The FASTEST Way To Train for Special Forces (2024)

To make rapid progress in 2024, you NEED to do something different.  In this article, I outline a 10-step guide on how to prepare for special operations as a beginner. Get the free programs I reference in the article here.

1) Recognize the gravity of selection and where you are today

If you’re out of shape or far from your goal, you should feel anxious about the obstacles ahead.

Where most guys go wrong, is they dwell in that state of panic, research every last bit of the pipeline, and ignore the one factor that will give them a shot – their physical fitness.

2) Shrink your time horizon

If that sounds like you, it’s actually not a bad thing. It means you care, but you just don’t know how to start. I want you to take that nervous energy and turn it into something constructive.

It starts with shrinking your time horizon.

Rather than thinking in terms of months, think about what you need to accomplish this week.

Here’s a basic example:

3 strength sessions and 3 cardio sessions. I’ll share details later, but you can hit special operations standards with this routine.

3) Start Building For Your Fitness

Before you say “That’s impossible”, or, “You need to run 50 miles per week”, you are fundamentally mistaken. There is training the fitness necessary for selection, and then there’s training for selection.

You need to build a base of strength and endurance, which to start, does not require more than 5 hours per week.

4) Learn To Train

Most also don’t realize powerlifters can do as few as two working sets of deadlifts per week and still add weight to the bar every time.

But how is that the case, when 90% of people who go to the gym look the same, or worse, year after year?

The difference is everyday people are exercising, they are not training.

If you’ve played sports, you know what it means to train. You do drills, you watch film, you sharpen your skills, and it’s all to peak on that one day. If you apply this mindset, you’re halfway there

5) Clear Outcomes

The other side of training is having clear outcomes and workout targets. Here’s an example of Monday’s schedule. The full program is here.

This session can be completed in under an hour, but it’s still very hard.

The reason why it’s hard is your target is progressive overload. Meaning every session you should aim to add more weight or do more reps. For beginners, this will come easy. But once the weights start getting heavier, training will force changes to your lifestyle.

6) Make Lifestyle Changes

What I mean is if last time you hit 225 for 3 sets of 5 on squats and just barely hit that last rep. Your job is to hit a sixth rep this time.

The way you do that is eat and sleep well the night before, hydrate, and come to the gym ready to attack the weights and set new PRs

I want you to contrast this with last session you hit in the gym. 90% of people go into the gym tired, having slept and ate like garbage and do what they *feel* like not what they *need* to.

Or, on the off chance they do have a program, they have no weight target and no intensity

That is the difference between training and exercising.

7) Breakthrough Your First plateau

Now, at some point in your journey, you are going to plateau – it happens to everyone.

How you respond to a plateau is what separates those who burn out and leave comments like this, and those who stick with it and accomplish what others believe is impossible.

People Who Plateau and Gave Up:

Are You Really Plateaued?

But first, recognize there’s a good chance you’re not plateaued. That same anxious voice in your head that caused you to panic at the start will be in your ear and say “You’re not doing enough”, “You need to do some funky program from Instagram”, “Start running 10 miles a day”, and “Start eating paleo so you get to 8% body fat”.

Most of the time, that voice is wrong. When you hear that voice, I want you to stick to your current routine for one more week. But during that week I want you to double down on the basics – good sleep, good nutrition, and hard effort.

The problem with listening to that voice is it results in what I call schizophrenic training, it’s the training equivalent of a yo-yo diet. Usually, it starts when you miss a day or two and then decide to make up 2 or 3 sessions in one day because you feel guilty. When you do that, you get ultra sore, and your training for the next two days suffers. You get feelings of self-doubt, then get a burst of motivation after taking a day off because you feel guilty for not training and then the cycle repeats.

Don’t follow into that trap.

8) Pivot Your Training

If you truly are plateaued though, I recommend taking a deload. If you’re doing the free program, take a Thursday and Friday off, do an easy jog on Saturday, and then take Sunday off. Not only will this be good for recovery, but by the time Sunday comes rolling around, you should be itching to get back to training.

When you do, you can either start back on the same routine, or you could add more volume.

If you plateaued on strength, add another lift on Tuesday.

Or, if you’re plateauing on endurance, add an easy jog after your Thursday run.

You’ll notice I’m making small tweaks and adjustments to optimize your performance. In the same way that if you have a stomach ache, you don’t rush to a doctor for stomach cancer – we shouldn’t make drastic adjustments to your training either.

9) The Boring Middle (Keep Going)

At this point, you’re in what I call the boring middle. It’s too soon to start the selection-specific workouts in the next step, but you’re still at least several months away from selection and need to develop the strength and endurance to be successful.

This is where real grit and determination are built. Listen to this clip of David Gogins:

10) Peaking For Selection

As you get closer to selection you should slowly increase your training volume and begin incorporating selection-specific workouts like this one.

Conclusion

Training for selection is a gargantuan task, especially if you’re out of shape. A healthy amount of anxiety over what is ahead is normal. Allow that nervousness to energize you to DOMINATE your training, sleeping, and nutrition. Fill out the 1 on 1 coaching form to see if you qualify.

Here is the Smartest Way to Train for Special Operations.