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If you enjoy the discussion on stoicism, pre-order our guest's book now!

On this week's episode we're diving deep (get it?) on an extremely unique corner of the military human performance world. Submariners operate in an environment unlike any other, and trying to maintain health and fitness under those conditions involves a variety of challenges. Our guest is uniquely qualified to provide insights about life in this world.

Commander William Spears is a submarine warfare officer in the U.S. Navy. A native of Pineville, Louisiana, William enlisted in the U.S. Navy’s nuclear propulsion program after high school. Upon completing technical training, he was admitted to the United States Naval Academy, graduating in 2008 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and commissioning as an officer. Today, he also holds defense-related master’s degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School, the Air Command and Staff College, and the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy.

William has served in nuclear-powered submarines across a variety of classes and mission profiles, including duty as the Weapons Officer of a fast-attack submarine and the Executive Officer of a Trident missile submarine. Ashore, he has served as a tactical evaluator on an inspection team responsible to assess the combat readiness of U.S. submarines, and he currently works in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD CAPE) in the Pentagon. He will return to sea duty in the summer of 2026.

He has his own passion for exercise, which is not  always a clean fit with the culture of the submarine community, as you'll hear in this episode.

He also writes on leadership, ethics, and military topics. His book Stoicism as a Warrior Philosophy releases in the US in November.

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Our guest for this episode was brought low by persistent back pain despite being one of the strongest people on the planet. But through his journey to find a solution for that pain, he found a new mission to help others avoid the mistakes he made in the past. His book, "The Gift of Injury: The Strength Athlete’s Guide To Recovering From Back Injury To Winning Again" co-written with Dr. Stuart McGill is highly praised by athletes and rehab professionals alike.

Since entering his first powerlifting meet in 1999, Brian Carroll has since risen to the absolute pinnacle of the sport. Brian totaled 2730 at 275 and 2651 at 242 with more than ten times his body weight in three different classes (220, 242, 275), and both bench pressed and deadlifted over 800 pounds in two other weight classes. He’s totaled 2600 over 20 times in 2 different weight classes in his career. He has squatted over 1000lbs more than 60 times and was the first man to squat of 1300lbs.

After ten years of high-level powerlifting competition and an all-time World Record squat at 220 with 1030, in 2009, Brian was competing for a Police academy scholarship. On a hot and humid July morning, Brian, hurdling over a barricade at 275lbs, landed on, fell, and hurt his back. The resulting back pain has been a huge part of his professional journey, leading him to seek out Stu McGill in 2013 who he latered co-authored The Gift of Injury with in 2017. 

It's worth nothing that his 1306lb squat came AFTER all of the back back and working with Dr. McGill.

He owns his own coaching and consulting business Power Rack Strength where he works with a wide range of athletes and frequently delivers professional education for rehab professionals.

Abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the lumbar spine in asymptomatic subjects. A prospective investigation."

"Magnetic resonance imaging of the lumbar spine in people without back pain"

"Association of Lumbar MRI Findings with Current and Future Back Pain in a Population-based Cohort Study"

"Systematic Literature Review of Imaging Features of Spinal Degeneration in Asymptomatic Populations"

"Does magnetic resonance imaging predict future low back pain? A systematic review"

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Drew is on a side quest to dive into niche areas of military human performance, and this episode is extremely niche. A few episodes ago we mentioned the fitness test for the Marine Corps Body Bearers (which includes bench press, squat, barbell curls, and behind the neck overhead presses). We got some of the details wrong, and thanks to the our audience we were put in touch with a former bearer to set the record straight.

Billy Lashley served as a United States Marine and World Famous Body Bearer from 2019 to 2023. In that time, he performed 625 funerals — including high-profile state and joint services — and took part in Friday night parades and wreath-laying ceremonies at Marine Barracks Washington. His roles within the section included recruiter and instructor, giving him a front-row seat to both the weight of the mission and the responsibility of preparing others for it.

This is small and extremely unique community that upholds some elite performance standards, and our conversation spans recruiting/testing standards, training protocols, and how leaders in the organization maintain the culture.

Billy has much longer hair now, and is even more jacked. Follow him on Instagram at @blashley96.

Here's some official Marine Corps media diving into the organization if you want more after listening to the episode:

Marine Corps Body Bearers Part I

Marine Corps Body Bearers Part II

On this week's episode we're tackling a topic we've been meaning to discuss for a long time: Despite being pervasive in both performance and medical spaces, SMART goals are no actually an evidence based way to change health and fitness behaviors. They may even, in some cases, be harmful.

Our guest, Dr. Christian Swann, is a Professor of Psychology at Southern Cross University in Australia where he leads the Physical Activity, Sport and Exercise Research (PASER) group.

Christian's background is in sport and exercise psychology, and his expertise is in goal setting. His research focuses on how to set goals to increase and maintain physical activity, and he is particularly interested in how different goal setting approaches make us feel while we pursue them — as well as how they influence our mental health.

As part of an international team of researchers he published ⁠"The (over)use of SMART goals for physical activity promotion: A narrative review and critique."⁠ This article aimed to answer a few key questions:

Is the SMART framework based on theory? Is it consistent with existing evidence? Does it consider what type of goal is set? Is it applied consistently? Is it being used as originally intended? Does it carry any risks?

Once you learn the history of SMART goals, some of the answers become a lot less surprising...

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In this week's episode we're breaking down some recently published research. Specifically, "Personalized, Evidence-Informed Training Plans and Exercise Prescriptions for Performance, Fitness and Health" by Henning Wackerhage and Brad Schoenfeld. 

Up front, the article itself is an opinion piece, but it's based on an extensive review of the literature, and provides thorough citations. It's a useful article specifically because it synthesizes so much evidence into some practical guidelines for coaches.

The authors advocate for an athlete, client and patient-centered approach whereby an individual’s needs and abilities are the main consideration behind all decision-making. They also lay out a subjective, pragmatic six-step approach that details how to write a training plan or exercise prescription that is partially based on scientific evidence.

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Find ⁠Tactical Alpinism on Instagram here⁠

You can find Mauri's podcast on ⁠Spotify⁠ or on ⁠Apple Podcasts

We recently had Mauri on to discuss his research on lactate threshold based training, but after he joined the conversation on our Discord we found out we missed an even more important topic. Fitness plays a huge role in ROTC cadets' ranking, and those rankings determine their choices of component and branch. As an instructor, Mauri's human performance focused approach dramatically enhanced his school's outcomes, so in the conversation we explore what worked.

We discussed news of a cadet's death at Advanced Camp, you can find that story here.

You can find coverage of the ROTC "rebalancing and optimization" (downgrading programs) here.

On July 31st President Trump signed an executive order re-establishing the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition and directing the new council to develop a proposal on bringing back the Presidential Fitness Test. This test figures prominently in the childhood memories of many Americans, with pride for some and trauma for others.

In this episode we break down the latest news within the decades of historical context that got us here.

You can read "The Soft American" here (we consider it mandatory reading for MOPs & MOEs followers)

For background on our mention of physical education in Europe (especially the Turnverein movement) check out our episode History of Army Fitness with Dr. East

For some context on the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition, check out our episode with former council member Rob Wilkins

We mentioned Maintenance Phase's episode on the PFT and you can find that here

We also mentioned a similar perspective on the test presented in this article on Vox

Drew referenced the official history of the council provided on the HHS website

Alex referenced the FitnessGram teacher training which provides an overview of the program

This article highlights the lack of academic scrutiny focused on physical education, including FitnessGram

The source of the claim that the average school budget for physical education is $764 annually is this article from Time

You can read the La Sierra High School Physical Education handbook here, including the basic philosophies as well as the specific events and standards

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This episode includes a reference to this Defense Health Agency report that found that the more H2F resources provided for Reserve soldiers, the better results they saw.

If you follow the MOPs & MOEs blog, you already know this week's guests from things like his 5 part series "The Other 28 Days" on how to implement human performance for part time service members or his "Maximizing Fitness Efficiency" piece on minimal effective dose training. Members of our discord server know he's always bringing research citations to the conversations happening there.

Mark Christiani is an Army Veteran who served in Ranger Regiment before transitioning into the human performance space. He currently works with O2X as an On-Site Human Performance Specialist at the 81st Readiness Division of the Army Reserve. Mark served as the Brigade Lead Strength and Conditioning Coach for GAP Solutions for not just any brigade, but 44th Medical Brigade where Drew works. 

He holds a Master of Science in Sports Medicine from Georgia Southern University and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) and Registered Strength and Conditioning Coach (RSCC). 

This week's episode we're answer a few audience questions, going through some military fitness news, and discussing some recently published research. It's a bit of rapid fire content, if you want a deeper dive on any of the individual topics, please let us know!

Here's everything we discuss:

Joint Fitness Test Rumors

Air Force Fitness Test Changes

Occupationally Specific Fitness Test for EOD

Marine Corps Body Bearers PT Standards

Updates on Athletic Trainer Contracts

NDAA and Human Performance Funding

Congressional Amendments and Military Spending

Running Injuries and Research Insights

Modernizing Army Dining: A Critical Perspective

MAHA Wins: Analyzing Food Industry Changes

Neck Training: Myths and Practical Insights

MOPs & MOEs is ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠powered by TrainHeroic!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

To continue the conversation, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠join our Discord!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ We have experts standing by to answer your questions.

Find Tactical Alpinism on Instagram here

You can find Mauri's podcast on Spotify or on Apple Podcasts

You can download a copy of Mauri’s thesis, “Relationship Between the Lactate Thresholds and Endurance Performance in Trained Runners” here

In this episode we're returning to the topic of how mountain athletes and tactical athletes have similar fitness demands. Mauri is particularly qualified to discuss this topic since he is a bit of both. His perspectives include being an infantry officer, alpinist, coach to endurance athletes, certified mountain guide, and more.

Mauri served in a multitude of leadership roles as an infantry officer in the US Army. During that service he applied many advanced planning and navigation techniques to make mountain missions successful. He adapted the military's operational planning process for use in the mountains by combining military planning and navigation techniques with mountain objectives.

He now leads Tactical Alpinism, where he provides training and education for both tactical professionals and civilians pursuing high levels of performance in the mountains. This includes both physical training and technical mountain navigation.