Military Archives - Mountain Tactical Institute

I really appreciate the awesome programming

Last time I emailed you, you recommended that I roll into Humility (V3). I just finished it and wanted to re-iterate what an awesome program it was. For reference, my fitness background going into this was about a year of laziness, followed by Bodyweight Foundations, and then the first 4 weeks of Bodyweight Build. Here were my results:

Weighted 1-mile: 7:58, 7:31, 6:53

HRPU: 37, 39, 41

EOS: 40, 35, 42

Squats: 80, 90, 90

Burpee Beep ladder: Level 3 + 13 (49), Level 5 + 11 (81), Level 5 + 15 (85)

Pull-ups: 17, 18, 19

5-mile: 40:14, 41:06, 38:33

I’m really pleased with Humility and the results I got. Not going to lie, I was intimidated by how intense this looked. Now that I’m on the other side of it, I feel much more confident about what I can accomplish and more in-tune with what it means to push myself physically. Thanks for the awesome program!

Feedback: I strayed from the prescribed plan on a few things. On a couple of the results above, you’ll see that the second assessment was lower than the first. I honestly think this was just from being fatigued. Because of this, I took the last two non-assessment days of week 4 off, effectively making it structured like week 7. The other thing I strayed from was the prescribed burpees following the second assessment. I had such a large increase between week 1 and 4 that I could no longer keep up during the workout. For example, my 25% went from 12 (week 2) to 20 (week 5) every 90 seconds. For week 5, I did 8 rounds of 15 (~18%). For week 6, I did 4 rounds of 18(~22%) then 4 rounds of 15 (~18%). Just to be clear, I don’t think the programming is flawed here; I just think that I may have been right on the cusp of being fit enough going into Humility. Definitely had some “beginner gains.”

Maybe you have already considered this, but thought I’d ask: have you considered adding more than one day of pull-ups per week? HRPUs are benefiting from burpees and squats are benefiting from leg blasters, but pull-ups aren’t really getting hit other than Tuesdays. Along with this, I think it would be helpful to do some more EOs aside from just the assessments. I only say this because they require some practice to get fast at them.

Anyways, I got a lot out of Humility and really appreciate the awesome programming. Thanks again.

The ruck runs are a killer workout and definitely something I hadn’t done before that makes a huge difference

Prior to starting this program I finished the 8 week train up found on the go army SOF website. This made me think I would be able to skip the military on boarding plan, but I decided against it and started the program from day 1. I’m super thankful I did I already feel like I have gotten both faster and stronger in the four weeks I’ve done this program. The ruck runs are a killer workout and definitely something I hadn’t done before that makes a huge difference. Keep up the good work and thank you for producing an amazing product.

I’ve found that I can now run a 10k on the trail with little pain

Dear Rob and MTI Team:
It’s been about one year since I signed up for the Athlete’s subscription with Mountain Tactical. I’ve now finished BDFG 1 and 2, Mountain Base Helen and Artemis, SF45, and currently in the last week of Body Weight foundation. I’ve also fixed my diet, lost 30 pounds, and have started climbing again. With all the running work in these programs, I’ve found that I can now run a 10k on the trail with little pain. So I’ve signed up for a trail 10k in February (something I’ve never done before). I’ve seen a lot of success with this program and I appreciate all the hard work you and others have put into this. Thanks for all you do and I wish you and your team all success in the coming year.

I was selected

I wanted to reach out and thank you all for the exceptional training plans. I recently completed SFAS and am thankful to say I was selected. I followed a handful of training plans with the lead up time I had, including Humility, Fortitude, Valor and the Ruck-based plan. I think they all prepared me well with a base of strength and thought the Ruck-based plan did a tremendous job. I finished in the top 10 in all of our rucks and felt very comfortable under the weight for land nav week as well. Also, I found the sandbag work to be very beneficial and had direct correlation to success within a couple events throughout SFAS.

MTI got me through Ranger School

“Really love the website and training plans. I used the Ranger School prep plan and it got me through RAP week and the school straight through. I was very impressed how physically prepared I was by just following your plan and eating well. I use a combination of your plans now to make the PT plan for my platoon. Last week my platoon scored a 276 average on the APFT… the BEST in the entire battalion. So thank you all for your hard work in putting all these plans together.”

MTI has deployed with me to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, on ships and across the world!

“I’ve been following your site and methodology since 2008, when I discovered Military Athlete.Its deployed with me to Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, on ships and across the world! I’m a USMC Infantry Officer and love how much your program and site has developed over time. I cancelled my subscription because I tore my ACL skiing this season; I’ll renew my subscription in a couple months once I’m cleared from the PT. I had my surgery a couple days ago. In the mean time I’m catching up with essays on MTI. Thanks for your diligence, passion, and care you have put into MTI. It’s truly a benefit to so many.”

I’ve been using MTI since I was a cadet at West Point

Thanks for all your work with MTI. I’ve been using it for years since I was a cadet at West Point, in preparation for Ranger School in 2015, and for RASP II in 2018. Also used it to run multiple 50k races and a couple marathons. Also used parts of your plan inconsistently while forward deployed to Iraq and Syria in 2019. I’m out of the Army now, but I was consistently fit in the right ways while I was in. Not a better, more straightforward workout system.

We were on an operation when one of our two MH-47’s went down.

“As I told you before, I am with a Marine Special Operations Team. We were on an operation when one of our two MH-47’s went down. The 47 I was on went back in, and we started carrying guys to the medevac bird. My workout buddy, who is my corpsman, started working on guys and I started getting guys to the bird that was about 400 meters away. Soon we were both working together. Today we were talking about how we were in MUCH better shape then everyone else. Guys would be taking breaks and we would be standing there waiting for them. One guy looked at us and asked if we were smoked too, we both said no. We both know that it is because of your workout program, and we both want to thank you.

A little back story, the bird went down on exfil. We had finished clearing a bazaar, I had breached close to one hundred doors and I was totally fucking smoked. I had carried my kit, weapon, breaches, backpack, a shotgun, and moved over two kilometers for over five hours. Then after we exfiled the other bird went down, so we went back in and worked the medevac. Then after that we stayed on scene until the fire burned itself out, then got the bodies out and brought them home. We both feel that we would not have performed at the level we did if this had happened before we started your program. So we both thank you very much for the work you have done, and I look forward to being smoked by your workouts for a long time to come. Thanks again coach.”

Not a better, more straightforward workout system

I swallowed my pride and told myself to try it first

I to have to admit I was extremely skeptical about following one of your programs. When I first looked at it and saw 1000 weighted step-ups a day before a 10 mile ruck I almost changed it. However, I swallowed my pride and told myself to try it first. So I did, and I feel incredibly strong on my long rucks. I have always taken pride in planning my own fitness plans. I was always good about setting a goal and working hard to achieve it. As I look back now as a fifty-six year old man achieving my physical goals hasn’t always been a positive aspect in my life. In the Marines always pushed my self to score a perfect 300 on PFT’s. In my my 30s and 40’s I was always focused on running certain time, or lifting certain amount. All these physical goals took a toll on my body and personal life. I have had more knee surgeries than I can count, and by the time I was 50 I had a full knee replacement. The feeling realizing my physical way of life had to change was very depressing at first, but now I see it as a blessing. I just focus on what I can and not what I shouldn’t do now. I want thank you for this program, it has been just what I need physically and mentally. I can’t wait to start another one after completing this one. Keep up the good work.