KUDOS
Coach Shaul,
Thanks so much for having an innovative program. I am an Airborne Infantry officer in an OPFOR battalion that spends 2-3 weeks straight a month in the field for 10-11 months a year. Using your Operator Sessions in conjuction with the Ultimate Meathead Cycle I’ve been able to maintain my fitness and actually make gains. With the focus on strength, mixing in work capacity, I’ve been able to stay in shape for those long field rotations while being able to avoid injury (especially being on airborne status). The shoulder durability exercises are especially helpful, being that after seperating my shoulder before and during Ranger School I had issues carrying a ruck for long movements and day after day. But after the Operator Sessions I no longer have such a rough time. Again thanks.-
– N
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KUDOS
Coach,
I took your advice I jumped feet first into the Bodyweight Training Program and one week in I have been completely humbled.
Honestly, I was worried about losing the strength gains I had made through Starting Strength, halfway through my first mini leg blaster I could care less and I realized how out of shape I really was.
If anyone doubts the effectiveness or difficulty of this program, please feel free to refer them to me!
Thank you again!
Very Respectfully,
– T
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KUDOS
Rob,
I couldn’t wait to write this email this morning. A bit of a background on me, I’m currently in the Army PSYOP-Q and earlier this year I suffered a lumbar muscle strain from crossfit so bad I was in pain getting out of bed, although I have used your rucking selection plan in order to get ready for selection, I regrettably stopped the operator sessions and moved to crossfit. Now 4 months later after completing your operator sessions, I’m better than I was before my injury. Now two of my buddies in the Q (both are former infantry officers) have been kicking my ass on our weekly rucks, now I’m proud to say I was able to leave them in the dust this morning and beat them by over 8 minutes. This is an attest to the operator sessions, and I don’t plan on stopping.
Keep up the great work.
– R
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KUDOS
Rob,
Sir I just wanted to give you some feedback/testimonial to your USAF pt program. I took my pt test this morning and scored a 98.3 maxing out everything portion of the test except for pushups. Here are my scores from 5 weeks ago and today:
May 20th June 24th
1 min pushups: 41 1 min pushups: 49
1 min situps: 44 1 min situps: 59
1.5 mile run: 10:05 1.5 mile run: 8:59
Again I was only able to complete 5 weeks of the program but for the most part followed the program to the T with only a few minor adjustments. Also note the version I had was not the most recent updated one but last years version. Leading up to starting the program I was following Atomic Athlete programming. Thank you sir for the program I will definitely be purchasing the most recent version for next years pt test.
– W.
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KUDOS
Wanted to share some kudos and pictures with you. Last week my unit did a Competition for the TACPs currently deployed in Kuwait. I had the fortunate opportunity to run the 3 day event. I wanted to pass along our PT testing we did. Day one I started everyone with Operator Ugly, slightly modified due to equipment and time constraints (details below), the next morning they had to do a 6 mile ruck @ 55#, the final morning they had to conduct the Air Force PT test and pass. Everyone enjoyed Operator Ugly. Like I said before I had to slightly modify it for a couple of reasons: (1) we didn’t have Sand Bags so I substituted with 62# kettlebells, which I found to be equally difficult on the core and legs but some added upper body while holding the KB to the chest. (2) due to time constraints, space available and heat I removed the 3 mile run. (3) each event had to be worth a total maximum of 100 points. So I put caps on the exercises: Bench, Squat and Deadlift were worth 1pt/rep max of 15pts; Sprints were worth 1/2pt/length max of 20pts; pull ups were worth 1pt/rep max of 15; Kettlebell Get Ups were worth 1/2pt/rep max of 20pts. Nobody was able to get 100% on the test, there was a 97 & 96 though. My operators averaged a 79%.
We all just wanted to send you our thanks for the awesome PT session! There is a group of us here that have been doing the operator sessions for the past 5 months of our 9 month deployment. We plan to conduct the full Op Ugly before we depart back home. Please find some attached pictures of the 82 EASOS TACPs doing Operator Ugly last week Wednesday 31 July 2013 (pictures will be broken up over several e-mails do to size)
Thanks for the sessions!
V/R,
– J.
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KUDOS
Rob,
Just wanted to take some time to say thank you for all you have done. I started following your programming in 2008 while deployed. Since that time I have used your APFT plan to more then max the APFT on multiple occasions, I used your Ruckselection plan to get selected, while in the q course I got a stress fracture and used your one leg program to come off the injury stronger and faster, and I have recently used your run improvement plan to help me get better. During all this I continued to follow the operator sessions and they have made me into a more stronger and more durable athlete. So thank you for what you do and please continue evolving your training!
– J.
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KUDOS
Rob,
Wanted to drop you a quick note to thank you for all you do for our community. I’ve been following your stuff off and on since 2010 and in my humble opinion it is the best stuff out there as far as special operations physical training goes. A couple of reflections I wanted to share with you and your team to let you know we appreciate what you do.
One of the things I love most about your training is the stoic, quiet professional, blue collar way you and the lab rats go about your business. I love the photos. Things I notice as a professional: No shirtless poster boy show boats with cool, high socks or head bands with their Fran time plastered on it. When I came back into the fold this past time to your programming, it involved me parting ways with my old Crossfit gym on less than great terms. All over a damn double under. The conversation went something like this, coach: “You know you are really going to have to concentrate on some of the Crossfit skills like the Double Under if you ever want to graduate to being an elite level athlete.” My reply to the walking advertisement of a coach covered in Crossfit merchandised flair, “I have never done a Double Under in a tactical situation, not once…….When is the last time you did a 10K offset with 100 LBS of gear on your back, with no sleep, and less than ideal food?” My point is this, I firmly believe you deliver on your advertisement of tailored operator sport specific training. And you do it in a humble, workman-like way. No flash, no flair, just ordinary guys training in extraordinary ways and doing extraordinary things.
Your ability to recognize the burden of constant fitness is much appreciated. You acknowledge that the guys using your training are usually working extremely hard on the other finer points of killing. I don’t have time to get 12 hours of sleep a night, eat strict paleo zone 100% of the time, or get 3 WODs in a day. There are weeks where this job in and of itself is PT and a break is needed. The key is peaking at the right time for the right events and your specific trainups allow guys to do that while maintaining their base using your operator sessions.
You and the lab rats’ humble honesty is much appreciated. You put yourselves out there, post your times, stats and numbers, and reflect on the pains and pleasures of training. For type A personalities, striving to beat the experts is always an incentive and you post the numbers for guys to gauge where they are and it serves as a means of shared hardship over digital means. We appreciate it.
Really loving the new endurance cycles. As a meat head ex football player, the gym has always been my first love. Endurance is something I needed to work on and you have made me do it. I am anxious to see how it will transition to the strength and work capacity efforts and anticipate it helping both while still improving endurance over the long term.
I’ve went too long already, thanks again Coach.
L.
RESPONSE
Thanks for the great note!
Me and the other lab rats are all older guys – Jordan, is the youngest, at 32. I’m 45, Cody is 40, James and Nathan – both 38. Jordan is a mutant – at 165# he can squat clean 245#, and knock out close to 30 strict pull ups. It’s possible he’ll finish our 6-mile re-test next week in under 36 minutes, and complete the 3-mile ruck in under 27 minutes. He is a Navy veteran, and after his 4 years on a sub, became a Cat 2 road bike racer while in college at Austin, Texas (no joke). I can still occasionally beat him on bench press though, which is all that really counts.
James was a super successful high school and college football player. He played safety, and won 4 state championships in High School, and another in college playing at the University of Montana. He’s a middle-school science teacher and head coach of the local high school football team.
Nathan was a sponsored skate boarder in his 20’s, and still tears it up. He’s a “hard gainer” in his upper body, but his legs are as strong as mine and none of us can run with him. Nathan is a small business owner in Jackson. He made our t-shirts for years.
Cody is a middle school PE teacher, an assistant coach for the football team and has won multiple state championships as the head coach for the local high school ski team. He also races dirt bikes.
I’m primarily a redneck athlete – hunting and fishing.
Glad our stuff has worked for you.
Crossfit is an incredible program and Greg Glassman is a genius. While it’s not perfect, we all owe Crossfit a huge debt of gratitude for changing the way we consider fitness and training – and for getting functional fitness gyms built on bases. As Crossfit grows in popularity the Games have increased in importance – and the general fitness element of Crossfit has suffered some as the focus has shifted to games performance.
– Rob
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KUDOS
Firstly let me thank you for all that you and your lab rats do, I love your programming and your methodology has inspired me to become more professional in my training. I have successfully used your lower back and body weight training plans with great results and attempted to make it through the hypertrophy program, but the rep/set scheme was a little much for me at the time, planning on knocking it out in the near future.
– W.
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KUDOS
A few months ago I acquired your scalable APFT plan for and used it to prepare for a similar pt test here in Canada. I added the pullup and bench training as per your advice and it worked like a charm and kept my body weight down. I just wanted to say thanks and let you know that I find your methods and programs to be top notch, especially for those who train for results outside the gym and more specifically for combat. So thanks again, keep up the good work.
– D
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KUDOS
Just finished RAT 6 about 2 weeks ago and saw a huge leap in my overall fitness and my Oly lifts technique. I’m new to lifting (or at least, lifting smart) and I weigh right around 165. When I started the plan, I could Bench 185# and Squat around 265#. I’m up on everything now, probably in large part due to just learning the proper technique through your videos. My Bench is now at 215#, and my Squat is at 360#. I had never done Power or Hang Cleans before, and now they’re a regular part of my workout. I’m planning on either going through another of your plans, or subscribing to the Operator Sessions, now that I feel more ready for them.
Great job with an awesome program!
Gratefully,
C
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KUDOS:
Rob,
From this passing strength cycle I got 285# HSC at a body weight of 185# for the 10-09-13 session. I exceeded my PR Squat Clean of 275#. I can honestly feel comfortable saying from the ground I can get 295#-305#. This Big 24 was a no shitter. Love it. Thanks.
V/R
– S
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KUDOS
I just finished my morning workout so I’m all amped up, so forgive my tone. Every time you post the collection of ‘kudos’ on Facebook I get blown away by the asinine questions about pricing…
“Why do I have to pay $25.00?”
“Do you have special ‘operator’ pricing?” (are you serious? GFYS.)
“Can I have it for free?”
I just want to apologize for these ass-clowns. Kudos to you for putting up with such ridiculous questions, and kudos to you for providing such a GREAT DEAL on operator sessions and store-programs. Maybe its ‘generation me’ rearing their godawful ugly head, or maybe its the crossfit culture thats used to ‘free’ main site programming (which blows, by the way). Either way, keep doing what you are doing — much respect where respect is due.
– D
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