Weight training for Air Force special warfare

 Strength training in special warfare training

While preparing for training, it's important to include a weight training routine into the standard calisthenics that you'll be doing.  

The importance of weight training for enhancing your strength and reducing risk of injury is no secret, but it can be easily over looked in this type of training.

The importance of endurance as the result of hundreds of repetitions is a huge part of the preparation when you begin the journey of transforming your body into a machine that never quits, but having the strength and muscle mass to handle all the added weight and demands on your body is critical.

The goal and focus of weight training

If you've read my other stuff, you know I didn't prepare the best for my own training.  Although I crushed a lot of the endurance workouts, I didn't focus on gaining strength or size at all.  I was fully prepared to train all day and night, while only carrying nothing on my body, but when the weight of a heavy rucksack was added, I was struggling.  

My focus was how many push ups or pull ups I could do, but I should have also thought about doing those push ups with 100 pounds on my back.  I could have felt more strength and power along with my endurance by doing just a few weight exercises to prepare. 

When you incorporate the idea of adding strength, there are specific exercises and amounts of weight you should focus on.  Compound movements that require multiple muscles to accomplish the exercise is a smart way to get a lot out of your weight training.  Also, lifting heavy weight, enough for you to only do a few reps will help you to gain some muscle mass and strength with less time commitment than doing multiple reps and trying to reduce rest times, and trying to do cardio with your weight training ( circuit training).

You don't need to try anything fancy like circuit training into a weight training routine. We do cardio when we want to get into better cardiovascular shape, and hitting the weights with proven compound movements for strength.

  The sole focus of your weight training should be to gain strength and size where it matters.  Again, this is nothing fancy, but sometimes we tend to complicate things.

You don't want to waste you time doing high reps with weights, or circuit training because that's what your calisthenics are for. 

 Sure, that style of working out will be beneficial for people with certain goals, but for this type of training, it's not necessary.  Doing circuit (high repetition training) with weights does help build your cardiovascular system and does help with muscular endurance, but that is what push ups, pull ups, running, and swimming do for your body.

 High repetitions of calisthenics along with long runs and swims will all increase your stamina and endurance, which is your main priority in training, but having more strength, will be a huge asset.  

Use weight training for increasing strength at least once a week, but try for two days of the exercises in this article.

Also, don't try to isolate specific muscle groups ,such as your biceps. You don't have any time to waste, so hopefully this article will help you use weight training as efficiently and effectively as possible.

What exercises and repetitions to focus on

Compound exercises are the focus when you want to maximize weight training for strength.  Below are a list of compound exercises that will train multiple muscle groups and increase functional strength for the special warfare pipelines. Remember: Lift heavy!

Also note that the exercises listed below are done using a bar, dumbells are not needed, as they are good for isolation exercises and you can go heavier using less time with a bar.

Bench press

 One of the classic weight exercises we've all heard of and it's a popular exercise for good reason. It is a compound exercise that uses your chest muscles, triceps, and front delts( front of the shoulder).  It also requires you to stabilize the weight as you hold it up.  Doing heavy weight with the bench press will increase strength and will make the push up exercise easier as you work to increase your endurance.

During your time at the initial selection ( the initial part of the pipeline) and throughout your time training, you'll be forced to do push ups with all your gear on, up to 100 pounds on your back, so the bench press will prepare you for this scenario.  If you can't continue to do push ups with weight on, you'll be singled out.  We all know that's not good.

Whether you are just starting out with weights or have been lifting for years, the goal is the same.  Your going to approach the training with a power lifting mindset.  Your focus is always trying to lift more than the previous sessions and striving for more weight and less reps.  This will help increase needed muscle mass and size.  Your numbers are gonna be different than mine, but I'm gonna give you an example of what I do to increase strength on the bench press exercise, the first example below of a compound exercise that is useful for your training.

You can also alternate between the incline and flat bench to have slight variations in this exercise.

A few of my bench press numbers to give you an idea of how to set up your own power lifting routine.  Notice the warm up repetitions are only one each.  This will prepare and wake up your nervous system to lift heavier weight.  It seems odd at first, but try it for yourself.  I lift a lot heavier after this type of warm up.  Give yourself plenty of rest time between warm up and regular sets.  The purpose is to lift heavy as heavy as you can.

Incline bench press:

Warm up

Set 1- 135 lbs. X 1 rep

Set 2- 185 lbs. X 1 rep

Set 3- 205 lbs. X 1 rep

Set 4- 225 lbs. X 1 rep

Keep in mind that 225 is close to my max incline bench, but I can push it up pretty well when I'm fresh in my warm up phase.  By doing these style warm ups I'm always maxing out, or close to max, on all exercises.

Set 5 - 205 lbs X 6 reps ( this is all I can do, I cannot get a 7th rep without assistance

Set 6- 205 lbs X 6 reps ( give yourself plenty of rest)

Set 7 205 lbs X 6 reps 

Set 8 205 lbs X 6 reps

After the warm up reps, find a weight that you can only do 4 to 6 reps and increase weight as necessary.

As you can see in the example, you don't have to do a lot of sets or repetitions on your weight training.  The focus should be warming up with a light weight, but every set increase the weight until you are very close to your max effort for one rep.  The warm up should normally be about 4 or 5 sets of 1 rep.

After the warm up reps, complete 4 or 5 sets of a weight that you can only do 4 to 6 reps with.  After waking up your nervous system, you'll be surprised how good heavy weight feels.

Squats

One of the most functional and challenging weight training exercises, squats are and excellent form of exercise to prepare your body for training.  This exercise will help your body with the demands of carrying a rucksack, your teammates, or any other form of weight on your back.  Squats will better prepare your entire body for the extra weight by strengthening your glutes and quadriceps, but your hips muscles, calves, hamstrings, glutes, and obliques are worked as well.  Squats are a great overall workout for anybody, but this exercise is one of the most important weight training exercises to include into your training.  If I could go back in time, I would have included squats into my own training, now that I see how beneficial they are in my life now.

A few tips on squats: Plant you feet and jump three times as high as you can and watch where your feet land.  That is where you should place your feet during the exercise.  Keep your back straight and don't lean forward. Your head should move in a straight line.  Use a weight that is not too heavy ( if you are a beginner) and strive for maximum range of motion ( ass to the floor) to improve strength and flexibility.  Once you've developed your muscles and are used to the exercise, use the same lifting sets and use the example with the incline bench press with squats.  Perform 4 to 5 warm up sets for the nervous system, then 4 to 5 sets of a weight you can properly perform 4 to 6 reps using maximum exertion. Make sure you give yourself plenty of rest time in between sets, enough time to recover.  Short rest periods are not a thing in this type of training.

Overhead shoulder press

In case you didn't realize it ( don't worry I didn't) you'll be holding heavy things over your head a lot during training.  From telephone poles to random objects, you'll need strong shoulders to lift these bulky objects and be able to meet the demands to help your team out.

The overhead shoulder press is a great compound exercise to strengthen your upper body and prepare it for the demands of training.  The exercise is simply bringing the bar from your chest and pressing it above your head.  Don't be afraid to move your body and use every muscle possible on your last reps to get the bar over your head. This exercise works our front delts and side delts, making our shoulders both bigger and broader. But many different muscles are worked hard enough to stimulate muscle growth, including our traps, abs, and triceps.

This is a great compound movement that is very practical for your training.  Incorporate the same warm up and working reps as the previous exercises. 

Dead lifts

Without a doubt, dead lifts are one of the most important exercises you can do for special warfare preparation.  While it does help strengthen your entire body, like the other mentioned exercises, it also targets the lower back and hamstrings, which are very vulnerable to injury in training.

When I recently added dead lifts to my own routine, the benefits seemed almost immediate.  My lower back started to feel better,( I've never trained my lower back) and my legs feel better on runs.

Use the same warm up and reps as all your other compound exercises.  

Bent over rows

This is an exercise commonly used with dumbells, but can be used with a bar.  Simply add weight to the bar and place it at your feet.  Bend over and grab the bar and pull it up to the area between your chest and waistline.  Do the same warm ups and specified reps and lift as heavy as possible.  This exercise is great for increasing the muscles in your back and will certainly help your pull ups.

These exercises are enough to build functional strength for your training.  There isn't a need to use weights for any other reason than building strength and muscle in the areas you'll need it most.  

There is a no need to do any type of circuit training, or any other type of fancy training. Remember to give yourself plenty of rest time in between your warm up and working sets.  Make sure that you lift heavy enough weight, and work on completing the exercises discussed in this article twice a week, and you'll be on your way to gaining more muscle and getting stronger, where it counts .

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Kevin