I was in the Army, and other than during PT, I never had to push something relatively light away from me 70 times within 2 minutes. I did, however, have to lift a bunch of really heavy shit without injuring myself.
I believe that I wouldn’t have been recycled 3 times because of stress fractures in my shins and hips if the Army focused on Strength training instead of running. If I could do it over a again, I would have focused on strength train before shipping off to basic. I didn’t have much muscle and my bone density was shit because I lived a sedentary lifestyle.
I'm a dense powerlifter and crushed the strength portion every time and the ruck marches, but struggled with long distance running. I can see the running for some jobs, but sprinting makes far more sense than those long distance runs, especially in a combat environment.
If West Point College football players can lift weights in 2024, what about regular Army soldiers? Arthur Jones, of Nautilus did a similar test with West Point football players in the early 70s.
I used to be in the military. The reason they do a lot of running is because the officers love running. They don’t care about combat readiness. That’s just a secondary benefit of being physically active from running. It’s also about image because in their minds, being lean = looking good.
I hated running, even though I was good at it. But it's pretty hard to argue that running is not useful for 3 to 5 Second rushes and a wide variety of other Battlefield necessities. Did I mention I hated running?
@@Valorius I was decent at it too (could do 2 miles in 12 minutes and 30 seconds), but that didn’t effectively prepare me for Afghanistan. You’re not wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and running shoes going at a steady aerobic pace out in the field. You’re either walking around on a patrol slowly for a long time with weight on you, sprinting for cover when there’s enemy fire, or sprinting to capture a high value target disguised as a civilian. It’s not that running isn’t useful at all. It’s that the type of running we did often didn’t replicate deployment conditions. I also would have benefited from proper strength training and not gotten the back injuries that I did. Push ups and sit ups weren’t good enough
@@earljaycaoile5071 My brother, people used to run in fatigues and combat boots long before you (or I) were in service. The reason they stopped is because it absolutely destroyed their knees to do so, amd caused lots of long-term injuries. They can't have us running PT in full combat gear with combat boots. The RSI's would go through the roof, and half the platoon would be injured at any given time. it's not feasible. They could certainly do more sprinting, but running PT in full gear is never going to happen in line units. My best run was 12:08. By today's PT standards I would have maxed the test every time I took it. Part of the problem is that guys are just not in nearly as good of shape as they used to be. The only time you're going to run in full gear when you are not on deployment is in field problems. They could certainly do more field problems, but they also cause injuries at a higher rate too. It's a double edged sword.
@@earljaycaoile5071 well I put up a long response and it's gone. To summarize: guys used to run PT in combat fatigues and combat boots, that caused lots of injuries and that's why they stopped: the more realistic the training the higher the injury rate. It is what it is.
Baseline military fitness is an endurance event. A soldier needs to be able to endure running and ruck marching for miles and miles days on end. Running and ruck marching for distance is the “sport specific” training for a soldier or Marine. Yes lifting can enhance performance but I know servicemembers who squat and deadlift 500+ who are still are not adapted to handle the job specific endurance events. Everyone whos saying they need to adopt more sprints but saying all the “long running” got you injured.. If you are getting hurt from running 2-5 miles at a 9 minute pace what makes you think sprinting is less injury causing? Thats like saying squatting 150 for 5 injures me but i feel fine squatting 300. Slow long distance running is EASY and it builds up the lower extremities to handle the mileage the faster running. Especially considering that 99% of people in the military now grew up sedentary, going from barely even walking 10k steps a day to suddenly having them do max effort 400 meter sprints is idiotic. Its like putting someone on Bulgarian method their first time ever lifting.
I agree with this. I love SS program, but the content can get very dogmatic. It is clear that Rip does not know actual military drills/needs. Soldiers DO need to be able to run a couple miles. They DO need endurance. Ruck for miles. Sprint for cover. Soldiers have different needs than bodybuilders/powerlifters. I wish Rip would stop trying to say that his program is best for EVERYONE. I did NLP and like the simplicity. However, I was very tight in my muscles, had a weak core, felt stiff, and was often tired. There are benefits, like raw strength increase. But, I'm gonna be blunt. Most of the SS guys are on high levels of T/other PEDs. They are hyping up the realistic numbers one can expect to reach. Again, NLP is great. But, it should fit specific needs, and is not going to help with endurance.
Yuuuuuup, on point. We definitely need to improve the fitness program, strength is vastly important, secondarily so is explosive interval sprints and intermediate runs (400m), and obstacle courses-- got to be able to climb up and over stuff with a combat load on (did that more than once). Great talk gents!
I joined the Army at 19. Right before boot camp, I was bench pressing north of 300lbs, but when I got to boot camp I could barely do 50 pushups in 2 minutes. By the time I graduated boot camp I could do 90 push ups in 2 minutes, but I'd struggle to bench 225. Most casual onlookers would think that doing a bunch of pushups will increase your bench press. After all, they are similar movement patterns (one of them is just inverted relative to the other, of course). But, of course, the fact of the matter is that the stimulus drives the adaptations that will occur. Do a bunch of pushups? You will eventually be able to do more pushups, but it has basically zero impact on your actual strength (the ability to overcome resistance), unless you are a completely untrained individual. Likewise, going from a 200lbs bench press to a 300lb bench press will have very little impact the number of pushups you can do in 2 minutes.
Working in the Swedish Military I barely know an officer who can perform a squat the right way. But we do “murph” every year, like a “funny thing” for some reason. No one knows why and it’s an awful workout IMO. And the strength fitness test isn’t testing strength in any way which is ironic in itself.
Had one of the Army’s “Holistic Health and Fitness” coaches tell me I just have a weak core because I dislike the plank. I have a 1,310 lbs total at 175 lbs bodyweight.
Your core is strong. The plank is not a test of core strength. It’s a test in pain tolerance. I can max it… I’ve done it, but do I WANT to put myself through 3.5 minutes of torture. Not especially.
@@WealthConquering Yes I max it as well. I just think it’s a silly choice of test. I was having a conversation with him and others about the effectiveness of the ACFT.
I've never served in the military, but I personally have known a fair number of veterans, some of whom faced active combat. The ones in combat roles told me that they did a decent amount of walking while carrying a rucksack during foot patrols. From that I gathered that running long distances wouldn't improve combat readiness. However long distance hikes/rucks interspersed with sprints and farmers walks would help with infantry combat readiness. On the other hand, deadlifts and presses would be much more helpful for artillery (loading artillery shells), logistics (loading/unloading trucks), and for medics (transporting injured troops to a vehicle).
@robcubed9557 every single US Soldier would benefit tremendously from a barbell training program. That's not the point. The issue is the dogmatic institutionalizism of the military. Military leaders are brought up in a system of "this is how we've always done it" that is nearly impossible to break. The vast majority of Army leaders are wholly ignorant of any exercise science, but think they're experts because they do PT every day. Those leaders also think weight lifting is inherently dangerous and injurious, while believing that making people run in formation is perfectly fine. They see nothing wrong with forcing people of wildly different proportions to run in lock step. Most Soldiers are disallowed from weight lifting during PT. Many leaders (myself included) have preached about the ignorance of Army PT practices and the benefits of strength training, only to be told to shut up and get back to work. You just won't ever convince the decision makers to see the truth and allow Soldiers to conduct proper strength training. This is incredibly unfortunate, because it would save the taxpayers billions in VA disability and treatment costs
@@Genericguy321 I did not say that. But the seals I know, who are beasts, had insane aerobic bases at first…. Most were cross country runners. And Insane muscular endurance. Then, after having those bases they got strong and big starting around second year of college. But kept up their unworldly endurance. We had some guys who came In with the opposite, fairly strong, trying to get stronger, trying to get fast through intervals. Lacking an aerobic base. They failed miserably and were a joke.
