Why Does the Army Want Me Weak?

[vulturesrow]

Thanks for this great article! I'm going to include it in my proposal to my CO for buying us some bars and bumpers.

The Navy has finally realized that you must use resistance to make people strong enough to do their jobs. They will focus on "pillar" strength, I guess that is the same thing as "core" strength.

I had similar results with my PT test; I ran my best time ever after a Starting Strength.

Josh,

As a fellow Navy bubba, I would offer that physical preparedness in the aerobic pathway for we squids is damn close to useless. I dont want the guy who weighs 135 soaking wet to pull me out of my airplane when its on fire. I weigh 225 and Im 6'2", I want a strong guy who can move me, who can throw me over his shoulder if necessary and get the hell out of dodge. I also want that strong guy on a hose team or wearing SCBA gear moving into a dark space to fight a fire. Frankly, the Navy PRT and general attitude towards fitness is a mess and Ive hated it from the first day I set foot in the Academy, well before I discovered the joy of strength training.

And dont even get me started on the way that we measure body fat percentage. According to the Navy I have 22% bodyfat. I would bet large sums of money that there is no way I am carrying that much fat on my body.

[OITW]

vulturesrow, I'm just the 6'2" 235lb sailor to pull you out of that burning aircraft.

I'll be right there as soon as I finish dancing with colored dumbbells in my morning FEP class. Because the Navy says I'm fat.

I see that you're only 1/2" away from joining me (a smidge smaller around the neck, a tad wider around the waist, or a pissed off guy with tape determined to screw you over). Whatever you do, don't lift anything that will add more muscle to your "core" or you'll be a fat boy, too.

Fock! I hate this system.

[Jonathus]

I liked the article, the parts that I could read at least. For some reason adobe gave me errors when I open that article and the formatting is all screwed up with large paragraphs missing. I also have the latest version of Adobe Reader so I'm not sure what the issue is. Can someone recommend a different way to read the full article?

Nonetheless I'd like to comment on the article. I'm glad someone at the top has an idea about how Army Strong really isn't. I can tell you that those of us on the ground work our asses of to stay far above APFT standards to meet the demands of our job.

I am a "Skinny Bastard". I'm 6'. I joined the Army at 135 pounds. I now weigh about 155 today. I spent some time in the 82nd as an infantryman before going on to bigger and better things. Most of those guys were also skinny. I remember our Battalion CSM mandating that everyone WILL run a minimum of 3 miles a day. I don't think anyone really did all that, but we tried. I became a hell of a runner (unlike today). We also did 'buddy carries', kit runs, kit runs with boots, and many other exercises that burn a ton of calories, get you tired, but don't really build strength efficiently. As a 145-lb infantryman I was still able to carry 200lb+ teammates. But I was also something of an anomaly. I'd get much stronger and not at all bigger when I ramped up my training. As of today I'm the smallest guy in my unit and there are maybe a handful of guys my size in my battalion. I can keep up, but I'm not where I'd like to be and that's a problem of my own making. But for so many other people in the military that are not so inclined to study, they must rely on the Army's PT program, which is flat out terrible.

Now I can tell you from friends I know that Army SF candidates 'in the pipeline' (training) do a shit-ton of rucking (walking/running with a rucksack/backpack) with a 70-lb ruck, running, and ungodly amounts of calisthenics. For a while SOPC (Special Operations Preparation Course) was harder than Scuba School. That is quite a feat. But still, there was little to no weight training officially incorporated. It just isn't done. The prevailing opinion is that weighlifting produces bulky, slow soldiers. And from experience I've seen many soldiers obviously in good shape yet huge due to serious lifting fail a tape test because their bodyweight is so high and they get flagged.

After all my years of exercise and working out, you'd think I'd be able to start a program of my own and make oodles of money like so many Navy SEALs. Not so. There are so many arguments and ideas about working out that it's all subjective in the minds of many. Cross-fit, Gym Jones and Military Athlete are the big ones these days. The only thing the Army taught me is that eating a shit-ton of food and doing a lot of stuff is the best way to get strong. I'm 30 and can still eat anything I want; I'll stay thin but in order to make gains I have to hit 6000 calories a day. My metabolism is both a blessing and a curse, really.

I did the Starting Strength workout for a while on deployment here, but found that I didn't know how to properly incorporate cardio and still see strength gains. On missions I'd get exhausted walking up hills because I typically had 80-100lbs of kit depending on loadout needs. I was so busy elsewhere I slacked off on coming up with a proper workout. I'm now horribly out of shape (but I can still pass the APFT, which is a joke).

The worst thing about the Army's PT program is that there is so much ignorance that has flowed downhill for so long. In 2004 when I first enlisted, the Army was doing a new PT program that involved several varieties of warm-up calisthenics that were absolutely ridiculous. It was low-intensity to the extreme and reasoning was so many civilians entering the military were out of shape. In 30th AG (in-processing prior to Basic Training) there were many guys who couldn't do the minimum 10 pushups and 10 situps and running test (I forget the standard on that one) to go on to Basic. Guys in my basic training class, however entered Basic in good shape and left smaller and weaker. Part of that is due to the food, but another part to weaker PT standards and a whole helluva lot of running.

Go into any Army gym and you'll see dozens of machines and one squat rack, even for some of the biggest gyms. It's aggravating. Making soldiers run to lose weight (instead of lifting and controlling your diet) is the Army's easy answer.

Sir you could write an entirely new article on food and the diet the military gives ya. Bacon and eggs every morning? Sure, why not.

[milktruckcopilot]

I'm currently stuck in TRADOC hell doing a reclass. PT is Mon-Fri. With Friday generally being considered "sports day". I manage to get in to the gym to lift on Fridays. I'm at the point to where I can only perform SS twice a week (Fri-Sun).

Even when given a "free" day, I still see the vast majority of soldiers choosing to either play volleyball or go to the gym and rush to the treadmills. The ones that attempt to lift end up doing a million reps and rush from station to station. Even with the free day I feel soldiers, especially IET are influenced to run their hearts out and cardio themselves to death.

As I said, Fridays I've been able to go to the gym and lift. Today was quite unique. I arrive early to formation when I hear, "Hey Chuck Taylor, you can't wear those shoes to run in." It was the Co First Sgt. "Do you have a pair of running shoes?" "You have 10 minutes, I suggest you get moving." Needless to say I went and changed. However I believe it shows that running is the priority and first and foremost in the minds of most of the cadre, commanders ect.

Just my .02

[Josh Ferguson]

vulturesrow,

When people come in my office, they'll probably see a picture of 70's Big's hall of fame, a list on the whiteboard of who in the division can do a muscle-up, and empty red-cap milk bottles in the trash. When they ask why, I say that I want to be able to carry the biggest dude in the building out if there's an emergency. So it made me happy when I read your comment. I don't really care about BCA anymore because I know I can lean out if I go strict Paleo for a month before the PFA (I think most people can).

In my quest to develop the most effective training program for myself in preparation for a sandbox deployment, I have a been keeping a log of physical actions common in military service, just a few:

Carrying/Pushing/Pulling things
Standing up or walking for long periods of time
Sprinting or running the length of the pier or a few blocks

All of these usually involve wearing lots of gear.

Will all Mil-Spec folks here provide their input on this (especially if you have some infantry-type experience)?

Mil Rx:

Get your 5 big lifts up to respectable poundages
Practice lots of carries (farmer's, firemen's)
Walk and do lots of push-ups and pull-ups with a heavy weight vest
Pull and push something heavy
Tread water with some extra weight

[Sean5424]

Mil Rx:

Get your 5 big lifts up to respectable poundages
Practice lots of carries (farmer's, firemen's)
Walk and do lots of push-ups and pull-ups with a heavy weight vest
Pull and push something heavy
Tread water with some extra weight

Everything sounds good up to the weighted water tread. Yeah, it sucks, but in terms of operational relevance, it rates just above zero-G pirouettes. Unless you're in a MarOps unit, where tank/weight belt/brick treads are part of dive school, there are better ways to get the same strength-endurance stimulus. If I'm in a situation where I have to tread water for any period of time (i.e. bailout/crash over water), I'm going to dump as much extra weight and possible and make my pants into a flotation device.

I'd replace the treading with short, weighted sprints from a variety of starting positions, i.e. kneeling, prone, etc. Good ol' IMT.

[Josh Ferguson]

Everything sounds good up to the weighted water tread. Yeah, it sucks, but in terms of operational relevance, it rates just above zero-G pirouettes. Unless you're in a MarOps unit, where tank/weight belt/brick treads are part of dive school, there are better ways to get the same strength-endurance stimulus. If I'm in a situation where I have to tread water for any period of time (i.e. bailout/crash over water), I'm going to dump as much extra weight and possible and make my pants into a flotation device.

I'd replace the treading with short, weighted sprints from a variety of starting positions, i.e. kneeling, prone, etc. Good ol' IMT.

I'll be at riverine squadron, so every mission will start/end with a boat ride.

Funny that you mention the sprints from different positions, I just implemented these in command PT a few weeks ago.

[John2336]

After 8 years of dealing with the Marine Corps standard of fitness, I've considered getting out rather than dealing with it. I've been nearly 25 pounds over my max since I've been in. I can also smoke check almost every "skinny fat" bastard out there in the Physical Fitness Test and Combat Fitness Test, but still I have to be taped (usually by an extremely overweight/alcoholic/wife beating S3 training guy who's getting kicked out for major issues)

Service members often take extreme measures to avoid being taped. Starvation, dehydration, and laxatives are the preferred methods by those who can't pass the standard. Many have dropped dead on base while using these methods to drop weight. The skinny fat guys can get away with being 5 pounds under their max even though they barely score a 2nd class Physical Fitness Test, while guys who get a perfect score on it face the loss of their career if they're 5 pounds over.

I've been in combat- and the skinny guys fall out first. My Gunny had to be removed from a hill during a firefight after being injured, and the armored coil of trucks was 2.5 kilometers away. My gunny is 6' 4'' and 240 pounds. Between me and a very stocky Mexican buddy, we got him there. We handed the skinny guy the metal detector to clear a path for us- he was suffering from the heat and having to wear all his gear.

I hope the Marine Corps and the other branches of the military learn the error of their ways soon. I think the infusion of Crossfit "boxes" on bases across the Corps has been great, but the Muscle Mag types and the Runners world types still hold the rank. They still call the shots. Eventually the dinosaurs will retire.