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QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS
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QUESTION
Rob,
I am a former Recon Marine and now an operator with MARSOC, I am currently deployed to Afghanistan, I have been following your programing for about the last 5 years on and off with some Crossfit and different running plans mixed in. For the last 6 months of my deployment I have been following Military Athlete exclusively. I have completed 2 cycles of the Ultimate Meat Head, 2 stamina cycles and some work capacity, now I am focusing on the operator sessions. I am currently in the best shape of my life and my strength has increased dramatically, I have hit all new 1RM PR’s. I weigh 170lbs and i am out lifting guys over 200lbs. My wife is also a Marine and she does a mixture of Crossfit and running programs. I would like to start her on military Athlete when i get home in a month, so we can work out together. She is familiar with the majority of the lifts, she wants to focus on her strength and building lean muscle back up. She lost a lot of upper body strength due to a 4 month course she was in were they did mostly boots and utes runs and long distance ruck marches. Do you think she should start with a scaled down versions of the operator sessions or is there a specific plan that you recommend? Let me know. thanks.
-R.
ANSWER
We scale the Operator Sessions for female athletes and several already do the Operator Sessions- so that’s certainly an option for your wife.
If she wants to focus on upper body strength, the Ultimate Meathead Cycle might be the best place for her to start, then the Operator Sessions.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Rob:
Hey! I have been following your Q & A ‘s that you post on Facebook and it sparked an interest in one of your plans.
I have been struggling with shin splints and high hip pain( Glute med/TFL) for a quite awhile now and have basically had to stop running. I really need to strengthen my body and focus on building the endurance to be able to run again. I am sure the pain has something to do with muscle weakness/imbalance and the description of the plan sounded like it would help me correct some of these issues. Do you think that your Off Season Strength Program for Endurance Athlete plan would be right for me? Do you think that this plan will be too intense for me? I am also considering your bodyweight training program. Would the bodyweight training plan be a better fit for me?
Thanks for your insight Rob.
Regards,
– A.
ANSWER
The Offseason Strength Plan for Endurance Athletes is purposely designed for athletes without a lot of lifting experience. I chose relatively straight forward exercises which could be completed in any commercial gym with barbells. The plan is self-scaling- which means it scales loading to the strength/fitness of the athlete.
I can’t guarantee the strength you’ll gain with help with your shin splints – I’m not a shin splint expert, but getting stronger, in general, will make you a more durable endurance athlete.
Here’s a link to the plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=56&&cart_ID=78
– Rob
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QUESTION
Rob, thanks for such a great resource. I have a question about what program you’d recommend for my goals.
I train for strength and endurance through Crossfit Endurance but now I’ve gotten into the GORUCK flow. So, I have a few of those events that lead up to their obstacle course in September (the Nasty) and possibly a Heavy in Dec. In between these I have a couple of Spartan races (8miles) and a Ragnar Relay in October. So, I need to maintain my rucking and resistance for the strength (buddy carries, etc…) but I also need an adequate amount of sprints/hills thrown in since I have the anchor leg for my Ragnar team.
Any help toward one of your programs is well appreciated. I’m a former infantry Marine so my work capacity is pretty good for a 45 year-old. Obviously in all of this I also want to maintain/build muscle mass and overall GPP.
Thanks,
– P
ANSWER
I’d recommend starting with our GORUCK Challenge Training Plan: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=54&&cart_ID=68
This will build your rucking and other fitness for these type of events. After successfully completing it, you could move on to the GORUCK Heavy Plan or the Spartan Sprint plan. Here are the links for those:
GoRuck Heavy: http://militaryathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=54&&cart_ID=90
Spartan: http://www.mountainathlete.com/page.php?page_ID=12&cart_category_ID=59&&cart_ID=56
– Rob
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QUESTION
I saw that you are working on a Delta selection plan. How will this differ from the ruck based selection plan? I’m going to the spring class next year.
ANSWER
My aim is to have that plan completed this week.
– Rob
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QUESTION
Hello Coach Rob had a quick question. I have the USAF Past program I’m using this to ET me even more over the top for BootCamp. I noticed there’s an USAF program will the Past program get me the same results? I plan on getting the PJ program when I get back since ill be trying out for them in 2 yrs.
– N.
ANSWER
The PAST Plan might be overkill for bootcamp, but the test itself covers the USAF PFT events: push ups, sit-ups, 1.5 mile run – so you should be okay.
– Rob
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