Physical Form For Athletics And Other Requirements: Fill & Download for Free

The deadlift is the best TEST of strength.It is a decent builder of strength, as well.As a general rule of thumb:If a guy cannot deadlift 60kg/135lbs, he will not be athletic. Ever. He won’t be fast, he won’t jump high, he won’t be explosive, he won’t punch hard, because the deadlift requires powerful hip extension, and so do those activities. Even something like distance running, you really need to be able to at least deadlift 1 plate. This is basic stuff! Part of being a human! Important for general health! For women, ~60–66% strength is a good target for the deadlift. Sumo is OK.60kg/135lbs to 100kg/225lbs, is where you are probably OK if you are an endurance athlete, especially if you are on the high side of that. If you are in any sport involving power or speed or strength, however…you’d benefit from having a stronger deadlift. That doesn’t mean you have to deadlift! It’s a TEST!100kg/225lbs to 140kg/315lbs, you are definitely OK if you are an endurance athlete, and MAYBE OK for field sports athletes that don’t require physical contact. For footballers (soccer player in Americanese), basketball players, and baseball players, deadlifting more than 140kg is pretty pointless and likely won’t help your performance much. For track and field throwers, American football players, rugby players, etc, only being able to deadlift 140kg will probably result in you getting tossed around by someone that CAN.140kg/315lbs to 180kg/405lbs is where endurance athletes are probably not just getting diminishing returns from a stronger deadlift-they are getting NEGATIVE returns. Distance runners are skinny, and deadlifting THIS much is conflicting with their sport. Non-contact field sports athletes are definitely OK with this level of strength, and will gain little from focusing on deadlifting further. Rugby players, throwers and their ilk likely will want to be even stronger than this.180kg/405lbs to 220kg/495lbs…there are not that many sports where this level of strength is not enough. The obvious exception would be weightlifting/powerlifting/bodybuilding/strongman, but a few others might be football linemen, and shot putters. Everything else (that I can think of!) is probably totally OK with a 4 plate deadlift, certainly with 5!For those last sports mentioned, your deadlift can probably never be strong enough, provided you are using good form and don’t get hurt. It’s something (along with squatting, Olympic lifting, etc) that should always be a focus for those types of power athletes.That doesn’t mean you have to deadlift! You can build it with rows, squats, the sport itself, and other weight training.You won’t find many athletes in those sports who aren’t CAPABLE of a big deadlift!Follow me on Instagram or YouTube for diet and training tips!

Usain Bolt announced back in 2015 that he planned on retiring after the World Championships of the 2017 season, and that’s exactly what he did. However, his season did not end gloriously with gold medals around his neck, but rather ignobly sprawled out on the track after pulling a hamstring during the 400m relay race at the World Championships in London.Photo: USA TodaySo how was he able to basically predict several years ahead of time that his career would come to an end at that point? Because he correctly understood his career trajectory based on his health.From 2008 to 2013, we witnessed peak Usain Bolt.He set world records in the 100m, 4X100m and 200m.He was unbeatable in Olympic and World Championship meets.Bolt went on win streaks (Championship + non-championship meets) that were previously believed to be unfathomable for athletes in any track or field event.He lost so few races during this time that those rare losses - such as to Tyson Gay in 2010 in Stockholm - are hardly remembered by anyone.I would argue that Bolt was able to achieve all of this because he always stayed healthy. The few injuries he experienced were due to unusual circumstances, such as his Achilles strain from running in inclement weather and knee inury from a car accident. Beyond his physical gifts and training, Bolt’s remarkable health allowed him to run in lots of races and always be in top form. This was the X-factor behind his domination.But in 2014, Bolt had a serious hamstring injury that required surgery and completely derailed that season. From then on, Bolt’s performances began to decline.His season bests got slower every year. His average times for the season also got slower.He ran in fewer meets than before.He started losing races on the big stage, such as the aforementioned 2017 World Championships.His wins came by increasingly smaller margins, such as the the .01 win over Justin Gatlin at the 2015 World Championships, a stark contrast to previous years when no one was ever close to him.His medals in the 2016 Olympics required assistance. He pulled out of the Jamaican trials due to an injury. He was only allowed to compete in the Rio Olympics thanks to a medical exemption granted by the IOC.When you look at the most recent phase of his career, the trend we see is that Bolt struggled to keep it together because of his health. He couldn’t run in as many meets as before because his body couldn’t handle the workload. The competition inched closer to him and he took losses that never would have happened during the peak Bolt years. In his last year in particular, it became obvious that he wasn’t the same athlete. Usually known for being an irreverent jokester, Bolt seemed like he wasn’t having quite as much fun. In other words, mentally and physically, Bolt was rapidly burning out after 2014.To be clear, if Bolt stuck around, he still would be one of the fastest men in the world and might even contend for a medal in the 2020 Olympics and the World Championships in the meantime. He might even have some flashes of brilliance. But he would no longer be the dominant guy who dusted the competition in every race. He would be above average, but not always the best, and that would be a hard and potentially humiliating thing for someone of his stature to endure.I respect his decision to retire. Bolt made the choice to go out on his own terms, preserve his legacy, and spare himself a lot of physical and mental punishment from trying to cling to greatness as it slips away.

During special forces selection, sleep deprivation, lack of food, but also physical exhaustion and the constant psychological pressure serve one single purpose:This is not done to “recreate” combat situations where you will find yourself fighting under harshest conditions (this will come later, after you pass selection): the only reason why you don’t sleep and eat enough is to find out how you react under stress.An overweight person can be brought in form through training and you can teach almost any soldier to adapt to very adverse battlefield conditions, but when it comes to mental strength, there is a limit of what can be acquired through training. A person that is mentally too weak in the first place can never be brought to the level of mental toughness that a job in the special forces requires.No battlefield simulation: Australian special forces selectionHowever, to be levelheaded is one of the most important qualities that a special operations soldier must possess:You might be a super athlete and a brilliant marksman, combined with a genius IQ, but the moment you lose your nerves in an operation, your combat worth will be reduced below zero. You will become a liability.To avoid recruiting mentally weak soldiers is therefore the main purpose of special forces selection programs. It might appear to you that they are just “fucking” with you for the sake of it, but in reality you will be carefully observed during the whole testing and selection phase.After you make it through selection, your instructors will further build up and bolster your mental strength until you will become one of the toughest and most resilient individuals in the military.