Yes! high reps and drop set everything. There will never be a moment in your military career where you will be asked to shrug or curl something for 8-10 reps with a minute and a half rest. You will squat a hundred times and go right into flutter kicks or pushups or planks. Or some other squat variation
Yep this is all exactly right. That’s why I mention training for military fitness like this is somewhat niche and doesn’t follow your typical fitness/weight lifting guidelines.
Thanks man. I see a ton of content on giving out programs and whatnot, but haven’t seen many people talking about what exactly is trying to be achieved, hope this helps people.
Appreciate you're info man. I'm way past those days. Diabetes actually put me out of the military. I still workout, I still shoot, and younger men, think twice about hogging my bench!
It can be personal for some guys, but I’d love to hear what kept you going when things got hard, or maybe it was multiple things that changed over time? I’m curious how you develop the mentality necessary for SF
I talk a little bit about that in my 3 keys to success video and developing that mentality. I’ll think about that though and see if there’s a way I can frame it that would be good for a video, thanks for the idea.
Many people who are insane athletes or members of those communities, are just driven people. They want to win regardless? Some of that can be developed, but when you're crossing a half frozen stream at 3 AM, and there's 12 miles to go after? That's just a driven bastard!
Nate Ty for this, I began implementing this 10x10 rep scheme on squats with 225, deadlifts with 225 and 145 on bench with about 90 seconds rest between sets. At the moment I’m getting smoked and hitting failure by the fifth or sixth set of 10, so I have scaled it to 5x10 and 5x5 and will look up to work up to more volume without lowering the weight . You were/are definitely a unit. Looking forward to the partnered fitness content.
I love the 10x10s (and that you mentioned them… people always asked me wtf I was doing when I did them) and a squat everyday style programs… for years my cardio/running was very minimal and pounding legs was more than enough to keep me exceeding the “standard” for Army and Air pt test.
Sweet channel, broski. I have a 525lb squat, sub 13 2 mile, and a 35 high 5 mile @ 35, 5’11, 190lbs. I’ve been nailing the running and am getting better, but THAT is the thing I’m most worried about. I love the lifting, and learning to love the running, but damn that shi is hard 😂 Your tips are going to help me reach that next level before I ship. Thank you for that, my guy!
With those numbers you’re pretty much g2g for anything you’re goin got come up against. Bringing run times down always helps, but ya for bigger guys it’s always the thing you gota work on the hardest.
@@ValhallaVFT 😂 “bigger guys.” I wish, I feel like a noodle these days coming down from 220 😂 on my first run (prior powerlifting bodybuilder), I had to give up the serious leg volume. Throwing those tree trucks around was miserable 😂 so was the 10min/mile all out 😂 I’m excited to see what else comes from your channel, keep it up, broski!
@@jefejeffwell1113 ya I’ve been up around 230, but any time I’m heavily doing endurance events I feel much better down around 200lbs or it’s just too much weight to move, also hard on the joints.
Such a insightful video I just graduated high school and am actually taking a gap year to South Africa for about 10 months to get my PH (Professional Hunting license) both of my parents are from Cape Town but when I return, I really want to go into the military or Law Enforcment
Thank you for all the info. Ive been needing some kind of direction in getting into more cardio. Im needing to cut weight and up my endurance more than anything.
High volume moderate weight lifting with the sprint workouts, coupled with a few long distance things a week has never steered me wrong throughout my career.
Hey boss, thank you for always answering questions about Selection. I wanted to say I baught the 18A workout routine but did not enjoy it as much. I decided to try your method and have been doing it for a couple weeks and it’s definitely helped me get my 2 mile down from 16 min to 14:30. Still not the best but much better than before. I wanted to ask do you do that 10x10 principle for upper body and other muscle groups for the legs? Or just follow a normal isolation workout for them? Thank you again for your help and letting it be free. Your the man.
I personally haven’t seen or used 18A fitness, sorry to here you didn’t like it. And yea repeats always helped me lower my 2 run time in a short amount of time. Keep at it you’ll keep melting seconds off. As for the 10x10. I do it for deadlift as well, not really for any upper body, although I’m sure you could for compound lifts like bench press.
@@ValhallaVFT thank you for your reply. How much do you rest between the sprints? Do you rest as little as possible or give yourself about 2-3 minutes? Thank you again for your help.
What your describing is strength endurance training and it’s similar to how CrossFit structures part of their training and you can use it in the gym a example would by 60-70% max clean and press 15 sets of 2 with 90 seconds rest or like 20 sets of 1 rep deadlifts with 60 seconds rest and slowly add weight or reduce rest time
The SF guys at FNG academy, on TH-cam, have a ruck trainer they sell to utilize for SFAS Q- course training. Can be loaded with weighted plates to your desired weight/
I’ve been trying to enlist and the recruiters seem to be milking my situation since I need waivers. I went NG rout but the big army just told me they might get me in so hopefully I can. Asvab scores were good for 18x so I’m hoping I’m allowed to go. Thanks for the tips !
been doing 5-7 mile runs at zone 2 three times a week along with weight lifting three times a week. My last pt test was a 15:01 2 mile, 60 Hand release PU, 20 pull ups and 3:40 plank and 1:07 six mile ruck with 45 pounds of bricks in my ruck😂
Ya actually have quite a few buddies who are NG now. Regarding deployments there really isn’t that much difference, they go onto active duty orders and are technically active while on missions. The biggest difference obviously comes in living a regular life and just doing your typical NG time. SF NG guys can typically be active as much or little as they want, so there is a lot of flexibility for them in that regard.
Make sure you work up to that type of thing if you’re going to go for it, or definitely start at a very low weight getting accustomed to that type of volume. 👍
i started training this year for sfas and i ended up injuring myself. i got a stress fracture in my shin for overtraining and that kinda took the wind out of my sails but im healed up now and taking things very slowly. it would be cool to see a video about how avoid injury when rucking in particular.
I got stress fractures so bad that I ended up breaking both my foot and my tibia in training. Unfortunately pretty common. I will say after having those injuries, they heal back much stronger and I never had any fractures issues after.
Hey Nate, my name is LEL glad I found your channel, I love the vids man. I'm 19 and I want to be an operator. I'm currently dropping weight. I used to be 365lbs down to about 275lbs.I have plenty of strength I used to be a competitive powerlifter but now doing more 10x10 kind of workouts and trying to incorporate more cardio to build my endurance. also got my first pull up recently. still very overweight lots of work to do. but any tips for knee health/tips in general? thank you!
Keep hitting it hard man, one of the most fit guys I ever worked with was over 350lbs in high school. Knee stuff is hard, I have had multiple knee surgeries, over 30 steroid injections, multiple nerve RFA procedures. Once they’re bad they stay bad, but I was able to continue to operator for years and badly damaged knees, so it’s doable, just painful.
I read that when training for sfas that it’s recommended to walk a few miles everyday or every other day with a ruck to toughen the feet and shoulders. The idea is to condition the body to being on your feet with a ruck all day. Would you suggest that or is rucking only 1-2x a week more optimal? Great video btw love the content
Yea so I briefly mentioned that in the video about rucking once a week, I should have expanded on that. It’s important to do not so much for endurance but to build toughness in your feet, shoulders and back. Better to not be getting blisters.
Just subbed to your channel. I am curious as do you think just high rep calisthenics would be ideal as well to prepare for Selection? Such as Burpees like Iron Wolf’s method? Thank you. Also, what is your opinion on the NG SF? Do you think it’s better for an individual with children? Thank you and sorry for all the questions.
Calisthenics can be great, especially to get better at things like push-ups/pull ups that you’re tested on regularly. I was never in the NG so I don’t have a great knowledge base on it, but in general I think guys have more freedom to decide how active or not they want to be compared to active duty.
@@ValhallaVFT thank you for your reply. I was AD as an Grunt and have been out for a couple years and am considering to go the Guard route. I really wish to do this but also plan to get married to my fiancé in about a year and felt the Guard route sounds like the best option. Thank you for your response brother.
Any chance you might do a video talking giving an overview of 1st Group? Seen lots of guys from 5th and 3rd but not a lot of info from 1st. Stuff like the languages, countries in the AOR, and what the partner forces are like in the Pacific.
Haven’t had anyone bring that up, but that’s definitely something I could do. Outside of Afghanistan obviously I spent time all over Asia. Philippines, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Australia etc. I’ll sit down and see how that could look for a video, thanks for the suggestion.
@@ValhallaVFT _Great Channel Warrior. Awsome to see a 1SFG Guy. I trained with 1stBN on Oki in the Marines and Worked alot with 1SFG in AFG 12-13 In Army In South and West Doing some FID. Crazy World.
@@ValhallaVFT - Good Ol. Torii. The Jewel of Oki. I was at Camp Schwab uggh on my Dep there. I wish I remember the ODA in A-Stan worked with wanna say it was 1123 or 1223. 10years already can't believe. Congratulations on you Ret too. I hung it up in 21' with 26years. Miss the Clowns but not Circus. Might have had a different tune if I was SOF but was just a Nasty Leg! Can't wait to see what's next brother on your Channel buddy and watch it grow. Rock On Bro!!!
@@longriflem14 miss the clowns but not the circus, that’s perfect lol. And hell ya man Tori is the best! Where else can you have beach parties at work.
I do have one question: when you say incorporate a long distance run into your routine, how far would you say a man should go at the minimum vs what you should try to go for? And at what pace? Im currently wanting to go Air Force TACP or Special Recon but my max run was about 7.25 miles at roughly a 10 minute ish mile pace, totalling my run at 1:25:00 roughly
I typically just did a 5-6 miler since that is a pretty common test you do all the time. I didn’t worry about running much further distance than that. For much further distance training, I would typically save that for my rucks. I’d say you do need to get your run time down though, you should be able to run sub 9 minute pace for any unknown distance.
Did you also do any strength training upper body 5x5 or 3x5, BB press, BB bench, accessory (db flys/db pull over), and then also deadlift for back, BB or DB good mornings, reverse DB lung, Bulgarian DB while you where on a ODA during the week?
We had Patagonia’s. I personally have Crye G3’s now for personal use. Honestly they are both awesome and super comfortable. I think the Crye pants fit me a little better though overall.
The squats were just part of overall bigger workouts, just talked about those as an idea of the type exercises. We would do that same type of 10x10 for all kinds of stuff, deadlifts, bench etc.
It might be kind of a boring video. Honestly it’s basically a advanced college class for language. 6 months, 8 hours a day with an instructor, usually about 4 of us in a class. That’s pretty much the extent of it, nothing too special.
I’m trying to gear up for an 18x contract as a 30yr old. Strength isn’t an issue but.. I tested my run and ruck times ( I haven’t been training these at all and wanted to find my starting point ) and got a 6:40 mile that crushed me after the first .4 miles and a ( 45lb )15:30 ruck avg mile, with a 15:12 on my last mile Should I take 3 or 6 months for my train up?
Yes it actually is a great course. I was a college athlete coming into the service, but basic training really ruins a lot of your fitness levels as it pertains to being ready for selection. So that course before selection is great at putting back on strength and endurance. You also get to do a bunch of land nav which is massively helpful for selection.
That one’s not really rocket science. The best way to do more push ups is to do a ton of push ups. Do a couple hundred a day every day and you’ll see improvements pretty fast.
@@ValhallaVFT so you might do 10x10 bench , 10x10 row 10x10 squat one day , and on your other day 10x10 overhead , deadlift , pull up … etc ? I guess to more clearly frame my question ,how many days of the week for lifting and how do you split it up ??the week is set up sprint ,lift,sprint ,lift,ruck ,rest,rest ? Or Pull,sprint,push,sprint,legs,ruck,rest? Etc Thanks for the reply
These are some comments about Special Forces physiques that I took from Quora, cleaned up grammar-wise, and expanded on a bit. Is anything like this even remotely accurate? “US special forces operatives are often bulky because they need to carry heavy equipment and weapons, and also because they need to be physically fit to perform their duties. Additionally, many special forces operatives engage in regular strength training and conditioning to maintain their physical fitness and readiness. When being a part of any specialized team it always requires different physical and mental strengths. -Dive/Scuba team members will do a ton of swimming and are usually lean. -Mountain team members do a lot of isotonic training and are generally tone. -HALO/Free Fall/Jump team members do core training and will mostly be stocky. -Mobility team Then of course each team member based on their MOS will sometimes have their own looks. -18A (Special Forces Officer) -18B (Special Forces Weapons Sergeant) look like knuckle draggers. -18C (Special Forces Engineering Sergeant) will have no neck. -18D (Special Forces Medical Sergeant) have a barrel chest. -18E (Special Forces Communications Sergeant) will have tree trunks for legs. -18F (Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant) look like meth-addicts. -18X (Special Forces Candidate) look like meth-addicts. -18Z (Special Forces Senior Sergeant) -180A (Special Forces Warrant Officer)”
Lot of stereotypes, most not true, don’t have the effort to go line by lines be. My dive team was the biggest most jacked ODA in the company, HALO teams are typically fat, I’m an 18E and everybody makes fun of how small my calves are. List goes on.
@@ValhallaVFT Your dive was the most jacked? According to a lot of sources, they’re the fastest runners, so I would have thought they would be lean, since excess bulk can reduce speed. HALO teams being fat I can see if they are trying to increase bone density to withstand landing on the ground after jumping and parachuting out of an airplane. However, I would thought that mountain teams who be the fattest since they are dealing cold weather more than the other teams due to being up in the mountains.
Did you ever focus on low rep work to get the 500+lbs squat or just high volume and 10x10. I ask because usually guys squatting that much do a lot of singles, doubles, and triples. I would presume you went higher in weight than 225 for 10x10.
The strongest I ever was was doing the high volume 10x10. Far more so than when I was trying to train for strength. But yes the weight goes up as well. That’s what worked for me at least.
@@ValhallaVFT gotcha, yeah I might give it a try, it’s been awhile since I’ve done super high volume like that. It will probably be a good shock to the system.
Now that I am retired I’m going down the ped routes, won’t get into specifics, but having major success with pain management and especially join issues with how many major surgeries I’ve had. Far more success than any normal type of medicine or recovery methods.
I’m struggling with speed. I’ve read many conflicting things and am currently attempting 59 miles a week with 3 speed days through the week. What caused you to get such insane times like a 12 minute 2 mile? How do you drop your run times fast?
Huge volume of miles isn’t going to help for increasing speed. That is done through workouts ranging from 100m sprint repeats, 400m or 800m repeats, even up to 1 mile repeats. Running them as fast as possible with as minimal rest as possible. Slow, long distance running will not improve your times for short distance run events.
I always just did generic upper body weight lifting, Lot of guys do kettlebell work. I still incorporated your standard bench press, deadlift, shoulder press, arms etc normal exercises, but I would do them in the same high volume moderate weight, low rest fashion, and typically superset everything. The idea being super high volume, super low rest.
I typically with do a 10 x 10 style workout twice a week, once with deadlift, once with squats. You can incorporate that into your regular training schedule how you see fit.
Ive noticed as i train more running rucking and calisthenics/weightlifting one of those 3 areas gets weaker while others get stronger. If my run times get better than my max calisthenics get worse. If i do more rucking than running than i get slower at running. Same as if i stick to focusing on weights and increase my pushups /pullups and squats then run times slow. Is it better to put more focus on one of the 3 ?
You need to be all around fit. Run a sub 13 minute 2 mile, a 2:30:00 minute 12 mile ruck and max the pushups/sit ups and you’ll crush any physical test in the course. Those are all very achievable simultaneously
@@ValhallaVFT thanks for telling me real standards. At 5 foot 10 180lbs I am not huge but I on average run about 12:45 2 mile. 12 mile ruck with 45lb dry 2 hour and 26 min. 96 max pushups in 2 min and 34 pullups max. Situps I did 106 but recently heard they are doing plank and hand release pushups now? Awesome advice btw your videos kick ass
The Romanians were in Afghanistan the same time I was, but didn’t personally work with them so I can’t comment on that. Most the euro SOF elements are good though.
For SFAS the ruck is typically 45-55 lbs for each event. I suggest not going above 45 lbs during training. I would work your distances up, start at 3 miles, increase each week by a mile or two. Be able to complete a 12 mile ruck with a 45lb rucksack in well under 3 hours and you are ready to go.
@ValhallaFirearmsTraining Thank you for the fast reply! I really appreciate it. Are those workouts you mentioned on top of other training you would do? If so, what other training during the week should one incorporate? I'm currently in AIT training at fort leonardwood going as an MP in the National Guard. My plan is to talk to a special forces recruiter once I get to Colorado and start the process of joining SF National Guard. I got a 543 on the ACFT. I still need a lot more to be competitive in SF though. Thanks for your time brother!
@@theecclesia6016 543 is pretty high level of fitness already so it sounds like you’re on the right track. The stuff I mention should definitely be in addition to a regular strength training program, it was just some ideas on the type of exercises you can do to build long distance muscle endurance. For selection and the q course it’s overwhelming lower body strength and endurance that’s going to carry you through, so make sure that is your focus.
Average SAS operator is slim guy, 175cm tall, 75 kg weight, but during DESERT STORM operation during patrol, they had equipment 90kg. Ask Andy McNab if you dont belive ;)
Hey I’m prone to getting blisters on my feet because I sweat alot and I believe that the sweat that makes my feet wet gives me blisters during ruck marches, any tips and tricks?
Smart wool socks #1. They’re expensive but made a massive difference for me in preventing blisters. If you’re willing to spend 20-30$ for a pair of socks. Also correct fitting boots, hard to find the perfect fit for you personally but will make a huge different once you do. Between the right boots and smart wool socks, I never got another foot blister again once I had the combination they worked for me.
remeasure your feet - for years always got blisters on rucks until i traced my feet on paper and measured with a ruler. Problem was the employee during in-processing gave me regular boots turns out I'm 4E width.
It’s important as well but not nearly as important as leg strength/endurance for the qualification course or high endurance events. You can implement the same lift schemes into things like bench press or upright rows as well.
You might consider yourself somewhat average or even slightly less than average for an SF team member, but I bet that you were much fitter than even the most fit of your adversaries (not counting the occasional elite athlete outlier on their side). I’m guessing that the same statement is true of GI Joe out there in 11 Bravo-Land.
Eh not really, when we did a battalion wide pre deployment fitness completion I placed 11 out of about 225 guys. So top 5% or so, but there were still some guys substantially more fit than me even at that level.
It’s more challenging but there are tons of short guys in SF. Keep in mind shorter guys also are carrying less body weight than guys my size so they actually have an advantage in a way in that regard. Think of it as total weight, your body weight+your load.
@@anthonygallegos3269 Yes. It's a super demanding job, very hard on the body, i'd imagine a lot of operators take ped's not only for increased performance, which your life might depend on at some point, but also injury recovery.
I had a HALO accident towards the end of my career, ended up having both shoulders reconstructed. I can’t reach back to pull my boc anymore at the moment so unfortunately I haven’t. I’m hoping I can recover to a point where I can get back to jumping on the civilian side.
@@drew8979 if you’re willing to make the investment in buying your own chute than that can drastically bring down the cost, heavy upfront investment but then all you’re paying for is lifts which aren’t that bad most places.
500 squat, 12 minute 2 mile, 34 minute 5 mile. Actually insane numbers.
Ha thank you, I was statistically only the 5th most fit guy on the 12 man team I was on at the time with those numbers though.
@@ValhallaVFTyou guys are super human fr
I had 38 minute 5 mile on a treadmill and I thought I was absolutely flying....then I started looking into what you guys do hahaha
@@davidoftheforest 38 on a treadmill is actually pretty fast. Thats probably closer to 34-35 on regular ground running.
@@matt6223 ha! When I was 28 maybe, those days and those numbers are well behind me now lol.
10x10 is brutal. Normaly no one would tell you to go high volume with high intensity. Normaly you pick one or the other. But it makes sense.
Exactly right, very rare you find someone advising training both high volume and weight, but that’s what the job entails on a regular basis.
would love a follow on video regarding injury prevention and maintaining your mobility/flexibility during qualification and deployment. rock on man
I’ll look into something like that, thanks for the idea. 🫡
Yes! high reps and drop set everything. There will never be a moment in your military career where you will be asked to shrug or curl something for 8-10 reps with a minute and a half rest.
You will squat a hundred times and go right into flutter kicks or pushups or planks. Or some other squat variation
Yep this is all exactly right. That’s why I mention training for military fitness like this is somewhat niche and doesn’t follow your typical fitness/weight lifting guidelines.
Great video! Everything that you've been putting out has been gold.
Thank you for the support 🫡
This is the best training insight I’ve seen on the SOF training style. Good shit.
Thanks man. I see a ton of content on giving out programs and whatnot, but haven’t seen many people talking about what exactly is trying to be achieved, hope this helps people.
@@ValhallaVFT For sure brother. This will help alot of people’s training styles and preparation.
Appreciate you're info man. I'm way past those days. Diabetes actually put me out of the military. I still workout, I still shoot, and younger men, think twice about hogging my bench!
Sorry to hear that, glad to hear you’re still staying after it.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge and experience. May God bless you. Thank you for your service sir.
Thank you for the kind words. 🙏
It can be personal for some guys, but I’d love to hear what kept you going when things got hard, or maybe it was multiple things that changed over time? I’m curious how you develop the mentality necessary for SF
I talk a little bit about that in my 3 keys to success video and developing that mentality. I’ll think about that though and see if there’s a way I can frame it that would be good for a video, thanks for the idea.
Many people who are insane athletes or members of those communities, are just driven people. They want to win regardless? Some of that can be developed, but when you're crossing a half frozen stream at 3 AM, and there's 12 miles to go after? That's just a driven bastard!
Nate Ty for this, I began implementing this 10x10 rep scheme on squats with 225, deadlifts with 225 and 145 on bench with about 90 seconds rest between sets. At the moment I’m getting smoked and hitting failure by the fifth or sixth set of 10, so I have scaled it to 5x10 and 5x5 and will look up to work up to more volume without lowering the weight . You were/are definitely a unit. Looking forward to the partnered fitness content.
I love the 10x10s (and that you mentioned them… people always asked me wtf I was doing when I did them) and a squat everyday style programs… for years my cardio/running was very minimal and pounding legs was more than enough to keep me exceeding the “standard” for Army and Air pt test.
Ya one of the best benefits to lifting in that way is it lowers the amount of miles you have to put in on the pavement to build endurance.
Sweet channel, broski.
I have a 525lb squat, sub 13 2 mile, and a 35 high 5 mile @ 35, 5’11, 190lbs. I’ve been nailing the running and am getting better, but THAT is the thing I’m most worried about. I love the lifting, and learning to love the running, but damn that shi is hard 😂
Your tips are going to help me reach that next level before I ship. Thank you for that, my guy!
With those numbers you’re pretty much g2g for anything you’re goin got come up against. Bringing run times down always helps, but ya for bigger guys it’s always the thing you gota work on the hardest.
@@ValhallaVFT 😂 “bigger guys.” I wish, I feel like a noodle these days coming down from 220 😂 on my first run (prior powerlifting bodybuilder), I had to give up the serious leg volume. Throwing those tree trucks around was miserable 😂 so was the 10min/mile all out 😂
I’m excited to see what else comes from your channel, keep it up, broski!
@@jefejeffwell1113 ya I’ve been up around 230, but any time I’m heavily doing endurance events I feel much better down around 200lbs or it’s just too much weight to move, also hard on the joints.
@@ValhallaVFT 100%
I get my best results between 180-195 depending on the focus at the time. Too light = injury; Too heavy = Injury 😂
Such a insightful video I just graduated high school and am actually taking a gap year to South Africa for about 10 months to get my PH (Professional Hunting license) both of my parents are from Cape Town but when I return, I really want to go into the military or Law Enforcment
Thank you for all the info.
Ive been needing some kind of direction in getting into more cardio. Im needing to cut weight and up my endurance more than anything.
High volume moderate weight lifting with the sprint workouts, coupled with a few long distance things a week has never steered me wrong throughout my career.
@@ValhallaVFT thank you!
Hey boss, thank you for always answering questions about Selection. I wanted to say I baught the 18A workout routine but did not enjoy it as much. I decided to try your method and have been doing it for a couple weeks and it’s definitely helped me get my 2 mile down from 16 min to 14:30. Still not the best but much better than before. I wanted to ask do you do that 10x10 principle for upper body and other muscle groups for the legs? Or just follow a normal isolation workout for them? Thank you again for your help and letting it be free. Your the man.
I personally haven’t seen or used 18A fitness, sorry to here you didn’t like it. And yea repeats always helped me lower my 2 run time in a short amount of time. Keep at it you’ll keep melting seconds off. As for the 10x10. I do it for deadlift as well, not really for any upper body, although I’m sure you could for compound lifts like bench press.
@@ValhallaVFT thank you for your reply. How much do you rest between the sprints? Do you rest as little as possible or give yourself about 2-3 minutes? Thank you again for your help.
I’ve heard Kevin’s 18a programs are pretty good. What didn’t you like about it? There is a ton of selection programs out now
What your describing is strength endurance training and it’s similar to how CrossFit structures part of their training and you can use it in the gym a example would by 60-70% max clean and press 15 sets of 2 with 90 seconds rest or like 20 sets of 1 rep deadlifts with 60 seconds rest and slowly add weight or reduce rest time
It’s a lot higher overall volume than most CrossFit workouts, but some of it is transferable for sure.
The SF guys at FNG academy, on TH-cam, have a ruck trainer they sell to utilize for SFAS Q- course training. Can be loaded with weighted plates to your desired weight/
Sounds pretty sweet. I definitely didn’t have anything like this back in the day, would just throw weights inside my ruck and strap it down lol.
Awesome stuff!! Thank you so much for this knowledge!
Excellent thank you.
I’ve been trying to enlist and the recruiters seem to be milking my situation since I need waivers. I went NG rout but the big army just told me they might get me in so hopefully I can. Asvab scores were good for 18x so I’m hoping I’m allowed to go. Thanks for the tips !
Hey brother good for you. Good luck on the endeavor, never quit. 🫡
been doing 5-7 mile runs at zone 2 three times a week along with weight lifting three times a week. My last pt test was a 15:01 2 mile, 60 Hand release PU, 20 pull ups and 3:40 plank and 1:07 six mile ruck with 45 pounds of bricks in my ruck😂
Could you do a video on the difference between NG SF and Active Duty? Do you have any experience working with NG SF?
Ya actually have quite a few buddies who are NG now. Regarding deployments there really isn’t that much difference, they go onto active duty orders and are technically active while on missions.
The biggest difference obviously comes in living a regular life and just doing your typical NG time. SF NG guys can typically be active as much or little as they want, so there is a lot of flexibility for them in that regard.
Awesome ! Thank you I will try those 10x10 and 4x800
Make sure you work up to that type of thing if you’re going to go for it, or definitely start at a very low weight getting accustomed to that type of volume. 👍
@@ValhallaVFT 🫡 Roger
i started training this year for sfas and i ended up injuring myself. i got a stress fracture in my shin for overtraining and that kinda took the wind out of my sails but im healed up now and taking things very slowly. it would be cool to see a video about how avoid injury when rucking in particular.
I got stress fractures so bad that I ended up breaking both my foot and my tibia in training. Unfortunately pretty common. I will say after having those injuries, they heal back much stronger and I never had any fractures issues after.
How and when did you program upper body work and include the tons of calisthenics stuff?
Hey Nate, my name is LEL glad I found your channel, I love the vids man. I'm 19 and I want to be an operator. I'm currently dropping weight. I used to be 365lbs down to about 275lbs.I have plenty of strength I used to be a competitive powerlifter but now doing more 10x10 kind of workouts and trying to incorporate more cardio to build my endurance. also got my first pull up recently. still very overweight lots of work to do. but any tips for knee health/tips in general? thank you!
Keep hitting it hard man, one of the most fit guys I ever worked with was over 350lbs in high school. Knee stuff is hard, I have had multiple knee surgeries, over 30 steroid injections, multiple nerve RFA procedures. Once they’re bad they stay bad, but I was able to continue to operator for years and badly damaged knees, so it’s doable, just painful.
oh wow so there's hope for me. its doable. that's all I needed to hear. Thank you I'll keep at it!!@@ValhallaVFT
I read that when training for sfas that it’s recommended to walk a few miles everyday or every other day with a ruck to toughen the feet and shoulders. The idea is to condition the body to being on your feet with a ruck all day. Would you suggest that or is rucking only 1-2x a week more optimal? Great video btw love the content
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Yea so I briefly mentioned that in the video about rucking once a week, I should have expanded on that. It’s important to do not so much for endurance but to build toughness in your feet, shoulders and back. Better to not be getting blisters.
Just subbed to your channel. I am curious as do you think just high rep calisthenics would be ideal as well to prepare for Selection? Such as Burpees like Iron Wolf’s method? Thank you. Also, what is your opinion on the NG SF? Do you think it’s better for an individual with children? Thank you and sorry for all the questions.
Calisthenics can be great, especially to get better at things like push-ups/pull ups that you’re tested on regularly.
I was never in the NG so I don’t have a great knowledge base on it, but in general I think guys have more freedom to decide how active or not they want to be compared to active duty.
@@ValhallaVFT thank you for your reply. I was AD as an Grunt and have been out for a couple years and am considering to go the Guard route. I really wish to do this but also plan to get married to my fiancé in about a year and felt the Guard route sounds like the best option. Thank you for your response brother.
Any chance you might do a video talking giving an overview of 1st Group? Seen lots of guys from 5th and 3rd but not a lot of info from 1st. Stuff like the languages, countries in the AOR, and what the partner forces are like in the Pacific.
Haven’t had anyone bring that up, but that’s definitely something I could do. Outside of Afghanistan obviously I spent time all over Asia. Philippines, Japan, Korea, Mongolia, Australia etc. I’ll sit down and see how that could look for a video, thanks for the suggestion.
@@ValhallaVFT _Great Channel Warrior. Awsome to see a 1SFG Guy. I trained with 1stBN on Oki in the Marines and Worked alot with 1SFG in AFG 12-13 In Army In South and West Doing some FID. Crazy World.
@@longriflem14 I was just out in 1-1 in Oki the last few years. Actually worked with the marines a lot while I was there.
@@ValhallaVFT - Good Ol. Torii. The Jewel of Oki. I was at Camp Schwab uggh on my Dep there. I wish I remember the ODA in A-Stan worked with wanna say it was 1123 or 1223. 10years already can't believe. Congratulations on you Ret too. I hung it up in 21' with 26years. Miss the Clowns but not Circus. Might have had a different tune if I was SOF but was just a Nasty Leg! Can't wait to see what's next brother on your Channel buddy and watch it grow. Rock On Bro!!!
@@longriflem14 miss the clowns but not the circus, that’s perfect lol. And hell ya man Tori is the best! Where else can you have beach parties at work.
This sounds a lot like training for CrossFit. Do you think these types of training are similar?
I do have one question: when you say incorporate a long distance run into your routine, how far would you say a man should go at the minimum vs what you should try to go for? And at what pace? Im currently wanting to go Air Force TACP or Special Recon but my max run was about 7.25 miles at roughly a 10 minute ish mile pace, totalling my run at 1:25:00 roughly
I typically just did a 5-6 miler since that is a pretty common test you do all the time. I didn’t worry about running much further distance than that.
For much further distance training, I would typically save that for my rucks.
I’d say you do need to get your run time down though, you should be able to run sub 9 minute pace for any unknown distance.
What’s going on Nate!? Looking good. 🇺🇸💪🏼
Yo! Thank you 🙏
Did you also do any strength training upper body 5x5 or 3x5, BB press, BB bench, accessory (db flys/db pull over), and then also deadlift for back, BB or DB good mornings, reverse DB lung, Bulgarian DB while you where on a ODA during the week?
What uniforms did you wear back then, Crye G3 or AC or Patagonia Level 9 and what do you prefer ? ? ?
We had Patagonia’s. I personally have Crye G3’s now for personal use. Honestly they are both awesome and super comfortable. I think the Crye pants fit me a little better though overall.
Did you guys do any CrossFit? Is it a good training style for operator fitness?
It lacks long distance and aerobic work. It's good for LEOs. Since they don't require a heavy endurance component.
Were you doing any accessory work after the squats or was that it?
The squats were just part of overall bigger workouts, just talked about those as an idea of the type exercises.
We would do that same type of 10x10 for all kinds of stuff, deadlifts, bench etc.
@@ValhallaVFT ahh ok, that makes sense. Appreciate it.
Did you do accessory work for your lower back and knees?
Hey, could you do a video on language school and what that's like?
It might be kind of a boring video. Honestly it’s basically a advanced college class for language. 6 months, 8 hours a day with an instructor, usually about 4 of us in a class. That’s pretty much the extent of it, nothing too special.
Very interesting
I’m trying to gear up for an 18x contract as a 30yr old. Strength isn’t an issue but..
I tested my run and ruck times ( I haven’t been training these at all and wanted to find my starting point ) and got a 6:40 mile that crushed me after the first .4 miles
and a ( 45lb )15:30 ruck avg mile, with a 15:12 on my last mile
Should I take 3 or 6 months for my train up?
Hey man, join our discord, talk about all this kind of stuff over there. discord.gg/Ucarzh98
@@ValhallaVFT Definitely will, thank you. 🙏🏽
@@ValhallaVFTI click the link, but it says expired
@@gunnerrl8073 discord.gg/F4MwXuRB that should work
@@ValhallaVFT that worked, thanks boss
Did going 18x and the prep course help prepare you physically for SFAS and Q course
Yes it actually is a great course. I was a college athlete coming into the service, but basic training really ruins a lot of your fitness levels as it pertains to being ready for selection. So that course before selection is great at putting back on strength and endurance. You also get to do a bunch of land nav which is massively helpful for selection.
How did you work out for push ups
That one’s not really rocket science. The best way to do more push ups is to do a ton of push ups. Do a couple hundred a day every day and you’ll see improvements pretty fast.
What about training for law enforcement for swat for example which is the closest to military although distances, gear weight etc doesnt compare.
Thx
Training should still look very similar except I would put extra focus into martial arts training, still a physical job.
Do you think repeats are really beneficial who never established a high level of running base ie zone 2 running
Are these trained on 2 seperate full body days ? No other lifting days during the week ?
Augmented as just a part of all the other lifting I do.
@@ValhallaVFT so you might do 10x10 bench , 10x10 row 10x10 squat one day , and on your other day 10x10 overhead , deadlift , pull up … etc ? I guess to more clearly frame my question ,how many days of the week for lifting and how do you split it up ??the week is set up sprint ,lift,sprint ,lift,ruck ,rest,rest ?
Or
Pull,sprint,push,sprint,legs,ruck,rest? Etc
Thanks for the reply
These are some comments about Special Forces physiques that I took from Quora, cleaned up grammar-wise, and expanded on a bit. Is anything like this even remotely accurate?
“US special forces operatives are often bulky because they need to carry heavy equipment and weapons, and also because they need to be physically fit to perform their duties. Additionally, many special forces operatives engage in regular strength training and conditioning to maintain their physical fitness and readiness.
When being a part of any specialized team it always requires different physical and mental strengths.
-Dive/Scuba team members will do a ton of swimming and are usually lean.
-Mountain team members do a lot of isotonic training and are generally tone.
-HALO/Free Fall/Jump team members do core training and will mostly be stocky.
-Mobility team
Then of course each team member based on their MOS will sometimes have their own looks.
-18A (Special Forces Officer)
-18B (Special Forces Weapons Sergeant) look like knuckle draggers.
-18C (Special Forces Engineering Sergeant) will have no neck.
-18D (Special Forces Medical Sergeant) have a barrel chest.
-18E (Special Forces Communications Sergeant) will have tree trunks for legs.
-18F (Special Forces Intelligence Sergeant) look like meth-addicts.
-18X (Special Forces Candidate) look like meth-addicts.
-18Z (Special Forces Senior Sergeant)
-180A (Special Forces Warrant Officer)”
Lot of stereotypes, most not true, don’t have the effort to go line by lines be. My dive team was the biggest most jacked ODA in the company, HALO teams are typically fat, I’m an 18E and everybody makes fun of how small my calves are. List goes on.
@@ValhallaVFT Your dive was the most jacked? According to a lot of sources, they’re the fastest runners, so I would have thought they would be lean, since excess bulk can reduce speed.
HALO teams being fat I can see if they are trying to increase bone density to withstand landing on the ground after jumping and parachuting out of an airplane. However, I would thought that mountain teams who be the fattest since they are dealing cold weather more than the other teams due to being up in the mountains.
This is probably a dumb question but do any team guys smoke occasionally/dip and still maintain this level of fitness?
The majority of guys smoke/dip but it definitely doesn’t help with fitness.
Did you ever focus on low rep work to get the 500+lbs squat or just high volume and 10x10. I ask because usually guys squatting that much do a lot of singles, doubles, and triples. I would presume you went higher in weight than 225 for 10x10.
The strongest I ever was was doing the high volume 10x10. Far more so than when I was trying to train for strength. But yes the weight goes up as well. That’s what worked for me at least.
@@ValhallaVFT gotcha, yeah I might give it a try, it’s been awhile since I’ve done super high volume like that. It will probably be a good shock to the system.
Any PEDs or non traditional recovery methods?
Now that I am retired I’m going down the ped routes, won’t get into specifics, but having major success with pain management and especially join issues with how many major surgeries I’ve had.
Far more success than any normal type of medicine or recovery methods.
I’m struggling with speed. I’ve read many conflicting things and am currently attempting 59 miles a week with 3 speed days through the week. What caused you to get such insane times like a 12 minute 2 mile? How do you drop your run times fast?
Huge volume of miles isn’t going to help for increasing speed. That is done through workouts ranging from 100m sprint repeats, 400m or 800m repeats, even up to 1 mile repeats. Running them as fast as possible with as minimal rest as possible. Slow, long distance running will not improve your times for short distance run events.
Thanks man. I’m assuming you trained like that while prepping for SFAS? Or when you were a college athlete?
@@dylboy2508 did a lot of that stuff throughout my entire time to help keep my run time down. Also good workouts for helping lose extra weight.
Any suggestions on upper body exercises?
I always just did generic upper body weight lifting, Lot of guys do kettlebell work. I still incorporated your standard bench press, deadlift, shoulder press, arms etc normal exercises, but I would do them in the same high volume moderate weight, low rest fashion, and typically superset everything. The idea being super high volume, super low rest.
Forgive the dumb question but how would you split this through out the week?
I typically with do a 10 x 10 style workout twice a week, once with deadlift, once with squats. You can incorporate that into your regular training schedule how you see fit.
@@ValhallaVFTand this is on top of a “normal” workout right? Just want to make sure I’m getting everything right
Ive noticed as i train more running rucking and calisthenics/weightlifting one of those 3 areas gets weaker while others get stronger. If my run times get better than my max calisthenics get worse. If i do more rucking than running than i get slower at running. Same as if i stick to focusing on weights and increase my pushups /pullups and squats then run times slow. Is it better to put more focus on one of the 3 ?
You need to be all around fit. Run a sub 13 minute 2 mile, a 2:30:00 minute 12 mile ruck and max the pushups/sit ups and you’ll crush any physical test in the course. Those are all very achievable simultaneously
@@ValhallaVFT thanks for telling me real standards. At 5 foot 10 180lbs I am not huge but I on average run about 12:45 2 mile. 12 mile ruck with 45lb dry 2 hour and 26 min. 96 max pushups in 2 min and 34 pullups max. Situps I did 106 but recently heard they are doing plank and hand release pushups now? Awesome advice btw your videos kick ass
@@18x-wv6jc those numbers will put you in top 20% of the class. Actually very similar to mine while I was in the course.
@@ValhallaVFT fuck yea very motivating to hear.
Did you get the chance to work with the Romanian SOF? If so, how did they seem to you?
The Romanians were in Afghanistan the same time I was, but didn’t personally work with them so I can’t comment on that. Most the euro SOF elements are good though.
@@ValhallaVFT, thank you for your response. Do you have any information regarding the U.S SOF deployment locations now?
@@Rugas-r9g something like 80 different countries, pretty much all over the world.
How long should the ruck/run be for? Also, how much weight for the ruck?
For SFAS the ruck is typically 45-55 lbs for each event. I suggest not going above 45 lbs during training. I would work your distances up, start at 3 miles, increase each week by a mile or two. Be able to complete a 12 mile ruck with a 45lb rucksack in well under 3 hours and you are ready to go.
@ValhallaFirearmsTraining Thank you for the fast reply! I really appreciate it.
Are those workouts you mentioned on top of other training you would do? If so, what other training during the week should one incorporate?
I'm currently in AIT training at fort leonardwood going as an MP in the National Guard. My plan is to talk to a special forces recruiter once I get to Colorado and start the process of joining SF National Guard.
I got a 543 on the ACFT. I still need a lot more to be competitive in SF though. Thanks for your time brother!
@@theecclesia6016 543 is pretty high level of fitness already so it sounds like you’re on the right track. The stuff I mention should definitely be in addition to a regular strength training program, it was just some ideas on the type of exercises you can do to build long distance muscle endurance.
For selection and the q course it’s overwhelming lower body strength and endurance that’s going to carry you through, so make sure that is your focus.
@ValhallaFirearmsTraining Thank you and have a great evening.
Average SAS operator is slim guy, 175cm tall, 75 kg weight, but during DESERT STORM operation during patrol, they had equipment 90kg. Ask Andy McNab if you dont belive ;)
Hey I’m prone to getting blisters on my feet because I sweat alot and I believe that the sweat that makes my feet wet gives me blisters during ruck marches, any tips and tricks?
Smart wool socks #1. They’re expensive but made a massive difference for me in preventing blisters. If you’re willing to spend 20-30$ for a pair of socks.
Also correct fitting boots, hard to find the perfect fit for you personally but will make a huge different once you do.
Between the right boots and smart wool socks, I never got another foot blister again once I had the combination they worked for me.
I have the same problem.
remeasure your feet - for years always got blisters on rucks until i traced my feet on paper and measured with a ruler. Problem was the employee during in-processing gave me regular boots turns out I'm 4E width.
🤙🏻
Any of yall find a sample program of this?
What would you recommend for an upper body workout with the same concept or is that not as important?
It’s important as well but not nearly as important as leg strength/endurance for the qualification course or high endurance events. You can implement the same lift schemes into things like bench press or upright rows as well.
You might consider yourself somewhat average or even slightly less than average for an SF team member, but I bet that you were much fitter than even the most fit of your adversaries (not counting the occasional elite athlete outlier on their side). I’m guessing that the same statement is true of GI Joe out there in 11 Bravo-Land.
Eh not really, when we did a battalion wide pre deployment fitness completion I placed 11 out of about 225 guys. So top 5% or so, but there were still some guys substantially more fit than me even at that level.
@@ValhallaVFT I’m sure you find some amazing people in the PT world in that organic
Is it hard for short guys in sf to carry that much weight over long distances.
It’s more challenging but there are tons of short guys in SF. Keep in mind shorter guys also are carrying less body weight than guys my size so they actually have an advantage in a way in that regard. Think of it as total weight, your body weight+your load.
Hey man, do you have contact info for sponsorships?
I added my business email to my about me page. ValhallaFirearmsTraining@gmail.com
how prevalent is steroid use in the SF community?
Good question I don’t hear about actually
That is a good question
Way more of them are cycling PEDs then regular people realize. Doesn't diminish their accomplishments
It is very prevalent in SF community. There are a couple documentary investigating performance enhancing drugs.
@@anthonygallegos3269 Yes. It's a super demanding job, very hard on the body, i'd imagine a lot of operators take ped's not only for increased performance, which your life might depend on at some point, but also injury recovery.
Do you still jump?
I had a HALO accident towards the end of my career, ended up having both shoulders reconstructed. I can’t reach back to pull my boc anymore at the moment so unfortunately I haven’t. I’m hoping I can recover to a point where I can get back to jumping on the civilian side.
@@ValhallaVFT seems to be the norm, I think I’m gonna go thru AFF and get my license eventually but it’s a real expensive sport
@@drew8979 if you’re willing to make the investment in buying your own chute than that can drastically bring down the cost, heavy upfront investment but then all you’re paying for is lifts which aren’t that bad most places.