Working out with Navy Seals

[Tom Yum]

How's your current fitness level and your mental fortitude?

I wanted to try something different and get a glimpse at the conditioning that our men in service do on a daily basis, more specifically SF. I began a new fitness program run by former Marine Recon & Navy Seal, Jack Walston.

https://www.sealpt.com

The program is available in various cities near Houston and in Central park in NYC which includes up to 4 weeks of grueling and intense excercise.

At the moment, I have completed the first 2-weeks of preperatory training lead by former seals, all who have been very professional and focused instructors. All have lead by example, which is a plus for those of us who rarely get to see this kind of leadership.

The first two weeks have been one day on, one day off. Each days routine lasts approximately one hour and fifteen minutes. I came prepaired in pretty good shape (see my routines in the fitness section) and did not know what to expect....

We had days with medium distanced runs through trails and track broken up by stations of various calisthenics, such as push-ups, pull-ups, star jumps, lunges, 8-count body builders and more. Other days have emphasized more long-distance runs; others were mostly calisthenics.

I guarantee that you will get smoked even if you are in pretty good shape. There's some physical strength elements, but most of the work has been endurance, endurance and endurance. Did I mention endurance? It will bring your mind and focus into new states. I've also lost about 9 pounds and bootcamp phase hasn't started!

[gregimotis]

Sounds like 'fun', looking forward to your updates.

[Thai Bri]

This does sound great. But how functional for fighting will it be?

Not the "march ten miles, have a fire-fight, then march home" type fight. But the "hit a monster in a pizza shop" encounter?

[Sagacious Lu]

This does sound great. But how functional for fighting will it be?

Not the "march ten miles, have a fire-fight, then march home" type fight. But the "hit a monster in a pizza shop" encounter?

To what degree do you think it's necessary to do drills that are specifically geared towards what you're training for, and to what degree is good conditioning just good conditioning? The web site was talking about chin ups, push ups, sit ups and running; I would think almost any athlete would agree that those are good exercises.

[Tom Yum]

Bri, I am doing this as a chance to get in top condition, develop team work skills (as I have heard there are challenges that require it), challenge myself physically and mentally and to also learn about leadership from men who have gone to hell and back serving our country.

I still work on my fight game on my own time. This is a different kind of challenge.

[Tom Yum]

The web site was talking about chin ups, push ups, sit ups and running; I would think almost any athlete would agree that those are good exercises.

That's a low fraction of the kinds of conditioning I've particpated in, so far.

[Sagacious Lu]

That's a low fraction of the kinds of conditioning I've particpated in, so far.

You're about half way through the program now right? Can you give us an outline of what you guys do in a day? This sounds like a cool experience. Besides, sometimes a change of pace is just the thing when you're feeling burned out and need some more motivation.

[BoarSpear]

Hey Tom, any 8 count body builders or flutter kicks yet? its ashamed you're gonna miss out on the volcano ...you might wanna complain about that...

I think the mental grow will far outweigh the physical growth of anyone who completes a program like this, good on ya Tom.

[Tom Yum]

Prep day 1

So far Lu, each day has been different. I'll add that its your own responsibilty to get stretched out, warmed-up and ready when the instructor comes in. You definitely want to bring water.

I'll talk about Prep-day 1.

During my first prep-day, we did a trail run about 2 miles in distance at a 8:30 mile pace. It was run in a single-file line with about half of us keeping up with the instructor and the other half 15-20 seconds back. We arrived on a field and broke into lunges for 50 yards, drop for 25 pushups and sprint back. We repeated this twice.

We then did about 50 2-count jumping jacks. Then 15 jumping jacks dropping to 15 pushups, for 10 sets (that's 200 total jumping jacks and 150 pushups). Towards the end, people were loosing pace with the instructor as he kept pushing on as if it were nothing at all.

Thereafter, we punished the abs a little. 50 crunches, 50 atomic situps, then 50 more crunches. We stood up and did 25 8-count body builders (Yep, Boar we did 'em ) ; its a complicated excercise that combines a squat, kickout, pushup, some leg drills, stand-up and a jump at the end.

We then sprinted back to our initial meeting place.

At this time I heaved a little, but I didn't stop running. Kind of a look at the ground while your legs keep you moving as quick as possible.

Once we got to the initial meeting place, we did 20 star jumps. Went over to some bleechers and did 15 dips (2 sets), then step-ups on the bleechers, 25 each leg in unison.

Next, we had to sprint out to a tree about 50 yards a way, touch it and sprint back in 30 seconds.

"Not good enough!" The instructor had us doing it again, this time giving us 40 seconds. I did alot more than I thought I could and had one helluva revelation.

We finished with a light stretch on the ground.

Each prep-day thereafter has been completely different.

[elliotNess]

Will you be doing any underwater training? I heard the seals specialize in underwater stuff.

[Tom Yum]

I'm getting a small taste of what Mike is talking about.

I haven't passed out yet, but I've worked myself past some fear, some pain and past some puke. "Its just a mental decision, " I was told by a friend of mine who served.

During one of the other prep-days, our instructor took us for a 5-6 mile run, but it wasn't that simple, we did things in between each mile....

I learned to forget about everything else and I ran with that instructor and never lost track of him. He picked up the pace at times, I kept up until the second to last mile he just took off like a rocket even then I could still see his head as a dot about 30 seconds in front. I didn't lose track of that dot and fought over my mind to try and keep that dot within eyesight.

During the last mile, I nearly gave out but finished in the middle of the group loosing some of the ground that I gained during the other miles.

I have no doubt at all in my mind and have now seen that the men in SF community are high-powered, bad ass machines. Literally.

During the most recent prep-day, we got smoked hard with some 'simple' calisthenics. During one of our drills the instructor yelled "If you feel crippled tomorrow, you know you've done the excercise right "

[Thai Bri]

Hey! I'm not knocking it. Its just that most of us only have a finite time fro training, and you should define your goals and tailor your training to fit achieve those goals.

As for Mikes view re mindset, I'mm 100% behind that too. But you can still do that using functional (for fighting) exercises.

[Tom Yum]

Update

Bootcamp is being moved to the 20th for the evening group.

Spots are still open for those wishing to get in with one free prep week!

[Tom Yum]

More Lessons

Just when you think you are making progress, the routine gets shuffled and you start from square 1. One of the guys enrolled in our bootcamp didn't show up. Did he quit

We started off with some really tough rounds of calisthenics. Can anyone here do body weight dips in sets of 40? How about 100 pushups? We cranked out some pretty high rep sets of calisthenics that worked head to toe. One fellow gave out during a set of flutter kicks, so we had to do 40 more. This is real team responsibility.

We got paired up for races ~ 400 meters. The winner got to rest and the looser....divebombers in the sand pit. I got paired up with a guy who ran effortlessly like a gazelle. Guess where I ended up ?

"It pays to win!"

During this bonus prep-week we started taking shots to our ego as a warm-up for bootcamp. We got mocked randomly, but not too harshly or punishhed for failure by having to do more excercises.

I can see the goal is to tear down our chipped, imperfect minds and to gloss them over with better, stronger paint.

After the sand pit, we headed to the bleechers to bang out a few more sets of calisthenics, then came the 3-miler. I can run decently when fresh, but this was a mental challenge in itself. We had an option of running 1/2 mile and doing chin-ups (the easy way out) or running the entire thing. The gazelle runners took the whole thing; a few of the guys took the easy way out. I'm not a gazelle runner, but I sure as hell wasn't going to quit or take the easy way out! I finished 3rd to last.

I'm starting to understand that difficult challenges like this are all between yourself and your own mind. This is part of the process of hardening minds. Looking forward to more evolutions!

I am in total awe of the men in the SF community. Being able to workout with these guys and seeing them lead from the front is a real treat and 1,000 times better than anything you can read on print or see on film.

[Thai Bri]

This sounds like great great stuff. You keep at it, as you are on the way to something that most of us never attain.

The nearest I trained like this was with a UK Combatives guy. We'd train various circuits to the extent that you knew beyond doubt that you could only go round once. But then he'd make you go again, then again. Then again.

People occasionally ran out to puke. I raced for the loo once just in time. I needed to puke alright, but not through my mouth. Just made it!

Disappointingly many of the actual fighting techniques he trained were second rate, so I left.