I received an email recently from a young Special Programs candidate about to enter selection training. He had sought advice on how to make it through the process from a number of others who had been there, but the advice he had gotten was frustratingly simple, “Just don’t quit.” That advice though, is really the …
A recent area of research of mine is in the psychological concept of “hardiness.” Hardiness, put simply, is the ability to withstand and perform well under stress. The concept was initially defined in the late seventies when a guy named Kobasa began studying the psychological profiles of men working as executives for AT&T during …
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face.” — Mike Tyson Picture a large plastic zip tie, about an inch wide. The smaller versions are sometimes used to tie garbage bags; soldiers and police officers use the large ones to restrain people. Anyone could figure out how to thread a zip tie: …
Originally published on TMuscle.com The sun wouldn’t be up for another twenty minutes or so. But already the class was gathered under the feeble glow of a single streetlight, on a concrete slab that at one time had been the foundation of a building. It was now our gym. Piled in the red, volcanic …
The sun rises every day, but how often do you take the time to notice it? Have you ever felt like it was something so far away as to be nearly impossible? I remember once, in the early portion of my training in Naval Special Warfare, being led by the arms from my cell down …
Let’s say that for a few days or weeks you were to hire a Hollywood makeup artist, throw on a convincing fat suit and some awful makeup and masquerade as a fatter, remarkably unattractive version of yourself. Would it change the way the world interacts with you? Would it influence the way you feel about …
We were standing in ranks on the beach in Coronado, California, in front of the Naval Special Warfare Center. We were about to start an open ocean swim, and each student was being inspected. Along with the mask and fins, we each carried an SRK dive knife, emergency flares and a UDT lifevest. The vests …
Is this what one used to dread? “Once you have rid yourself of the affliction there though, every change of scene will become a pleasure. You may be banished to the ends of the earth, and yet in whatever outlandish corner of the world you may find yourself stationed, you will find that place, whatever …
Throughout most of my two and a half years going through Naval Special Warfare selection training, swimming was my Achilles heel. My intense dislike for it was equaled only by my monumental lack of talent at it. That was all part of the plan, really. A challenge was my goal and throwing myself into something …
By Albert LiRight now you may be thinking, “Why barefoot fitness?” To some it conjures images of hippies trying to get in shape and to others, it is something they only do at the beach or a soft grassy park on a beautiful day. To us, it is the latest in the evolution of training methodologies, …