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Thread: Weekend Archives: Combat and Strength

  1. #1
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    Default Weekend Archives: Combat and Strength

    • starting strength seminar april 2024
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  2. #2
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    These standards are fucking pathetic. I'm frightened to know that our "warriors" (lol) are such pussies. I'm 47, fat, father of 4, and a faggoty lawyer who wasn't even athletic enough to play more than 12 downs of high school football and I can smash all these strength standards. We are well and truly fucked. Thanks Obama. And thanks to the "greatest generation" (lol) who birthed the worst generation (boomers) responsible for this pile of shit we call a country and it's fighting forces full of trannies, homos, single moms, lesbians and other assorted human detritus incapable of deadlifting 315. Nice.

    Fucking gross

  3. #3
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    Well, it is the Army after all. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

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    Yes. The Marine Corps standards are much higher. Wait... what are the Marine Corps standards?

  5. #5
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    Maybe if the Army hadn't lowered their ASVAB score requirements. LOL.

    Seriously though the none of the Armed Service requirements are high and as always give far more credence to run times, push-ups, & sit-ups than anything else. That and the Bodyfat standards are ridiculous.

  6. #6
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    Senior officers and NCOs grew up believing physical prowess is measured by long-distance running ability and max reps bodyweight movements. Evaluation for promotion is based on performance and potential. Therefore, our future senior officers will be the ones that most closely resemble their senior raters, physical training (or exercise in this case) philosophy and performance included.

    Pretend the 2-mile run was replaced by the 1RM DL overnight. Can you imagine the humiliation a Type-A senior officer or NCO would feel struggling to pull 200 lbs off the floor, followed up by a soldier of equal weight pulling 600 lbs? Don’t forget this soldier is probably thought of as a shitbag for only running his 2-mile in 15 min.

    The Army invested in a Master Fitness Trainer program several years ago, further solidifying their stance on pushups, situps, and running, but adding supposed injury-reducing warmups and cooldowns. There is no way the conventional Army is going to contract out something similar to a SSC for each Brigade after pouring money into this.

    Some schools and units incorporate additional tests (UBBR, RPFT, etc.), but the more “elite” you get, the more endurance-based the tests become. Former SOF guys market programs advertised with “SEAL”, “operator”, or “warrior” taglines. They too criticize the military’s standards but replace them with “tactical” randomization: gas masks, TRX, plate carriers, and tire hammering. The closest resemblance to strength training you will find is Olympic lifts for high reps, and the measure of progression will always be decreased time to complete the entire workout. Extra motivated soldiers latch onto these programs, still oblivious to the benefits of real strength.

    I had the pleasure of attending MAJ Long’s strength training class years ago. Unfortunately, most of my classmates were too focused on trying to score a 300 on the APFT to dedicate effort to it. We need a bottom-up change. A shift in fitness philosophy needs to begin at the service academies and ROTC programs. New Platoon Leaders and Company Commanders need to accept some risk in PT scores potentially dropping in exchange for increased performance where it matters.

  7. #7
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    Mark,

    The Corps is actually go through some serious changes now to their PFT (mainly by adding/complimenting it with the CFT).

    In addition, in the past we were some what discouraged to grow stronger/larger due to a couple of things. First and foremost was the Height/weight standards; waivers were very rare, even if you were a gym rat. Secondly, there was a financial discouragement in that uniforms (and inspections) made the expense of new uniforms pretty prohibitive. Being the scrawny guy in the platoon, I was always at the other end of the spectrum (and yes, the Corps would bounce you out for being under weight as well; despite weighing 156lbs/6'2" and still being able to pick up someone that weighed in excess of 225lbs with all their gear on and haul their ass a 100yds). I watched guys starve themselves for two days prior to a PFT to make their weight (while I swung by Burger King for a breakfast sandwich, and stood in the weigh in line, chugging down a gallon of water for the extra 8lbs; I didn't have a lot of friends on weigh in day). At any rate, it sucked watching those guys who were just plain strong, suffer through the BS to make their weight (the same guys that would easily hump an 81mm mortar base plate (30lbs extra weight) of 50 cal M-2 receiver (60lbs extra weight)).

    Today, the height/weight standards are no longer in place if you can pass your PFT as a 1st class score (2nd/3rd class invoke the height/weight standards conformance however).

    United States Marine Corps Physical Fitness Test - Wikipedia

    Combat Fitness Test - Wikipedia

    Seriously, no disrespect to the Army guys, but the Corps does put a LOT more emphasis than the other services on being stronger; we kind of have to be...there aren't that many of us, and we are (ultimately) all basic rifleman.

    Currently the BS regs have started to catch up, and embrace strength (and subsequently size) over fitting the "poster board" appearance of a Marine. About damned time...

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by MarinePMI View Post
    The Corps is actually go through some serious changes now to their PFT (mainly by adding/complimenting it with the CFT).
    While the Corps has taken a step in the right direction, we are still a long way off. Most commander's will pay lip service to the value of strength training but no one, including the newly minted Force Fitness Instructors, knows how to train for strength. For those who don't know (or maybe care), the Force Fitness program is similar to what the Marine Corps Martial Arts Program did for martial arts across the Corps; it institutionalized it! Now, there is one way to train martial arts, and only certain people are certified to conduct martial arts training.

    The FFI programs covers cardio, agility, speed, strength, flexibility, yada yada... Don't get too excited, the strength workouts consist of silly exercises such as ammo can deadlifts and barbell lateral squats, and other "functional" movements for 3 sets of 15 reps. Don't get me started on how these Instructors attempt to teach actual compound barbell movements...

    The whole Force Fitness Instructor program will make it harder to actually train Marines because, at the end of the day, it will be my program against the FFIs' workouts, and commanders are going to listen to their FFIs because they are, you know, trained by the Corps! So they must know what they are doing...

    Long story short, the Corps has a long way to go!

  9. #9
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    Not disagreeing with you, but think at least (finally) they're heading in the right direction. Culture is hard and slow to change...

  10. #10
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    starting strength coach development program
    Quote Originally Posted by FatButWeak View Post
    These standards are fucking pathetic. I'm frightened to know that our "warriors" (lol) are such pussies. I'm 47, fat, father of 4, and a faggoty lawyer who wasn't even athletic enough to play more than 12 downs of high school football and I can smash all these strength standards. We are well and truly fucked. Thanks Obama. And thanks to the "greatest generation" (lol) who birthed the worst generation (boomers) responsible for this pile of shit we call a country and it's fighting forces full of trannies, homos, single moms, lesbians and other assorted human detritus incapable of deadlifting 315. Nice.

    Fucking gross
    The military fascination with endurance athletics has been around long before President Obama was elected to office. From personal experience, run times and performance on the AFT/PFT/PRT was stressed over strength at least as far back as 1987.

    Please explain to me--and every other veteran and currently serving service member--how a young adult that has completed multiple combat tours in Iraq and/or Afghanistan is a "pussy". The majority of mid-grade and senior NCOs, in both the Army and the Marine Corps that serve in a combat arms MOS, meets that description; by the way.

    To the best of my knowledge, I have never had a transgender person serve under me. However, plenty of "homos, single moms [and dads], lesbians, and other assorted human detritus" has. They served honorably, to the best of their abilities--a number of which served with distinction that I am proud to have mentored and served alongside with. When on active duty, I could care less about someone's sexual preference or there home life situation; I cared about dependability and competence, not who they slept with off-duty--as long as it did not affect their job performance.

    It is obvious from your comments that you know little about military service in the current decade; and less still about the sacrifices associated with such service.

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