GB Testimonial: Spec. Ops Prep

Four months ago, a fresh-outta high school kid approached me about getting him ready to go into Air Force Combat Control. I put him exclusively on a GB type program plus two days a week of underwater training. If you're starting out or considering the GB program, here's what kind of progress that's possible from an untrained state. He just left, so I'm expecting my first letter in a few weeks. We also recently saw a program that a combat controller trainer had written to prep for the training....needless to say after the GB programming trying it was a joke.

5-6 Freestanding HeSPUs

18 L-Sit Pull ups, neutral grip. 7 with wide pull up grip

Consistently over 50 secs on levers

~25 secs tuck planche. Can get a much flatter back and better arms, but gotta be on his case about doing it.

L-sit pic turned out cruddy for some reason. No problem hitting 60 secs, working on L-sit walks. Can hold with hands flat on floor.

"Combat Control" Swim. Hands/feet "tied". 50m swim

Retrieve goggles with mouth while "tied up." Depth of 10 feet, 10 meters out, beginning from standing poolside, jumping in, CC swim to retrieval, 3 full depth bobs, swim to pool edge and spit goggles out.

Various other underwater drills, speed dives, etc. If I can figure out how to convert the videos to a better format, I'll post some of those too with underwater drills and more GB skills. Unfortunately I can't shoot underwater with my camera to show the really fun stuff.

For Boot Camp, he has only 15ish minutes at night free time, so he's gonna use that time to work on coach's top five exercises, minus the ring series.

Great!!! . Well done!

I'll say it in spanish: impresionante!

The underwater skills feared me a lot :shock:

Holy hell.. Do post / share the program you put him on.

All gymnastic bodies training except the water stuff.

I think he was asking specifically about set, reps ect.

Very interested. :wink:

Marcelo Lara said:

I'll say it in spanish: impresionante!

The underwater skills feared me a lot :shock:

It is just dolphin kick. If you can dolphin kick, you can actually go pretty fast. I heard SEALs are forced to go 50m under water. I was tempted to try that, but man, you better have someone ready to rescue you if you blackout (shallow underwater blackout), because I heard they were always pulling guys off the bottom. If you hyperventilate to do it, you could black out thinking everything was pretty cool.

I didn't do anything special in his sets/reps, just started out higher (10) like normal weight training for an untrained person, with easier progressions then each module decreased in reps and increased intensity. Had him do a lot of prehab/joint strengthening work for ankles, elbow, shoulders, wrists, hips, started hand walking right off (sloppy form) while he was working wall hs then down the road had him start working 5 min daily freestanding hs, began right off with weighted pull ups (5 lbs), 3 days of working his 60 sec aggregate for planche, levers, straddle l, etc and 2 days of GB-type workouts. Only non-GB exercise was a different pushup series I used initially to build pressing strength.

Water stuff, started him with a couple days of 45 min swim working up towards 3,000m, 2 days with me training basic underwater "comfort" drills (penny pick up, sink down do squat with med ball, etc). Once he built a bit of endurance, taught him a set of spinal movements called the serpentine exercises and then had him work on his "tied up" combat control swim. It sucked horribly at first, but he built speed quickly once he got the serpentine stuff down. Then we moved to speed dives, more advanced retrieval drills, clearing out his mask underwater, etc. Swim just had NCAA zone competitions and finish the season soon so gonna see what their times are like with the combat control swim to use as a future benchmark (couple girls swim 100m breatstroke in 1:08). I also allowed him to surface to breath during his underwater swims...the trade-off being he lost his momentum and a few seconds time.

He's nothing exceptional, but a great example that you can do some cool stuff in not much time if you follow a good program like GB.

Think I got the video thing figured out. 4 second test clip.

http://move-do-accomplish.net/LeeCC.m4v

Interesting!

What were his starting capacities in these exercises? How long did he work with your program to get to that level?

More details!

4 months and 2 weeks.

Lee could do 4 less-than-full ROM pull ups, ~3 seconds frog stance, 35 normal push ups, 4 seconds FL, 3 secs BL, 45 seconds L-sit with feet on a box (couldn't hold at all freestanding), straddle L I didn't record numbers but don't remember him being able to hold it without cheating on the arms, 15 degree motion on the most basic HeRLL, little less than 50 meters with a bad breast stroke before taking a few second break, normal flexibility and a bit above average in the shoulders.

His form still isn't strict on things like HeSPU (as you can see in the pic) but honestly my bigger concern was to get him into a freestanding hs prior to boot camp. His weakest point is lower body...SLS he has to really focus to do full ROM correctly (foot wants to come off the ground) and NLC are 45ish degrees with a 2 second hold. Lee's 5'9 was 134lbs initially, 138 now and obviously lean to begin with so I didn't test BF. Really all his starting stats were average for kids I see with that height/weight. I think the biggest thing is he was truly ground zero where a lot of clients I see have to catch up to ground zero in flexibility, body composition, etc.

after the 4 months and 2 weeks of practicing handstands freely for 5 min daily, how long was he able to hold a free standing hand stand for?

element3904 said:

after the 4 months and 2 weeks of practicing handstands freely for 5 min daily, how long was he able to hold a free standing hand stand for?

He only started the daily HS practice about two months ago. Prior to that he just did sloppy hand walks. I honestly didn't test maximal time in a HS because I was concerned less with gymnastics performance and more getting him enough base to begin HeSPU. When I'm training someone to have a great HS, I go with Coach's recommendation of 10 minutes daily work....as well has having a quality spotter. My clients make the most progress on the days when I'm able to teach them through spotting/correctional work to where they memorize the feel of a proper HS and learn to react into it. Ido's talked a bit more about the importance of a spotter in some of his posts on his 1-arm HS training.

But my overall purpose for the post is that:

a) if you're consistent and work smart, you can get some good results in not terribly much time. Lee's actual GB workouts were half an hour at most, twice a week. Plus 2 days weekly with the underwater work with me. In clients who already have a training age greater than 0, I often see even faster results.

b) GB has great carry-over to other areas. I see clients and athletes that use GB principles tear up other programs, whereas I have yet to see the reverse from any client or athlete who didn't already have some background in gymnastics.

It's been a widely known hearsay fact that gymnasts can transfer over to know sports and learn quickly quite often.

Right, but shows up pretty quickly!

JL said:

Marcelo Lara said:

I'll say it in spanish: impresionante!

The underwater skills feared me a lot :shock:

It is just dolphin kick. If you can dolphin kick, you can actually go pretty fast. I heard SEALs are forced to go 50m under water. I was tempted to try that, but man, you better have someone ready to rescue you if you blackout (shallow underwater blackout), because I heard they were always pulling guys off the bottom. If you hyperventilate to do it, you could black out thinking everything was pretty cool.

THe way the 50m swim works is that you take a breath, jump forward into the pool, do a front flip underwater without touching the sides or bottom, and then start the swim without coming up or pushing off. You swim 25m, get to the wall, kick off, and go 25m back. I've only seen one guy pass out in each class, and it's kind of funny, because you know the seals just revive them right away. One of my friends was just a terrible swimmer, he didn't know how to glide or anything, and he just burned too much energy and passed out 5 feet from the end of the swim, so the instructors hovering over him let his head hit the wall and then they pulled him up, proclaiming that he had successfully completed the swim hahaha! It was a pretty funny story to tell him at lunch, he laughed too.

Coreathlete:

I had an easy time with pretty much everything at BUDS, including the swims and the underwater stuff, because I did Stewart Smith's 12 weeks to BUDS training. To be honest, the hypoxic swimming in 12 Weeks to BUDS is harder than the 50m test. Swimming 50m freestyle as fast as you can is much more taxing than gliding underwater.

The physical requirements for CC are almost identical to those for BUDS, which means their physical training is almost certainly going to be similar. There is nothing out there that will prepare you for Spec. Ops training the way that the 12 Weeks to BUDS workout will, because strength is not an issue. You don't lift weights. You don't do much heavy lifting. Even when we were under logs, even when we were under MINI-ME, which is Old Misery's heavier replacement(class 237 or 239, something less than a year before I got there, I was 245/246) and close to 500 lbs, you're only holding 90 lbs at your chest. You aren't allowed to take it overhead, it's too heavy to be safe. The regular logs are less than 200 lbs, so with 6 guys on there, even with the log wet and sandy, assuming it's 240 lbs, you're only holding 40 lbs overhead. It's all about endurance. 100%, no bullshit.

I want to be clear that I absolutely believe that GB training is the perfect foundation for spec ops training, and everything else for that matter, and that a good strength base is essential for extreme endurance in a spec ops environment. However, the strength work will not get you through it. It's good, and shouldn't be abandoned, but once someone is 2-3 months from going into the service they need to change gears and focus primarily on maintaining their strength and putting the bulk of their energy into developing that endurance. If they've got an "A" or "MOS" or whatever school before spec ops training, which we did in the Navy, then it's a good idea to wait until then to start the 12 weeks program. It is exhausting, because it is preparing you for the most exhausting training the military has, and that specificity is key.

I had an easy time building the endurance because I had a good strength base, but I completely smoked everyone who didn't train specifically for the extreme environment we were being sent into. A few friends of mine from my Gun School class also went to BUDS with me, and those of us who trained together had an easy time physically and didn't get injured from the training(my nerve damage was a true fluke) because we were already conditioned for the truly unreasonable volume of work we were being subjected to.

I think you did a great job with the kid, and physically speaking as long as he's got 10+ perfect 1111 tempo pull ups in him he has a high statistical chance of success. I would definitely recommend to him and your future spec ops guys that once they get into school, after boot camp, that they build that endurance and maintain their strength through once a week GB stuff, done before they do their endurance work for the day. I can promise you from personal experience that if you want these kids to have the highest possible success rate then it's worth your time to check out Stewart Smith's 12 Weeks to BUDS Workout and at the very least have them work up to the endurance for the core work and the pull ups. Push ups, regardless of what people think, don't have anything whatsoever to do with success in spec ops, because no matter how strong you are you will end up doing shitty ass push ups when you're getting beat down. As long as you're passing the test, you're good to go, and it's freaking hard to fail the push up portion, so for that portion of things I do think the time would be better spent on GB stuff, with some endurance build up on the side.

TO give you concrete examples of what the program did for me, personally, I started the program the day after I quit smoking. I swam 15:something, stopping at each end of the pool to breathe, just like your guy; I did 8 pull ups; mid-50's push ups; mid 50's sit ups; 14:37(pretty sure that's it, it sticks out in my mind because it is so damn bad) run. 2.5 months later, on week 11 of the program, which is winding down time, I was swimming a 9:48(we can only do side stroke), 17 pull ups( collar bones to bar, 1111 tempo for the first 15), 97 perfect push ups, 100 sit ups, and a 10:48 run. For a guy who was smoking about a pack a day, that's pretty huge improvements. I did the program again in gun school, though I spent most of my pull up time on weighted work, building up to 15 perfect pull ups with 45 lbs, but I continued the running and swimming portion. I toned down the push up work a little, because we had spec ops workouts at 5 am every m,w,f for an hour and a half and they always do lots of push ups, but at least once a week I did the 50,60,70,80,90,100,90,80,70,60,50 ladder from week 8 of the program. I ended up being able to do 120 picture perfect push ups in 2 minutes, 300 4 count flutter kicks straight, 23 perfect pull ups, 117 sit ups I think, I know that was a few behind my push ups... and my swim had dropped to 8:38, while my run was around 9:30 in long pants and steel toe boots. There was only one other guy who could do that, and he trained with me. We literally just about breezed through the physical stuff.

If I made any changes do what I did back then, looking at what I know now and using perfect hindsight, I would have worked SLS (weighted half the time if possible) a lot more and weighted back squats a lot less, NLC/GHR would have taken half of my deadlifting time, lots of jefferson curls, HeSPU work and wall handstand endurance, overhead kettlebell extention walks for distance, I would have taken 60-70% of my push up work and replaced it with planche static and push up progressions, and I would have worked the FL, BL, and progressed towards OAC stuff.

The underwater stuff is key, there are few things sadder than watching someone freak out underwater and quit.

that is a boatload of pushups. eee gads. Thanks for the info as it is VERY interesting.

It is, but that's nothing compared to what you're subjected to at least 3 times a week at BUDS. It does, however, go a long way towards preparing your body for the abuse you are sending it to receive lol!

JL said:

Marcelo Lara said:

I'll say it in spanish: impresionante!

The underwater skills feared me a lot :shock:

It is just dolphin kick. If you can dolphin kick, you can actually go pretty fast. I heard SEALs are forced to go 50m under water. I was tempted to try that, but man, you better have someone ready to rescue you if you blackout (shallow underwater blackout), because I heard they were always pulling guys off the bottom. If you hyperventilate to do it, you could black out thinking everything was pretty cool.

For me is quite impressive because I have certain fear to the water and not very good resistance. Also, access to a pool once or twice a year.

Now, to read that about the SEALs it's just... wow :shock:

slizzardman said:

If I made any changes do what I did back then, looking at what I know now and using perfect hindsight, I would have worked SLS (weighted half the time if possible) a lot more and weighted back squats a lot less, NLC/GHR would have taken half of my deadlifting time, lots of jefferson curls, HeSPU work and wall handstand endurance, overhead kettlebell extention walks for distance, I would have taken 60-70% of my push up work and replaced it with planche static and push up progressions, and I would have worked the FL, BL, and progressed towards OAC stuff.

Your post is pretty interesting and informative. Thank you for that.

Could you please explain why exactly you would make these changes? What is your reasoning behind these changes or from what experiences do you draw them? That would be quite interesting to know.

The SLS work individual hip, knee, and ankle stability much more than back squats. Ass to ground back squats are great for the hips in particular, and I would NOT abandon them, but I would split my time, with 60% on the SLS. It's more useful for everything you do in BUDS. Everything's on soft sand or climbing cargo nets and whatnot. It's all one leg at a time.

Same goes for the deadlifting. It's good and useful, but the NLC would have added a lot to my runs and the boat/log races, not to mention swims. Jefferson curls are important because you start building bent back strength. You end up doing things with your back bent a lot at buds. I'd throw in 80lb sandbad runs at a chest carry also, to build the bent back strength once a week.

As for the push ups, you don't need super push up ability at BUDS. The wrist and shoulder strength gained from planche work is far more transferable to holding large objects and manipulating them as well as maneuvering through obstacle courses. FL work is all around useful, and transfers directly to side stroke. BL I don't have a particular reason for beyond liking the elbow conditioning, which is part of OAC work as well. You do A LOT of climbing, and those help to prepare you.

One thing I forgot to mention, and that is absolutely key during first phase, is neck prep. I did a LOT of neck work. Wrestler's bridges front to back, side to side, weighted neck work, and head only neck work. You always have boats on your head, so you'd be stupid to not prepare your neck for it.

slizzardman said:

JL said:

Marcelo Lara said:

I'll say it in spanish: impresionante!

The underwater skills feared me a lot :shock:

It is just dolphin kick. If you can dolphin kick, you can actually go pretty fast. I heard SEALs are forced to go 50m under water. I was tempted to try that, but man, you better have someone ready to rescue you if you blackout (shallow underwater blackout), because I heard they were always pulling guys off the bottom. If you hyperventilate to do it, you could black out thinking everything was pretty cool.

THe way the 50m swim works is that you take a breath, jump forward into the pool, do a front flip underwater without touching the sides or bottom, and then start the swim without coming up or pushing off. You swim 25m, get to the wall, kick off, and go 25m back. I've only seen one guy pass out in each class, and it's kind of funny, because you know the seals just revive them right away. One of my friends was just a terrible swimmer, he didn't know how to glide or anything, and he just burned too much energy and passed out 5 feet from the end of the swim, so the instructors hovering over him let his head hit the wall and then they pulled him up, proclaiming that he had successfully completed the swim hahaha! It was a pretty funny story to tell him at lunch, he laughed too.

Ah. So it is 50m short course. I thought it was long course; still, very difficult. I know many Olympic freestylers can do 50m long course. An edge to cut how many times they have to breath during a race. I don't know if I could have ever done it. I know I used to do 36 yards in a 12 yard pool, routinely. I think I did 4/4.5 laps pushing further. Anymore than that and I feared for blackout. Some of this was done at 9 p.m. in a community pool. No help in sight.

Marcelo Lara said:

JL said:

Marcelo Lara said:

I'll say it in spanish: impresionante!

The underwater skills feared me a lot :shock:

It is just dolphin kick. If you can dolphin kick, you can actually go pretty fast. I heard SEALs are forced to go 50m under water. I was tempted to try that, but man, you better have someone ready to rescue you if you blackout (shallow underwater blackout), because I heard they were always pulling guys off the bottom. If you hyperventilate to do it, you could black out thinking everything was pretty cool.

For me is quite impressive because I have certain fear to the water and not very good resistance. Also, access to a pool once or twice a year.

Now, to read that about the SEALs it's just... wow :shock:

Well, a good dolphin kick isn't easy. Mine was crappy just a few days ago. I grew up around pools, but 7 years away deteriorated my abilities I took for granted. It puts so much in perspective for me. For instance, I was wondering how Paul Hamm, who has mastered so many skills and is so strong, can struggle with the air flare. I am a stronger person than I was seven years ago, but I struggled with something that was fairly simple to me.

As for SEAL training, it is so diverse, it seems you have to be above average in everything, and exceptional in a few things to make it. I just couldn't imagine most people getting physically prepared to that. I knew many people who would kill the running and calisthenics, but the strength and swimming would crush them. Since, many think they want to be a SEAL in their junior year, I think odds are against most. I think it would take me 4 years to get where I needed to be to have a shot. Not to mention your mind and values need to be at the right place at the right time.

The swimming and cold water wrecks more people than anything else. You don't have to be superman, no amount of training gets you through buds. What gets you through buds is the mindset that death is just another meal. When you are cold, tired, your balls have holes rubbed in them by the sand from days of running with no sleep, and there is no sign of anything stopping, you have to be ok with that. Dying should be more or less like getting a cup of soup. Oh, ok. And you take it. Everyone reaches a point in hell week where they either adopt that mentality or they leave. That's honestly what it is. All this physical stuff just keeps you healthy and capable enough to get to that point with the lowest risk of injury.

Ive seen guys who couldn't lift my girlfriend into their arms get through buds, and I've seen guys a little better conditioned than I was get crushed. If death or injury means something to you, you don't belong there. There are some people who get through by letting everyone around them get hurt because they don't want to pull equal weight, and that works too, but at some point even they make the decision that death is less important than a brown t-shirt.