MOPs & MOEs

Anyone who's familiar with the Army's Pregnancy and Postpartum Physical Training (P3T) program has probably heard pretty negative things about it. Historically, women have avoided participating if they can get out of it, and if they can't they've been disappointed by what they got out of it. Our guest on this week's episode is changing that. She's bringing modern human performance to P3T and traveling around the around training leader's on up to date principles and methods. Kelsey Mathias is a pelvic health Occupational Therapist. Her career has been spent in private practice and working with U.S Military Service Members and Veterans. She currently works as a contractor supporting the U.S Army as an instructor training leaders from interdisciplinary teams on a holistic approach to pregnancy and postpartum physical training. In the episode Kelsey references the updated policies which can be found in Army Directive 2022-06. As a reminder, like all of our guests, the views expressed by Kelsey Mathias do not reflect the views of the government.

We reached out to our guest for this week's episode after he testified before Congress and used the opportunity to repeatedly highlight military human performance programs. He was also our first guest to tune in from the Pentagon Briefing Room. Troy Black is the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, making him the most senior NCO in the entire United States military. We were particularly interested in having him on when we saw that the #2 priority on his strategy document is Holistic Human Performance. SEAC Black assumed his current post as the 5th SEAC on Nov. 3rd, 2023 following his selection and service as the 19th Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps. A native of Louisville, Kentucky, he attended recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, S.C., in April of 1988 and attended the School of Infantry and Marine Corps Security Force School. Throughout his career, SEAC Black has been assigned numerous duties to include: Machine Gunner, Machine Gun Squad and Section Leader; Weapons Platoon Sergeant and Weapons Platoon Commander; Drill Instructor, Senior Drill Instructor, Fleet Anti-Terrorism Security Team (FAST) Platoon Sergeant and Operations Chief, Series Gunnery Sergeant, DI School Instructor, and RTR Drill Master; First Sergeant, Sergeant Major, 3d Bn, 7th Marines, Combat Logistics Battalion 5, 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, 1st Marine Logistics Group, and Manpower and Reserve Affairs. He has deployed in support of Operation Just Cause, Operation Sea Soldier, Desert Storm/Desert Shield, and Sea Angel; Operation Iraqi Freedom II (OIF), Operation Bright Star, Operation Iraqi Freedom IV (OIF) ; Operation Enduring Freedom in 2010; WESTPAC 14.2 and Operation Inherent Resolve. SEAC Black has a Bachelor of Science in Terrorism and Counterterrorism Studies from National American University and graduated from the Joint Special Operations Forces Senior Enlisted Academy December of 2011.

Two years into this and we've fielded a lot of questions that relate to injuries. Since we're not experts in that space, we brought a professional on board! John Romanello is a Physical Therapist with experience in both the conventional Army and special operations. In this episode he breaks down the science behind injury risk, what we can do to prevent injuries, and some of the important considerations to ensure successful rehabilitation after injury. If this episode has you interested on how you can better rehab your own nagging injuries and lower your risk for reinjury, check out the our blueprints and master plans! John also wrote a blog post on all of this, including references to relevant research. At the beginning of the episode we mentioned Shrier, Impellizzeri, and Stovitz's piece about the misguided semantic fights over "injury prevention." If you need some rehab hype, it's hard to beat Adrian Peterson's comeback from a torn ACL/MCL to MVP of the NFL in the following season.

The ACFT has been a hot topic since the day it was announced. Even now, after a few years, myths and misconceptions persist. We've seen a lot of these in our comments and messages, and we thought it was time to address a few. In this episode we break down a little bit of the history behind how the test was developed, the reasoning behind a few of the events, and the validity (or lack thereof) of some of the common criticisms of the test. Here are some of the references mentioned, if you want to dive deeper: "Prediction of simulated battlefield physical performance from field-expedient tests" (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18251329/ ) Pilot testing of two proposed alternative fitness tests, the APRT and the ACRT (https://www.army.mil/article/55446/new-army-pt-tests-army-physical-readiness-test-army-combat-readiness-test/) "Correlations between Physical Fitness Tests and Performance of Military Tasks: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA607688.pdf ) "Development of a New Army Standardized Physical Readiness Test" (https://apps.dtic.mil/sti/tr/pdf/AD1011066.pdf ) Final report of the BSPRRS study published (https://www.iadlest.org/Portals/0/AD1097586%20Baseline%20Soldier%20Physical%20Readiness%20Requirements%20Study.pdf ) Our episode with Dr. East, who was involved in much of the work linked above: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0vjeGEOqUwnkokRrSrgJKL

Jessie Graff is probably best known for her athletic achievements on the obstacle course show American Ninja Warrior. In 2016, she became the first woman ever to complete Stage 1 of the Las Vegas Finals course. In 2017, she became the first woman to compete in, and to successfully finish, Stage 2. Her athletic evolution started with circus classes, which led her to gymnastics, then pole vault. All of that, combined with a base of martial arts training and a theater major in college led her to stunt work. She has made stunt double appearances in X-Men: First Class, Bridesmaids, John Carter, Sons of Anarchy and The Mandalorian. She both acted in a doubled Gal Gadot in Wonder Woman 1984. As you might expect from her career, she has had her fair share of injuries, we won't spoil the full list, but a theme you'll hear in this conversation is the mindset, resilience, and adaptability to navigate those challenges. It's also fitting that this episode comes shortly after our home gym conversation, because Jessie takes that to an entirely different level. While most of us live in homes that happen to have some gym equipment in them, Jessie lives in a gym that happen to has a home in it. You might notice that when she talks about being a top finisher competitively she doesn't talk about her place among the women, she only talks about her ranking among everyone, including the men. Cooking a meal while hanging from the ceiling Pushing the limits of the kinds of activity her house makes possible (including a zip line) Jessie navigating her stairs and hallway without touching the floor Jessie building her gym home

If you know the name Matt Chan, then he needs no introduction. Skip this and start listening. His athletic journey started as a high school swimmer and continued as a collegiate water polo player at Western Illinois University. He originally took up CrossFit in his late 20s to help improve his endurance as a firefighter in Denver, Colorado. Despite making his games debut at 30 years old he went on to four top 10 finishes at the CrossFit Games (including runner-up in 2012). During this competitive peak Chan became a full-time athlete and one of the most popular and knowledgeable veterans in the sport. Now that he's done with the pro athlete phase of his life he's back to firefighting, and in addition he coaches at Train For the Win (aka TrainFTW). He has spent a lot of time on CrossFit Seminar Staff and has a leadership role in the Peer Fitness Trainer program in his fire department. Matt was also the Titan Games season 2 champion at 42 years old, enjoys climbing, mountain biking, and hunting. If you're curious about the Peer Fitness Trainer program it is a collaboration between ACE (the American Council on Exercise) and the IAFC (International Association of Fire Chiefs): https://www.iafc.org/topics-and-tools/resources/resource/iafc-iaff-ace-peer-fitness-training-certification-program-candidate-information-guide

Sidney Jaques has logged quite a few firsts for women in the Army. In 2nd Brigade, 82nd Airborne she became the first woman assigned to one of their infantry battalions. While serving in that capacity, she attended Ranger Assessment and Selection (RASP2) and was selected to serve as the Ranger Regimental S1. Once she graduated Ranger School she became the first woman in the Army to have earned both the Ranger tab and Ranger Regiment scroll. This journey has not been without its challenges, and in the episode she discusses some of the hardship she faced along the way. But more importantly she shares how she uses her experience to help mentor and support the women who are following in her footsteps. Sidney is outspoken and active on social media, and you can find her platform Balance Your Grit on Instragram.

How to outfit a home gym is always a popular topic, and we get plenty of questions about what equipment we recommend. For this episode we break down our thoughts on a variety of options at different price points. To frame the discussion we broke our options down into less than $100, $100-$500, $500-$1000, and over $1000. We don't agree on every priority, but we definitely agree on the essentials. With a few basic things you can be ready for some pretty robust training sessions. Towards the end of the episode we do talk about DIY home gym equipment, and you can make more than you might expect on a very basic budget. End of Three Fitness has a fantastic guide for over 20 different home gym projects. Let us know what you agree and disagree with! And tag us if you have an awesome home gym you want to show off!

This episode is long overdue. Spencer Posey is an all star that anyone involved in military health and fitness should be following. As a sergeant and infantryman in the Old Guard he is having an absolutely massive impact far beyond his unit. His passion for health and fitness first led him to becoming the Old Guard's Regimental H2F Lead. Pulling that off as a specialist would be a huge achievement for most people, but Spencer was just getting started. His work - and more importantly his results - got the attention of the commanding general, and he is now also the Human Performance Lead for the Military District of Washington. On top of this he's also working with the Air Force, Walter Reed, and the Command and General Staff College. As a bonus, you might have also seen him starring in an Army recruiting ad on national television. We start this episode with the personal and professional history that brought Spencer to where he is now. If you're out there across the force trying to improve your unit's culture of performance, his store will absolutely help point you in the right direction. And if that's not enough, he's so willing to help that he said to put his email in these show notes so here it is: spencer.w.posey.mil@army.mil Check out Spencer's national commercial featured on NBC here Check out Spencer's feature in Muscle & Fitness here

We're back on our mission to get to the bottom of why providing soldiers with healthy food is such a challenge for the Army, and this time we have an insider with decades of experience in running Army food service operations. Jeremy M. Deck is a Vice President at the national insurancebrokerage firm HUB International specializing in commercial risk management, employee benefit, and human resources consulting. Although the bio he sent us focused heavily on his work in the insurance industry, that's obviously not what we're here to talk to him about. Jeremy’s professional career, spanning over two decades in the Army, exemplifies dedication to leadership, operational planning, and management. His military service, culminating as the Food Service Director for the US Military Academy at West Point, makes him a perfect person for us to bring on to discuss one of our favorite issues: how the Army feed's its soldiers. Jeremy possesses a passion for service to the community through involvement and outreach as a member of several organizations locally. Jeremy volunteers as a mentor with the national non-profit American Corporate Partners, an organization that places industry mentors with service members exploring post-military employment. Additionally, his community involvement includes board service with the non-profit Eating for Your Health a 501c3 non- profit based in Princeton, New Jersey, that aims to promote health through cooking and eating whole, nutrient-dense foods. These are only two among many volunteer efforts he's a part of. Jeremy holds an MBA from the University of South Carolina’s Darla Moore School of Business where he specialized in International Business and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from the University of North Carolina at Pembroke. We also owe a shout out to George Dailey, for making this episode happen. He was the one who first referred us to Jeremy and said he had a night and day impact of the food service operation at West Point.