Every soldier is a soldier just like every Marine is a rifleman. “Combat” oriented physical training gets a bad rap because it’s neither combat nor physical training; however, I build a bit of a case supporting its occasional inclusion as a PT session. Randomness can be detrimental to progress when it’s all you do but beneficial as a check on fitness. There are also several pros to combat PT beyond the x’s and o’s of strength and conditioning. 

Former Army Ranger and Special Operations Human Performance Coach, Nate Palin, offers a reality based approach to coaching the warfighter on how to shoot, move, and communicate more effectively on the front lines and the home front. I reconcile high performance ideals with an often volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous reality faced by the warfighter - so you can focus your effort where it matters most.  

Episode Topics

You’re either an asset or a liability.

Non combat arms professions still need to maintain a minimum level of combat proficiency and physicality. Traditional strength and conditioning should be the primary means of physical development but not necessarily the only means of physical development. The military has less an issue with how physical fitness training is conducted and more an issue with it not being conducted at all. Regardless of whether it’s helping initiate or elevate PT, “combat “focused” physical training has as much a  place as traditional training approaches - Less as a substitute and more as an additional option. 

The Pros of Combat PT:

• Face Validity - soldiers buy in because it looks like soldiering
• Leader Led - leaders take responsibility because it’s within their comfort zones
• Teamwork - nobody wants to be the weak link
• Skill Opportunities (tactics & techniques) - touch on infrequently trained skills while under physical duress
• Equipment aka Gear - test out gear in a safe but feedback rich environment 
• Check on Fitness - ensure raw physicality supports mission relevant demands 
• Ergonomic Unfriendliness - picking up a barbell and a body are not the same 
• Terrain - the weight room is built for safety while the world is less forgiving 
• Weather - if it aint raining you aint training 
• Cognitive Elements - physicality’s value is in how it supports more cognitive demanding tasks

= Beneficial Randomness

Resources

Valued Physicality Blog

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