The Education of a Tactical Meathead: Case Study on Implementing a PT Program While Deployed

Case Study on Implementing a PT Program While Deployed

This is where I really feel the meat of this article is. The following is an excerpted e-mail I wrote James Smith while on my last deployment. Out of respect for him, I will not include his reply, but he was very generous with his time and the resultant program is heavily influenced by his ideas. If and when he ever publishes his text on MMA I definitely plan on picking it up as he was kind enough to share an energy systems training chart that alone I feel is worth whatever price the entire manual costs. On to the excerpt (can you tell I was in the middle of reading a Russian text?):

Classification:  UNCLASSIFIED

Caveats: NONE

Quick background on the unit, we are an Air Force RED HORSE Heavy Construction unit. Basically, RED HORSE is the AF equivalent to SEABEES in the Navy.  Self-sufficient heavy combat/construction engineers (both vertical and horizontal). Specialize in setting up bare bases and building airstrips. What makes it hard to program training for is that our daily operations, doomsday scenarios, and the AF PT test are all vastly different. Daily operations is tough b/c we have so many different skill sets in the unit to include standard construction trades like engineers, surveyors, draftsmen, heavy equipment operators, carpenters, electricians, utilities, liquid fuels, power production, HVAC, ops management, but also communications, MWR, cooks, military police, vehicle maintainers, logistics, air movement types, etc. since we are supposed to be self-sufficient. We have a few special capabilities such as explosive demolition, well drilling, and even have an airborne/air assault-qualified element for expedient airfield repair. Definitely not operators or anything high-speed, just a little more "hooyah" I guess than your stereotypical AF types. Like I said, definitely not a group of tough guys in any sense, but we do end up in remote areas doing construction without a whole lot of backup quite often.

The AF PT test is max pushups in one minute, max situps in one minute, 1.5 mile run for time, and waist measurement with no regards for height/weight/anything (don't ask). Pushups and situps are 10% a piece, run is 60%, and waist measurement is 20%. The majority of the organized training time at home station is then spent improving the run portion. This test is stupid for testing military fitness but it affects these guys careers pretty badly if they can't pass it, so it does need to be a consideration.  Think the AF is tired of being the butt of the other services' jokes and they're starting to crack down in their own way.

Current situation is I'm going to lead a team here in Southern Iraq of about 80-90 personnel. Direction is to have mandatory group PT three times a week. What I'm struggling with is how to blend training for daily ops, worst-case scenarios, and the AF PT test with a limited training time. We'll also be working at least 12 hour days from the get-go, so the training can't interfere with their ability to do their daily mission. I also have greatly differing physical capabilities, from guys still in their teens running their 1.5 mile in sub 9 minutes, to older guys in their forties who can't do much anymore without pain. Pretty much everyone in between including young fat guys, older fit guys and meatheads in their late twenties like me. Because of the low base of general fitness, I've been very successful in the past getting results from my troops by doing almost anything but the "standard" military PT (i.e. calisthenics x one million followed by the favorite middle distance running). Basically, I try to use the time we have efficiently and focus on quality (working at greater speed/intensity) rather than quantity (long-duration for the sake of long-duration) and it’s been effective. The things that have always worked best have been things like interval runs, Indian runs, track repeats, explosive med ball throws and jumps, explosive/fast-paced circuits for time not repetition counts, shuttle runs, basically anything that makes them move fast, repeatedly. The guys at my last assignment jokingly called it "combine training" but they were all getting stronger, faster, and better conditioned. As I've learned more though, I'm trying to program things more optimally, rather than relying on balls-out work for 10-25 min time frames as I'm realizing that not everyone is prepared for that kind of work. What we're going to do initially is keep everyone on the honor system b/c of the initial work load, with the understanding that we'll be starting organized PT in about a month so it behooves them to keep it up on their own so they don't get crushed.

Space limfacs are a small tent we can do cals in, basically unlimited stretches of dirt to run on, and a small basic gym w/weights and a few pieces of cardio equipment.  Wasn't planning on doing much in the weight room out of sheer practicality alone. We also have plenty of tires to flip, equipment to push, and heavy stuff to carry b/c of our trades if we get moved to a smaller location. We don't have a whole lot of space to work with but definitely have enough to make do, even if it means getting creative. I would like to split up into smaller groups for PT (ideally by craft), but I'm hesitant b/c I don't have a whole lot of guys with solid training knowledge I would trust to run the smaller groups. When in doubt, everyone always falls back on the extended calisthenics/stretching followed by middle-distance running b/c everyone is comfortable with that, and no one likes to get out of their comfort zones.

I'm currently going through Issurin's second book when I can find the time at night and some sort of concurrent would seem to be best choice. I've got a decent idea of how to develop the general physical qualities needed, but when it comes to dynamic correspondence or the transfer of the training I'm just about lost b/c of the differing requirements we have.

I guess my question (and point of this ramble) is whether I should even try to train them specifically, or just fall back on developing the general physical qualities to the best of my ability? I'll probably break up the team into about four PT groups to make it more manageable as well. I realize the answer is probably as simple as "yes and yes" but wanted to get your quick recommendation if you had the time.

The reply was very generous and very helpful.

All that said, here was the final program:

As you can see, I prefer programming timed sets rather than certain numbers of repetitions. When dealing with a large group of vastly differing abilities I have found this to work much better than doing sets of 50 pushups for example. Sadly, not everyone can do 50 pushups so I would rather have them doing 25 picture-perfect pushups than 50 half-ass, saggy-hipped, ¼ elbow bends. You need to be flexible and adapt your programming as necessary. I found out right away that 40 seconds is probably a little long to be doing pull-ups. I did 15-16 pretty easily in the first 20 seconds and then realized I was only halfway done. I ended up just having them do bar hangs to work on grip after failure until the time was up.

In conclusion, these articles have been the product of many months of on and off writing as real life got in the way, but they are something I felt was needed as a sanity check to some of what I’ve seen out in the fitness world.  Hopefully, this will help at least a few people, and especially help a few who are confused on how to best implement their unit training plans.  I feel like I’ve forgotten to talk about half the information I meant to, but these articles are already long enough and have taken long enough to write. Again, I have no desire to profit financially from any of this, so feel free to borrow and apply ideas freely (because I sure do).  If there is interest, I can try to follow up on areas I glossed over quickly, but it may take me a while so bear with me. I thank you for reading if you’ve made it this far, and thanks to EliteFTS for giving me the forum to share this. For all those currently in harms way, stay safe, stay strong, and return home soon with honor. I’ll see you all over there again soon enough, I’m sure.