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On this episode we revisit a popular debate, but with a few new angles. This is not a typical strength vs cardio conversation, since everyone should obviously do both. Instead we focus on the "optimization" challenge of finding an appropriate balance between the two.

Baseline health guidance (both for Americans and globally) calls for 150 minutes of "moderate to vigorous physical activity" weekly, plus two days of muscle strengthening activity. That provides a starting point for minimum activity levels, but what about performance goals?

We chat about strength and endurance standards from a few different sources, as well as research on dose response to strength training vs cardio.

For the Ranger Regiment data mentioned, the more recent version is no longer available since their human performance page has been deactivated, but here's a link to the older data we discuss.

BYU/University of Minnesota study on dose-response association with mortality

Harvard/Iowa State optimum dose study

Rand study on ACFT associations with injury risk

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This week we're back for round 2 with Brian Carroll. You should definitely go back and listen to our first episode with him before you dive into this one.

We brought Brian back to ask a variety of follow up questions, some our own and some provided by you guys in your responses to the initial episode. The most frequent piece of feedback we got was about his interpretation on MRIs. We get to that a little later in the episode, so stick with it.

Other topics for this discussion include the psychology of recovering from injury, the complexity of the relationship between pain and injury, and for our video viewers he even breaks out some spine models to demonstrate a few of the concepts he discusses.

He mentions Michael Shacklock and neurodynamics a few times, if you want to learn more about that check out their page.

He also mentions a few videos they're making about MRI interpretation, here are links to the first two:

"MRI Case Study: Why They Matter and Why They Don't Tell the Whole Story"

"Does Your MRI Tell the Whole Story?"

Brian also asked that we include the following clarification in response to his exchange with Alex about Elon Musk's role in SpaceX engineering (this is copied directly from Brian's email):

"Elon Musk actually does design rockets and create technology for various aspects of rocket science and aerospace advancement. He oversees engineering and development projects for SpaceX yet only holds bachelor degrees in both economics and engineering from the University of Pennsylvania. He began (but did not complete) a PhD program at Stanford before launching PayPal etc, he lasted 2 days in the program. He credits mentors and reading many books and studies, as have I with MRi's. "

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This week's episode is a crossover with Ray and Travis over at Coaches' AAR. If you're in the tactical human performance space, they're much more focused on the practical aspects of coaching. Where we get into strategic, policy, and cultural issues, they keep it focused on the practitioner's perspective.

Go follow Coaches' AAR on the following platforms!

Coaches' AAR on Instagram

Coaches' AAR on Spotify

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MOPs & MOEs delivers our training through ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TrainHeroic and you can ⁠get your first 7 days of training with us FREE by clicking here.⁠

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On September 30th, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth spoke to an audience of the US military's most senior leaders, announcing a sweeping set of policy reforms. These included a heavy emphasis on fitness, both force-wide and for particular education and training courses.

In this episode we review many of those changes. We start with a rapid overview of the "non-fitness" changes, like grooming standards and adjustments to investigation processes. After than we move into a more focused discussion of the fitness-specific changes and the ramifications these will have.

Drew mentioned our "Fitness Aptitude Test" (FAT), if you want to check that out and try it for yourself, here's a blog post about it.

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On this week's episode we're breaking down two recently released memos that establish guidelines for medical oversight of the Army's H2F teams.

Across the military embedded human performance is becoming a bigger and bigger part of how we train and care for service members, but having so many medical providers operating outside the clinic creates some policy challenges. Whether it's "integrated operational support," H2F, or something else, policies like these are popping up across multiple services.

The first memo is "Credentialing Policy for Certified Athletic Trainers" and it clears up some grey area about how ATs fit into the Army's medical system.

The second is "U.S. Army Medical Command Responsibility for Clinical Quality Management of Holistic Health and Fitness Program" and it applies to all medical providers on H2F teams (not just ATs). It also has important consequences for facility standards in the spaces that H2F teams provide medical care.

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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.