Sunday, April 28, 2024

Mission Analysis: Understanding the Local Terrain & Environment


 

OAKOC

    If you've watched the recent videos on tactics, you've probably seen this acronym pop up a few times. What hell is it, and why is it so important? Let's dig in! Land navigation is simply getting to one point from another. Tactical navigation, something we practice every time we step out of friendly territory, for any reason, brings in a whole other level of considerations. Now you have to think about bad guys, ambushes and dying. Dying is not good. So what considerations should we have when planning our routes and rally points? Where do we set up our Objective Rally Point (ORP)? Do we use roads? Is it all just METTT-TC? What about Observations Posts (OP)? How do we build one, and what considerations do we have when setting in a defensive position? 


ENTER OAKOC:

Observation 

Avenues of Approach 

Key & Decisive Terrain 

Obstacles 

Cover & Concealment 


    When planning for almost anything, this simple decision making aid can save you lots of headache and even death. Seriously, us Grunts use it for everything we do in the field. So, what does it all mean, and how can we use it? Let's take the OP and mission scenario: 

MISSION 

    You are a 9-man squad and must conduct a tactical movement to MB 1234 5678, establish an OP, observe vicinity MB 666 555 and report all activity to higher. We're going to follow the Troop Leading Procedures to get our guys moving, and start planning the mission. We need to know which routes to take and where to establish our OP. This is where OAKOC comes in. We'll make decisions based on our map reconnaissance. 

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Tuesday, April 16, 2024

Why Bodybuilding is Gay



Bottom line up front:

  • The only people who care about your abs and "striations" are other dudes
  • Unless you are paid to step on stage and WIN, you are wasting your time and we are all short enough on time
  • If you're in the gym for 2 hours every day, you're wasting your time
  • Everyone, especially young men, are better off training for strength
  • To add endurance, especially for the combat world, go Ruck
   
 I know, this will be hated by many, but it needs to be said. I remember getting into bodybuilding and caring about every little detail on my body. Hell, I was even that genius who was trying to train my calves directly. I know...pathetic. Like many, I had no idea that silly isolation workouts could do nothing against genetics. In addition, training any single-joint movement is a waste of time. So why aren't young men interested in getting stronger overall? Do they not know that strong people are harder to kill, and are generally more useful in life?

    The fitness industry has done nothing but sell abs and monster workouts, created by drug-using men, to young men. Little do these misled kids know that no one, especially women actually care about your abs. As a matter of fact, look at all the comments on literally any "physique" dude's Instagram or Youtube Channel. Will there be comments from women oohing and ahhing? Or will most of the comments be from other men? The latter is a lot more accurate. Those "men" in the comments will either be trolls hating on the dude in the picture, or they will be fanboys of that dude's abs or muscles. Being obsessed with another man's abs and muscles....are you sure you're actually straight?

    Let's look at bodybuilding as a "sport." Guys like Reg Park and Arnold Schwarzenegger were probably the last "good looking" men in bodybuilding. These days, everyone who steps on stage is a walking big pharma commercial. And who even likes these physiques? Seriously, I need to know: who thinks this looks good? Regardless, men have been chasing those dreams for decades. The dream of stepping on stage wearing a man-thong, which is essentially just a beauty pageant for men. Why did we ever think this was a good use of time? What happened to learning about motors, homesteading, farming, and being self reliant? Does being a man require being able to step on stage in a man-thong, or should we be strong enough to pick up things and fight, as well as cover ground? Well, that's what this is all about.

    The term "functional fitness" has basically been applied to everything from yoga to people doing jump squats with 220 lbs on their back. As it turns out, in life, none of what you see in that world is truly functional. What is functional? Strength training, daily activity, rucking, and patrolling as you would on a mission. If we're talking about being a useful man in life, plus being useful on a team, you must be strong, and you must be able to move especially while wearing gear. That does not mean go running for miles in shorts and tennis shoes. While that is endurance "training," it does nothing to train us for what a warrior should be able to do. Read more about that HERE.

    Unlike bodybuilding, true strength training is actually useful. We don't do bulks and cuts; often, we don't even care about diet, so long as you are eating enough to recover. Instead of dieting like bodybuilders and women, we want to use food as a fuel for our workouts and activity. If you get too fat, then cut out some of the extras. Otherwise, we are eating to get bigger. Bigger and stronger - not bigger and fatter. In addition, unlike bodybuilding, we conduct simple strength training using the compound movements (squat, deadlift, overhead press, and bench) to use as much muscle as possible in one movement. We don't care about biceps or quads training. We don't have time to spend two hours in the gym, trying to "sculpt" our calves. Also, we are training for strength, that means implementing a lower rep range. 4-6 reps, shooting for 5 reps, or even the 5, 3, 1 method is the goal. What about 10-15 reps? Well, that's silly bodybuilding, and it's endurance training. Those rep ranges do not make men stronger. Sure, if you're just coming off the couch from doing nothing, any rep range, with any exercise will give you results. However, after your "newbie gains" phase (4-6 months) that progress will slow and completely halt. So why not train in the proper ranges in the beginning? "What about the jacked bodybuilders who do those rep ranges?" I'm glad you asked. If you're taking drugs (and all of them are) basically any kind of program, any exercise, and any rep range will work. On that note, are you a drugged up, competitive bodybuilder? No? Then why train like one? Train for strength, not for bikini poses.

    What about endurance? Shouldn't I run for that? We've already covered that HERE. For 99% of people, training strength 2-3x per week is more than enough of a fitness program. For people just beginning (the great majority), they see amazing results within a month, and will continue to see results over a year down the road. So, why do anything else, when you don't need to? If you like running and doing aerobics, and you are young enough to still be able to recover for your next strength training, then have at it. But if you complain about lack of time, then stop wasting your time and work on getting strong. Lastly, we have to address the warriors. If you have to perform a heavy physical job, then you made need some extra endurance training but, I let me ask: do you jog for miles in shorts and tennis shoes for your job? If not, then why "train" endurance that way? If you are a soldier, you should be rucking. Ruck at least once per week. That will be your sport-specific endurance training. Once you get out and do your combat training, such as battle drills and squad/platoon maneuvers, that will be a lot more specific in training than any jogging program you could do.

So, let's summarize:

  • Train for true strength 2-3x per week
  • Eat to fuel those demanding workouts and subsequent recovery
  • Perform your actual sport on non-strength days for your specific training

GO TRAIN

 

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