Recon lives between the water and the objective. Train for both halves.
Basic Reconnaissance Course asks a Marine to swim well, tread in uniform, carry weight a long way, and navigate to a point that matters. This is twelve weeks built to that shape — three four-week phases, five training days a week, barbell strength underneath all of it.
The engine behind it
You test once, the workbook does the rest. Enter a lift for weight and reps and it estimates your one-rep max, sets a training max from it, and calculates every prescribed weight for all twelve weeks as a percentage of that number, rounded to the nearest 5 lb so it matches the plates on the bar. Enter a timed run and it builds your full pace table — Zone 2 endurance through anaerobic capacity, from 200 m out to marathon distance — plus treadmill speed and grade conversions. Nothing is generic. Every number on the page is yours.
What is inside
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Ruck work at 45 lb dry, with water and food weight counted at 8 oz and 50–100 calories per mile and added to the load, building toward 12 miles under three hours.
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Timed treading as a programmed event — blouse and pants, or hands clear of the water — progressing from 5 × 2 minutes to a continuous 12 minutes.
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Combat sidestroke and freestyle intervals with target times derived from your 500 yd CSS test, plus a complete swim pace table across every zone from 50 m to 1.2 miles.
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Land navigation instruction covering map and compass selection, MGRS plotting, pace count, and distance progression.
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The four-lift barbell core with percentage-driven loading and a week-three max-effort session that recalculates your training max.
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A 3-mile run as the anaerobic benchmark, plus a 5-mile aerobic test.
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The standards on the page: 3-mile under 21:30, 14+ pullups, 70+ pushups, 3:30+ plank, 500 yd CSS under 11:00, 12-mile ruck at 45 lb under three hours, 12-minute tread.
What this program trains, plainly stated. BRC also includes a rifle recovery from 12–15 feet and a 25 m subsurface swim. This workbook builds the strength, swim speed, water confidence and lung tolerance those events sit on top of — it does not rehearse the events themselves, and you should practice them in a supervised pool.
Hybrid Strength Index. The workbook scores you on RLP's own metric — deadlift strength divided by mile pace — and benchmarks it against the field: special operations 70+, infantry, firefighters and MMA 60+, police 50+, climbers and triathletes 40–50, runners 30+. One number that tells you whether you are strong, fast, or actually both.
Who this is for
Marines with a BRC seat or preparing to compete for one, and anyone who needs load carriage and water work progressed together instead of traded off.
Specifications
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Format: Excel workbook (.xlsx), auto-calculating. Printable.
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Length: 12 weeks · three 4-week phases · 5 days per week
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Tabs: program · Run Table · Ruck Table · Swim Table · Land Navigation How To · Movement Library
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Equipment: barbell and rack, pullup bar, dip station, rucksack and plates, pool access, measured route
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Delivery: instant digital download
This is a training tool, not medical advice. Clear hard training with your physician if you have any reason to.
