By: Tim Gribbin, MEd, ATC*
Joining the military is a big decision and can be stressful.
Basic training is going to be physically, mentally, and emotionally difficult,
and people often ask us at HPRC, “what can I do to get ready for boot camp?” I’ll
leave the mental and emotional training to the mental and social fitness
experts, and those who have 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 runs that bring you down. If you
are physically prepared, it 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 for. The Marine Corps and Coast
Guard are the only services that have minimum physical fitness test (PFT)
standards to even start training. The Army has an Occupational Physical
Assessment Test (OPAT) that they use 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 training. Knowing those standards will
give you a goal to work towards.
Make a training plan
Now that you have your end goal of passing 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 is not always better. There’s a large number of
recruits who sustain a stress fracture in the first couple weeks of training
because they were running 3 miles a day every day, right up until the day they
shipped to boot camp. The first weeks of any Service’s basic training ramp up
to reduce the risk of injury to less-fit people, 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 ran a total of 6 miles one
week, you should only run 6.6 miles the next. There’s a little flexibility, so
you could do 6.75 (because it’s a round number) and still be OK. It’s a general
guideline to keep people from doing too much too fast. Generally speaking, you
won’t run more than a few miles at a time during basic, so using a “Couch to 5K
or 10K” running program from a free fitness app should work well.
As you’re planning
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, that should be plenty of time to prepare for training.
Focus on injury prevention
Injuries to bones, muscles, tendons, and ligaments are a big
deal in basic training. About 25% of males and 50% of females will sustain an
injury, and about a quarter of those people will not graduate. Those who do
often carry their injuries with them through their careers. So how do you
prevent them? 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
get it back the further you get into your training, and all will be right with
the fitness world.
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!
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.
