Several times a month, I get asked the question, “When is the StewSmith.com Fitness eBook Store going to have an Army Air Assault School Workout?” The eBooks I prepare for future military and military personnel are always thoroughly tested by at least three students of the school in question. Well, after three successful completions of Air Assault School, I feel I have a workout worthy of reproducing for people who want to wear the Air Assault badge.
Air Assault School is a only ten day course of instruction that teaches Air Assault techniques, but also is one of the most physically challenging ten days in the Army. Prior to AAS, you have to pass the Army PFT plus pullups, perform a 12-mile unit march under three hours, and navigate the TAAS obstacle course successfully to qualify for Air Assault Training. Pack this into a ten-day school where you learn how to rig helicopters to carrying Army equipment and personnel, you have one challenging course of instruction.
Once you report to AAS, you have to repeat the TAAS obstacle course and run a 2 mile timed run. The TAAS obstacle course will test your upper body strength, grip, agility, endurance, confidence, and ability to perform at heights. During the tough and demanding training events of the course, the students must avoid becoming a safety risk to themselves, instructors, or other students. The TAAS obstacle course enables the instructors to see before the training starts what personnel are scared of heights and nervous under stressful conditions.
You will have daily PT of pullups, pushups, situps, and runs of up to four miles. You will also have to do a six-mile foot march with gear within 1.5 hours. At the end of training, the students must complete a 12-mile foot march with gear within three hours in order to graduate. The good news is this challenging course is only ten days long. So, if you think you are going to attend the school in order to get into better shape, think again. Ten days is not enough to get into shape. In fact, you will likely injure yourself if you attend in less than top physical shape.
This six-week program will help you with meet these challenges, but here are some great workouts to help with the runs, PTs, and long foot marches as organized in the 6 Week AAS Preparation Workout Plan:
Running and Foot marches – the only way to succeed at these events is to practice these events at least 6-8 weeks prior to the course start date.
The four-mile track workout is a great way to build speed and endurance for the two-mile timed run and the daily 3-4 mile runs at AAS:
Jog 1 mile at easy pace
Repeat 4 times
Sprint 400m
Jog 400m
Repeat 8 times
Sprint 200m
Jog 200m
Jog 1 mile at goal pace for 2 mile run
Repeat 5-10 times
Pushups – 10
Crunches – 10-20
Wide pushups – 10
Situps – 10-20
Triceps pushups – 10
Crunches – 10-20
Pullups – max reps
or 10-15 seconds Flexed arm hang
For more info on the PT pyramids see the PT Pyramids article in the Article Archive.
Thanks for the emails and keep them coming. Hope this program help many ace the school and place the Air Assault Badge on their chests.
If you are interested in the AAS Workout Program click the link: The Army Air Assault School Workout
For the PT workouts, I would recommend doing the supersets workouts to build endurance and PT pyramids to build strength.
