MOPs & MOEs

We've touched on conversations about veteran disability before, but on this episode we're going all in. To get this conversation right we needed a guest who really understands the VA disability system, and it's hard to imagine someone more qualified to discuss this issue than Dan Gade. Dan is an Army veteran who became an amputee in 2005 while serving as a company commander in Ramadi, Iraq. Since this is an audio only format and we don't discuss it directly in the episode, it's important to note that Dan is missing almost the entirety of his right leg. He continued serving despite his injury and retired as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2017. He went on to work as a disability and veteran services activist, professor, and researcher. He currently serves as the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Veterans Services. 

Most importantly for this conversation, Dan is the author of Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. This well researched book unflinchingly goes after the "third rail" political topic of veterans disability reform. Described as a "must read" by GEN (R) Jim Mattis (former Secretary of Defense) and Jim Nicholson (former Secretary of Veterans Affairs) the book takes on controversial issues that others tend to avoid.

Dan has his bachelors in environmental science from West Point and his Masters in public administration and his PhD in public policy from the University of Georgia. He served in the administration of President George W. Bush, taught at both West Point and American University, and was appointed to the National Council on Disability. He also knows a thing or two about fitness, he became the paralympic world champion at the 2010 Ironman 70.3.

Additional Resources:

Of course we recommend reading Dan's book Wounding Warriors: How Bad Policy is Making Veterans Sicker and Poorer. You can even order a signed copy from Dan from woundingwarriors.com.

You can find Dan's article "A Better Way to Help Veterans" in National Affairs here.

Read his article "Why the VA is Buried in Disability Claims" in the Wall Street Journal here.

He has also published formal research:

"Combat exposure and mental health: the long-term effects among US Vietnam and Gulf war veterans" in Health Economics can be found here.

"Where Did You Serve? Veteran Identity, Representative Bureaucracy, and Vocational Rehabilitation" in the Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory can be found here.

In our discussion he also recommended listening to his appearance on the Cleared Hot podcast with Andy Stumpf.

This week we have Alec Blenis back for round two. If you didn't catch his first episode back in August, it's one of our most popular and definitely worth going back for. Alec has a really unique background ranging from Georgia Tech physics grad to former professional Spartan Racer and competitive ultramarathoner to Murph world record holder. Lately he's becoming a bigger and bigger voice in the fitness social media world with his emphasis on hybrid training, antifragile approach to movement, and willingness to take on big problems in the space.

In this conversation we cover a lot of ground. We start with how to ask better questions (Alec is a master of the Instagram Q&A) and then we dive into interference effect, how people misinterpret the concept of progressive overload, and more.

You can find Alec on Instragram @alecblenis where he has tons of great content, and he also offers paid programming and coaching.

He's also currently running a side bend challenge if you have what it takes to compete!

This is a "give the people what they want" kind of episode. If you've been following us for any amount of time, you'll know we're not fans of training for the test. But so many people have foundational misunderstandings about what types of training will serve them well on the test that we thought this conversation might be helpful.

We start with a little history of how we got to the ACFT we know today, then we lay out a few policy and doctrinal references for how training is "supposed" to be done. These might come in handy if, as we encourage, you're teaching classes to soldiers on how to train more effectively. They will hopefully also clear up a bit of confusion, since people get them wrong so often.

But of course the bulk of this episode is a breakdown of the specific test events, what components of fitness they are designed to assess, and what types of training will improve those components of fitness. We routinely get questions about these topics, so now all the answers are in one place.

If you find this episode useful, please share it with other soldiers!
There are several topics in this episode that we brushed past very briefly. If you want to dive deeper on any of these, here are the episodes and resources we referred to:

How to Build Your PT Plan episode

Programming for Strength episode

ACFT development episode with Dr. DeGroot

Zone 2 training episode with Scott Johnston

Stronger by Science article about the Hinge-Squat Continuum

A throwback early MOPs & MOEs post about the "hardstyle plank"

As a current Brigade Commander Colonel Jon Harvey oversees an embedded team of human performance professionals as part of the Army's Holistic Health and Fitness (H2F) program. Because human performance in a military setting is so dependent on leader buy in, we wanted Colonel Harvey's perspective on how he utilizes this team, and why he is personally so passionate about the program. It is obvious in this conversation that he is all in, and they're already seeing some impressive results.

You can find Colonel Harvey on his (very active) Instagram page.

You may have seen headlines the last few weeks saying things like "Exercise is More Effective than Medication for Mental Health" and "It’s Not Just Exercise that Improves your Mental Health – Intensity and Type Matters Too." The research that is driving all these headlines comes from Dr. Ben Singh's team at the University of South Australia, and he's our guest on this week's episode.

The study that has caught everyone's attention has been described as “the most comprehensive synthesis to date of evidence regarding the effects of all modes of physical activity on symptoms of depression, anxiety and psychological distress in adult populations.” Their team pulled together systematic reviews spanning numerous exercise modalities, mental health disorders, and patient populations to synthesize a comprehensive overview of the current literature.

The article has done the research equivalent of "breaking the internet." As of this episode posting, it has an Altmeric Attention Score of 2957 (and rising), it has been picked up by 195 news outlets, and it has already been cited in three academic articles despite only being published a couple months ago. For context, any score over 20 is considered quite good, and Dr. Singh's previous high was 60. This article is already in the top 1% of all research ever tracked by Altmetric.

In the episode we discuss how different types of physical activity may be more or less beneficial for different conditions, the importance of including exercise professionals in the treatment of mental health disorders, and the many obstacles to normalize exercise as a treatment modality. For an example of the insights Dr. Singh's team found, resistance training appears to be most effective for depression, whereas pilates and yoga were more effective for anxiety. Both outperformed aerobic exercise despite previous guidelines that prioritized it. But tune in to the conversation before you draw your conclusions, because Dr. Singh discusses limitations of the existing research, and how much work there is left to do.

You can find the original article HERE.

You can find Dr. Singh on Twitter.

Kegan Gill's story is so incredible that the moment we first read it we knew we needed to try and get him on the podcast. We're just lucky we found out about him early on, because he will definitely be a household name soon enough.

Without spoiling too much of the story, which he tells eloquently, he was an F/A-18E Super Hornet pilot who experienced an extremely traumatic ejection, fought his way through the physical rehab, but was then laid low again by delayed onset mental health and TBI issues.

Our medical system successfully brought Kegan back from the brink of death, but when it came time to get him back to actual health it failed completely. What you'll hear in this conversation are all the ways he took ownership of his recovery journey.

We certainly brought Kegan on to tell his story, but he's told his story several times before. What we tried to draw out in this conversation were some key insights about the power of simple lifestyle behaviors to have profound health, fitness, and wellness benefits even in extreme situations.

You can find a full written version of Kegan's story here and Kegan specifically mention's the support he received from Jesse Gould and Heroic Hearts Project so check out their page while you're there.

In Defense of Food

How to Change Your Mind

Why We Sleep

Marcus Capone's Vet Solutions

Defenders of Freedom

Resiliency Brain Health

Formally speaking, our guest on this episode is The Honorable Robert Wilkins as he is a presidential appointee. Rob retired as a Master Sergeant after 26 years in the Air Force, but that was just the beginning of his career. While deployed in West Germany during the cold war, Rob got involved in bodybuilding and ended up getting in touch with early leaders in the bodybuilding community, Joe and Ben Weider, the cofounders of the IFBB. This led to Rob later being appointed as the IFBB Liaison to the military and started his life long efforts to encourage fitness nationwide.

He is the Senior Military Editor for Muscle & Fitness, the Head of Veterans Outreach for Sightline Media (Military Times' parent company), and most notably he was nominated to be a member of the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition. When we recorded this episode, Rob was finishing his second term on the council. He served terms under both President Trump and President Biden, one of very few to span two administrations, especially of different parties. He continues to stay closely involved in the work of the Council and the Department of Health and Human Services.

You can learn more about the President's Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition HERE.

The White House announced the newest council appointees, including Steph Curry and Chloe Kim, HERE.

This topic has been frequently requested, but since we are not remotely experts in this space, we needed to find someone who was. We've heard great things from a number of women who have benefited from Mamastefit's content and services, and Gina definitely presented some great insights for anyone looking to learn more about fitness for pregnant and postpartum women. Importantly, this information isn't just for those actual women, it's for anyone who supports them, especially their partners and any leadership who may be responsible for them.

Gina Conley holds a M.S. in Exercise Science and is the Founder & CEO of MamasteFit, an industry leading perinatal fitness provider with a training facility located in Aberdeen, NC (nearby Fort Bragg). Gina is a seasoned birth doula who has supported nearly 200 births in North Carolina. Her unique experience of exclusively training perinatal fitness clients (in-person and online), coupled with supporting births as a doula, has resulted in MamasteFit creating in-depth prenatal fitness programs, which support clients in returning to their desired sport or professional demands. Also, Gina is 7-year Army Veteran who served a combat tour to Afghanistan in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Freedom Sentinel.

@mamastefit on Instragram

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists Committee Opinion on Physical Activity and Exercise During Pregnancy and the Postpartum Period

Mike Erwin is a long overdue guest for this podcast, and he brings a wealth of insight that spans everything from his experiences in combat to leading multiple nonprofit organizations to his efforts to reshape education in America.

A 2002 graduate of The U.S. Military Academy at West Point with a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, Mike was commissioned as an Intelligence Officer, serving in three combat tours with the First Cavalry Division and 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne). His service includes deployment to Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004-2005 that involved the Battles of Fallujah and Najaf. Mike also deployed to Kandahar, Afghanistan, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2006-2007 and 2009.

Following his third deployment, Mike attended the University of Michigan from 2009-2011, where he studied positive psychology and leadership under the tutelage of the co-founder of positive psychology, Dr. Chris Peterson. He went on to serve as an Assistant Professor in Psychology & Leadership at the U.S. Military Academy from 2011-2014. He continues to serve as an instructor there as a LTC in the Army Reserve.

While in graduate school in 2010, Mike founded a non-profit organization named Team Red, White & Blue (Team RWB) with the mission to to enrich the lives of America's veterans by connecting them to their community through physical and social activity and a vision towards forging America's leading health and wellness community for veterans. Today Team RWB has nearly 200k members across over 200 chapters globally.

He is also co-founder & CEO of the Positivity Project—a non-profit organization with the mission to empower America’s youth to build positive relationships. With 542 partner schools, the organization reaches 332,000 children daily.

He is the CEO of The Character & Leadership Center and has done leadership development with over 100 major organizations.

He also serves as the founding Chairman of the Board for Father Vincent Capodanno High School, outside Fort Bragg, NC.

Finally he has authored two books: Lead Yourself First (co-authored with Ray Kethledge) and Leadership is a Relationship (co-authored with Willys Devoll).

Mike lives on a 32-acre farm in North Carolina with his wife Genevieve and their four children; Eli, Adelaide, Therese and Matthias.

If you want to read the Wall Street Journal article Mike mentions, it is "Socrates Never Wrote a Term Paper" by Jeremy Tate and it discusses how AI (specifically ChatGPT) is impacting education, and suggests that the Socratic method might offer a way forward.

Our guest for this episode is Newton Cheng, a father, world class powerlifter, engineer, and Google's Director of Health and Performance. In his work he leads a team with the mission to support the physical, mental, social and spiritual health and wellbeing of Google's global workforce. We went into this conversation looking to compare corporate wellness with tactical human performance, but we came away from it with so much more. This wide ranging conversation covers everything from the importance of mastery practices to making meaningful social connection their primary measure of effectiveness.

While Newton works in a space that is very different from the military, it is astonishing how many of the points he made are directly relevant to challenges we face. At times it felt like he had been in some of the same meetings we have. He argues that retention means ensuring talented people flourish in your system, that quantitative data may not be the most important thing when considering health and wellness outcomes, and that vulnerability is a superpower because of the way it enables meaningful social connection. He also spends some time addressing his personal experience with taking mental health leave from work, and if that's something you want to hear more about, he speaks about it frequently in numerous other forums.

If you're the kind of listener who wants to follow up on all the interesting references Newton provides, here they are:

He recommended the work of Dr. Lauren Whitt, Google's Head of Resilience.

He suggested Ken Wilbur's Integral Theory and Paul Gibbons' work on The Science of Successful Organizational Change.

He discussed how he was influenced by Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings, a classic book on strategy that is rooted in martial arts but has gained new popularity in the strength training community.

He highlighted the value of Charles Vogl's The Art of Community for leaders seeking to build a culture of belonging in any organization.

He cited Gallup survey findings that people who have a best friend at work get more done in less time, support a safe workplace with fewer accidents, are more likely to innovate and share ideas, and have more fun while at work.

He highlighted Microsoft's Work Trend Index, and especially its emphasis on increasing rates of employee burnout.