If you had to focus on one or two things, what are the biggest gaps in fitness you’ve seen in SOF, IE what should be focused on more?
If I had to focus on only two things, they would be mastering body weight and cardio. The former would include balance exercises and nutrition.
The biggest gaps/problems I see in the SO world are overtraining, and an unbalanced PT program. This is getting better at some units with the addition of pro trainers; when I left we had the former Jaguars strength and conditioning coach.
To see evidence of the overtraining and unbalanced program you need look no further than anyone coming out of a selection program, especially BUD/S- overdeveloped back, shoulders constantly rolled forward, overdeveloped quads, overdeveloped forearms. Not a bad thing, but it needs to be evened out eventually.
Besides my normal - body weight stuff, circuits with weights, running, I personally try to do a lot of grip stuff, balance work (SUP/surfing),
odd lifts of up to half body weight (tree stumps/plants/etc), and every once in a while a really long hike/run/walk carrying as little as
possible to make the journey- basically a suck fest to make you feel alive.