Military Fitness Clients

Wow! I can't believe you did a post about this! This is one of the programs that I offer! I love training people in this program, it's so much fun. The last kid I trained to get into the Navy was the top of his class, the fastest runner and is killing his PT training everyday thanks to my training. I would love to get more people into this program and I've been working on my keywords and sales copy. Jeff gave me a couple more good ideas like using the 5lb padded bar to simulate carrying around a rifle, so thanks to Jeff.

You can check out my Pre-Military training program page here:
http://prideconditioning.com/pre_military.html.

Thanks again Chris and Jeff!

Doug Seamans
PRIDE Conditioning
http://www.prideconditioning.com

Hey Chris, this is great.

I, myself, am hitting my 5 year mark in the Air Force this year. Jeff is right on point with this. I haven't seen trainers using any type of marketing tactics for this niche at all.

Thanks again.

Something that's actually my niche

I agree and disagree with Jeff on some things. Push-up form is absolutely essential, I would also work planks to ensure their core is firing properly, both on elbows and pushup position for extended periods. On the flip side I don't think they need pushups throughout the workout with a trainer. They'll get plenty in basic and it's for passing a test. Yes they need to do good on it, but training time needs to be maximized for survival not numbers on a piece of paper.

FM 21-20 is outdated by at least two decades. I agree about learning the verbage and testing standards, the rest nobody goes by anyways and as a trainer you can do better than 80's science.

As an overall training strategy I would look at the age of the client. If they are your average teenage high school grad, you need to dig into youth training in reference to motor learning patterns. I would reccomend anything by the IYCA as a start. Also remember around 80% or so are straight out of high school or lower class. Either way there's not a high percentage that can afford very much, and the ones that can will be your best clients because they are joining the military for more than benefits.

I kind of agree and disagree about not being military and training them. I don't think you need to have been, but you DO need to have a fighters mindset. I don't care if you like to fight paper bags, but without this personality you'll be limiting their mindset training, which I do believe is an important component. Not in a stress format, but the physical work must be challenging their mind as well.

Training current military is a whole other ball of wax but can be broken down pretty simple. If they're an office jockey(not a primary fighter) go head and train them. But on the other hand if they're on the sharp pointy tip of the spear, you better damn well know exactly what you're doing. This is not the client to be doing muscle and fiction or random crossfit workouts with. They have to be asessed and trained just like professional athletes or injuries will abound. Some considerations here are overtraining, compesation for body armor and the way gear lays. I would highly reccomend working with a PT if you do work with these guys. Also sports pyschology needs to be integrated into the workout as well.

I've been preaching this stuff for several years now, so I'll stop before I run away with it

Just remember if nothing else, work on improving movement patterns and good solid form foundation. A lot of manual labor will do wonders for anyone about to enter any branch of service. So if you need some firewood cut or some rocks moved, find some future recruits

Wow…Thats a brilliant way to get new clients.

Hey Chris,

Thanks for posting that interview, have seen plenty of his stuff via Vince DelMonte and Craig Ballantyne, etc, but they are some seriously good ideas for where to get resources from military style training – from the source! Can't believe how easy that is to find as couldn't find an Australian version so easily.

I had a client stop training recently due to returning to full time study, etc. but he was in the army reserves, and after rading some of your marketing stuff, especially on some of the free training concepts, I have offered to train him for free in exchange for him training me "army style" to get some ideas for group training/boot camps, etc.

Another big thanks mate, there are just so many good ideas coming out of reading your posts mate.

Regards, Clayton
Adelaide Personal Trainers

Hello Chris,

This is a fabulous interview on such an important topic. This is the 1st time I heard military personal training discussed in such a beneficial format.

I have trained military men to pass their military fitness tests. They all passed and exceeded their goals and got in the best shape ever! This interview gave me excellent tips to continue to expand my military personal training opportunities.

Chris – keep up the excellent, helpful, and creative posts!

Thanks!

Duuuuuude,

Just when I thought I knew it all. This is the most out of the box post ever. I have some great ideas.
Thanks Chris

This was a very helpful post/mp3. I grew up military and model my bootcamps this way but there were so many nuggets that helped me to rethink some things and implement them soon =)