rucking

Passing Selection Land Nav: Have an Accurate Pace Count

In helping candidates prepare for Selection, we’re going back to the basics and hitting on and revisiting all of the topics that generally give candidates the most issues. The three biggest issues that stop candidates from being selected, and are foremost on their minds (judging from the emails we get) are Physical fitness preparation, rucking and land navigation.

After the first few days of Selection, you’ll get to experience the Land Navigation course firsthand, and if that happens to be the Star Course in Hoffman, NC at SFAS, then you’ll experience all three in the toughest individual land nav course in the military.

But as we’ve stated, the biggest failure is the failure to prepare. If you are properly prepared, there is no reason you can’t do what thousands of Special Operations Forces troops before you have accomplished. It is more of a mental block than anything else.

Our physical training program which we publish daily will help you attain the level of physical fitness that you’ll need to not just pass the course but to excel. It is a 17-week preparation for the rigors of Selection and starts slowly, works its way up to where you should be ready to go. Included in that is plenty of rucksack marching. We’ll revisit some more rucking tips in the very near future as well. Which brings us back to the Land Navigation course.

Everyone has heard the legends of the Land Nav course. Yes, the course is tough, it is the toughest individual land navigation course you’ll find in the US military. But it isn’t anything a cool head and a prepared candidate can’t pass. So, before we get to our subject matter this morning, it is time for an anecdote from “back in the day.”

The Legend of Diablo – One of the first classes we ran in at SFAS back in the fall of 1988, a class was getting ready to start a practice night navigation run when one of the candidates, who’d been acting really squirrelly, told the cadre member at his point that he couldn’t go out that night because Diablo (aka the Devil) was waiting for him.

The cadre member at first was dismissive of the young candidate, but then realizing he was legitimately freaked out, tried explaining that while the great Satan may exist, he’d never been seen in Hoffman, although most candidates would argue that he designed the course. The cadre member called it in and two of the roving vehicle cadre members pulled up to the point and after a few minutes, they had the young, scared candidate out on the course. The point being, if you can’t go out on your own navigating in the dark, Diablo or not, you can’t be in SF.

So off he goes. Thirty minutes later, the same candidate returns to his start point, totally freaked out and covered in blood, not his own. The stock of his weapon was cracked, covered with blood and hair. The candidate tells the cadre member that the ground opened up and Diablo tried to pull him into hell.

The call went out and every rover flew over to that point. The kid refused to go back to where he killed “Diablo” and the cadre tried to retrace his steps. In just a few minutes, they found the spot where the area looked like a mass murder had taken place. Fearing the worst, the flashlights came on and they reported back.

As the candidate was busting thru the underbrush, hearing his approach, a young deer, a fawn had gone to ground. The unlucky candidate actually paused directly over it. When he turned on his red lens flashlight, the fawn spooked and leaped to its feet, actually coming up between his legs. The kid then proceeded to bash the deer’s head in to where it was unrecognizable. It had to have been more than 50 blows from his weapon. Blood was everywhere.

The cadre members carried the poor unfortunate fawn back to the point where no amount of persuasion would convince the candidate that Diablo didn’t “come out of the ground” to get him. He was done. And was gone quickly. While Hoffman may seem like the Devil’s playground, you won’t have to worry about him coming out of the ground.

So, without further ado, we are on to one of the most basic of skills in moving during navigation, and that is your pace count.

Having an Accurate Pace Count is Very Important: To be successful during the land navigation course requires, plotting the points accurately, planning a good route (which we’ll get to soon) and having an accurate pace count. In certain areas, with very distinct terrain features, your pace count isn’t as important because you can pinpoint your location by identifying the surrounding terrain. But in places like Hoffman where terrain features are very indistinct, knowing your pace is very important because you’ll need to know how far you’ve traveled.

The first thing you must do is to set up a 100-meter course on flat terrain. Walk it three times and every time your left foot hits the ground, count it. Take the total number of steps you’ve walked and divide by three. That is your baseline pace count. If you are near a track or a football field, you can use that or just take a spool of 550 cord and mark out 100 meters and put some knots in it or tape it to keep the correct distance You’ll thank me later.

Now wait until dark and walk the flat course again, three times. Your pace count will probably increase in the dark, keep a notation in your notebook that should always be in your pocket. Mark down what your pace count is for daylight on flat terrain and your night pace count.

Now take your 550 cord out into the woods and try to find some rougher, hilly terrain. Lay out the 550 cord and walk the course again three times in the day and three times in the dark. Did your pace count increase with the difference in terrain? It should have.

Now complete this exercise again in the woods but with a rucksack on and repeat the steps in rough hilly terrain, day and night. Your pace count should increase dramatically with a heavy rucksack on especially once you start hitting hills and thicker vegetation.

Remember, if you plan to use your Ranger beads every time you travel 100 meters. Slide the lowest bead to the bottom. Most of them come with nine beads after you slide nine down, the next 100 meters brings you to a klick and you can push them all back up to the top. I highly recommend using them or making your own out of 550 cord, it is a valuable tool and comes in handy so that you don’t have to remember exactly how far you have to go and how far you’ve gone.

Remember this…your pace count is just a piece of the puzzle. You have to plot your points correctly and get an azimuth to where you are going. Your pace count should give you a very good reference point as well as using terrain association off of your map.

A couple of things to consider, when the weather turns on you, and it will, the rain, snow or sleet will cause you to take shorter steps and increase your pace count, especially at night. Exhaustion will do the same thing. As you get tired during the course or during a field training exercise, your level of exhaustion will increase your pace count even if moving during daylight hours in open terrain.

In time, you’ll become a seasoned pro at this and will know just by the conditions that you are dealing with what your pace count will be. And it will change over time. My pace with just web gear on flat terrain was 62 back in the days of Phase 1 at Camp Mackall.

But with a rucksack and a heavy load, it went up to 73. But I noticed after I had been in Group for a while and your rucksack becomes a part of your body, my pace counted lessened to between 68-69 depending on conditions. You’ll find that you will have similar results.

Another tip on pace counts. If you plot your point and you have 4 kilometers (klicks) between points, don’t try to keep a pace for the entire distance. Pick out a terrain feature or road intersection as an attack point. Use deliberate offset (More on that later) to find it. Keep your pace count to that attack point and make a notation with a grease pencil on your map case. If any of your fellow students or training partners have been in either the Ranger Regiment or an Airborne or Light Infantry unit, they’ll probably have some experience doing this.

It is a great way to check your pace and see how close you come to your plotted points. By the time you finish Selection and the subsequent qualification course, you’ll find you pace counts and distances are coming really close to the distances when you plot them on your maps.

But failure to keep a pace count can really hurt you if become disoriented, especially in the dark. It is a valuable tool that every successful SFAS candidate should use while you’re out on the course.

So, when navigating, keeping an accurate pace count is not only a helpful aid but essential. If you find that you’ve drifted on the course, the distance traveled will definitely help get back on track and find your points.

Failure to prepare will result in course failure. And getting lost is the ultimate embarrassment. That will get you a red face when the cadre has to search for you and usually ends up with the candidate doing the long walk to the trucks back to Ft. Bragg. The last thing you want to see is your rucksack in the hallway.

We’ll get to some more Land Navigation tips and some important Map Reading do’s and don’ts in some of our upcoming articles soon. Until then, if you have any questions, feel free to email me [email protected] or Tweet them to me (@SteveB7SFG) and I’ll be happy to answer them. Either privately or in a post such as this (without naming names).

Photo courtesy of DOD

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 5

Continue to prep for the UBRR and focus on some speed work today with the runs. Speed work will help with your endurance and explosion. Work on using perfect form when doing your exercises.

The cadre at Selection are meticulous at grading form. The time to get it right is now. Then the graded test in the course will be much easier. Remember, everyone gets graded the same.

Training:

5 x 1-mile run Go as quickly as you can with a minimum of 5-minute rest between runs. Record your average mile time.

5 x 30 seconds of Pushups.

5 x 30 seconds of Sit-ups

1 x 20 Knees-to-Elbow hanging from the pull-up bar, or until muscle failure

2 x 10 pull-ups or until muscle failure

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 4

We’re going to do a smoker this morning of pushups, sit-ups, and crunches that you can either do at the gym or on the ground and then head back out on the rucking trails. Let’s pump these out as quickly as possible, understanding that there isn’t a time limit but to build up your endurance.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 pushups (no time limit)

100 sit-ups (no time limit)

100 crunches

5-Mile Rucksack march: Go as hard and as fast as possible without running. Log your time in your workout log book and hydrate, during the ruck.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 2, Day 1

Time for our Sunday morning rucksack march, we’ll warm up with quick exercises and a stretch and then hit the trail for a 5-mile march over varied or uneven terrain. Make sure that ruck fits correctly and the same for your boots and socks. You can reference some of our earlier pieces for any information on those.

Try to push as hard as you can without running. Do the best that you can. And remember to drink plenty of water on the course, and don’t let yourself get dehydrated.

Training:

Warm up 30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Warm up 30 seconds Spider-Man Planks

5-mile Ruck march over varied terrain with a minimum 45-pound ruck (75 minutes max)

Stretch well after completion

Selection Tip of the Day: Say Goodbye To Shin Splints When Rucking

When wanting to pass the various Selection courses in the military, we tend to lean towards the physical preparation but speak about the courses being mostly mental in nature. Well, the two definitely go hand-in-hand as the more physically prepared you are, the more confident you will be when tackling the next obstacle in your path.

This tip today fits right into this. While it is physical in nature, dealing with a problem like we’re going to discuss today will go far in being a mental hurdle that won’t have to be crossed. This will become much clearer below.

One of the biggest issues we’ve found in candidates that failed to get Selected was that their failure was a combination of both the physical and mental. How so? Many of the candidates underestimated the physical preparation required to pass and showed up woefully unprepared. As a result, they began to suffer trying to pass the physical gates and keep up with the grind that is Selection.

As they became more and more worn down, at a faster rate than their peers, they sensed that they were falling behind and failing. And as it so often happened, they mentally checked out. While they “officially” didn’t voluntarily withdraw, they quit. You could see it in their eyes and it happened far too often to be a fluke.

One of those issues, a very common one among candidates, especially among those who were coming from a non-light infantry, airborne, or Ranger type of unit was their inability to carry a rucksack. It became apparent rather quickly which candidates followed the PT program to prepare and which ones didn’t. Several looked like they never picked up a ruck before stepping foot in Selection, where they thought, they’d be able to gut thru the course…wrong.

It takes quite a bit of time to properly prepare for the rigors of Selection, for the newcomers to the military or in those type of units mentioned above, it will be measured in months. For the already hardened troops, that prep time will be lessened a bit.

But on the subject of rucking, the only way to get better at it is to practice it. It is no different than shooting or any other perishable skill. That’s why we put out a daily physical training workout that should help our readers who are aspiring Special Operations candidates get properly prepared to attend the course.

We routinely have the candidates run most days with about 3 days a week dedicated to rucking. And one of the most common problems among the newcomers while rucking comes in the form of shin splints.

Shin splints, which are preventable, are allowed to take hold, will lead to blisters and a myriad of problems after that.

While I’m no doctor, PA or a Special Operations Medic, and I can’t give you a medical diagnosis for what they are but I can explain in layman’s terms. Shin splints are when you get pain just below the knee down the front of your shin and it feels like your calves are trying to bust thru the shin bone. For anyone who has ever got them, they can be very painful, especially the morning after a long road march. Yes, even many of the FOGs got them after a long-range movement, usually from dehydration. Which is why we always preach stretching, before and after a long ruck and proper hydration which if you aren’t doing it, tends to make the cramping all over your body worse.

While a cadre member at Selection, we had a candidate who was a personal trainer before entering the military and he was doing a simple stretch that I hadn’t seen before. I asked him about it which meant that he immediately clammed up thinking it was wrong. But pressed, he swore by it and he and those of his class that did it together before a timed gate had much less instance of shin splints.

Before my next ruck session, I tried it and Voilà! It worked pretty well. This stretch is done by kneeling on the ground with your feet, legs, and heels together and lean as far back as possible. It doesn’t sound like a calf stretch but it does work especially when on the trail for a while and you stop for a moment. It can help and do wonders.

But that isn’t the best way to prevent them. So what’s the answer, you say? Ah….that is the $64,000 question. Back when I was out at Selection, one night I during a class, I actually arrived home at a decent hour. We normally would just live out there during the classes as the hours were as long for the cadre as they were for the candidates when we were so short-handed. So after getting home, two of us were having a couple of beers with our neighbor who was an SF guy who became a Doc (PA) out at JSOC.

This was around the second week when the candidates began limping around with what we called the “Selection Shuffle”, that pronounced limp where the candidates would bounce/hop along in the compound that reminded one of “Stumpy” the Walter Brennan character in the John Wayne classic “Rio Bravo” with Dean Martin and a young Rick Nelson as well as Angie Dickinson.

Well anyway, the talk got around to the current course and we were talking about how the candidates were already hopping around. Our PA friend, deadpanned,“Were they walking like a duck?” Yes indeed, we said, at which time he said it wasn’t a shin, foot, or blister issue at all, but an issue with the hips. He then explained that a hip flexor issue with either tightness or weakness was the culprit.

Of course, we were intrigued by this but as he then explained, everything is interconnected and if a candidate has either tightness or weakness in those hip flexors, the strain of carrying the heavy weight of the rucksack will change their gait and put much more stress on their shins and feet. And no amount of stretching their calves out will compensate for bad hip flexors.

Which was why the candidates shuffling along would begin to stretch those calves out every night and each morning before we’d go off on another lovely trip in the pine forests and swamps of lovely Camp Mackall. And after a very short amount of time, they’d be right back in the same pickle.

I revisited this after going to physical therapy a couple of years ago. Arthritic knees were (and still do) the cause of intense discomfort and pain. Here, once again, my therapist said, due to the gait I was using to compensate for knee pain, my hips were tight.

And the cure for that is extremely simple, just stretch those hips out, by using a foam roller or a lacrosse ball. We used both the foam rollers and a lacrosse ball and the results were unbelievable. I was soon able to resume rucking again. Perhaps not to the same extent as back in the day but much, much more effectively.

This is why we push the squats and sled push in our physical training programs. I used to hate Leg Day at the gym, and at times due to arthritis there is anything I’d rather train but now we know we can’t ignore. And if you’re going to be in Special Operations, your legs are the vehicle that will get you around. They have to be strong and support your upper body by carrying all that weight. I suggest for the younger guys to follow and read everything that the guys at @SquatUniversity on Twitter have to say.

A final problem with shin splints is the act of rucking itself. Many…too many candidates ruck and will pound their heels into the ground. Which is a byproduct of the hip issue. This puts tremendous strain on your joints and will cause shin splints among other things. When you land on your heels, my PA told me that it is essentially 3-4 times your bodyweight landing on your feet.

When lifting your foot off the ground, it should be relaxed and when landing, you shouldn’t be landing on your heel but in the middle around the ball of your foot. Easier said than done right? But practice…practice and then practice some more. Your shins will thank you in the long run.

So, I’m taking the ice bags off the knees this morning and am going for a ruck before the sun comes up and I have my thrice weekly beatdown from my trainer at the gym. Who’s up for some rucking today? Don’t be late, don’t be light and don’t be last.

Photo courtesy: US Army

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1 Day 3

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

100 pushups (no time limit)

100 sit-ups (no time limit)

100 crunches

Rucksack march: Go as hard and as fast as you can for 1 hour. Do this without running. See what your distance is and make a notation. This will give you a goal to achieve in later training sessions.

Stretch well after completion

Special Operation Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 1, Day 1

How did everyone do on their UBRR Test from yesterday? If you passed but have some weak points, you now know what needs to be worked on. If you failed any portion of it, then you still have a lot of work to do. And know exactly what needs to get worked on.

What we’re going to do now is start back from the basics and get everyone back on the same sheet of music. Stick with us and we’ll get through this. We will go back to the basics and kick it off with our Sunday morning rucksack march. Do a quick warmup and head out with your rucksack.

Training:

Preparation for the UBRR:

Warm up 30 seconds Mountain Climbers

Warm up 30 seconds Spider-Man Planks

4-mile Ruck march over varied terrain with a minimum 45-pound ruck (60 minutes max)

Stretch well after completion

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 17, Day 7

Today we’re going to see where our fitness level is at by using a test using the new Special Operations Upper Body Round Robin (UBRR) Fitness Test. It measures functional fitness for the Special Operators much better than the traditional PT test.

This will mark the end of our 17-week Preparation PT Program. Judge where your fitness is at after the test and identify weaknesses that need to be addressed. Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin a new Preparation fitness program and start from Day 1.

Pushups: (1min) 40 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Sit-ups: (1min) 40 Minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Pull-ups: (not timed) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

Dips: (not timed) 6 minimum +2 points for each additional rep.

Bench Press: (80% body weight) 6 minimum +3 points for each additional rep.

20ft. Rope Climb: with a weighted vest or body armor, Pass/Fail

Kick-ups: (1minute) 6 minimum, +2 points for each additional rep.

25 Meter Shuttle Run: x 4, 24 seconds maximum. +2 points for each 1/10 sec. under

5 Mile Run: 40 minutes maximum +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.
or 5 Mile Ruck March: w/45 lbs +2 points for every full 15 seconds under max.

To pass the UBRR, participants must achieve a PASS in all events with at least the minimum score, and Receive at least 1100 total points from all the events combined.

Stretch well after completion

Selection Prep: Boots and Foot Care 101

We always get some questions vis-à-vis about passing Selection and most of the questions center around rucking and the land navigation course. While each has their own challenges for the Selection candidate, you’ll have to utilize both together while passing land navigation as you’ll be conducting it with a rucksack on.

While we encourage our readers who are aspiring SOF candidates to read and follow our Physical Training prep posts in getting physically prepared for the rigors of Selection, it all begins with having proper fitting boots and taking care of your feet.

As I’ve repeated many, many times, your feet and your brain are the two most indispensable parts of your body in Special Operations Forces. They are your lifeline in Special Operations. You MUST take good care of them or you won’t last a fortnight. Foot care will become second nature to all of you (if it isn’t already) after you spend some time in SOF.

The very nature of the Selection courses is designed to stress the candidates to the max, wear them down, and put you under stress. They are hard enough as it is. Factor in any foot problems and it is a battle that is a losing proposition. That isn’t to say that if a candidate gets a few blisters that he’s guaranteed to fail. That isn’t the point nor is it true. However, if foot problems are constant there and are slowing down the candidate, the odds of being selected go down sharply.

We aren’t going to break any new ground here. This is basic 101 type of stuff. I’ve spoken with some younger guys who are just entering the military for the first time or are just finishing up their initial entry training and are still finding their way. So there are questions that they have that anyone who has been in a light infantry or an airborne unit will know already. If you don’t have that background but have NCOs or officers that served in these type of units, seek out their advice on the subject before beginning your prep for Selection.

Boots, Boots, Boots: You’ll wear what Uncle Sam issues, so you’ll have to ensure that your boots fit properly. Too big is just as much of an issue as too small. I know some guys who got boots a half-size larger to take into account their feet swelling on long-range rucksack marches. I’m not a believer in this, however, if you’re one of those guys whose feet swell that much, it may just be something for you to consider. But for the average Joe? No, I wouldn’t do it.

The key for proper fitting boots is ensuring that the boot heel sits snugly around the rear of the foot while still allowing the toes some wiggle room up front. If your foot is sliding around too much, either front to back or side to side, you’ll have friction, which leads to blisters. If your boots are too tight, your toes will either be curled up inside or squished together and neither is a good option and is just a blister waiting to happen.

Having at least two pairs of boots prepared for Selection is essential. Having three broken in pairs would be even better. Ensure the boots you wear have good ventilation and water drainage as they’ll allow your feet to breathe and dry out when wet which will cut down on blisters. You’re going to get wet in Selection, nearly every day especially if you attend a winter class, but rest assured, winter, spring, summer or fall the candidates will get wet. During the day’s events, it is what it is and they just drive on continue on with the scenario.

That’s why having two or three pairs of boots, broken in boots is key to a successful course. When you’re finished for the day’s events, let them dry out and if available, stuff them with whatever is available, (paper towels, newspapers) to let them dry out. Wear the well-broken-in backup boots the next day and switch accordingly from day to day. Having to use a new pair of non-broken in boots in Selection is not the way to get thru the course with your feet intact.

I recall one February class when I was a cadre member at SFAS. It was cold and damp and rained hard or snowed on the candidates nearly every day. The dirt back roads and trails of Camp Mackall, North Carolina were soupy and underwater in many places. The candidates’ feet were wet nearly all the time and compounded by the course’s criteria, their feet suffered. Training never stops. Our cadre had just got issued Wolverine and Matterhorn winter boots and it made a big difference. But the students suffered constantly slogging thru cold, muddy water.

Nearly all had multiple blister problems and our cadre’s medics were working overtime. Many of the candidates had feet that resembled raw hamburger by the end of team week. They were forced into switching out their boots daily and those who didn’t have a second broken in pair suffered the worst of all. Several were forced to wear what more resembled moleskin booties than patches. Several were medically dropped, of those a couple had secondary boots barely broken in, despite what they were told prior to coming.

Proper Care for the Feet: Having been a cadre member at SFAS, I witnessed first hand all different manners of foot preparation and care. When assigned the night duty, another cadre member Doug P. and I would walk around the candidate’s barracks incognito at night to see how they were caring for themselves and their teammates. Yes, take note, you may not notice and many did not, but you’re always being evaluated.

In an earlier piece, I wrote that a successful candidate has to know his own body and what works and what doesn’t for him, long BEFORE he gets to Selection. Everyone is different and what works for me, may not work for you and vice versa.

Each one should have a good set of nail clippers when attending Selection and ensure that they take good care of those as needed. Some candidates spray their feet or use a roll-on antiperspirant which is supposed to stop the sweating which is the cause of blisters. While I was never a big believer in this, if your feet sweat profusely as mine do, then by all means, try it during your prep phase to see if it works for you.

Other students, I’ve seen use Vaseline or some type of oil or cream to reduce friction. Again, it isn’t something I’d recommend but it does work for some people.

What I’ve found to work for me was to use just a small amount of Gold Bond powder on your feet and in your socks before going on a ruck march. Not too much, like anything else, if you put half a tin in your socks, it will clump up and create just as many problems. It cuts down on friction which creates blisters. I’d recommend putting some around your crotch as well. If you get rubbed raw in the nether regions it won’t be pleasant walking 12 miles plus every day feeling like that.

Socks, Feet’s Last Line of Defense: Socks and their fit are just as important as boots are Just as proper socks will protect them from blisters, poorly fitted ones will cause even more problems.

We know that heat, friction, and moisture are the cause of blisters. While the proper fitting boots are the start, they are only half of the equation.

Candidates should start with a good pair of tightly fit synthetic or polypro socks that will wick the moisture away from your feet. Rub your feet down with a light coat of powder or whatever you choose and then turn them inside out. Why? So that the stitching inside won’t rub your toes and create hot spots. That stitching can and will cause blisters.

The thick military issued wool socks go over the inner layer of socks and once again inside out to prevent the stitching from rubbing and creating hot spots. The second sock reduces the friction and will absorb the moisture from the inner sock while cushioning your foot inside the boot.

This two-sock system is designed so that the friction will occur between the layers of socks rather than between the socks and your feet. Have enough pairs to be able to change socks frequently and the packing lists for Selection will state to have that many on hand. You’ll need them.

Start Slowly and Work up in Preparatory Training: When you are beginning your preparatory training, the rucking you’ll be doing should increase in both distance and intensity as the weeks go by. But don’t overdo it at first. You don’t train for a marathon by running one on the first day of training, and Selection is no different.

This will play right into your boots and foot care. Start with shorter rucksack marches. If you notice hot spots or blisters forming during prep ruck work, stop immediately and deal with those. Waiting until you’re done at this point in time may result in a much more serious blister which will set your training prep work back. If you don’t have any issues with a hot spot or a blister then your prep work can increase.

Remember, it is a marathon, not a sprint. The key is to work up to being able to carry a ruck all day long with the prescribed weight and do it all over again, day after day. Once a candidate is successful and is a member of one of the Special Operations Forces units in the military, the question of boots becomes much easier as there are a lot of great boots out there that the services allow their troops to wear. But for now, you wear what is issued and those are better than the old combat boot of days of yore.

As always, I appreciate the many questions that you have and will always be here to help in any way I can. Any questions or comments can be emailed to me [email protected] or at my Twitter account @SteveB7SFG

No Days Off, Keep on Rucking. DOL

Special Operations Forces Selection PT Preparation Week 17, Day 4

Wednesday is a back and shoulder day at the gym followed by a 6-mile rucksack march. Look to better the time that is the standard (90 minutes), and remember to hydrate throughout the march. Don’t forget to mark your progress in the workout log book and break in your second pair of boots.

Training:

More Preparation for the UBRR:

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, behind the neck (go as heavy as possible)

3 x 12 Lat Pulldowns, front

3 x 10 Seated Rows

3 x 10 Dumbbell Side Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Front Raises

3 x 10 Dumbbell Arnold Press

3 x 8 Shoulder Shrugs

6-mile Rucksack march (45-pound minimum, 90-minute maximum)

Stretch well after completion