Different physical strengths in CCT training - What matters the most?

 What physical attributes are good for special warfare training?

Focus on your strength

concentrate on your weakness

-Kannan Ravichandran

Is there a certain body type that does well in this type of intense training?  What kind of physical strengths do you need?  What should you focus on the most?

These are some of the questions I want to expand upon in this article.  

Before I entered training myself, I had this idea that all special forces men were lean and shredded because of all the physical activity. I imagined that they had a lot of muscle mass with perfect physiques; strong arms, thick legs, and big chests. 

My view was that you went into training looking somewhat normal, fit of course, and then your body and mind transformed into hardened warriors at the end. It was just this naive picture I had of things back then. Although you you do make a transformation, probably leaner than you've ever been, but there is no certain look.  There are many shapes and sizes.  

It doesn't really matter what type of physique you have.  Most people can get through the physical requirements of this training; but it will challenge everyone physically.  As you may have heard, the hardest part is the mental game.

Special operators have to be physically prepared for so many physical activities, but more than likely you won't be great at everything.  I was labeled at PT stud by some of the instructors and fellow teammates because I actually had the physical characteristics that I, and many other people, thought a combat controller looks like.  I'm average height, stocky build, big chest, strong arms, and could run faster than most guys.  So, I crushed the push ups, sit ups, and pull ups, and could run pretty fast.

This all looks great in the beginning.  But, I had some weaknesses, which I kind of glazed over in my preparation for training, the most notable, was swimming.  I'm not gonna even get into rucking because I didn't even attempt that before I entered training! 

Swimming

I was weak at swimming, especially freestyle, but swimming with rocket fins was not my strong suit either. Although with a lot of effort and determination, I was able to get my swim times with fins down enough that they were in a competitive time, which meant it kept the instructors happy and I was never in the last of the pack finishing a swim.    

Then, you had the guys that were at home in the water.  They could finish a 1500 meter fin swim in twenty three minutes with minimal effort, while I busted my ass to get just under thirty minutes ( twenty nine minutes and thirty seconds) and I had to focus the whole time.  constantly had to adjust my head position down in the water, kick from my hips and not my legs, and stay relaxed.

I'd say the number one physical attribute for someone to be successful in combat control, or any other type of special operations training on the same level ( any elite group that has combat dive as a standard course), is the ability to swim well.  If you can swim well, it translates over into all aspects of being in the water, the most important is the comfort level.  

The other physical aspects on land can be done, even if you struggle.  It's certainly a lot better knowing you have plenty of air to work with on the land, but in the water it becomes a perfect place to weed out anyone that cannot face it.  

I always knew I could gut through any kind of torture on land, no matter how much I was weighed down, but in the water, it's a different story.  None of us have gills.  And this, to everyone reading, is what separates people.  This is normal for people.

Combat Controllers are not primarily land based

A long time ago ( I say that now because it's been over ten years ago) things were a bit different in the selection process for pararescuemen and combat controllers.  The pararescue portion still did the old indoc style of training, which meant you certainly had to be naturally gifted in the art of swimming, or have trained your ass off properly before entering training,or you were toast.

A lot of of the combat control trainees, myself included, thought we were gonna go through the indoc program, but were informed of the changes the first week of training.  I breathed a sigh of relief that we were gonna do the official water confidence training later, but that didn't mean were weren't going to be hazed  in the pool throughout the pipeline.

When I would train with some of the pararescue trainees on the weekends, I realized they all had one thing in common.  They could all hold their breath for a really long time, and they were super comfortable in the water.

I also realized that I would have probably been over my head if we'd had to have done the water confidence training right our of the gate.

It took a long time for me to get close to where these pararescue trainees were in the beginning of their program; like about a year.  That's how much work I needed.  Don't ignore swimming like I did.

Take a serious look a the pool

I'm really not sure what I was thinking a lot of times when I was younger.  I remember working so hard to get physically prepared for combat control training, but I also remember ignoring the swimming part. I did swim, but I knew I wasn't a great swimmer and kind of glazed over that fact.

I was really good at ignoring my weak spots, or blind spots.  I was doing a Navy SEAL workout to prepare, and I convinced myself that I didn't need to focus on the water portion as much because the Air Force would handle the land operations and the SEALs would handle the water. 

 Being great at running and calisthenics didn't mean as much as I thought

But deep down I knew. I did my research.  The recruiters warned me that the pool was no joke, but I continued to focus on my strengths be cause it made me feel good.  I crushed the running times.  Five miles in less than 35 minutes, and 4 miles in 27 minutes, no problem.  A 150 pull up workout incorporating different types of difficult pull ups, I did it, and it made me feel good.  Even the super set work outs that did cycles of different types of push ups and abdominal exercises that would total 600 push ups and close to 700 abdominal exercises in a 45 minute time frame, yeah I could do that too.

This did boost my confidence, but the pool workouts kept getting harder.  The Run swim run workouts where I'd run 4 miles, then do a 1 mile swim, then another 3 mile run I completed, but my one mile swim never got timed, I just tried to complete it.  I didn't have the proper rocket style fins, only a pair of plastic, yellow type of toy fins.  My freestyle swim sucked on the hypoxic swimming portion and my rest times were way longer than they should have been. Again, I wasn't trying to be a SEAL, but I knew combat controllers do the same type of water training in the pipeline, but I was good a stuffing that fact just below the surface.  

Below the surface was where I was gonna be in a few months, whether I was ready or not.  

I was hit hard with the reality of my weaknesses in the cct pipeline.  I had the luxury of ignoring them for a while, but eventually I had to put in the work.  I had to work on the things that I wasn't good at.  I had to accept the fact that I wasn't physically good at everything.

Between learning to ruck march and becoming a better, stronger swimmer, I had my hands full in an already very difficult training pipeline.  

You can be a below average runner, not be great at physical training, and still do fine in training

It's rare for an individual to be good at everything physically in training.  It's common for people to be good in the pool, but struggle on the runs or pull ups.  Or, in my case, strong runners often have issues in the pool.  I saw a lot of guys that were awesome at calisthenics, but they were terrified of the pool.  Somewhere along the way, someone probably encouraged them to try and be a combat controller because they seemed physically fit and could do thousands of push ups, but they either weren't aware of the swimming, or they swept it under the rug, like I did. 

We all love doing things that we are good at.  It makes us feel more confident and it's comfortable.  It's also very easy to ignore things we may need to work on in training, or in our lives.  We all have blind spots that we may, or may not know are there.  We're all really good at seeing other people's weaknesses, but also leave ourselves unchecked.  

Although I've gotten better, I still fall into the easy route of focusing on what I do well, while ignoring things I should focus on. All the things that suck to look at, my default mode is to almost act like they don't exist and press on.  I feel great doing things that I'm good at, but my ego can get in the way of working on tasks that need my attention, but I may not be good at.

You have these things in your own life right now.  You can start with your training.  Are you a high school track star?  Can you run the 3 mile run in fifteen minutes?  That's awesome, but I don't know many runners with huge upper body strength.  We tend to gravitate toward things we are good at, so there may be weak physical traits that get over looked while you continue to work on your running.

Keeping with the theme of running, although you can insert any activity here that may be your overwhelming strength, you may need to back of the running a bit because you know it's solid.  Even if you get slower, you'll still be faster than most people in training. You may need to get your pull ups higher, or you may need to swim more.

The aim is to be physically good at everything,  to move from different tasks and events with the ability to either keep up, or be in the front of the group.  Even if you are the fastest runner they've ever seen, they wont't care when you keep coming in last on a swim, or you can only do five pull ups with good form. I saw it many times.

I can only speak from my experience, so I'll share what I learned the hard way in my time training.  I let my strengths convince me that I was destined to be a combat controller.  

Because I was able to run 30 miles per week and I could crush the push ups and pull ups with good form, I thought there was no way I wouldn't make it.  I mean, most of the guys wouldn't even show up prepared.

Anyone that knew me said they believed I could make it.  They saw me running six miles everyday and doing tons of push ups, and that boosted my ego. But, what did they know? Hell, what did I even know?  I needed the confidence, so I took the words of affirmation and ran with it, blindly.  

I got even more affirmation from the recruiter that gave me the PAST entrance test.  He told me that, for certain that I was gonna make it.  I did crush everything, but the swim. My 500 meter time was 10:42.  That isn't that good of a score, and the swim completely drained me.  But I did so good on the other stuff, that the recruiter focused on the other things because a lot of people struggle with the run, push ups, and pull ups.  The average swim time was no big deal.

Even in basic training all the people around me knew I was gonna make it because I did tons of calisthenics after lights out, ran around the track when everyone else opted to walk, and got in trouble on purpose, so I could do more push ups.  This is laughable now, but the denial was thick for me because I bought into it.

A day into the first day of CCT training, and I knew that my swimming was weak and needed a ton of work, and that was the wrong time to figure that fact out.

If you're good with the pool and swimming, that is great.  That is, if you really are, but that is a huge reason a number of people never make it.

Now I realize that there really is no ideal body type that makes it through this type of training.  My fit compact body type was good for certain things, but it didn't help with the things that really matter, like excellent technique and comfort in the pool and the ability to carry a large amount of weight on your back for miles.

Yes, being good at calisthenics and running will certainly help your overall endurance and health in the pipeline, but it no way means you'll be successful.  People that struggled with the pull ups or could barely pass the 3 mile runs turned out to be very successful in training and beyond in the career field.

I put too much emphasis on the things that don't matter.  It helped me not get harassed in the beginning and showed I was serious about being in shape, but when I fell behind in the ruck marches, or I was freaking out under water, it didn't matter.

I'd say, make sure you are solid on the running and calisthenics and work hard on them. It makes for good first impressions and gets you into the training. But, work in the pool all you can and get comfortable underwater, freestyle swimming, and fins swimming. Get a rucksack and begin getting used to it on your back for miles.  Go move a huge tire across a football field.  Push a vehicle as far as you can, for these are the things that will matter the most.

Get out there and begin working on the things that are hard!

Kevin