MOPs & MOEs

Guy Shamam is an Israeli Defense Force special operations soldier who transitioned into the reserve and is now working to address problems with the health and fitness of reserve service members in Israel. He reached out to us looking for advice on developing a program, and we decided to record the conversation because this is the kind of stuff that many of our listeners are working to address. While Israel has mandatory service requirements and the structure of their reserve is very different from ours, many of the problems they struggle with in the health and fitness space are nearly identical. In this live working session we talk our way through various considerations around assessments and training that we hope will provide some insight for all of you. Guy's unit is an extremely cool special operations demolitions team called Yahalom, and you can check out what they do here: https://youtu.be/rDYoNdVgiQI During the episode we talked about some of the debates in Israel about the state of their reserve forces. Here's an article I referenced during that conversation for some background: https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-729060 Guy has agreed to share his contact info if you want to reach out to him directly: LinkedIn: Guy Shamam Instagram: @guy.sham Email: gbilas76@gmail.com

On this episode we welcome our first general officer guest, BG Mike Drowley, call sign Jonny Bravo. Brrrrrrt enthusiasts will appreciate that he is an A-10 Warthog pilot which, for the unfamiliar, means he flies an aircraft that is effectively a giant machine gun with wings. Pilots face unique performance demands that revolve around around applying technical skills under pressure while resisting g-forces on their bodies. BG Drowley discusses these, but we also had a wide ranging conversation about leadership at the strategic level, taking care of people, and the importance of human performance professionals being completely integrated with the units they support. He's an engaging and thoughtful leader, and his authenticity is immediately apparent when you talk to him. Catch his TED Talk with 2+ million views here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WtQqKrbmKc He also appeared on Simon Sinek's podcast here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXLunCM7ISw 

Erin Williams (aka @runstrongmama) is a mom, an athlete, a running coach, and an accomplished Army engineer officer. In this episode we discuss how all of those experiences have shaped her approach to fitness. Erin Williams was a Division 1 basketball player at West Point, and was commissioned as an Army Engineer officer in 2011. Since then, Erin has completed a variety of military schools including Sapper and Jumpmaster, served in the 82nd and the 101st Airborne Divisions, earned a data science degree from Harvard, and had three children. In 2018, she also became a run coach. She holds certifications from Road Runners Club of America and VDotO2, and coaches with the service Lift Run Perform. She is a strong advocate for women in military service, and has focused her efforts in the past 2 years on highlighting shortfalls in the military child care space and how this impacts service members and families. This wide ranging conversation covers everything from how to incorporate strength training into a running program to the state of pregnancy and postpartum physical training (P3T) in the Army. Erin has some valuable insights into a wide range of topics, so we covered a lot of ground with her. And if you want to learn more about her advocacy for women in the military, follow her platforms! Erin mentioned a few useful resources that she recommends people check out, so here they are: Laura Norris' running blog: https://lauranorrisrunning.com/ Dr. Alyssa Olenick: https://doclyssfitness.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/doclyssfitness/ Jack Daniels' VDOT: https://vdoto2.com/ She coaches with Lift Run Perform, find out more about them here: https://liftrunperform.com/

After a lot of questions we decided to do a podcast on how to get hired in tactical. Whether it's in uniform, as a federal civilian, or as a contractor, we lay out the basic requirements, pros and cons, and how to set yourself up for success. This is a rapidly growing space, and in addition to coaches getting curious about the tactical space, a lot of people in the military seem interested in pursuing these roles after their time in uniform comes to an end. We definitely focus specifically on strength and conditioning, both because that's what we know and because it's the biggest population in the tactical human performance space. That said, we do touch on other roles throughout, so at least you'll hear about some of the other options. If you're currently serving in uniform and want to make this your next career, we also include several considerations that are specific to transitioning service members (sources of funding, options to get experience, etc). If you have more questions, please reach out and we'll try and make resources available that assist with the process.

When leaders across the Department of Defense have questions about biosensing, wearable devices, or human performance data, Josh Hagen is frequently at the top of the list of experts they reach out to. He has his Bachelors in Chemical Engineering, Masters in Materials Engineering, and PhD in Materials Engineering all from the University of Cincinnati. Josh executed his graduate research in bioelectronics at the Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at Air Force Research Labs, and shortly after joined the 711th Human Performance Wing where he began his current research thrust in Human Performance Monitoring and Augmentation. His work there focused on measuring physiology utilizing wearable sensors and blood biomarkers, developing novel analytics for correlating and modeling data, and beginning to understand how to take that data to optimize performance in elite military and athletics populations. In 2018, Josh became the Director of the Human Performance Innovation Center at the Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute at West Virginia University, as well as Assistant Professor in the Department of Neuroscience. His latest role is Director of the Human Performance Collaborative where he leads a multi disciplinary team focused on human performance optimization.

Scott's first appearance was our most popular episode of 2022, so we're kicking off 2023 by bringing him back to answer your most frequently asked questions about Zone 2 training! This conversation covers everything from how to implement it in group training settings to incorporating rucking and low impact modalities. It's one more step in our mission to #MakeEnduranceGreatAgain. Scott is an accomplished endurance athlete in his own right, and his coaching resume includes everything from elite special operators to Olympians. Of particular note, there's a big update since our last episode: he has launched Evoke Endurance! You can find out more at https://evokeendurance.com/ Towards the end of the episode we briefly discuss how recovery tracking devices can have a placebo effect on performance, whether or not they're accurate. The paper mentioned is available here, and it finds that not only is there an effect, but the placebo is stronger than self reported experience: https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/xlm-a0035546.pdf

If you asked Santa for more MOPs & MOEs for Christmas, your wish has come true! 2022 is coming to an end, and we wanted to look back at all the ground we've covered in our first year of podcasting. Well, technically it's 3/4 of a year in review since we started this adventure in April. In this episode we shout out our most popular episodes from the first year of the MOPs & MOEs podcast and highlight some of the key themes we've discovered after all of these conversations with health and fitness professionals around the world. Thank you all for joining us on this journey, and please let us know what you want to hear from us in 2023!

We're trying something new with this episode and diving into the research a little bit. We're reviewing the International Olympic Committee's consensus statement on training load and injury risk. They assembled a panel of international experts and pulled together a huge amount of research to come up with some actionable recommendations for anyone who supervises physical training. This discussion is particularly timely as we head into the holidays, which for many people means a few weeks of lower training volume. Leaders might feel the urge to "make up for lost time" by hitting it hard when everyone gets back, but the evidence suggests that this is a perfect storm for injury risk.  Spoiler alert: the answer is there's probably no such thing as too much. But there is definitely too much too soon. Here are the links if you want to read it yourself: Part 1: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/50/17/1030 Part 2: https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/50/17/1043

You guys have been asking for a cognitive performance episode for a while, so we brought Mike on to dive into it. We knew he would bring a valuable perspective when he said he had a particular interest in measuring the effectiveness of cognitive interventions. Mike has worked in a variety of research and human performance roles, starting with the United States Naval Academy until he decided he wanted to be on a winning team instead so he switched over to the Army's 7th Special Forces Group. His credentials include a masters degree in Applied Psychological Research from Penn State University, a Leadership and Management certificate from Wharton School of Business, and Chartered Psychologist status from the British Psychological Society. He makes some strong arguments against oversimplifying cognitive performance and emphasizes that it is both individual and task dependent. 

Reilly is a legend up in the frozen north where he runs JBER Strength and Conditioning. It took us a while to get him on here, but he's definitely the most requested guest we've had on the podcast and the wait was worth it. Especially because all of those requests came from soldiers he has trained who can vouch for the impact he has on everyone who comes through his facility. After well over a decade of training soldiers, Reilly was recently recognized as the Tactical Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year, which is particularly noteworthy since unlike much of the industry he not only doesn't seek attention, he actively avoids it. There's nowhere to buy programs from him, and if you request to follow him on Instragram he won't accept it. This guy is all about doing the work, and getting soldiers Arctic Strong. The proof is how much leaders have invested in him: both his facility and Wolf's Lair up at Ft Wainwright are the tangible results of his work, and he was one of the first two civilians ever to graduate from the Army's Cold Weather Orientation Course, earning him the coveted Arctic tab.