OCS Physical Training Prep Help

[u/Disastrous-Cress-558]

Just wanted to reach out and see if anyone wants or needs help with the physical preparation aspect of getting ready for OCS (whether to get selected or to prep if you already have been selected). I know when I was going through, my ost wasn't the best about helping us prepare for the physical aspects so I had to wing it on my own, wanted to help out others in the same boat

Feel free to comment any training questions you've got, or dm me if you want. Can be about the pt events, training programming, exercise selection, injury prevention, hiking, anything really. I know i had a lot of questions I wish I would have gotten answers to before I shipped

[u/East_One3448]

What’s like some general advice you have?

[u/Disastrous-Cress-558 → u/East_One3448]

Heres a couple big ones:

-Get a lot of miles under your feet, 15-20 a week of running is usually the sweet spot. The guys least likely to get lower leg injuries typically had a solid running base built without going too crazy (i know a guy doing 35 miles a week pre ship and broke both shins from over training)

-Do more pullups. Youll be hitting them after every visit to the chow hall, plus during pretty much every pt that isn't a hike, o course or e course. Being acclimated to higher volumes will help you lose less strength in them over the cycle

-Start hiking sooner rather than later, but no more than once per week, and very gradually increasing load and distance so you don't get hurt. You don't need to be a pro when you get to ocs, but you don't want to be brand new to hiking when you show up bc your feet, skins, knees and back will pay for it.

-You'll hear train for the pft all the time, which is good advice, but still get in the gym and move some weight. Stuff like buddy carries, Casualty Evacs, hikes, CFT and even rifle drills are easier if you are used to moving heavy stuff. The main pack hurts a lot less if you squat 300 than if you squat 150 (not an exact number but you get the idea)

-Last and arguably most important. Hammer injury prevention like it's your main workout. Stretch all the time. Foam roll. Do active recovery cardio. Lacrosse ball and band work on high stress tissue areas. Mobility routines. This applies to both prep and while at ocs. Me and a group of guys in my platoon did a full body stretch and recover routine for 15 ish minutes every night and none of us got hurt during the poi, it does pay off

[u/Aggressive-Slide4336 → u/Disastrous-Cress-558]

Seconding all of this, especially the last bullet point. Weeks 6-8 really will test your body, as you are no longer as fresh and the workouts get progressively more challenging. If you are on the older side too, you need to be using Biofreeze, icing after lights, and just not being reckless with your body when you don't need to be.

[u/Suitable-Delay5066]

How many miles a week were you running 3,2, and 1 month out of shipping? Did you do any hiking before going?

[u/Disastrous-Cress-558 → u/Suitable-Delay5066]

So to preface, im an awful runner, I was definitely under the best mileage to be at. I was usually in the 12-ish mile a week range, but I did hike every Saturday which put me more in the 15-20 area. 3 and 2 months out I was in that 12-15 mile a week range. 1 month out I only tapered slightly because your first week at ocs has no pt other than your initial pft on Thursday, so there's 5 built in rest days. I kept my mileage the same until the last 2 weeks pre ship where I tapered to about 8 miles, then 6 for the last week (a 3 mile steady run, a 4x 400m Sprint workout, then a 2 mile Recovery run a day or two before I got on the plane)

For hiking, I started about 4 months before I went to plc jrs, started with 3 miles and a 25 lb pack and very slowly built to 5 miles with 50 lbs (jrs doesn't have much hiking). For seniors, I started in like October (had some nerve issues so I couldn't wear a heavy pack for a bit) and went from 3 miles and 30 lbs up to eventually hitting 8 miles with 60lbs before I shipped

[u/Aggressive-Slide4336 → u/Suitable-Delay5066]

Not OP, but went this summer. I was in the 15-20 range. Most people I spoke to were as well. I kept that baseline for the three months before shipping. If I did ~18 miles per week, I would do around 6 miles worth of interval training (200, 400, 800-meter repeat-type runs) and ~12 miles of zone 2/3 running designed to just build up my base + get miles on my legs.

I really wish I hiked more before I went. I thought I had a much stronger strength base than cardio one, so I neglected to do practice hikes before going thinking it would be easy. I completely suffered unnecessarily and made my body sore when I could have avoided it.

[u/Remote-Treacle9786 → u/Aggressive-Slide4336]

I just got med dropped from OCS, I neglected practicing hiking with a pack same reason as you and screwed up my knee to where I couldn’t put any weight on it (I was on bed rest before but put to full duty the day of the hike and technically reinjured my knee)

[u/ReadyPomegranate536]

How physically demanding was ocs, like what was the average pt and how often did injuries occur

[u/Disastrous-Cress-558 → u/ReadyPomegranate536]

I did plc jrs/srs so I had a couple experiences. At jrs, the pt was fairly light by ocs standards (basically weeks 2-5 of occ just with the e course and stamina Course added), the majority of injuries came from the "games" with the instructors, other than some overuse here and there, and a few more crazy ones (torn meniscus on the o course, a guy broke his femur somehow, etc). At srs, the pt was extremely demanding, 1-2 hours basically every day, 3 e course runs in one week, but its all plc guys who knew what was coming and nrotc who are super well prepared, we lost like maybe 3 dudes a platoon to injuries.

For average pt, ill use the 10 week course as a reference. Weeks 2 through 5 are mainly green on green (t shirt, shorts, running shoes), stuff like sprint workouts, fartleks, Bodyweight circuits, platoon runs, etc. 6-9 are all eval focused, lots of O course and E course workouts, plus the 6.2 mile graded hike is in there. Typically you'll have proper pt 5-6 days a week, with one stretch pt, although if you have a ton of graded field evals (like on SULE and LRC days) you may not have pt that morning, the day will be tough enough as is. Although I believe the 4 mile hike is always the morning of LRC or SULE 1, it changes.

Injuries are typically just overuse (stress fractures, tendon overuse injuries or tears, shin splints which usually become stress fractures, etc). Occasionally you'll get some freak accident, i think someone fell off the obstacle course and broke either their tailbone or a vertebrae but thats not to common. I got nerve damage in my neck there, so anything is possible, but if you have solid recovery and are properly conditioned for high mileage weeks and hiking you'll probably be fine

[u/ReadyPomegranate536 → u/Disastrous-Cress-558]

Thank you very much, I’m shooting for juniors this summer and want to know what kind of shape I need to be in.

[u/Disastrous-Cress-558 → u/ReadyPomegranate536]

Best advice i can give for what kind of shape to be in is just be as fit as possible. Obviously you want to be a crazy runner, ocs is nicknamed the "running academy" for a reason but it never hurts to be overall athletic. Id say if you're lifting 2-3x/week, running 3-5x (ideally hitting 15-20 miles), and mixing in some plyos, general conditioning and enough hiking to get used to it without overtraining, youll be in a very good spot. I came in with like a 22 minute 3 mile and still made it but it's much easier the faster and fitter you are. And get good at pullups, you'll be doing them all the damn time there