Introduction
There’s no question that Army Special Forces Assessment and Selection (SFAS) is one of the most challenging courses in the military. Throughout the four week course, candidates are pushed to their physical, mental, and emotional limit. Some candidates will drop due to performance, others will drop due to medical issues, and many will withdraw voluntarily due to the sheer difficulty of the course. At SFAS, simply surviving until the last day is not enough. After successfully passing individual and team events, on the last day, the cadre will select the candidates who they deem fit to advance to the Special Forces Qualification Course (SFQC) and the opportunity to earn their Green Beret. Those who are not selected will go back to their units or to the needs of the Army, some with orders never to return to SFAS.
With that said, it’s critical that candidates are physically prepared prior to attending SFAS. Here are the top 5 tips for preparing for SFAS.
1. Aerobic Capacity
Aerobic capacity is critical to performance at SFAS. And while candidates may squeak through OSUT, Airborne, and SOPC with poor aerobic capacity, there will be no hiding at SFAS.
One insight we’ve found working with candidates training for selection is that many have competitive 1, 1.5, and 2 mile times, but their aerobic capacity is still weak. Many are surprised and even frustrated because how could someone run a 12 minute 2 mile run or 9 minute 1.5 mile run and lack aerobic fitness? Well, these candidates are typically performing large amounts of goal pace speed work, which is great for getting faster over short distances. But we see large gaps between expected and actual performance metrics across longer distances like 5 miles and 7 miles and also repeat mid-distance bouts like 2 miles.
To be competitive with timed runs and recover between hard bouts on a long training, a candidate must have strong aerobic fitness. SFAS is marathon, not a sprint. The good news for candidates is that increasing one’s aerobic capacity is simple. All it takes is a several consistent months of low intensity training (generally HR 130-145). We target candidates to complete a minimum of two hours of zone 2 training per week in addition to one to two days of speed or threshold work. And for candidates with little to no prior fitness background, we’ll spend 10-12 weeks building their base by ramping up to five hours of zone two training per week through a combination of rucking, incline walking, stairmaster, and biking before we even touch speed work.
2. Strength
As much as people say that SFAS is a matter of will, grit, and mental strength (which it is), we would be lying if we didn’t admit that a minimum level of absolute strength is required to get selected at the course. All too often, we hear the story of cross country runners who think they’re prepared for SFAS because they pass the APFT with ease with 11 minute 2 mile runs, 80 push ups and situps, and 15 pull ups. But when they get to SFAS they’re crushed under a log, can’t carry the water cans, and struggle with a 65lb ruck. That cross country runner could have all the mental attributes the cadre are looking for, but they simply lack the physical strength to complete the course.
The reality is that strength matters. All candidates training for SFAS should have a dedicated resistance training program, and in this article we outline some minimum and optimal standards to shoot for.
3. Rucking
Rucking, rucking, rucking. At SFAS, candidates will do a lot of rucking. In our three-part article series, we dug into research from 1990, 2010, and 2019 which says that rucking performance is the single greatest predictor of success at SFAS. The reason why rucking is number three on this list, and not number 1, is because the average 20 year old should not go from the couch to putting on a 65lb rucksack. A base level of strength, muscle mass, and aerobic conditioning is required to be successful.
4. SFAS-Specific Work Capacity
We have outlined the importance of aerobic capacity, strength, and rucking, but what’s work capacity? SFAS-specific work capacity refers to a candidate’s ability to complete repeat efforts similar to the demands at SFAS over a given duration.
The best way to train for SFAS is to build general reservoirs of aerobic capacity and strength, and then transfer into more specific training modalities prior to selection. A SFAS-specific work capacity session would specifically prefatigue and target the muscles and skills used most at SFAS – forearms, upper back/shoulders/traps, lower back, and legs. By this point, the candidate has a full body pump – the upper body, legs, and forearms are tight and heavy. Next, the candidate would perform challenging, repeat circuits of ruck marches, weighted carries, timed intervals runs, and calisthenics to simulate operating under fatigue.
What’s the benefit of prefatigue? Well, if a strong candidate is fresh, he may not feel fatigue in his weakpoints (lower back and legs) a heavy ruck march until mile 9. But from an injury prevention perspective, candidates shouldn’t be rucking 10 miles multiple times per week to train their weakpoints. They’ll destroy the knees shins.
Instead, before the ruck march that candidate can prefatigue the target muscle areas with lunges, goblet squats, and back extensions and achieve the same training effect, adaptations, and level of fatigue earlier in the session and with less damage to the body.
5. Land Navigation
In a recent article, we broke down the selection rates and reason candidates dropped from a 2021 SFAS class. Many were surprised to see 44% of the class were selected, but what many found more surprising is that 24% of the class was dropped due to land navigation. Of those who were dropped, 42% were dropped because of land navigation.
18X candidates attend SOPC, which is a preparatory course for SFAS which includes land navigation training. For non-18X candidates, we highly recommend they join a local orienteering club to familiarize themselves with the basics prior to landing in Camp Mackall.
Conclusion
One may have noticed that the five tips to prepare for Special Forces Assessment and Selection were actually in an order from general to specific. Aerobic capacity and max strength are adaptions which require months to develop. But they transfer quickly into rucking abilities and SFAS-specific work capacity. And lastly, land navigation is a skill candidates are taught, but because of the high drop rate due to land navigation, we recommend candidates familiarize themselves with it beforehand.
Remember to design programs intelligently and slowly ramp up volume over time. And rather than jumping into a SFAS specific program with loads of calisthenics, weighted carries, and rucking, spend some time building a base of aerobic fitness and max strength.
Read More
How Important is Rucking for SFAS?
How to Join Special Forces as a Civilian
Resources to Train for Special Forces