Need a Tough, New Workout?  Make Your Own Triathlon!

Recently, I have been adding more cardiovascular activity to the workouts I do with local military recruits and myself and have developed a fun but challenging program.  You can easily alter the events to your preferences and future military / law enforcement training and use these programs to maintain a high operational fitness level.  I call it the Military Triathlon!

Phase 1 of the Spec Ops Triathlon:

The first segment of the workout consists of a standard aerobic routine.  If you are seeking more land based training then I would suggest performing the 3-4 mile timed run.  It is up to you if you want to run this in boots / pants or regular training gear. 

Phase 2 of the Spec Ops Triathlon:

The next segment is great for those of you are seeking more Navy, USMC, Coast Guard, or water Special Ops type training.  I suggest doing a 1000-1500m swim with fins after performing the run.

Phase 3 of the Spec Ops Triathlon:   After the swim, dry off and put back on your gear but this time pack a ruck with 40-50 lbs of gear in it and perform a 6 mile timed ruck.

Overall, this is not that bad of a workout.  It takes a few hours to do.  You can always get creative and add some upper body PT after the run or the swim.  Perhaps doing a max rep superset of pull-ups, pushups, sit-ups in a non-stop circuit until you do five complete sets or hit a group of goal numbers like 100,200,300 (pull-ups, pushups, situps) will complete your PT workout.

Another addition is to add some squats and lunges every 15-20 minutes of the ruck.  Try adding 20 squats and 10 lunges each leg during your ruck (with ruck still on!) for your 60-90 minute ruck march.

I usually do the military triathlon once every other week or once a month and always after a day off of workout activity.  After the military triathlon, make sure you re-hydrate, get proper electrolytes, eat well and enjoy the rest of your day.  You earned it!

Stew Smith CSCS is a former Navy SEAL and fitness author.  See the hundreds of workout ideas in the article section and feel free to email him at stew@stewsmith.com for answers to questions concerning your fitness testing and military / law enforcement training.