The Legions of the Roman Empire still hold vast renown for their military might. I believe the core of this was the Roman Legionnaire training. Much of the Roman Legion characteristics are still used today, to include how they conduct training. Certain parts of their training has not been crossed over into the modern era, unfortunately. My goal with this article is to encourage a merging of some of the old Roman training methods. The desired outcome is you becoming more disciplined and truly fit to fight. The Romans had a particular way of training and maintaining the fighting capability of their army, and I believe we can incorporate some of these forgotten traits for our own benefit.
IRON DISCIPLINE
If you don’t have discipline, you won’t get anywhere in life. The Roman Legionnaire discipline was really based on fear of brutal punishment, and a watered down version of this is still used today. My definition of discipline for this subject is the ability to carry out tasks, even if you don’t really feel like it. You won't have anyone telling you what to do, so big boy rules are in full affect here. This means not snoozing your alarm, doing training outside of your comfort zone, and having the patience and focus to do things properly the first time. This will only benefit you in the long run to make this behavior into a daily habit. You have to hold yourself accountable to plans you make and you have to accept and work on your weaknesses honestly. For example, if you know that you are not strong with one handed shooting and manipulations, you have to dedicate time to correct this weakness. Even if this means waking up an hour early just to get in a few proper repetitions before getting onto the daily grind. If fact, I recommend the military schedule of waking up at 5:30 daily if you aren’t on the night shift and you work a standard 9-5.
The other part of discipline is developing a tolerance for hardship. Jog or do PT in the rain, snow, heat, etc. Your discomfort should not be a factor in whether you go outside and train. Unless you are physically incapable of training from true muscle fatigue or cognitive exhaustion, you need to follow through with proper and focused training/practice. This is discipline, Roman Legionnaire style.
DAILY DRILLS/PRACTICE
Roman Legions were known throughout their history for having various ways that they conducted their daily routines. One thing that we know is that they had weapons drills and practice that was conducted daily. Even today, militaries try to follow this concept with mixed results. Most of the issue is armory access on a daily and early basis for working on weapon drills. As civilians, we do not have to check our guns out of the armory, so we don’t have an excuse. There are multiple accounts of Legionnaire training schedules, but most point to them conducting their drills and practice in the morning before breakfast.
The practice you conduct should be precise but also fast paced. By fast, I mean that you should strive to go as fast as you can do it properly. You can do this by just going fast off the bat, or going progressive in a way that gradually engages your mind body connection and is probably better for actually sympathetically developing skill. I like to use certain drills daily for highly perishable skills such as trigger work, but changing your drills up daily is important for preventing fatigue and mind body connection development. Drills such as presenting/drawing your chosen weapon system and engaging the target as fast and accurately as possible is a good warmup. From here, I like to practice moving from one target to another. Transitions between targets can be very tough to develop without practicing the physical/optical coordination. A good finisher to basic weapons work is practicing snapping into different positions or behind cover and quickly engaging targets while minimizing your profile. This is a skill that also requires deliberate development and repetition, but is a vital skill for increasing your survivability.
REINFORCING EXERCISES
Much like the way the Roman Legionnaires trained, I recommend incorporating weights before and after practice in order to strengthen the muscles actually used for the tasks conducted. This can be simply, safely, and effectively done by using different types of isometric exercises. This is a supplement to your training in absence of having weapons that are twice the weight of the real thing, such as how the Roman Legionnaires trained for developing precision, coordination, and power. Simply mimicking the movements conducted, and doing it slowly or quickly with control will help you obtain similar results, I have found.
Now, you won’t have a Centurion to lead you in drill, so it will be on you to be in charge of your own training/practice. You will have to figure out the pace of the drills, the rest times, and self-critique. Also, you will have to determine how much is enough as far as reps/sets on your drills. You may have originally opted to do three sets of twenty trigger pulls, but find your technique to not meet your personal standard until the last set. In this case, exercising good judgement and discipline should lead you to doing a couple more sets of proper drills in order to exercise that mind body connection for what right feels and looks like. This will spark growth, but you will be in charge of gauging it honestly and not just being lazy. This is not saying to burn yourself out, but rather do things until you get them right and then do it a few more times in order for your brain to develop the neural pathways needed for you to eventually do things the right way just naturally.
KNOWLEDGE EXPANSION/TACTICAL ADAPTATION
The Romans were known for being adaptable and always trying to learn from past mistakes. They weren’t just hard-headed brutes, but rather thinking and adapting warriors. This made them super lethal because they learned from everyone and every battle. They wanted to perfect battle. This was obviously due to necessity as an aspiring world superpower and conquering force, but also to survive. No one wants to just stick to what they know and hope it works this time after getting their ass kicked in the last fight. That is called insanity. Doing the same thing over and over but expecting a different result. I encourage you to study broad and learn. Don’t just read tactical manuals, but get books on experiences. Learn from those who have bled and learn from the successes and failures of the past, and don’t repeat the latter. If you get training on a new way of fighting such as shooting while wounded or fighting in low light, implement that into your training as needed. Grow, adapt, learn, and thrive. Seek knowledge and get experience where you can.
FOOD INTAKE AS A TOOL
I admit that this last part is a bit difficult to recommend, but I personally do it for myself. I recommend basing your food intake on how you have performed in training. Self-denial of treats or tasty foods should be implemented when you fail to successfully train or your practice results only in numerous failures. I am personally quite harsh and will refuse food and water to myself until I get things right. Sometimes this is just because I am so focused, but other times it is because I want to punish myself so I will remember the pain of going without if I fail. This will encourage higher focus and stave off laziness. Sometimes you can add physical stressors to this self-denial in order to really get the point across.
When you are not practicing self-denial and punishing your failure, I recommend treating food like medicine. Much of the world suffers from nutrient deficiency, which could easily be reduced by something as simple as adding things like Chia seeds, turmeric, Garlic, and other herbs and spices to your food. Things like this are not just easy, but they are essential for good growth and development both physically and mentally. Your brain and body need some of these nutrients to heal and also function at peak performance. This really comes down to also making it a point to learn about the human body and how to take care of yourself, which is a big passion of mine.
Again, starting out by just adding spices and little things like garlic and extra virgin olive oil to your dishes will make a huge impact. Also learning about metabolic functions and insulin regulation is important as well. This kind of goes into the last part about broadly learning things. In my view, our body is the weapon, and the guns are the tools we manipulate to meet our needs. It is on us to keep the weapon clean and sharp, just as we should keep our tools clean and well maintained for optimal performance.
WRAPUP
In this article, I touched on most of the stuff I have spent the last few months developing. I have always loved history and observed it with wonder as I watched us fail to incorporate some of the lessons, they learned even thousands of years ago. For instance, most people don’t even know how to make a fire or make shelter without a tent. These are basic human tasks that have helped our species survive hundreds of thousands of years. I believe the Roman Legion training lessons can have a great impact on our performance, as long as we adapt it properly and be logical with its implementation. Obviously, we are not going to practice decimation if we fail a drill, but it doesn’t mean that we cannot take other lessons from the Romans in order to succeed.
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