10 Principles

Philosophy on Physical Fitness

The following are 10 principles written by a 1SG that was posted in the USASOC gym I used to workout in. I found this incredibly inspiring and have shared it with as many people I could. I hope you take away as much as I have.

My philosophy on physical fitness is the same here in HHC XXX as the XX1SG, as it was as a SFODA Team Sergeant in X SFG.

My philosophy on physical fitness is simple. In regards to PT, it is not aesthetics that help you fight and win on the battlefield. It is strength, conditioning, resiliency, grit, and toughness. My first 10 years in the Army, I was your typical gym guy that had a “Chest and Back day”, “Leg Day”, and so on and so forth. I maxed the APFT and ensured I would never embarrass myself on a unit run, or ruck march either. It was equally as important to bench press over 400 lbs. and have good thick biceps and a few popped abs. This is the cultural norm in the Army. I grew up in Light Infantry, Reconnaissance and Special Forces units where it is even more prevalent. The truth is that this mindset couldn’t be more wrong. Aligning yourself under that cultural norm will keep you in the good graces of your peers but it may not keep you alive in the big fight. I will summarize the epiphany I had that started my paradigm shift on how I view fitness.

From 2003-2008, I spent every year fighting in Iraq prior to going Special Forces. I wore heavy kit but mostly moved in vehicles or made short foot movements house to house. Even in my Long-Range Surveillance Days, I never made any movements over harsh terrain. IT was always generally flat, except for a few patrols in Northern Iraq’s Sinjar Mountains but I was young and they were hardly mountains. What was important in those units was to crush the APFT, don’t fall out on a ruck or run, and everything else was open for vanity and bragging rights among the A-Type guys. When you are young and climbing the ranks, you can damn near gut out anything the Army throws at you. Hell, I did SFAS with zero prep and didn’t struggle much with it. Your pride, mixed with mid 20-year old man levels of testosterone and healthy joins supports the goal of looking tough and being strong. The problem is that you’re doing it all wrong and it comes with a future expense. You join at 17 or 18 and do it this way for 10 years, paired with jumping out of planes, long patrols in heavy kit, and just down right body mileage, and turning 30 feels like 60. Your joints start hurting a lot, you eat Motrin, get flabby and feel terrible by 35, become a “has been”, and look forward to retiring around 40.

My first ODA was a Direct-Action Team. Most of the guys were gym rats so I fit right in. My Team Sergeant was in X/X/X for 10 years and like me, had only Iraq deployments. He and I were very much alike. Street fighting in heavy kit and jacking steel back at the firebase was all we knew. Our first deployment to Afghanistan was an eye opener. Our first mission was during the winter and a helicopter infiltration into the Hindu Kush Mountains for a 72-hour Commando operation. I was very muscular and weighted 235 lbs. and was over 400 lbs. with kit and a 3-day rucksack on. When the CH-47 touched the mountain, I stepped out into the cold, dark, thin air and immediately realized this was a whole new world, a world of hurt. Team Week, SUT’s and Robin Sage had some gut checks, but this time the stakes were much higher. It’s move or die. It’s gain fire superiority and close with the enemy and prevent them from massing and flanking at 10,000 feet. Your Bench, Squat, and Deadlift combined mean nothing in this situation. Your beach body means nothing. Your 300 APFT means nothing! This was my epiphany. The missions to follow became better as I adjusted my kit, acclimated to the altitude, and changed my fitness routine accordingly.

I developed 10 principles of my own for you all to build upon. Here is what you need to know:

I

No one that you work with cares if you look jacked or not. They care if you are an asset or a liability in the harshness of closing with and destroying the enemy. Beach muscles do not equate to toughness, ferocity, or conditioning.

II

Metabolic Conditioning (METCON) is king. A chemical called adenosine triphosphate (ATP) fuels every cell in your body with the energy that cell needs. To get ATP, your body relies on three energy systems: the anaerobic (Immediate), Glycolytic, and Oxidative systems. In layman’s terms, you want to tailor your workouts to push energy thresholds and condition yourself to be more reliable and efficient on the battlefield.

III

You should feel sore but not hurt after doing these workouts. You should feel gassed, dizzy, want to vomit, have tired chalky calloused hands and need a shower afterwards. 100x Burpees in a 50 lb. weight vest is one example of many!

IV

METCON’s should be creative, diverse, and replicate actions taken in combat. Never wear gloves, wraps or braces! You are overtraining your muscles if you need that shit! You neglect your joints and tendons this way and eventually will blow one out. If you can’t grip a barbell raw, drop the weight and work on it! Otherwise you will develop muscles to take on heavy weight while sheltering soft tissues under wraps and braces. Eventually they will pop and tear! You won’t put on a back brace before casualty carrying your buddy in combat.

V

Running marathons but not being able to do pull ups in a weight vest is bullshit! Same with bench pressing 400 lbs. but not being able to climb 25 flights of stairs in a weight vest! Find balance between strength and endurance.

VI

Train every part of your body. Do not underestimate things like grip strength, posterior chain, joint and bone durability and core strength. Your feet will get sore after 100x 4-count jumping jacks in a weight vest and are meant to! Grab and move things you normally do not use. Things like atlas stones, Husafell stones, pipes large in diameter, or containers of liquid. Unevenly distributed weight is also good. 50x Thrusters with 100 lbs sandbag is a good one.

VII

METCON’s are not CrossFit! They are not just HIIT! They should utilize a creative mix of disciplines that include: Combat Strength Training (CST), Gym Jones, Atomic Athlete, Mountain Athlete, THOR3, etc. METCON is the end state, the aforementioned are the means to get there. Develop an educated plan that pulls from multiple sources.

VIII

Continue to ruck march and run. Swim and do combative training also! Combine these with METCON’s when able to.

IX

Pushing and pulling yourself, over and under things, with load is paramount. Obstacle Courses are great!

X

Diversify your cardio. Hitting a heavy bag, rowing, sled pushes and pulls, tire flips, sand bag carries, sledgehammering, stair climbing, Jacobs Ladder, Versa climbers, and high-volume functional workouts all have significant cardio in them.

Train for certainty, while preparing for uncertainty. Never be a liability to your team. Teams that do not do PT together are often weak teams. Regardless of your status, or environment, your personal level of fitness directly relates to your level of survivability in ground combat. Fuck your Rank or MOS! (Seniors, enables, and support)! Every soldier in the US Army is a warfighter and subject to an attack either foreign or domestic. Train harder than your adversary in every aspect and crush them with forceful violence when you are presented the opportunity.

“Everything you do for physical fitness is centered around fighting and winning on the battlefield”

- MSG ODA XXXX

**Disclaimer: I am not the author of this, merely a mortal being in the pursuit of physical greatness**