QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS 2013-05-11

QUESTION
Rob,

Good morning sir! I have a question about my weight to size ratio and what you would recommend as a remedy and proper weight. So I’m 6’2" and about 188 lbs. I’m a hybrid mesomorph/ectomorph in the sense that my upper body is the meso side and my legs are the skinnier hard gainer side. At 188 lbs I have a couple extra pounds around the middle so about 175 is where I get lean.

With that being said, since I have no problems with gains in the upper body area what do you recommend for my weaker chicken legs? I’m tired of looking like a tennis racket. Thanks in advance for your help. Yut semper kill!

Warm Regards,

– N.
p.s. my diet consists of what you prescribe for the most part. I eat low carb but restrict fruits. Lots of veggies, meats, nuts etc. cheat like a mofo on Saturday. Helped me lose a lot of the weight due to an injury I had. Should I take in more and start including more fruits?

ANSWER
At 6′ 2", I’d like to see you at 195-205 pounds. Obviously, skinny guys will struggle to get here, but at 175#, you’re too light for my tastes.

We define the "Combat Chassis" as the knees to the shoulders – this is where the rubber meets the road for the military/tactical athlete – legs and core. All of our programs have a legs/core bias.

I’d recommend you start with our Hypertrophy Program – it’s designed for skinny guys and includes hundreds of lower body reps. It’ll make you sore as hell – and you should never stop eating while doing it (protein esp.). It addition to gaining some mass (hopefully) you’ll also jumpstart your combat chassis strength training.

Here’s a link to the plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=55&&cart_ID=35

– Rob

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QUESTION
Hey Rob,

You’re probably not gonna recommend it, but I figure I’d ask anyway. How bad of an idea would it be to add a little bit of short Crossfit WODs on top of your operator sessions? I’m starting off your base fitness program next week, following up with your hypertrophy program, and then your PST program after that(or maybe PST and then hypertrophy), afterwhich I’ll be doing your operator sessions.

I figure I’d ask because your programming is much more suited to military athletes, but I do still enjoy doing Crossfit with some of my friends.

-P,

ANSWER
No worries at all Pete – just watch for overtraining.

– Rob

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QUESTION
Rob,

Are dairy and eggs included in your 6 day/week diet program or leave them until cheat day?

Thanks

– J.

ANSWER
You can eat eggs for sure, and up to 8 oz of hard cheese/day. Milk – no – it contains sugar. You can use heavy whipping cream in your coffee – no carbs, all fat. –

Rob

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QUESTION
Hey Rob,

Just did your Meathead program with a friend a couple months ago and loved the results. Do you have anything that would be the next step up. My main goal is to gain strength and weight, I weigh about 165 lbs and would like to put on more muscle. My diet has been changed and I’m cosuming more calories and protein, just curious if you have anything else along the lines Meathead cycle

– B.

ANSWER
All of our strength programs are good B. To gain mass, I’d recommend the hypertrophy program: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=55&&cart_ID=35

– Rob

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QUESTION
Hey Rob,

I just joined your operator sessions and I have one big question for you. Ive been in the military for a few years and have done my fair share of timed rucks and rucks over hilly terrain. I am in above average shape by your standards. I easily exceed any Army running standard and most of the maxes. I can sustain the 15 min mile ruck standard for 12 miles, BUT to really exceed (in the 2:40s) that standard I have to ruck run. Further, my arch nemesis is hills/mountains/climbing with a ruck on. My legs get gassed so easily and quickly. I have started to include your leg blasters into my work outs and they are the only exercise that "simulates" the burn that I get when trying move fast up hill with 50+ lbs on my back. I am hoping to take my game to the next level and I want to become the Lance Armstrong of rucking up hill (without the chemical augmentation of course). So my question has multiple parts but revolves around the same theme. What can I do to target this deficiency? How often can/should I do leg blasters in any given week? Is there anything else I can do?

Thank you very much for your help. I love your program, website and willingness to teach the right movements in the right ways to maximize performance.

V/R
– C.

ANSWER
I’d recommend Step ups as your go to exercise to build leg strength endurance for uphill rucking.

Leg Blaster are terrible, but they really train eccentric strength – for the downhill. Step ups train the uphill movement.

I’d recommend working up to 1,000 step ups with a 40# pack, and building to be able to do this 5 days/week. The effort should take you 40-45 minutes. Use a 16-17" bench for your step up height.

Step ups suck, but are effective.

– Rob

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QUESTION

Rob,

It’s been a few years since I last rigorously followed the program, and I’m excited to get back into it. I just graduated ranger school a few months ago, and so while I feel my strength and cardio are up seperately, my stamina is sucking pretty good. I’m here at FOB Gardez w/ 4-101 at the moment, and wanted to see if you had any advice, programs, or places to start (stamina, endurance, strength, etc) in the operator sessions for the altitude besides grinding through and letting the lungs cope.

For the moment I’m on an SFAAT team which isn’t incredibly sexy, but I should have a platoon come midtour. I want to make sure I’m doing everything I can now to prep for it.

Any help you can give, I’d appreciate.

Thanks,

– B.

ANSWER
Sorry, no magic bullet for the altitude. The literature says it takes 2 weeks to adapt, but this depends upon your level of fitness going in.

I generally recommend guys new to our programming start with the latest strength cycle.

– Rob

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QUESTION

Mr. Rob,
I recently came across your website after a friend sent me an article discussing military fitness programs. After doing a little research, it seems the fitness programs of Military Athlete are held in high regards in certain Tier 1 groups. With this knowledge, I was wondering if these programs would work for me?

A little background on myself, I am a 21-year-old 6′ tall, 225 pound college graduate, who has decided to forgo law school, and instead enlist in the U.S. Army. At this point, I’ve already spoken with the recruiters, and have begun the process of completing my paperwork. It looks like in the next two weeks, I’ll meet the entry requirements (tape, not weight) and be sent to MEPS sometime soon after.

According to my recruiter, I’m looking at an actual departure for bootcamp in late July/August.

Now with this being said, I’ve been on a quest ever since the end of last year to get into shape for this and beyond. Late November I weighed in at 260 pounds. I’ve come a long way, but I know I have a much farther way to go.

My hope is that I can physically fit from the beginning of training, instead of simply relying on basic to get me into shape.

My goal is to first go Infantry as my MOS, and from there try for selection to jump school. After jump school, begin the process to qualify to enter the special forces. I understand this is a monumental task, but I have to set goals, and this is mine. However, I don’t believe this will even be possible if I’m not physically fit going to basic. The last mile I ran was a 6:40. So I have a ton of work left to do.

I might be wrong, but what I foresee me needing to do (besides lose 25 pounds) is focussing on improvement of stamina in my run, and the continuation of strength training.

My question than, after knowing a little about me, is there a particular program that you have that you would recommend I start? Everything up until this point has simply been me doing what I think I need to do in my college gym in order to lose weight and get into shape. I’ve never followed a military/athlete specific program.

Your input and recommendation would be much appreciated. Thank you for your time.

Best Regards,

– T

ANSWER
Recommendations T. –

1) Purchase and complete the APFT Plan. Bootcamp is going to be bunches of running and bodyweight work – and that what this program involves. You can leave the strength training alone for 6 weeks. Here’s a link to the plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=51&&cart_ID=30

2) Clean up your diet. Here are our dietary recommendations:

Here’s our Nutritional Guideline:
6 Days a Week: Eat lean meat, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds, and drink water. Don’t eat carbs (bread, spuds, rice) or sugar.
1 Day a Week: Cheat like a mother! Beer, pizza, ice cream – you name it! We’ve found you can’t eat clean over the long term without cheating. We’ve also found the longer you stick to this diet, the less you’ll "cheat" on your cheat days, and the more cheating will hurt you – i.e. stomach ache, gas, etc.

– Rob

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QUESTION
Rob,

Good morning. I have subscribed to your program on and off for a few years. I am going to selection in the Fall for the FBI’s HRT. Do you still offer your selection prep program? Thanks for any information.

– J.

ANSWER
Guys have used our Ruck Selection program successfully for HRT. Here’s the link: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=52&&cart_ID=45

– Rob

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QUESTION
Rob,

I subscribed to your website a long time ago and found the workouts and training excellent however circumstances changed and when I moved into an apt I lost my home gym. I joined a crossfit place and have been working out there since.

However my job has changed now and for the next 5-6 months (if I’m lucky) I will be on the road pretty much Monday-Thursday. I am also a reserve police officer and work about 25 hours a week in patrol. I obviously need to keep my fitness level high (hopefully at some point a full time job will open) in order to work effectively. Do you have any programs for someone that needs to maintain a high degree of fitness but has limited, if any, real equipment? I will be driving 95% of the time so could take a few things perhaps.

Any thoughts or recommendations on which of your programs would bemoan effective would be welcome.

Regards
– S.

ANSWER
Best option would be our "Stuck in a Motel Training Plan": http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=56&&cart_ID=71

Next might be our Squad PT Plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=56&&cart_ID=65

Good luck!

– Rob

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