Tag Archives: Special Forces

One of the most prominent questions that revolve around physical training for the Tactical Athlete is, “How do we best program and prepare operators with irregular and unpredictable deployment/ work schedules?”  This is a general malaise of strength & conditioning professional that work with SWAT and Special Forces operator (this is obviously not limited to these groups; however, they are the most popular with respect to the question).

It is easy to get discouraged with physical training progress when you’re athletes are consistently sent into combative work scenarios that demand peak performance.  Furthermore, we need to better define how we define peak performance through this irregular schedule.

I believe that that answer to this fairly simple.  We must understand that physically training the Tactical Athlete necessitates a significant paradigm shift on behalf of the strength & conditioning community.  There needs to be an understanding that physical training gains will be made at a far slower pace and that the ultimate goal will not necessarily be achieving the athlete’s genetic physical potential.

Does this mean that we are setting the bar lower?

No.  The goal of training the Tactical Athlete is three-fold.

• Building corrective postural and biomechanical strength
• Injury prevention
• Capacity building

Therefore, we need to achieve this goal in the same manner we would train an Olympic athlete. We develop a periodized program and system, dealing with schedule breaks as they come and not being discouraged when Life causes us to adapt.   Our understanding that Life’s “hick-ups” in scheduling happen more often to the Tactical Athlete creates a different perspective regarding our progression of strength & conditioning gains.

Physically training the Tactical Athlete is WORK.  It is a never ending adaptation that can be exhausting for the athlete and the strength & conditioning coach.  However, this is the job we singed up.  These are the men and women we owe the “extra mile.”  And this is what makes us better and stronger as an industry and community.

For those of you that are familiar with the fitness industry as it applies to education & certification, you will not be shock to hear me call it a “repetitive snowball of thoughtless arrogance.”

Essentially, I believe that fitness educators have a great handle on human physiology, kinesiology and metabolic demands for athletes.  Furthermore, task analysis and the specificity of physical fitness training for tactical operators have been identified by a myriad of strength & conditioning professional.  However, no educational group has clearly wrapped their arms around the notion of training the Tactical Athlete.

What’s the critical disconnect?

First of all, I am going to write from the perspective of a former US Army Special Forces operator. Therefore, I will ask that you do not directly apply ALL that I am writing to ALL Tactical Athletes.

Understanding the Tactical Athlete seems to be a relatively task.  Right? For many of you former military operators the notion of “cultural adaptation” is more than a slogan on a t-shirt.  The ability to efficiently function within a series of informal rules and norms can be the difference between life and death.

Adapt and overcome, soldier!

Ah yes. I can see the peanut gallery is full of strength & conditioning professional nodding their heads…  So, why are there so many coaches and trainers unable to function well with tactical operators?  Drawing attention to a current scenario, the US Army THOR3 program has had mild success find professionals with much longevity (I understand the program is relatively new, but I am also aware of a high attrition rate of the individuals contracted)

You’re making it too academic
As a gross generalization, we may define he US military as a huge “team” full of A-type personalities with minimal academic education.  What does this mean to fitness professionals with no military experience?  “You’re walking into a lion’s den.”  And, guess what?  The lions in this den don’t really care about how much physiology and biomechanical knowledge you are able to recite.

We become very aware that this is an environment based upon the “been there and done that” attitude.  Now, if you’ve never served in the military, you’ll never fully understand what a soldier has endured (and in many cases there isn’t much lost here).  Therefore, if you expect to be welcomed into the “fold,” you will have to earn your “lumps.” Based upon my experience, earning these “lumps” requires thick skin and a short memory.  In general, “lumpiness” has a strong correlation to sweat, muscle fatigue, and lack of sleep. Ultimately, we arrive at respect.

Respect

The obvious next question becomes, how do you earn respect in a military scenario if you’ve never been soldier? … That’s an extremely difficult question to answer.  So, I’ll offer three suggestions that can get you started.

1. Humility – Understand that “you do not know everything.”  There is always something to be learned, adjusted, revised, added, and removed. This idea certainly applies the fitness industry and it is further exacerbated in a military setting.
2. Confidence – It is extremely important to clearly define the difference between confidence and arrogance.  Have you ever tried to jump the fence at the zoo and slap a gorilla around to demonstrate how tough you are?  Yeah.  There’s a better way to earn that gorilla’s respect.
3. Results – Like any skeptical client, military unit will expect quantifiable results on a structured timeline.  Therefore, you will need to be sure that results can be delivered without over-promising.

To be continued

With every article and post that I write, I would like to bring you closer to my understanding of training the Tactical Athlete.  I hope this brings you a little closer.

Thank you to the Knesek Group and community for inviting me to this forum.  I want to use this first post and properly introduce myself.  I am not a very formal individual (many of my friends describe me as knuckle-dragging…); however, I think an introduction is appropriate for this community.

My name is Derek Zahler and I am the founder of an online community called National Tactical Fitness (NTF).  Our goal at NTF is to better connect Tactical Athletes around the world in order further physical fitness development and readiness throughout the Tactical mission scope.

The development NTF is fairly straightforward, reflecting upon my background.  I was linebacker and heavyweight boxer for the University of California at Berkeley (Cal) in the late ‘90s.  After graduating from Cal, I enlisted into the US Army under the “18 X-Ray” program (Special Forces pipeline).

I spent the majority of my service stationed in Okinawa, Japan as Intel Sergeant on a Special Forces dive detachment.  Physical fitness was a critical component of our training and operational deployment. However, the US Army (even within Special Forces) did not have a good grasp on the strength & conditioning development of the tactical operator.

As a result of this laissez-fair attitude, my ODA chose a diverse collage of fitness regimens.  And, as you may expect, high-volume road running was the cornerstone of our training. Mix in a little CrossFit, linear weightlifting, swimming, ruck marching, yoga and you’ll begin to get an understanding of our lack in fitness programming.

When I separated from the Army in 2009, I found that tactical operators across the board (law enforcement, military, first responders, etc) had similar problems defining a good physical fitness protocol.  Some departments and unit were hiding behind “budget cuts” while other stood by the excuse, “the bureaucracy won’t allow substantial change.”

My answer was simple, “Connectivity.”  If we can somehow connect the tactical operators to strength & conditioning professionals, educators, retailers, and facilitators, we are able to easily equip the operators with the foundation to improve physical fitness.

The Tactical and Fitness industries are constantly evolving based upon technology, techniques, and the changing battlefield/ operational environment.  I want to be apart of this evolution and I want to stay connect to my brothers & sisters, the Tactical Athletes.

I will use this as my starting point.