I’ve followed your blog for a while and what makes you stand out as an instructor to me is your devotion to your fitness. Unfortunately, many other instructors and students don’t seem to prioritize theirs, which is disappointing to me as it’s clearly one of the most important things you can do to not only increase your skills on the range, but also defend yourself from likely threats such as heart disease. Do you have any ideas on how to put more emphasis on fitness within this community? Have you ever considered a class combining shooting with endurance running, swimming, or other physical activity beyond the short sprints you may see in a typical carbine or pistol class? Lastly, what are your personal fitness goals/planned races for 2013? Thanks, HB
My idea to get fitness more on people’s minds in this community is to educate those individuals to how much better a fighter you are when you’re in good physical shape- either with guns or with fists. I do this on a small scale in my OE classes with my shooting tests that elevate the heart rate. Also, with my military clients we do a good amount of “rolling” and generally, the best fighters have decent cardio and strength. To show guys how much they need to work on fitness, they need to do more than static shooting. They need to do stress courses. They need to taste their own blood. They need to do a shooting test with real life skills involved to see that what they think is getting them in shape isn’t.
Much like shooting, where there needs to be an almost 50/50 balance of speed and accuracy, in fitness, there needs to be an almost 50/50 balance of strength and endurance. If I see one common mistake in my students, it’s an unbalanced PT program. This happens because of an individual’s wants (big chest) and desires (looking good) becoming more important than his needs (explosive sprinting with gear on to cover short ground quickly) and have to’s (being able to carry a buddy out of danger).
Not only have I considered a combo class with PT involved, I’ve actually done a few with military guys. I just don’t toot the horn to advertise things like this because I believe that is not necessary. The tough thing is that with an OE class you are going to start out with a very mixed level of fitness, whereas mil units are pretty easy to read depending on their job.
My goals for 2012 are as follows; run one ultra (already done, yeah I know it’s till 2011- a 50k in 4 h 40m), do a real long SUP paddle, learn to surf this ridiculous short board (6’ 3”) someone gave me, finally release to the public my PT test I give to mil clients!, do some videos of my circuits for the public to see and post on my site, and do a hike/camp for 4 days unsupported with under 20lbs (food. Water, shelter, etc.). total weight.
Kyle, I would be very interested in knowing the contents included in your pack for the hike/camp trip as this is something I plan to do in 2012. Also, do you have a pack that you prefer for this type of hiking? I’m not very happy with my current pack and have been considering the “sweetpea” from Mystery Ranch.
I rock an Osprey Exos 46 for the military long range nav classes I do. Osprey now has the Hornet series which is even lighter, but I think the Exos series is the best for both hard use and lightweight.
I’m gonna do a video sometime soon about it because it’s a super popular question I get a lot, but for now, here’s the gist for 3 season only;
OR Wallcreeper Bivy
US Army poncho liner sewn by my Mom to my specs
MSR Reactor Stove
MSR Water Bladder
WaterBox Steel Bottle
Mountain House Meals
Arc’teryx Atom LT
Arc’teryx Alpha jacket
Arc’teryx Alpha pants
Last month I went 4 days with 27 lbs. Most of that was water (10 liters). More later on how I’m gonna cut the weight:)…
Don’t you find the Reactor to be a little big for solo hikes? I use a small Jetboil when I’m alone. It takes twice as long to boil water, but takes up half as much space/weight.
What do you use for water filtration? Have you had a chance to T&E the Sawyer Squeeze Filter? I’m considering picking one up, but I don’t want to be a beta tester.
I should have a vid up in two weeks or so. Easier to see that way and more content in less than time.
The biggest thing with light weight hiking is reducing you’re body’s requirement for water. Water of course being the heaviest thing we carry. Sometimes this can be negated if there is an abundant source of water available where you are. I;ll talk about this too because the containers you carry and the method with which you purify are very important.
Kyle, I haven’t had the opportunity to train with you but will hopefully get the opportunity sometime in the near future.
For strict pt (not incl hiking, sports, etc…), I mostly run, lift weights, do push-ups, pull-ups, sit-ups, and a few other things. I am in good shape but I know my core could be stronger and honestly, I’m bored as hell by what has become a routine. I am looking at TRX to change things up a bit and start making my workouts more functional. Do you recommend the TRX or is there another system you prefer?
I don’t know anything about TRX, haven’t usewd them myself.
Gonna be hard to beat calesthenics, running, and jacking steel. I do some normal manual labor farm stuff every weekend or so, and that don’t hurt for sure either.