By: Tim Gribbin, MEd, ATC*
Joining the military is a big decision and can be stressful. Basic training is physically, mentally, and emotionally difficult, and people often ask HPRC, “What can I do to get ready for boot camp?” I’ll leave the mental and emotional training to those experts and the people who’ve been through training. But I can take the physical training part. The short answer is “exercise smart.”
Get into shape
Getting into good physical shape is very important for basic training. Recruits who enter training in poor physical shape, usually identified by slow run times, are at a greater risk for injury during training than recruits who enter in top shape. In addition, being in good physical shape can make the physical training part easier. (Not easy, because basic training is designed to be difficult, but it won’t be the running that brings you down.) If you’re physically prepared, you can free up your energy to focus on other areas that are more difficult for you.
Where do you start? First, know the physical fitness requirements for the Service you’re applying to.
- The Marine Corps and Coast Guard are the only Services that have minimum physical fitness test (PFT) standards to even start training.
- The Army uses an Occupational Physical Assessment Test (OPAT) to determine what type of job you can do based on your level of fitness.
- All Services require passing a PFT and/or Combat Fitness Test (CFT) to graduate from training. Knowing the standards will give you a goal to work toward.
Make a training plan
Now that you have your goal to pass your Service’s PFT, you need to start training. You can use HPRC’s Physical Fitness Training series to help design your program. When it comes to running, remember that more isn’t always better. A large number of recruits get stress fractures in the first couple weeks of training from running 3 miles a day, every day, right up until when they ship out to boot camp. The first weeks of any Service’s basic training ramp up to reduce the risk of injury to less-fit recruits, but if you come in overtrained, the military training can be the tipping point that gives you a stress fracture.
Use the 10% rule to progress your running training. Don’t increase your running mileage more than 10% a week to reduce your risk of injury during your pre-basic preparation. So if you run a total of 6 miles one week, you should only run 6.6 miles the next week. There’s a little flexibility, so you could do 6.75 (because it’s a round number) and still be okay. It’s a general guideline to keep you from doing too much too fast. Generally, you won’t run more than a few miles at a time during basic training, so using a “couch to 5k or 10k” running program from a free fitness app should work well.
As you plan your workouts, remember to spend some time focusing on both muscular strength and muscular endurance, while progressing your cardio consistently through the whole program. If you plan early enough and give yourself 3–4 months to train before you ship out, that should be plenty of time to prepare for basic training.
Focus on injury prevention
Injuries to bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments—musculoskeletal injuries (MSK-I)—are a big deal in basic training. About 25% of men and 50% of women will get injured, and about a quarter of them will not graduate. Those who do graduate from basic training often carry their injuries through their careers.
So how do you prevent these injuries? The best way is to incorporate a dynamic warm-up that focuses on neuromuscular control for every workout. That means you spend 5–10 minutes at the beginning of every workout doing a few exercises that focus on how well you do them, as opposed to how many you do or how much weight you lift. Keep in mind that you can train “bad technique” when you’re doing a warm-up, so it’s important to focus on doing the exercises correctly.
If your pre-boot camp training goes according to plan, you should be in good physical shape when you ship out. It’s possible that the physical training part of boot camp is easy for you, and your fitness might decline a little bit. This is common for fit people because the training needs to be a “one-size-fits-all” type so the less-fit people don’t get hurt. You’ll return to your previous fitness level the further you get into your training.
If you have any questions about how to prepare for basic training, officer candidate school, or any other entry-level military training, please submit your question to HPRC’s Ask the Expert, and we’ll get back to you in about a week.
Good luck, and happy training!
Additional resources
Blog: 4 tips to help make fitness a habit
Blog: Fitness trackers: 4 things you should know
Blog: Service Member strategies for healthy eating on base
Build your plate to fuel your performance with 3 simple steps
Find the right running shoe for military workouts
PFT training series—Cardiovascular fitness
PFT training series—Flexibility and mobility
PFT training series—Muscular strength and endurance
Why you should warm up before exercise
Tim Gribbin, of the Henry M. Jackson Foundation, is a Senior Scientist for the Consortium for Health and Military Performance (CHAMP) at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
* The opinions and assertions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of USU or DoD. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views, opinions, or policies of The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. Mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. The author has no financial interests or relationships to disclose.
