What ‘Being Fit’ Actually Means for Today’s Soldier
- Trio Fitness Training
- 11 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Training to stay fit, especially at a high level, while remaining physically durable and injury free during your career is a common challenge for soldiers in the US Army.
As a Soldier, you are mainly an endurance athlete. Long marches with heavy rucks, carrying boxes, crates, ammo cans, weapons, etc. over distances and repetitively; these are all endurance activities.
It's also important that you are strong. Strong muscles are durable and less likely to be injured. Strong Soldiers can move heavy objects and carry heavy loads with far less suffering.
Injuries, low AFT scores, and struggling to know where to start are obstacles every soldier faces. You can break through these obstacles with structured training.
It's all a balance. A soldier with great endurance but little strength is going to be injured a lot. A soldier with great strength and poor endurance struggles through rucks, patrols, and more.
Your training foundation should be based in endurance. But endurance isn't just rucking and running, it includes:
Circuit training with weights & machines
Sled pushes, pulls, and drags
Rowers, Assault Bikes, Ski Ergs, Jacob's Ladders, and more
Heavy Carries
Endurance can be done for long periods at a low intensities or for short durations at high intensities. Endurance training can be exciting! You can manipulate the variables and have fun while getting fit.
► Endurance is aided significantly by strength ◄
You can build size, strength, and durability. Your strong muscles will help keep you injury-free, especially in the all-too-common back, knee, and shoulder areas. Strength training isn't just Squats, Deadlifts, and Bench Pressing. It involves: Dumbbells • Kettlebells • Suspension Trainers • Medicine Balls • Sleds • Machines • Cables and more.
→ You can be a soldier with great endurance and great strength ←
None of this is to say that you need to have a 300lb Barbell Squat PR or that your 2 Mile Run Time needs to be under 13 minutes. But imagine what progress you could make if you trained for endurance and strength regularly. Regular Army PT simply doesn't cut it for most soldiers.
Once you put endurance together with strength in an organized program, you'll realize just how fit of a soldier you can become.
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