MOPs & MOEs

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.

Newton Cheng is Google's Director of Health and Performance, but he's also a lot more than that. He started his social media platform focused on his powerlifting. He's a world class masters competitor, so it makes sense to focus on his lifting, and it's certainly impressive. But he quickly found that his messages about mental health and career advice resonated just as much or more with his audience. He has recently found a lot of success in connecting with younger audiences on these sensitive issues. This marks Newton's third time on the pod, the most of any guest. Join us in this conversation as we discuss everything from the latest slang to navigating burnout in high performance environments. Many of the topics we touch on are things that military leaders are currently struggling with, so this is guaranteed to be relevant.

Today's episode pulls together a few different important topics, from performing cognitively in crisis situations to how we develop character and leadership in the military. We also discuss the impact of human performance programs among pilots. But mostly this episode is a story of how a pilot handled being hit by an anti-aircraft missile and the lessons learned she walked away with after surviving. Kim “KC” Campbell is a retired Colonel who served in the Air Force for over 24 years as a fighter pilot and senior military leader. She has flown 1,800 hours in the A-10 Warthog, including more than 100 combat missions protecting troops on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In 2003, Kim was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for Heroism after successfully recovering her battle-damaged airplane after an intense close air support mission. You'll hear plenty about that story in the episode, but let's just say she has a proven ability to perform in a crisis. Kim knew she wanted to fly from a young age, making her first solo flight in a civilian aircraft over San Jose at age 17. She went to the United States Air Force Academy where she was the cadet wing commander (the highest position a USAFA cadet can achieve), as was her father during his time as a cadet; the first time that a father and daughter both served as cadet wing commander. She holds a degree in International Security Studies from the University of Reading, and a Master of Business Administration from Imperial College London, which she undertook while on a Marshall Scholarship. Her final assignment on active duty was back at the United States Air Force Academy as the Director of the Center for Character and Leadership Development. Learn more about Kim or schedule her as a speaker on her website. She also wrote a book diving deeper on much of what we discussed here. If you've never heard the SR-71 Blackbird "ground speed check" story, then check it out here.

This episode definitely involves physical fitness, but on a deeper level it's much more about resilience. The resilience to pursue an education while growing up in rural poverty. The resilience to survive the selection process for the Royal Gurkha Rifles. The resilience to persevere after severe combat injuries including the loss of both legs above the knee. Hari Budha Magar was born in 1979 in a village in the foothills of the Himalayas in Nepal. He was born in a cow-shed at an altitude of 2,500m in a remote part of Western Nepal. He grew up in Mirul, in the Rolpa District of the Himalayas in Nepal. As a child, he had to walk 45 minutes each day to go to school and back, barefoot; at school, there were no pens or paper so he learnt to write with chalk stone on a wooden plank. He was forced to get married at the age of 11. During his teenage years, he was surrounded by the Nepalese Civil War where more than 17,000 people were killed over a period of 10 years. Hari joined the British Army via the Royal Gurkha Rifles when he was 19. He served across five continents, doing training and operations for the British Army, his roles included Combat Medic, Sniper, and Covert Surveillance, amongst other things Since his injuries, Hari has tried a variety of sports and adventures, they include: golf, skiing, skydiving, kayaking, and rock climbing. He has also played wheelchair rugby and wheelchair basketball. In 2017, he became the first double above-knee amputee (DAK) to summit a mountain taller than 6,000m (Mera Peak, 6,476m). Then, on May 19, 2023, he accomplished the record of being the first ever double above-knee amputee to summit the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest (8,848m). You can learn more about Hari and his current work on his website, including links to all of his social media.