How to Improve the Load-Bearing Skills Required by the Military Through Fitness

You need a foundation of strength to be durable enough to handle carrying boats, logs, rucksacks, people, water jugs and ammo cans during your military service. Here is a helpful workout that allows you to build the type of strength and muscle stamina to handle long days of training under loads, using sandbags, kettlebells (or other weights with handles) and people:

Warm up the legs and arms with a lightweight thruster half pyramid 1-10, with 100-meter jogs in-between (stop at 10):

This warm-up requires a moderately light sandbag set to complete the thruster exercise. The thruster is a squat that turns into a push press, using the momentum of the upper squat movement to raise the weight overhead. Complete the warm-up with an easy one-mile jog.

The following section of the workout requires never letting the sandbag rest on the ground. For the five sets, you must carry the weight by using the shoulder or chest carry method. Getting used to long periods under the load of equipment is something you will be glad you did as your preparation for such activities as log PT, boat carries, equipment carries or personnel carries. These are typical exercises you will do under a log. We typically recommend a sandbag or weight of 40-50 pounds.

Repeat five times.

• Sandbag squats 30
• Sandbag sit-ups 30
• Sandbag lunges 100 meters
• Sandbag push press 30
• Run with a sandbag for 400 meters each set. Never let go of the sandbag.

Carry the sandbag on your shoulder during the squats (shoulder carry). Hold the sandbag in your arms with the sandbag against your chest (chest carry) for the sit-ups and lunges. The push press requires you to push the sandbag overhead from the left shoulder to the right shoulder. Alternate each shoulder in the down position, and the up position is the extended arm overhead position. Run with the sandbag using the shoulder carry method, changing shoulders as needed. The hardest part of this workout section is never letting go of the sandbag.

Crawl-Carry-Sprint

The next is a mix of fast runs, crawls and carries that simulate carrying a stretcher or using a fireman's carry method with a workout partner. This section works the full body crawl, heavy fireman carries and grip muscles for the farmer walk.

Repeat four times.

• 100-meter bear crawl
• 100-meter fireman carry (50 meters for each person)
• 100 meters: 2 x 40-pound kettlebell farmer's walk
• Run fast for 2 x 50-meter shuttle run without weight in hand
• Finish with an easy cooldown mile jog and stretch

You should feel like you did something hard with this workout, as the load-bearing, crawls, sprints and grip muscles will tire you quickly. For more workout ideas, check out the Military.com Fitness Section.

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