“First I wanna say your programs have dramatically improved my fitness over the past 6 years or so. I’ve been following your programs from back when I was preparing for ROTC until now as an Engineer Officer getting ready to start BOLC. So, thank you for all the hard work and dedication to building quality programs. I’m a firm believer in your methodology.”
Military
OPERATOR SESSIONS
“I’m a long time follower of your gym and Military Athlete training ideals from Australia – I’ve touched base with you a couple of times before. Just wanted to give you some feedback from my recent personal experience. I had after a few years of relatively successful Olympic Lifting seasons here in Perth (couple of years as state champ at 94kg) followed by probably a year of general inactivity – I had no real training focus. The last few months I have jumped back into you Operator Sessions starting with John and am now half way through Luke. What a change it’s been! I’ve been strict with following your sessions in order – I don’t necessarily train monday to friday because of work but I have maintained the order to your sessions. I’ve dropped 11kg of body weight and my running went from struggling to break the 5 minute barrier on a 1km sprint to last night running (as part of my 6 mile/9.2km run Luke session 16) consistent sub 5-minute kms for 10km and feeling great afterwards. My estimated VO2 has gone from low 40s to 52.
I know my pacing is a little quick (quick for me!) compared to what you have prescribed on the run chart, based off my initial 3 mile test in session 2, but I’m generally pressed for time so if I can run it quicker I will. The run times aren’t super quick by comparison to a lot of people but they are for me! The gym-based endurance stuff is also a fresh experience and a good mental workout for me. Your Operator Sessions are putting me in a good place for an upcoming exercise in a few months and deployment at the end of the year, especially after being a lazy POS for so long haha. I am also gearing up for an attempt at SASR selection in 2019 if everything goes to plan and I feel like your training is absolutely right direction for me.”
Thanks for the awesome work you are doing.
RUCK BASED SELECTION TRAINING PLAN
“First of all, i just wanted to say thanks. I did your 8 Week Ruck Based SFAS prep program and just got selected. Physically i was well prepared for the events, and afterwards am recovering much faster than some others. A few days after the last event i actually felt completely fine. Thanks again!”
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.
E
Rob,
I did your MA program throughout 2009 and the translation to functional fitness was phenomenal! I am now stationed in Korea where the new fitness mentality has yet to be established. Hopefully I can establish a foothold of your physical fitness common sense here.
I’m taking a company command in the last week of April. I would really like to implement your range fitness ideas as well as your Afghanistan program due to Korea’s terrain (mountainous but not as bad as the ‘stan). I also plan on using your squad PT as our foundation for physical training.
Thanks!
-D
So I am laying briefly collapsed on the floor of our small gym in full kit. What brought me here… well 1 minute ab bridge in kit for starters. As I am laying there and I see people staring at me.. I realize something. Why its worth it. My mate is about 12 meters away laying on the floor too. And I think to myself. How many people do you see in such a state at any time during their work out? Sure, they are muscular, or strong, but I cant recall anyone ever laying on the floor for a moment to recover for the next iteration. And judging by the looks i get they haven’t either.
In the old days, students of the martial arts would travel hundreds of miles by foot to find a suitable sifu(or master). And I realize at that moment on the floor how valuable great instruction is. There are multiple elements necessary to mastery of anything, however the path to it almost always begins with solid instruction. In this day and age, there is so much information out there(both good and bad) that we may lose sight of the value of quality instruction.
Thank you for the quality level of instruction you provide. A few cups of coffee from star bucks costs me 25 dollars a month.. Fuck starbucks, i never liked their marked up coffee anyways.
-j
Rob, This morning I ran the Marine Corps’ CFT to assess my performance and determine where I needed to focus training. Work Capacity & Strength training with your program proved tremendously effective. I wanted to find my worst case scenario – No warm-up & No stretching. While driving through the movement under fire portion, I remembered training days with jingle jangles, repping at 80% max front squats, and/or sled drags. I maxed the event with time to spare.
The Military Athlete Training Program no only give us the ability to perform, but the tenacity to grit and drive through. Keep it up! Thanks!
SF, – K.
Rob,
I’ve been using your squad pt plan the last few months for my sniper section and it’s been working great! There’s been dramatic increases in endurance and strength plus, the guys love it.
Thanks,
– E.
Rob,
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with your program, in that I love to hate the intensity. A month ago I started operator sessions, having completed the pre-Afghan training program and Big 24 prior to deployment. I’m telling you now I was weighing more on the hate side today with the stamina session. That was one of the most intense workouts I’ve ever done, and I wanted to thank you again for what you do. I actually made it to 12 sets of the back squats/getups when my sandbag broke and dumped into my face. With that said, I just ordered a sandbag and some collars for our gym so I can continue to punish myself at altitude.
I promised you a picture a while back, and I’ve attached it. Sadly, we don’t scale mountains in my AO (although we do sit at 7,500 feet), but this is the best I’ve got for now. This picture of my Squadron Commander (left) and myself was taken shortly before my platoon’s first direct fire incident.
Thank you again for everything. I was physically prepared for the deployment because of your programs, and I can’t begin to thank you enough.
– Z.
Rob,
First off- let me give thanks for your programming. I followed for your Operator Sessions for 8 months during my senior year of college and enjoyed the best level of functional fitness of my life. I later suffered a knee injury, prompted by the Bataan Memorial Death March in Mar 2011 and underwent surgery in Aug 2011. I followed your “One Leg Injury” programming following surgery which helped me maintain a respectable level of fitness. After I recovered from the surgery I had a few months before I shipped off to ranger school, so I began your “Ruck Selection” programming. I crushed Ranger School and was fortunate enough to make it through as a first-time “Go”.
– W.