome. If you're a little bit faster than three hours, great. In my class, I think there were [00:07:30] four of us that were faster than three hours. I came in at around 2 37 ish, two hours, 37 minutes, and that was a pretty solid performance for me. That was definitely a PR, and I don't know my exact time just because they start the clock kind of weird and I just had a Timex watch. I didn't have a smart smartwatch for obvious reasons, but there were, like I said, a couple other guys under three hours, I think like in the mid two forties, maybe the high two forties and then somewhere in the two fifties and then some [00:08:00] of the other studs that did really well.

(00:08:02):

Overall, were around three hours after that. It's all just land F. Just find your points as fast as you can and try not to get lost. That's generally the essence of it in a nutshell. So go find your land nav points as far as how to prepare, because that was part of the question too. Of course, physical fitness, get really good at rucking, be good enough at running to crush the two mile, and you want to be very, very confident in your land nav [00:08:30] skills if that is going to practice and actually getting reps, which for most people, even if you are an SF guy, you're coming from SF and you've done land nav before, two totally different beasts Hoffman versus going out in West Virginia. So definitely do a bunch of land nav prep if you possibly can or if you're even on the fence as to whether you are proficient at land nav or not.

(00:08:55):

Reps never hurt anyone. I personally did none and it took me a little bit to kind of [00:09:00] knock the rust off and get my legs under me and kind of really feel warm and fuzzy about the whole land nav process. It didn't take that long because I had done plenty of land nav in the past and I have the basics down, but even when you do have the basics, the more comfortable you are with not necessarily skipping all the steps but expediting them and or just knowing when and where to use certain methods and when and where to not use certain methods. For the most part, you're going to want [00:09:30] to be really good at terrain association. That one's huge and a lot of people will show up thinking they're really good at land nav, but you could be pretty damn good at land nav at that selection and that selection will tell you pretty quickly whether you're actually good at land nav or not.

(00:09:46):

It's just obviously there's a massive fitness component that's number one. You got to be fit enough to carry your ruck and get from point to point day after day after day, week after week. But also you have to be good enough at actually you have to [00:10:00] be a savvy land navigator and confident. That's the huge thing is just having confidence in your skills and being really good at terrain association. You're not going to be, you shouldn't be buried in your compass the entire time. That's just not very necessary, nor is it very efficient once you get to that level. Most of it's going to be terrain association and the terrain is easy to associate because although it's prominent terrain makes it harder to walk physically, it makes it easier to navigate. So that's pretty [00:10:30] much my recommendation in a nutshell. Without getting into too many details, be really good at Land nav, be really fit with a ruck on, be able to run fast enough, be a good dude, and do your very best every day.

(00:10:40):

Listen to instructions and godspeed. Next question, how slow or fast should I get back into running after recovering from shin splints? Yes, that is my answer. Now, shin splints and getting back into running without knowing anything about you, it'd be really hard for me to give you an exact plan or exact recommendation, [00:11:00] but generally speaking, you want to err on the side of too little versus airing on the side of too much or too fast or too soon. So depending on how long you were messed up with, depending on how your shins are feeling, depending on whether they're completely recovered or they're still a little bit iffy, those will all be factors in how quickly you should get back into it. But generally speaking, you want to consider getting back into it almost like you're building a base again, however, [00:11:30] if you were say running 20, 30, 40 miles per week before you went out with your shin splints, you don't necessarily have to start super low with like three 15 minute runs or four 15 minute runs in the first week.

(00:11:42):

You can start a little bit higher than that. I would say maybe start with a third to a quarter of the volume that you were doing before in that first week, just to kind of get a little bit of a tester how your shin feels, see if you can actually run or if you're coming back too soon. Worst case scenario, you go out on one run and [00:12:00] you're feeling a little bit banged up in the shin. Most people, especially type A individuals who are really hard chargers and motivated and really hate being injured will just continue to walk that fine line and try and run on it again and see what happens. Don't necessarily recommend doing that. If you happen to come back too fast, you think you feel good, but your shin's still bothering you after one run like that tester run, then take some more time off and do some cross training, do some biking, do some rowing, [00:12:30] whatever, swimming, whatever you kind of prefer, and really allow yourself to heal because one of the things that just makes for pretty much perpetual shin splints, people who are just always shin splint prone is they try to come back too fast and then when they do come back, they don't necessarily listen to their body and they may feel okay for a run or two and oh, by the way, third run in, we start to feel a little bit of pain, but maybe that's just the fluke, so let's just keep running, let's do a fourth run [00:13:00] and before you know it, they're 5, 6, 7 runs in and they have shin splints again, and you got to take a bunch of time off.

(00:13:06):

It's way better to take an extra week off when you think you're good to go and you come back and you do a test to run and you're not good to go. It's way better to just take that extra week to 10 days off then than it is to just kind of go back and forth like, oh, I can run. Oh no, I can't run. Oh, I can run. Oh no, I can't run, and it's just lingering and nagging and it just doesn't fully go away. Your body never fully heals. So [00:13:30] you really want to be true to your body and really listen to your body and try and put your ego to the side and be like, Hey, I need to do the right thing and not rush back into this. But I would start with say you're running 40 miles a week and you got shin splints.

(00:13:45):

Usually guys aren't running that high volume when they get shin splints, so this is just an example. I would probably start with that first week. Of course, do a tester run or two, see how you feel easy. You don't need to do any fast running or anything like that at first, and if you're feeling good, [00:14:00] maybe start with 10 to 15 miles that first week and then maybe you can add a couple miles the second week. I would say two to three weeks of ramping back up. You can do some strides after your runs. You can do some pickups. This is not the first run, but say you get a few runs under your belt and you're feeling good, then you can start doing a little bit of stride work, pickup work, really short hill sprints, working on speed, touching on speed, but not true speed work for a couple of weeks at least probably two or three weeks [00:14:30] before you get back into actual running speed work.

(00:14:33):

And of course this entire time you're listening to your body and not trying to force anything, but that's without really knowing any specifics. That's kind of the best answer that I got for you as far as general things to think about and considerations for making your re-entry to running as pain-free both and shin pain free as possible and just get back into it like that. And hopefully if you are patient with [00:15:00] it and you are smart about the rero, you don't have to deal with the shin splints anymore. However, some people are just really prone to shin splints. If you are following really reasonable volume and intensity increases, you're not doing too much too soon because that's the number one cause of shin splints is just doing too much too soon, too much volume, too much speed, too much intensity, whatever it may be. That's number one.

(00:15:23):

But right behind that, especially if you do those things right and you're still experiencing shin splints, it is most [00:15:30] likely a running technique thing or you are just a lot bigger than you need to be. So drop in a little bit of body fat if you have something to lose or improving your running technique, which without seeing you run or without knowing anything about that, it's hard for me to just say, fix this, this, and this. But one thing that most people that applies to most people that you can just focus on right out the gate is increasing your cadence. Higher cadence is not a solve all, but it does solve a lot of problems for [00:16:00] a lot of more novice runners and most runners when they first start. Most people, I should say when they first start running their cadence is crazy, crazy low and getting that higher, not all at once.

(00:16:12):

If you're running at one 50 cadence and you hear me say right now, get up to 180, generally you want to get up in that 180 range, give or take. Not going to be the same for everyone, but if you hear that and you're like, okay, next run, I'm shooting for 180, I'm going to put my metronome map on 180, then that's going to cause problems too. [00:16:30] You don't want to do these massive jumps in cadence. It should be like one or two, maybe three steps per minute per run and eventually you'll work your way up there, but since it's not a massive novel stimulus going from one 50 or what did I say, one 50, yeah, one 50 to 180 in one run, that is probably going to beat you up. Whereas if you are more reasonable with it and progressive with it and incremental with it, that is kind of how you stay healthy and it makes it so running doesn't [00:17:00] feel completely foreign to you, so work your way up.

(00:17:04):

But yeah, aside from that, it really depends on lots of different variables that I don't know about, but that should give you some things to think about to get back into your running and hopefully do so without re-injuring your chin. Next question. Are you planning to make a more long-term as fast training PDF, like 18 to 20 weeks for 18 x? Am I planning on it? Not necessarily, but there are multiple different ways that you can skin this if you [00:17:30] have a longer time horizon than what the program is. 12 weeks a, the upcoming program Ruck run Lift is very close to being done and released unless something crazy happens. It will be out by the end of July and ready for purchase, and that program is going to be about 16 weeks long. That includes a time trial week. It includes a deload week, but it's going to be give or take about 16 weeks long.

(00:17:57):

And although it's not specific for [00:18:00] SVS prep necessarily, it does have a choose your own adventure type feel. So depending on what selection you're training for, whether it's RASP or SFAS or marsoc or even the Long Walk, you'll see in the program options for each of those selections. So I kind of lumped SAS rasp and MARSOC selection into the same one, although rasp might be a little bit more run heavy, which there's options for that in the program. And then I have the Long Walk in a [00:18:30] different category just because it's more R based, but you can definitely use that for SAS, it's a little longer and that would be very effective. Also, I have the SFAS program that's 12 weeks, that's specific for SAS, so either of those would work, but if you have a longer timeframe and you want to get into SFAS program when you're about 12 weeks out, you can hit any number of different programs that I have, so you can hit the two and five mile, you can hit Jack Gazelle, version one, Jack Gazelle version two, you can hop on T eight 50 and kind [00:19:00] of follow those.

(00:19:00):

Those will all be really, really good foundations for getting into your actual selection prep. Great ways to build your base before that, but that's kind of like the long-term strategy. You can kind of pick and choose from any of those. If you have a little bit of time to wait a few weeks waiting for that ruck run lift program to come out, that might be a good option. But for the most part, I've talked about this a lot, but most people don't need more than about 12 weeks to specifically prep for selection. Now of course, [00:19:30] when you're 18 weeks out, 20 weeks out, like your question said, you want to start thinking about it, you want to get your general fitness base a little bit biased towards running Rucking general strength, some calisthenics built some carries of course, but SFAS specific, you don't really have to get down and dirty with that for I would say 12 weeks at the most.

(00:19:50):

For some people it's 10. For some people it's eight. Some of my clients, I have them prep for SAS for six weeks because we have built such a great base going into that and [00:20:00] they're already crazy, crazy fit and they don't need much longer than a month and a half to prep for selection. So everyone's a little bit different, but I would say on average it's about 12, which is why my program's that long, the new program I have coming out has a couple of extra weeks for ramping up and getting kind of prepared. The first phase is more of a base phase, getting used to running, getting used to rucking, getting used to lifting and not doing a ton of super hard and heavy speed [00:20:30] work quite yet, or lots of ruck running. It's just kind of getting your legs underneath you, making those adaptations, building an even better base than you hopefully have going into the program.

(00:20:40):

And then the last two phases, last 10 to 12 weeks or so, I would've to look at the program. Those two are pretty damn intense, pretty damn high volume, definitely going to be higher volume than my current SFAS program and it might be my highest workload program in general that I have only because you kind of need a high workload to go [00:21:00] to various different selections. And although my SFAS program that's out right now is a great program and it works really, really well for a lot of people. I have spent the last four plus years since that program was created, learning a lot more programming, a lot more, working with a lot more people, seeing what works really well, seeing what doesn't. And so I have a lot bigger foundation and I have a lot bigger pool from which to pull from and put into programs.

(00:21:29):

So this [00:21:30] program is going to be, honestly, I have no shame in saying it's going to be way better than my current SAS program, even though it's not going to be specific to SFAS. You could follow either one and you'd be very prepared, but this one's going to be a little bit more advanced, a little bit higher volume, and definitely pretty damn fun and enjoyable, although it's going to be pretty tough too. So that's my recommendation if you're on a longer timeline should be totally fine, and whichever one of those sounds [00:22:00] best to you, I would go kind of that route. Next question, good boots and socks for rucking. The best boots that you can possibly use for rucking are the ones that you decide on. You purchase and you start wearing. So you break the boots in and you break your feet in and you get your feet used to the insides of those boots.

(00:22:22):

You don't necessarily need to make the perfect boot choice in order for your boots to serve you really well. The most important [00:22:30] thing is that you break them in and that you break your feet in, you get your feet used to the insides of those boots and that you continue to train and get fitter and your feet also at the same time because you're hopefully going to be doing a lot of rucking in those boots, your feet are also going to get fitter or more resilient, less likely to get some sort of abrasion, blister, whatever it is because that's what happens when you continuously expose yourself to new stimuli and increasing stimuli, [00:23:00] whether it's increasing in intensity, duration, frequency, or all three of those, which is probably going to be the case for any sort of selection prep. As far as socks, same thing. I don't really have any specific recommended socks.

(00:23:12):

If someone wants to drop their sock recommendation in the comments, go for it, but also it does not matter all that much. Neither of these things are even close to being the deciding factor as to whether you're going to make it or not. Of course, you want to get a [00:23:30] solid pair of boots that you find comfortable and that fit your feet well. Everyone's feet are a little bit different, but honestly, even if you get a pair of boots that is not ideal and the ideal boot is continuing to sit on the shelf, not bought by you, and you do what I said earlier and just break your feet in, break the boots in and be consistent with training and naturally progress your training, then you're going to be totally fine. It's not going to make any difference whatsoever. One of the [00:24:00] common things that I see among guys that are prepping for selection, and this was a thing back even when I went, well, before all this stuff was kind of on the internet, but we would put way too much emphasis on our boot selection and think that this boot is make or break.

(00:24:17):

This boot is going to make me fail. This boot is going to make me pass these two boot combos. This is going to be my speed rucking boot. This one's going to be my land nav boot, this one's going to be my team weak boot, [00:24:30] whatever. None of that stuff really matters. Yes, you can wear different boots, you can rotate different boots, you can wear lighter ones for gated rocks and you can wear more heavy duty ones for land nav if you want. But honestly, and I tell this to all my guys that are going, if you find a boot that you love and you don't really like any other boots, there's nothing wrong with just bringing those as your two boots. I think you have to bring three pair of boots total, but I believe this could be different, but I'm pretty [00:25:00] sure it's the case.

(00:25:01):

I believe you have to be, of course you're going to be wearing a pair of boots and I think you have to have one pair in your ruck and those can be your backup boots or you can maybe wear again, same boot. You just wear a different boot every other day, so it's the same exact boot one day on one of the gated rucks, you wear pair A, the other time you wear your pair B and just switch back and forth, or maybe you just stick to the same one the entire time. It really just depends on the conditions and how things are going. So [00:25:30] don't over index boots, don't over index socks, really focus on getting fit, getting your feet broken in, getting your boots broken in, choosing a pair of socks, going with it, whatever you choose, it's going to be okay. You can adapt to it, but I don't really have any recommended boots necessarily.

(00:25:47):

My go-to boots, just for what it's worth, were always the older Nikes, so that doesn't really help anyone because they don't make those Nikes anymore. So the newer Nikes are not great. A lot of people like the garments, [00:26:00] a lot of people like Rockies, A lot of people, I want to say like Belle vs. A lot of people like the GORUCK boots, I can't remember what they're called, think they have some sort of super shoe like quality in them, but still it doesn't matter all that much. Just pick one, go with it and go crush. Next question, what would you say is one of the most overlooked things in becoming a GB Green Beret? Man, that's a tough one. I would say this is not necessarily going to perfectly [00:26:30] answer the question, but I would say these days guys who are preparing, aspiring to go to SF selection and ultimately hopefully become a Green Beret, one of the best strategies of implement would be to stop trying to gain more information.

(00:26:48):

And I know that's kind of a little bit ironic because I'm literally making a podcast right now about more information on this kind of stuff, but a lot of guys show up with just too much in their head, too many different [00:27:00] opinions, too many different tips, too many different 2 cents from various different people and it kind of just clouds their mind and it's a little bit like information overload. So you want to go in with focus, of course you want to be focused on the task, you want to be clearheaded, you want to be highly motivated, you should be highly motivated. Most people are going to be a little bit worried, a little bit anxious, that's totally normal, but you don't want to be thinking like, oh, what if this happens day three, what if [00:27:30] this happens day one, what if this happens day six or for becoming a gb?

(00:27:33):

Kind of like the question asks, it's like what happens later in the Q course? What if I get to this phase in the Q course and this and this happens? What if I get to my team and I'm the new guy and I do this or I mess this up or whatever. Honestly, just taking it day by day, preparing as best you possibly can, focusing on things that you can control and not what you can't control and not trying to game it and not trying to find out what things are going to be exactly [00:28:00] day to day. Of course, asking questions about like, Hey, how can I prepare for this? How can I physically prepare for this? How can I mentally prepare for this? How can I emotionally prepare? That's all valid stuff and that's literally I make my living off giving people advice like this.

(00:28:17):

But in general, something that I have seen, and I've seen this through my clients, I've seen this through Reddit, I've seen it through dms. People will hear things from different people or they'll hear, [00:28:30] oh, I heard this is the case and what do you think about it? And honestly, it doesn't really matter what I think about it. What matters most is that you go and you show up prepared and you do the right things every day, what you're told to do. You're a good dude and you hopefully have a little bit of luck on your side, some luck involved. Of course some guys are totally capable of making it, but for whatever reason they have a bad day whether it's in their control or not and they don't. But that's really all you can do and that [00:29:00] would be my biggest recommendation as far as what's overlooked is just trying not to find more information and just going and doing your thing and going and crushing.

(00:29:12):

Next question. Thoughts on stacking two and five mile Jack Zel 2.0 and SFAS program consecutively for SFAS, that would be a phenomenal way to do it. You could change the order up, do Jack Zel, then two and five mile then SAS or you could do the way the question asked and you would be good to go. [00:29:30] That's probably my most recommended route to take. If you're about, what would that be? Probably 8, 9, 10 months out, give or take. That's the of those three programs combined. Next question. Carrie's on the SFAS program are relatively easy for me. Should I go up in wait or distance? So he's referring to my SAS program and I am going to just kind of answer this as a general question regarding carry prep, whether you're following my program or whether you're just [00:30:00] not following by a program doing whatever other program, hopefully it involves caries.

(00:30:04):

If you're prepping for SVS, if your program doesn't involve caries, then you're definitely on the wrong program, but caries are super important. So I'm going to just talk generally about how to look at these when you're getting closer to SVS. You want to think very specific. The more specific, the better specificity in regards to training is your training should pretty closely if not be identical to the task [00:30:30] that you're actually training for. So for example, if you are trying to get better at running, the most specific thing you can possibly do is run. Will other things potentially help your running a little bit? Absolutely. Doing some general conditioning, swimming, biking, rowing, getting more aerobically fit in general, even if it's not running, that will still in a roundabout way potentially improve your running and it allows you to stay available because you're not running as much.

(00:30:59):

It's cross training [00:31:00] almost every high level athlete, cross trains, lifting weights, going into the gym and doing some leg training. Could that potentially improve your run a little bit? Yeah, it could. Is it like a big needle mover? Is it super specific? No. So you want to think very specific in regards to selection prep. What are you going to be carrying there? The loads, the durations, the distances, the types of caries, the more specific you can get, the better. So while you're there, you're going to be doing mostly single arm carries, which is also known as suitcase carries, [00:31:30] but not all suitcase carries. You'll definitely do some farmer caries too. So a blend of both in a program would be a good option. And the weights you're going to be carrying are probably in the range of 45 to 55 pounds. That's going to be most of the carries you're doing and the durations are going to be very long.

(00:31:47):

They're not going to be long continuous. You're going to have breaks, you're going to be able to switch hands, you're going to be able to switch out with your buddies. You guys are going to take breaks as a team, but it is way more grip endurance focused than grip strength focused. [00:32:00] So strength endurance, being able to hold onto, like I said, a 45 to 55 pound weight and you're not going to be carrying weights there, but that's about how much the water cans weigh, the ammo cans that you're going to kind of have a buddy carrying the other side. You're going to take one side, I think those are like 110, 120 pounds. So 50 50, that's going to be mainly what you carry. There will be times where you're doing, I think it's called the red dot where you carry the log. You guys make little lashings and you carry the log in a [00:32:30] low carry position, and that's going to be very, very variable because everyone's different height, everyone's arm kind of hangs out, hangs down at length, like a different height off the ground and the logs are a little bit, they're not perfectly symmetrical.

(00:32:46):

So maybe one end of the log might be a little heavier and then it depends on where you're at in the log. Are you right in the middle? Are you in the front? Are you in the left, the right, so on and so forth. So there will be times where you're carrying a little bit more weight and there will be times where you're [00:33:00] carrying a little bit less weight, but generally speaking, you want to keep most of your caries around 45 to 55 pounds. So with that all being said, if you are on the program and your caries are easy, then I would consider going longer before you go heavier. There's absolutely value to carrying heavier loads periodically, especially when you're further out from selection. I like to have my guys do most of their heavy carries before we get into their specific selection prep to work on that strength component of the strength endurance.

(00:33:30):

[00:33:30] But once you get into kind of the last 8, 10, 12 weeks, you really want to stay pretty specific to those loads. Maybe periodically you can go a little bit heavier, but for the most part I would rather you go a little longer, think longer than heavier. So I don't have the program open in front of me, but you absolutely could maybe just add 20 seconds, 30 seconds to each carry duration or you could add another round or you could add another two rounds. The way I program, of course I'm making a program for [00:34:00] the masses, so I program with the average selection prep candidate in mind. There will be definitely some people who can handle more, whether it's carries or more just in general, there are some people who might have to change things up a little bit. There are some people who may need to run a little bit more.

(00:34:15):

Maybe there's some people who need to really work a little bit extra on their calisthenics. Maybe there's people who need to do more caries or heavier caries or longer caries. So it just really depends, but I would focus mostly on [00:34:30] the endurance aspect, so grip strength, endurance, endurance, longer duration, that's where my mind would go if you're looking to add a little bit more volume to anything. Next question. Which program is best for three months out from OIT for an option 40? Currently running a 1632 mile with average strength best in your case would probably be the two and five mile jack is L 2.0 would be a close second, but I would say two and five mile. You definitely want to get at least a minute and a half off that two mile time [00:35:00] to go with a nice warm and fuzzy about your runtime and you absolutely can do that.

(00:35:05):

And then some on the two and five mile before you go. There have been guys who have taken two, three minutes off their two mile five, six minutes off their five mile, no problem. Of course, the faster you are, the smaller your improvement deltas will be. The slower you are. I wouldn't consider you slow, but I would not consider you super fast with a 1632 mile. Your deltas potentially if you do the right things, you follow the program, you don't add a bunch to it, you do the [00:35:30] right things outside the gym, sleep well eat, well, recover well. Your Delta, it has the potential to be quite large, like a minute and a half, two minutes, maybe even more. So that would be the top program to follow. You will get faster if you do Jack L 2.0 and it'll help you with strength as well.

(00:35:45):

But even though the two and five mile is considered a running program, not a hybrid program, I'm starting to call it a hybrid program because a lot of people are getting stronger on it, so the lifting volume's not super high, but it's high enough to make gains, especially if you're not more advanced. If you're [00:36:00] super duper advanced at lifting, you might not make a ton of gains on it, just not all that much volume, but if you are a little less advanced at running and or lifting, you most likely will get stronger and improve your running. Next question. How physical are the direct support selections compared to operator selection? Really good question. I am not a hundred percent sure what those selections look like. I know they're shorter and I know that there's not a bunch of land like operator selection. By the way. This is SMU usually CAG support.

(00:36:29):

They have support [00:36:30] medics, they have support comms guys, they have a bunch of different support roles and it is very, very selective, but it's not as physically demanding, nowhere near as physically demanding as the actual long walk, but that doesn't mean you should take it lightly. They are very, very, very stringent on who they choose, who they allow to go. A lot like the operator selection but also very, very stringent. Even if you go and crush physically and you crush most of the actual tested events, it's still [00:37:00] pretty competitive and tough to get accepted. It really just depends on lots of different factors and if they like you or not and no one really knows what type of people they like. They kind of have their own formula and no one really knows about it. So again, just go in and doing your best, but I know there is an 18 miler and I'm sure there's some sort of PT test where you have to run and do pushups and maybe a plank or something like that thereafter.

(00:37:24):

I really don't know. But because it's short, I think it's only like a week, maybe not even [00:37:30] a week, and I could be off on this, but because it's relatively short, you're not going to do a ton of physical stuff as far as going out and land nav day after day after day with a ruck on or anything like that. But then again, I'm not exactly sure what you do throughout the time there. Definitely go and find whatever standards are available for it and try and smash those standards, train in such a way that you're smashing those standards before you go. And again, just show up, do your best, be a good dude and do [00:38:00] what you think is right and hopefully they also think it's right and hopefully they think you're the guy for the job and hopefully you get the invite to go and attend the next phase and end up at the unit.

(00:38:10):

It's a great place to be. So that's my best advice on that one. Next question, how to split or not split finances in a relationship? So as a relationship expert and a finance expert, you have come to the right place, you've asked the right guy the right question and I'm [00:38:30] going to give you an answer, just kidding. I do your trust in my ability to give you financial advice and relationship advice and combined advice like finances and relationship advice at the same time. But this is way, way, way beyond my scope of practice. I am really really into fitness. I know a lot about fitness. I know a lot about nutrition, I know a lot about recovery. I know a decent amount about building character, [00:39:00] cultivating mental fortitude, having good solid relationships with people, but I'm definitely not a marriage relationship expert and I'm certainly not a finance expert.

(00:39:11):

I would say in general, this is totally up to you. Some people split their finances, some people don't. That is for you and your partner or your wife or whatever to come up with and not me. I can't really give advice on that because I really just don't know. Next question, how [00:39:30] do you handle hills and elevation changes with zone two? Nearly impossible to maintain. Need a tip? Yeah, so you don't have to overthink it. You can either slow down to a really slow run, you can slow down to a walk when you're going uphill or you can maintain your speed, give or take maybe slow down naturally a little bit so you're not in zone four or zone five and after you ascend the hill, hopefully you're going to be either on flat or a slight decline and allow your heart rate to recover.

(00:39:58):

If you have, say you [00:40:00] go out for a 90 minute run and your goal is to run in zone two and there's five to seven big ass hills and they're pretty brutal, you get to the top of 'em, there's no way unless you slow down to a walk that you could stay in zone two. Nothing wrong with slowing down to a walk and staying in zone two. Nothing wrong with really slowing down your run, even if you're just barely moving and staying in zone two. But also in some cases, especially if you're recovering well and or you're not doing a ton of run volume, there's nothing wrong with being okay with your heart [00:40:30] rate going a little bit higher at the very end or the duration of going up a hill as long as it recovers afterwards. If you go up your first hill and you're in zone three and then you just stay in zone three and maybe teetering zone four the entire time, that's one thing.

(00:40:46):

But if it goes up into zone three for a short period of time when you're going up a hill or after you go up a hill or a couple hills and maybe eight minutes total out of your 90 minute zone two run, we're spent higher than zone two, [00:41:00] you're going to be totally fine and it's not going to be any less effective. This is, again, assuming you're not running super duper high volume or you're already struggling to recover from your training in general, assuming those blocks are checked, then I would not stress it. But there's nothing wrong with, like I said, just chilling, going slower, swallowing your ego, being okay with your pace, being really, really slow on the uphills. When you do zone two, when you're doing any sort of aerobic base building run or really any [00:41:30] activity, your pace does not matter. If you go 10 minutes per mile and you stay in zone two versus nine minutes per mile and you stay in zone two, likely the person who's running nine minutes per mile in zone two is going to be a little bit faster on their things that matter, like five miles, 10 Ks, whatever you're training for than the person going 10 minutes, but not always.

(00:41:51):

And also it just doesn't really translate down to the pace. You could look at a group of the best runners in the world, the best marathon [00:42:00] runners in the world. They're all running four 40 to four 50 miles for 26 miles straight when they're going hard in a marathon, like a time trial or a race. But when they do their easy runs, they're not all running the same exact pace even though they're very, very close as far as their tip top max pace, max effort pace for a marathon, they're nowhere near the same pace for their easy runs. Some guys are going to be real slow, some guys are going to be a little faster in their easy runs, relatively speaking, I guess that's kind of subjective, slow [00:42:30] versus fast, but they're not going to be the same. One guy might run a seven 30 mile in his easy runs, another guy might run an eight 30 mile in his easy runs.

(00:42:39):

They both run about the same in a marathon, so it doesn't really translate very well to your race pace or your time trial goal pace. So if you have to go a little slower, especially this time of year when it's super hot, you're just going to have to go slower in order to stay in zone two. Just because the sun is an added stressor that just naturally increases your heart rate regardless [00:43:00] of whether you're training it or not. It's totally fine, wouldn't stress too much about it. You can do any of those options and the chances are it is not going to make any difference whatsoever. I will say if you choose the still run up the hill, allow yourself to go in zone three option and you notice that you're not recovering well from your training in general after a couple of weeks of doing this, then maybe you try going and going a little slower.

(00:43:25):

Of course, one run what you do in one single run is not going to make or break your [00:43:30] entire recovery, but it could be just the final straw. Your program may be kind of teetering that line of overdoing it versus doing the right amount. And if you happen to just be in zone three for a lot more of your zone two run than what you'd like to be and you notice you're not recovering well, then that's when you can kind of adjust. And that's kind of my recommendation for most people for most types of training is like, will this work? Am I okay doing this? I don't know, try it out. It's probably not going to hurt you. Of course, if it's something stupid like I've [00:44:00] never squatted more than three 15, let's try 4 0 5, see what happens. That's dumb. But something like this, whether you should run in zone two, zone three, teeter that line, walk, slow down, stay the same, speed, whatever.

(00:44:14):

Experimenting is the best way to find out, and most people listening to this are probably not running enough volume to where being in zone three, a little bit of their zone two run is really going to mess them up at all. So wouldn't stress it. That's kind of how I'd approach it. Next [00:44:30] question. When training a 12 mile timed ruck, how many times would you ruck per week? So since you are just going to have to ruck really fast one time, you don't necessarily have to do a full on ruck prep like you would if you're going to selection where you have to ruck day after day after day. Honestly, if you're a really good runner and you're strong, you don't have to ruck at all to prep for this 12 mile, would I recommend that? No, but there was one 12 mile during my career that I did not ruck at all before.

(00:45:00):

[00:45:00] I was in really good running shape. I was really strong and generally fit, and I've always been a naturally strong rucker and I went and rucked it and I think it was my second slowest minus my 12 miler at ranger school. It was my second slowest ruck I've ever 12 mile ruck I've ever done. It was right on two hours, which is pretty damn fast. But compared to most of my 12 mile rucks relatively slow and I did it and I was okay. I didn't really hurt [00:45:30] myself, but I was messed up for several days after just because I did not train for it. I didn't actually do any specific training to get my body used to and adapted to the rigors of actually rucking, especially running with a R on which if you're doing a 12 mile and you want to get your best time, you're going to have to do some rep running regardless of what anyone says.

(00:45:49):

So I would say at least once a week would be a pretty solid place to start. As you get closer. If this is a super important 12 miler or you don't want to be destroyed like I was [00:46:00] for not training for your 12 miler, then I would do maybe two rucks a week. As you get a little closer, maybe one week you do one ruck, one week you do two rucks, one week, one ruck, one week two, do you need more than two? Probably not. You could maybe do three. But also you got to think about the other things you're training for, the other fitness qualities that you want to possess and improve. So if your rucking training is just rucking, then you're taken away from other potential fitness adaptations that you may need to or [00:46:30] want to make. So you can make great progress with two wrecks a week, assuming you're doing some running, assuming you're doing a good mix of strength training and just not overdoing any one thing or just not overdoing pretty much everything by having too high a workload for you to recover from.

(00:46:48):

But minimum once a week would be great, maybe twice, but that's kind of how I'd set it up. What I would usually do would be one ruck where you just walk, you're trying to walk as fast as you can, [00:47:00] but you have about the same load that you're going to be carrying for the actual event and you're just walking, you're just stepping it out. The other ruck, especially as you get closer, maybe the last 4, 6, 8 weeks at the most, you can start incorporating a little bit of ruck running, trotting, shuffling, whatever you want to call it. I wouldn't go out and just do time trials every single week. That wouldn't be very smart. Like, oh, I'm just going to go six miles as hard as I can this week, eight miles as hard as I can next week, 10 miles the next week on. Not a very [00:47:30] good idea.

(00:47:30):

But say you have a 120 minute or two hour ruck and you want to start incorporating some ruck running from minutes 10 to 110, so minus the last first and last 10 minutes, those can be like your warmups and cool downs. Maybe you trot on flat ground only for two out of every 10 minutes, and it could be two minutes all at once. It could be one minute at the beginning of that 10 minutes. It could be one minute at the end, four by 30 seconds, really up to you. But the important thing is [00:48:00] you're not just going out and randomly ruck running and not knowing how much ruck running you did because you just kind of did whatever you felt like. You have some sort of structure and measure to keep yourself honest. And then maybe the next week you add another 10 minutes to the ruck and you do three minutes out of every tent where you do some trotting.

(00:48:19):

And then eventually as you get a little closer, you want to consider doing some downhill trotting, especially if the course that you're going to be rucking on or getting your time trial on your 12 mile is hilly ruck. [00:48:30] Running downhill is one of the most stressful things you can do to your body. Running downhill itself is stressful. Add 40, 50, 60 pounds to your back, and that's exponentially more stressful on the joints, especially knees, feet, hips, even lower back really pretty much from head to toe. You're just going to be subjecting your body to quite a bit of impact in eccentric stress. So although downhill running is a great way to get good times on test day [00:49:00] testing and training a little different, a lot of people will do their training rucks, just like they do their testing. So they'll walk up hills, maybe a little shuffle on flats and they gun it downhills, and that's a great way to do it on race day.

(00:49:14):

But if you're doing that every single time you train, you are giving your body way, way, way more eccentric and impact related stress than you need to, and you're more likely to just get banged up or hurt yourself and or just not feel good in general. So [00:49:30] what I would do, these downhill adaptations don't really require a ton of volume. They don't require you to do them for a really long period of time. If you were to do a little bit of downhill running, I'm talking like five to eight minutes with a ruck on as part of your actual long ruck workout and not necessarily all at the same time. Probably pretty hard to find a continuous five to eight minute running hill in most places, but you spread 'em out one minute here, one minute there, [00:50:00] one minute there, three minutes there to equal 5, 6, 7, 8 minutes.

(00:50:04):

That's pretty solid four weeks out. And then maybe add three to five minutes of downhill trotting when you're two weeks out and then one week out wouldn't necessarily do it just because that's a little bit close and you want to be well recovered and fresh going into that timed ruck, but that'll give you exposure to that stimulus and allow your body to adapt, but also not overload you with tons and tons of downhill running and tons, tons of stress and just bang your knees up and make [00:50:30] you worse and not available to actually go out and put your best times up. So that's the way I would approach it. Of course, there's tons of different potential ways to go about it, but you got to ruck a little bit if you want to go and do well and also feel good afterwards, but you don't need to do it like a full on selection prep.

(00:50:49):

Next question, do you have a mobility and or stretching protocol? Not necessarily. My main mobility training is lifting with full range of motion, which is honestly the best way to improve your mobility. [00:51:00] Now, is that enough for everyone to be as mobile as they need to be? No, it's not. And a lot of people struggle to lift with a full range of motion either because they just don't have the mobility for it or they just don't have the mobility to lift with a full range of motion with the weights that they are choosing to put on the bar or the machine. So a lot of people can do a full squat with a bar on their back or with 1 35 on their back full hamstrings to calves all the way down squat, nice, slow under control, [00:51:30] not crazy, crazy trampoline reps or dive bomb squats where you're just bouncing out of the hole, just a good solid squat.

(00:51:37):

But those same people, if you put 2 75, 3 15, 365, whatever, maybe they can do a squat and maybe they can go to parallel and that's great. If you're trying to get strong in a squat and you're not going full range of motion all the way hamstrings to calves and you're just trying to get your squat numbers up, your squat strength up, I think that going to parallel or just below parallel something that would be accepted in a powerlifting meet, basically your [00:52:00] hip crease is even or below, I think it has to be below, it might be even or below your knee, then that's fine, nothing wrong with that, but you should also consider doing other squats with a load that allows you to get to full depth because you're actually training that full range of motion and you're improving your squat mobility. So for example, maybe you are trying to get your squat numbers up and on Monday you have your main squat day back squats and you're doing say three to four sets of three [00:52:30] to five reps, and you go pretty heavy on those and you go to parallel or maybe just below parallel.

(00:52:35):

You're not really worried about mobility that day, your goal that day is strength, but maybe you have another squat accessory day or squat assistance day on Thursday or Friday, and on that day maybe you do pendulum squats or belt squats or hack squats or leg press that day. Maybe go a little bit lighter, swallow your ego a little bit, relatively speaking, go a little lighter than what you could do if you're doing just to parallel squats like you are on Monday. [00:53:00] But since it's lighter, you can go deeper and you can get all the way hamstrings to calves and get super deep in that squat and that'll improve your overall mobility, your ankle mobility, your hip mobility. It will make your knees healthier and less potentially injury prone because you're just used to being engaged and strong throughout the entire range of motion, whereas most people just don't get to that bottom end of the range of motion, so they're not strong in that.

(00:53:24):

You only get strong in a range of motion that you can actually get to and control if you are [00:53:30] cutting your squat 3, 4, 5 inches short that last 3, 4, 5 inches. If you ever find yourself in that position for whatever reason, you're going to be a little bit susceptible and weak. So using, of course, that's just a squat example, you can do this for pretty much any muscle group. Maybe Tuesday for example, let's do upper body push. So Tuesday, maybe that's your main bench day and you want to really just get strong in the bench and you do something very similar to what you did with squats on Monday. So low reps not really worried [00:54:00] about super big range of motion, although the bench press, you should definitely touch your chest, not bounce off your chest, but touch your chest at the bottom of bench press, but you can't go any deeper than that with a straight bar.

(00:54:11):

But maybe Friday you have your bench accessory or assistance day and maybe you do dumbbell presses that day and you go super duper deep, or maybe you have a machine and you go really deep on the machine press, you go lighter load. That allows you to get really, really big stretch on the pecs A, it's going to be more effective for hypertrophy because that big stretch [00:54:30] is the most important part of the lift for gains. But B, it's also going to be better for mobility because it's going to improve your pressing mobility, your shoulder mobility, it's going to improve your upper back mobility, doing this for back exercises in rows, and it's just going to make you a more capable human and it's going to make it so that you're not necessarily going to need to do a bunch of extra mobility stuff. Yes, you might need to do some, and I'll get into some options here in a second, but that's kind of the way I like to look at training.

(00:54:58):

Use it to gain muscle and or [00:55:00] strength, but also use it as a great way to improve your mobility. It is the best way to improve your mobility if you do it right, and most people don't necessarily do it right, they only lift four numbers on the bar or size on their body. So consider that as far as basic mobility drills. Once in a while I go downstairs and I hang from my pull bar in my garage. That is, believe it or not, although it's lazy man's mobility, it's great for having your shoulders feel good. It's good for grip strength. [00:55:30] It just makes you feel better in general. It decompresses your spine a little bit. I also frequently sit in a squat, so I might even do it after this. I get up, I usually grab a 15 to 25 pound counterweight, whether it's a plate or a dumbbell or something like that just to get a little deeper and I go down and sit in a squat.

(00:55:49):

Sometimes I'll rock out over one side and really dorsa flex hard or bring my feet up to my shins in an effort to kind of improve my ankle mobility [00:56:00] and just get a little bit deeper, a little bit deeper. Sometimes I will put my arms inside my legs and kind of push out and kind of spread the legs a little bit and kind of open up the hips and sometimes I just go and sit in a squat and do nothing, and sometimes I elevate my heels, sometimes I don't. It really just depends on the flavor of the day. But those two moves right there, hanging and sitting in a squat are great for general mobility and they don't take a lot of time, they don't take a lot of effort, [00:56:30] they don't take a lot of instruction. You just sit in a squat and you hang from a pull bar.

(00:56:34):

Of course, that's not enough for maximal mobility for everyone to be amazing, amazingly mobile, but it is pretty solid start. Other things, most people are usually a little tight in the hips. They don't have great hip mobility, they don't have great ankle mobility. Almost no one has great shoulder mobility. So things like 90, 90 sits for hips, things like a [00:57:00] pigeon stretch or elevated pigeon stretch ankle mobility. Honestly, my top way to improve ankle mobility, especially in regards to squat, so dorsiflexion, bringing your feet up towards your shins, bring the top of your feet up towards your shins is something a lot of people struggle with, including me. My favorite way to improve that is seated calf raises with a very, very, very long stretch at the bottom, and I actually actively try while I'm stretching, I actually try to bring my feet up towards my shins.

(00:57:29):

So [00:57:30] you flex your tibias muscle and it burns, and I do that every single rep. So not only is it good for growing your calves, your soleus, especially if you're doing seated, but also it's improving your ankle mobility. This is oftentimes why I do it before I squat so I can get a little deeper in my squat. So just little things like that. Shoulders, shoulders could be any number of different things. You can do stuff with a PVC pipe like pass throughs or shoulder dislocates. You can do face down stuff like handcuff drills or other [00:58:00] things where you're kind of moving your hands behind your back up over your shoulders. Lots and lots and lots of different options, but lifting with a full range of motion is number one. Don't become a mobility king. Mobility kings are people who really over index mobility and they oftentimes spend more time and they spend more mental bandwidth thinking about and or doing mobility than actually training.

(00:58:24):

And coincidentally, oftentimes these people are more injury prone because they don't do the actual needle moving [00:58:30] training and they do all this mobility, so they're super mobile, then they go and train and they don't train with a full range of motion, all that mobility just to not use it when you're actually training AKA doing the most important thing for mobility. So don't be a mobility king. Yes, it's fine to spend some time on mobility, warmups, cool downs, whatever, but mobility kings warmup experts are another one. Just guys will go into the gym and spend an hour and [00:59:00] a half in the gym and 50 minutes of that five zero is warming up and 40 minutes of that is actually training. It shouldn't look like that at all. If you need more than 10 minutes to warm up, give or take, and you're not a very high level athlete with very specific needs, if you need more than 10 minutes to get ready for a lift or a run or something like that, something in training and or lifestyle is a miss and you need to fix it because you shouldn't need that much.

(00:59:27):

If you're just doing way, way too much or going way, [00:59:30] way too hard or doing all the wrong exercises and you're always feeling banged up and smoked or whatever, and you feel you need a super long time to warm up, instead of taking that super long time to warm up in prep, you should consider fixing something in your training, hiring a coach, getting a program, learning more, whatever it is before you consider adding more mobility or changing up your mobility or something like that because that's going to move the needle a lot more than just doing more mobility. So that's a long answer, but [01:00:00] I think that context was necessary to just kind of give people a reminder not to become mobility kings and warmup experts. Next question, how would you modify your two and five mile program for a 1.5 mile PFT? Currently a 13 58, 1 0.5 mile.

(01:00:14):

So if your one and a half mile is that slow, and I'm not saying this to insult you, but 1358 is quite slow. That's three minutes, two minutes slower than a lot of people's two miles following the program exactly as it's laid out is [01:00:30] going to be your best bet. There's really nothing you need to change. You're going to make great progress even though you're running shorter one and a half miles. You're going to make great progress on that program if you just keep it exactly the way it's next question, tips on how to start rucking while already running and lifting three times a week. 18 x, go and listen to my episode on Rucking. Now, I don't remember exactly what it is, but if you prefer YouTube, go on YouTube under Terminator Training Method, YouTube channel [01:01:00] and Search Rucking Master or Rucking Mastery or Ruck Dominance.

(01:01:05):

It's one of those, it's one my more recent podcasts. I think it's like 1 67, but I don't remember the exact number that is going to tell you everything you need to know. If you prefer Spotify or Apple Podcasts audio, then you can go and scroll down just a few. It's going to be a more recent one less than 10 episodes ago, and that'll give you everything you needed to know about getting started with Rucking. Next [01:01:30] question, how to prepare for a course like Marine Infantry Officers course, where rucks way up to one 50? Yikes. So what I would do is every day put a 160 pound ruck on that way, one 50 feels light of course, and just go and ruck pretty much every day, just add like a half a mile every day. Now, don't do that. Not a very good idea. I honestly don't think that you should prep for this specifically.

(01:01:54):

As far as practice rucking with 150 pounds on this is a bridge you cross when you get there. There are [01:02:00] certain things in the military whether you're in soft or not soft, that are bridges you cross when you get there, you just suck it up on that day. It's mostly psychological. Of course, you want to be generally fit, so you want to do some rucking, you want to do plenty of running, you want to do plenty of lifting. You want to be a well-rounded tactical athlete. But if you are a well-rounded tactical athlete and you come to the day where you need to put 150 pound ruck on and move with it, you're going to be okay. It's not going to be super fun for [01:02:30] anyone, but you're going to be totally fine. You can definitely do some heavier, I would probably put a hundred pounds in a ruck once or twice as you get closer to it just to see what it feels like.

(01:02:41):

But the risk reward and the feasibility and the practicality of training with 150 pounds or anywhere near that in preparation for it is just not there. It's not, the juice is not worth the squeeze as far as staying available, staying uninjured, and you don't have to get super [01:03:00] specific with something like that. Now, this would be really dumb, but if you were prepping for a timed ruck, you had to do a 12 mile ruck or a 10 mile ruck or whatever with 150 pounds on a, whoever's having you do that should be fired because that's just ridiculous. But B, you would probably want to have your body exposed to that beforehand, at least close to it, maybe 1 25, 1 30, and periodically do some rucks in training with that. But in this case, [01:03:30] I'm guessing you're probably going to put the ruck on and walk in patrol really, really slow.

(01:03:35):

And don't get me wrong, it's going to suck, but if you're generally fit and well-rounded and you go in and you have a good mental attitude and you happen to have 150 pounds on your back a couple times for patrols, you're going to be okay. You're going to be hating life. Everyone is, but it's just a bridge you cross when you get there. It's not really something you prep for. Next question. Once you signed your 18 x-ray contract, how long did it take you to [01:04:00] ship out? I signed my contract in February of 2011, and I shipped out in July of 2011. The exact date that I signed it, I don't know, probably late February and then I shipped out July 18th, 2011. So what is that five-ish months, give or take? I don't know how long it is these days. I want to say for most guys it's a little quicker, but that's a great question for a recruiter.

(01:04:24):

They'll be able to answer it way better than I can. Next question, best way to fit in your own training slash program [01:04:30] when you are in a HighSpeed unit that does hard pt. Ooh, yeah, this is brutal. I would need to know a hell of a lot more about details, but in general, this would be a great use case for having a coach. So you could tell your coach what you're doing for PT or generally what you're doing and your coach could give you supplemental PT to add onto it in a way that hopefully wouldn't be too demanding or too much for you to recover from, but also enough for you to hit your goals and make the adaptations you want. [01:05:00] But besides hiring a coach, just really being savvy with it, becoming super savvy with conditioning and strength and really being good at listening to your body.

(01:05:10):

And that just comes with time and experience and putting your ego to the side and being objective as you possibly can rather than subjective about how things are going, how you're feeling, how you're recovering, how you're progressing, or how you're not feeling good or how you're not recovering, not progressing. That just comes with time, but [01:05:30] without knowing exactly what you're doing throughout the week for pt, how hard it is, which days it is, whether it's running, whether it's rucking, whether it's other conditioning, whether it's ridiculous, other army stuff where they do a bunch of random CrossFit style metcons and smoke fests. I can't really give you a specific answer other than hopefully if you can hire a coach. Unfortunately, I don't have any coaching slots open right now. Should have some. There were a bunch of questions about this, so I'll just touch on it now.

(01:05:57):

Should have some coaching slots open in [01:06:00] late August into September, and I'll keep people posted on that. But there are coaches out there that can work with you on this. I actually do it with multiple clients. I have some guys who are either in the Q course and they have to do periodic pt or they are between Airborne School and SSI and they have to do periodic required pt. So we kind of work back and forth. It's not perfect. It's a little bit of a soup sandwich, but we make it a little bit less of a soup sandwich by having another set of eyes, my eyes, to look at what they're doing [01:06:30] and make adjustments to our training as needed and add, subtract, play a little Tetris. So pretty tough. I would say for you, depending on what you're doing for pt, identify the things that you're lacking.

(01:06:43):

So usually I would say this is a general scenario, it does depend, but usually when units do unit pt, it's more conditioning focused than gym and strength focused. So depending on what you're doing for conditioning, I would emphasize in your own training, doing more gym stuff, if that [01:07:00] is the case for you. Of course, if it's just a balance or a mix or a bunch of randomness, that's one thing, but trying to cover the bases that are not being covered by your unit PT would be option number one. And then beyond that, it's just listening to your body or hopefully having a coach. Next question. Do you think one of your programs would be optimal for BUDS prep? No, I definitely don't because none of my programs have any swimming. Will I have a program that involves swimming in the future? Most likely I'll probably have a water-based [01:07:30] selection and or school style program.

(01:07:33):

The main thing about BUDS and CDQC, pj other more water-based selections in schools is the main thing that's going to make or break your chances isn't necessarily your ability to swim on the surface of the water. Of course, you have to be good enough, you have to be able to swim far enough in a certain amount of time and you have to be proficient to a certain extent. But most guys don't [01:08:00] pass those schools because they don't have the ability to remain calm underwater. And that takes a lot of practice, but also for obvious reasons, you can't just go practice that shit on your own. And so if I were to make a water-based selection or school, it would not include breath hold stuff, underwater breath hold stuff may include some on land breath hold stuff and improving CO2 tolerance and things like that. But doing underwater subsurface dive school or [01:08:30] BUDS prep by yourself is just absolutely stupid.

(01:08:32):

And something I don't recommend to anyone in the army, if you're prepping for either pre dive, which is called Mac, or if you're prepping for dive, whatever it is, you need to have a dive soup or a dive supervisor with you, whether they're on the deck or in the pool with you. But if you're subsurface, they have to be above the surface or they could have a snorkel and they could watch you with their mask on. But also you have to have a dry dive medic on the side of the pool, [01:09:00] not in the water with all lifesaving equipment ready to go because a lot of times people will get shallow water blackouts or pass out for whatever reason. And if you don't have that next to you, you might be fine. You might just come right back. Someone s slaps you in the face, whatever.

(01:09:16):

But if you don't and it's not lucky like that and you're really fucked up and you don't have lifesaving equipment like an A DD or oxygen or anything with you or a qualified person to take care of you, then you're in big, big trouble. And a lot of people in the past have died [01:09:30] from doing swim training on their own or underwater subsurface swim training on their own in preparation for schools like this because they're just not doing the right thing. They're not thinking things through or they are thinking things through and they're just saying, screw it. It's not going to happen to me. I've got my buddy here with me, but oh, by the way, your buddy's in the water with you and doesn't know how to provide lifesaving measures if you shallow water blackout or you're doing the same thing at the same time and he doesn't notice and you're underwater for longer than is ideal after you black [01:10:00] out and so on and so forth.

(01:10:01):

So hopefully that kind of answered the question. I know I went off on a little tangent, but that is also the main reason that I am very particular and not necessarily hesitant, but particular with what's going to be on a program like that and what's not. And I will say, even if I do make a program for BUDS and or CDQC, whatever, that's more swim based, amphibious if you will, you're still going to have [01:10:30] to do your breath hold training on your own that won't be in the program, and you're going to have to take those proper precautions and do it with a buddy or two and all the right lifesaving measures if you want to do it in a safe manner that really makes sense and that preserves your life hopefully. So of course not everyone's going to pass out. Not everyone's going to have shallow water blackouts, but it does happen to most people at some point, whether they're prepping for dive school or they're there or buds, whatever.

(01:10:59):

And [01:11:00] I would hate for it to happen to someone when there's no one around to help them. Next question. Let's do two more. How to train abs. I lift full body Monday, Wednesday, Friday. Yeah, so AB training, duper simple. It's not necessary to have abs to have visible abs. You don't need to train your abs at all. You just need to be a certain level of leanness. Everyone has a six pack unless you've had some crazy surgery or something like that. Everyone has a six pack or an eight pack depending on your genetics. For most people, almost everyone, [01:11:30] I would say. I think the other day I saw a stat that you're way more likely to be a millionaire than have a six pack. But anyway, to actually make them visible, you have to get rid of the layer of fat that is covering them, and that's nutrition.

(01:11:45):

Of course, yes, you burn calories by training and it's good idea to lift weights and build muscle that way your metabolism's a little faster. You can eat more food, but you're not going to see your abs. I don't care if you have the most perfect AB training in existence. If [01:12:00] you're 25% body fat, you're just not going to see them. For most dudes getting down to 12 ish percent, 12, 14%, you're going to see your abs solidly To get a full on six pack, you usually have to be 10%, maybe a little bit below. Everyone's a little different where they store their fat, but most men store fat in the midsection. And so getting down into that around 10 maybe single digit will give you a full on six pack, and then you don't really want to walk around and hang out leaner than that.

(01:12:29):

Of course, [01:12:30] getting super duper shredded, 6%, 7%, 5% even to go on a stage or do a photo shoot or just be that lean for a few days for whatever reason, maybe you're going on a trip or something like that, that's fine. But living that lean, not a great idea for most people for their health. Some people can handle being quite lean under 10% all the time, and they feel totally fine. Their hormones are fine. That's mostly genetics, and it's also uncommon. That's an exception to the rule. Most people, once they hang out at seven, 8% [01:13:00] body fat for long enough, they're going to start feeling shitty, and they're also going to start seeing some objective measures like biomarkers in their blood work not look so great. So 10 to 12% for most people is a great place to hang out, and in that case, you'll have abs.

(01:13:15):

Now, just like any other muscle group though, the ABS can grow. You can make your abs bigger. And if you do this, if you induce abdominal hypertrophy, so you make your abs more muscular, you'll be able to see them a little bit more clear and crisp [01:13:30] at higher body fat percentages. So if you have really, really well developed abs, you may be able to see your abs at 14, 15%, pretty damn well body fat. Whereas if you don't have very developed abs, because you don't train them, you may not be able to see them unless you're like 10%, 11%, 12%. Again, everyone's different. So that's kind of the main reason that most people want to train abs or are interested in training abs. They just look better, whether you're lean or [01:14:00] not lean. But there are plenty of bodybuilders, professional bodybuilders guys with the best abs on the planet that don't train abs at all because again, it's all about being lean and there's genetic component.

(01:14:11):

Some people just have more jacked looking abs than other people. That's just how they were born. How to train them, super simple, train them. Just like any other muscle group, if you're training full body Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you could maybe do one or two ab exercises on Monday and one or two on Friday, or you could do one AB [01:14:30] exercise Monday, Wednesday, one Friday and be totally fine. The place most people go wrong though is with programming, especially rep ranges and execution, most people's AB work is more like hip flexor work because they don't know how to engage the abs. So actually, hopefully maybe going on YouTube or something like that and typing in how to make sure that I'm training the abs, not the hip flexors would maybe be a pretty solid thing to search. If you are already comfortable with execution, you know how to train abs.

(01:14:59):

Picking [01:15:00] two or three ab exercises, doing two or three sets, two or three times per week for six to 15 reps or so would be a great idea. And yes, I said six to 15 reps because that's the hypertrophy rep range. That's the thing that makes sense. A lot of people will do these ab circuits. It's like hundreds of reps of every different AB exercise under the sun. And yeah, your abs are going to be sore, your hip flexors are going to be super tired. You're going to have great abdominal endurance. And if you're prepping for something where you're going to have to do a ton of flutter kicks, a ton of sit-ups, something [01:15:30] like that, then that's a good idea. But if you want to get more jack abs, it's a terrible idea. It's not how the muscles in the human body work. Train them.

(01:15:38):

Just like any other muscle group as far as execution, really think of bringing your pelvis to your rib cage or vice versa. So if you're doing something like hanging leg raises or Roman chair leg raises or reverse crunches or something like that where your legs are, the moving part, think of bringing your pelvis to your ribcage, not your quads to your core, [01:16:00] which is what most people do, which is why it's mostly hip flexor. Not as much abs if you're doing upper body, so like crunches or sit-ups or decline sit-ups or something similar. Think of bringing your rib cage to your pelvis, not your upper body to your quads, because that again, just makes it more hip flexor. So it's kind of hard to explain exactly. That's why I recommend going on YouTube and seeing a video explanation of it just because you'll be able to visually see [01:16:30] it.

(01:16:30):

It's kind of hard to explain through a podcast, but that is kind of the execution technique. So if you do, for example, if you're hitting Monday, Wednesday, Friday full body and you hit hanging leg raises on Monday towards the end of your workout for three sets of 12, really nice, slow controlled, make sure you're using mostly your abs, not your hip flexors. Then say on Wednesday you do two or three sets of glute, him raised crunches where your back is kind of the small, your back is on the glute ham raise where [01:17:00] the quads usually go and you're doing crunches on that again, maybe 6, 8, 10, 12 reps. If you can do way, way, way more reps than that A for certain exercises, yeah, you might have to add some load, but B, it probably means that you're using your hip flexors a lot more than your abs.

(01:17:18):

So in that six to eight to 10 to 12, maybe 15 rep range is where you want to live. And then maybe on Friday you do some decline crunches, or you do some oblique work where you're doing like 45 degree [01:17:30] back raise machine side bends. I do those quite often. I've posted them several times, but that'll work the obliques and round out the abdominal training for the week. Do you have to do all this? No. But if you want to grow your abs a little bit more and make them pop, whether you're a little bit not quite lean or you're quite lean and you just want 'em to look better and more crisp, then it would be a good idea to throw some ab work in. But it does not have to be some crazy formula. You don't have to reinvent the wheel. Very, very basic [01:18:00] stuff, just like any other muscle group.

(01:18:02):

Next question. Does mountain biking or cycling have any benefits in a hybrid training program? Absolutely. Especially if you want to get better at cycling or mountain biking or both, then your hybrid program should be more biased towards those. Hybrid basically just means two different fitness domains that don't necessarily directly support one another. So hybrid could be getting more jacked and getting better at running, or it could be getting stronger [01:18:30] with a little bit of getting jack thrown into. There's a lot of overlap with strength and muscle. They're not one-to-one, but similar and getting better at triathlon, or it could be a blend of things like CrossFit. I would say CrossFit isn't quite hybrid. It's kind of just a mix of literally everything, but you could probably make the argument that it is, or you maybe are trying to get really, really good at cycling or mountain biking, and you're also trying to get strong just because most hybrid [01:19:00] discussions and most hybrid plans, including mine are mostly running and lifting focus does not mean that all your hybrid training has to be running and lifting.

(01:19:08):

Really, any cardio you wish to improve should be part of your hybrid program. Now, if you are trying to get really, really good at running and you're trying to get really, really strong and you're doing tons and tons of mountain biking and tons of cycling, well that's going to make your training less specific and you're not going to get as good at running as you'd like to get because you're spending all that time biking. Yes, biking can support running, [01:19:30] but if you're doing tons of biking and very little running, you're not going to be a great runner. That's just the way it is. That's why Lance Armstrong is the best biker of all time. Most of his training was biking. He did a little bit of running, maybe probably not when he was actually competing. He did more running afterwards, but he didn't go out and run a bunch to prepare for the Tour de France.

(01:19:48):

Just like Iliad, kgi the best marathon runner of all time, doesn't do a shit ton of biking to prepare for his marathon performances because specificity really matters. But throwing that in there, if you want a generally [01:20:00] well-rounded hybrid fitness outcome or result, throwing some mountain biking and or cycling in, especially if you enjoy doing these and you love doing them, is a great idea. And of course if you're trying to get better at those things, then it's an even better idea. So hopefully that adds up and makes sense. But definitely lots of different ways to skin hybrid training and nothing wrong with that at all. And that's it guys. Thank you very much for listening. I'll be back soon with another episode. Hope everyone has an awesome week till then, terminate it out.