Full Transcript for #90 - Exceptional Tactical Athletes Don't Train The PT Test (They Do This Instead)

think different, right? 00:02:17.120 --> 00:02:20.400 So that is how I started talking about all these different types of things. 00:02:20.479 --> 00:02:26.800 So, yeah, if we just shoot for the bare minimum, it's like, okay, like what does that do for anybody in the long run? 00:02:26.879 --> 00:02:32.639 And now we're still going to be blade running these standards, if you will, or just skating by with these standards. 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:36.400 So I said, Yeah, let's stop, let's stop thinking about the PT test. 00:02:36.560 --> 00:02:38.479 Let's think better, bigger, let's think different. 00:02:38.639 --> 00:02:48.240 But most importantly, understanding, like, hey, caveat here for the supervisors or leadership in the room, or you know, people that might have failed a test or something like that. 00:02:48.400 --> 00:02:50.400 It's like, yes, let's stop thinking about it. 00:02:50.479 --> 00:02:57.599 But at the same time, with that caveat, understanding it is a mandatory requirement that we must crush, not just pass, but crush. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:03:01.120 So that's what we're gonna get into today, talking a little bit about that. 00:03:01.360 --> 00:03:14.400 But the core question that I would love to, you know, have you think about and understand is with these PT tests, I like to reframe a lot of things so we look at look at it from a different lens, right? 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.280 It's not just about a PT test. 00:03:17.520 --> 00:03:24.639 Let's start thinking about not only what is that test testing, but more importantly, what is it asking in a general sense, right? 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:35.280 So you start thinking about the question of does this person have baseline competent capacity, strength endurance, consistency, habits that the branch considers acceptable? 00:03:35.520 --> 00:03:35.840 Right. 00:03:35.919 --> 00:03:41.120 You ask that question and it's like, okay, I don't want that to be me, right? 00:03:41.280 --> 00:03:47.680 Like, I don't want to be that baseline standard or um kind of flirting with that average of everybody. 00:03:47.919 --> 00:03:50.159 I want to, you know, crush these things. 00:03:50.400 --> 00:03:50.639 Right. 00:03:50.800 --> 00:04:04.719 So now if we start reframing it and thinking about it from that perspective, if we understand that we train consistently year round, the test becomes a byproduct, not something that you think about or that you are specifically targeting, right? 00:04:04.800 --> 00:04:08.560 That should be our goal when it comes to the PT test overall. 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:16.319 So again, we're gonna be talking about a lot of different things that I had that I think will help from a mindset perspective, from a training perspective. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:35.600 But again, if you are somebody that is listening to this, well, one, I hope that uh that you are not this person, but if you are somebody listening to this and you're like, uh, you know, I feel like I'm okay being baseline competent or or different things like that, um, you're you're probably the the rest of the podcast probably isn't going to resonate. 00:04:35.680 --> 00:04:44.000 So I just want to give you that heads up because we are going to, you know, be challenging your beliefs, challenging the intent that you bring the training. 00:04:44.240 --> 00:04:46.240 And honestly, it's going to make you better for it. 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:49.199 So uh I think we should all kind of um kind of pay attention. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:53.519 And that's what I challenged everybody with the uh the instruction that I gave. 00:04:53.600 --> 00:05:08.560 It's like, hey, really pay attention here, ask any questions, and um, you will undoubtedly, you know, crush your PT test, but most importantly, improve your health, improve your performance, improve your longevity, your recovery, all the things. 00:05:08.800 --> 00:05:09.199 Right. 00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:14.240 So I mentioned this a little bit earlier about the idea of thinking bigger, right? 00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:18.639 And I think that, you know, this is something that we need to all focus on, and in my opinion. 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.600 Obviously, I'm a little biased here, but what I mean by thinking bigger, and I love it. 00:05:23.759 --> 00:05:34.160 There was a ton of people um in these instructions that you know are already doing these things, and a lot of people that I talk to on Instagram or wherever are doing these things. 00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:45.279 And I will say require loosely, I require um the folks that I'm working with to put something on the schedule that's that's definitely bigger than the baseline standards, right? 00:05:45.360 --> 00:05:46.560 So, what does that mean? 00:05:46.800 --> 00:06:01.040 I'm talking about things where it's like, okay, these things, if we improve and we prep for these specific things, then the the Air Force PT test, the army PT test, Navy, whatever that may be, is going to be easy, right? 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:07.279 Like, not easy in a sense of, okay, that was no effort, but you're easy in a sense where, hey, that's anxiety free. 00:06:07.360 --> 00:06:08.000 I'm good to go. 00:06:08.160 --> 00:06:09.040 When are we doing it? 00:06:09.120 --> 00:06:09.759 Okay, cool. 00:06:09.839 --> 00:06:10.959 That sounds good, right? 00:06:11.040 --> 00:06:16.160 So you think about things like uh, okay, we're going to 5K a PR, right? 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:17.040 That is our target. 00:06:17.120 --> 00:06:23.120 So again, how are you not going to improve your two mile if you properly train for a 5K, right? 00:06:23.360 --> 00:06:24.079 Best warrior. 00:06:24.319 --> 00:06:30.879 There was a lot of people talking about the German Armed Forces proficiency proficiency badge, right? 00:06:30.959 --> 00:06:34.879 There's um the tactical games, there's Norwegian foot march. 00:06:35.040 --> 00:06:36.319 There's a lot of people doing that as well. 00:06:36.480 --> 00:06:37.839

Absolutely love it, right? 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:42.000 Spartan races, high rocks, uh, races from all different distances. 00:06:42.079 --> 00:06:45.759 So half marathon, um, and and beyond, really. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:48.079 Uh, so all those things, right? 00:06:48.160 --> 00:06:56.800 Again, thinking bigger and thinking harder than the PT test, that allows the test to stop being the ceiling of your overall capacity, right? 00:06:56.879 --> 00:07:02.160 And that kind of leads us into thinking different, which I think is obviously very important as well. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:08.879 So, with thinking different, it's understanding that the metrics that we are after are not the specific target, right? 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:11.759 So you think about the two mile, for example. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:15.040 I would say, in my opinion, the two miles a little bit arbitrary. 00:07:15.199 --> 00:07:19.120 Yes, it's kind of the standard, if you will, for the military. 00:07:19.279 --> 00:07:25.920 But overall, it's like, okay, two miles, just that perfect distance is the perfect testing domain. 00:07:26.079 --> 00:07:27.360 Like, no, it's not. 00:07:27.519 --> 00:07:32.480 So it's the thing that we use, but at the end of the day, what it is testing is your aerobic capacity. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:39.199 It's testing your uh running specific aerobic capacity, it's testing your discipline with running, right? 00:07:39.279 --> 00:07:41.759 It's testing all those different types of things, right? 00:07:41.839 --> 00:07:45.040 So you can train those things in multiple different ways. 00:07:45.199 --> 00:07:48.959 And then that two mile metric becomes a byproduct of what you're doing. 00:07:49.120 --> 00:07:52.959 So I say this all the time like move fast, move slow, and practice pacing. 00:07:53.120 --> 00:07:58.480 If you do those three separate types of runs, you are going to be good to go for your two mile. 00:07:58.639 --> 00:08:01.439 So that does not mean, you know, again, thinking different. 00:08:01.759 --> 00:08:06.399 That does not mean we just need to rip two mile time trials just until we improve. 00:08:06.560 --> 00:08:09.680 And I think the unfortunate reality is a lot of people do that, right? 00:08:09.759 --> 00:08:14.240 We kind of red line, we're in that ugly kind of zone when it comes to running. 00:08:14.319 --> 00:08:21.439 We're not going fast enough to get any kind of speed uh adaptations, we're not going slow enough to build the aerobic base. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:26.160 We're kind of in the middle, kind of hard, a little bit easy, right? 00:08:26.240 --> 00:08:27.920 It just turns into a slug fest. 00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:29.519 And now we're not improving, right? 00:08:29.600 --> 00:08:36.559 So that is one of the detriments of just running diagnostics or running PT tests or hey, we're just going to do this, right? 00:08:36.639 --> 00:08:41.519 Because at the end of the day, if you think about building your aerobic base, we might

need to go 45 minutes easy. 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:50.639 We might need to go 60 minutes easy again to accumulate some time on feet there, which is what we really miss when we just kind of fire off two mile time trials. 00:08:51.039 --> 00:09:07.200 So uh again, I always try to challenge people to think about these things where there's a client example where we're working right now, he's training for, and by the way, this is a commander that we're talking about, somebody who just moved, just had a newborn. 00:09:07.279 --> 00:09:14.799 So again, I am not very um very you know easygoing with some of the common excuses because you know everybody can do it. 00:09:14.879 --> 00:09:16.080 We just need to be creative. 00:09:16.320 --> 00:09:24.639 Anyways, that this person is training for a 5k every hour for six hours, and he that's that's how our prep is looking. 00:09:24.799 --> 00:09:25.759 We are prepping for that. 00:09:25.919 --> 00:09:30.480 And he's like, hey, just letting you know I have a PT test coming up like on these dates. 00:09:30.559 --> 00:09:35.039 It's actually a couple days before the uh before the actual race. 00:09:35.120 --> 00:09:37.919 And we're like, okay, that's a little bit less than ideal. 00:09:38.000 --> 00:09:45.759 But at the end of the day, we know, like, there is zero, absolutely zero doubt in our mind that he's gonna be good to go for his PT test. 00:09:45.840 --> 00:09:48.000 And and we're shooting for the max as well, right? 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:52.240 So you start thinking about okay, we're going to do these harder things, right? 00:09:52.320 --> 00:09:54.799 The German Armed Forces proficiency badge, right? 00:09:54.879 --> 00:10:05.840 There's a there's a different running, there's rocking, there's some calisthenics, there's the uh the chin-up hold, there's a bunch of different targets that you need to be prepared for and practice for, right? 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:06.799 And train for. 00:10:06.879 --> 00:10:11.360 So now you do those things and you start looking at one of the PT tests from a certain branch. 00:10:11.440 --> 00:10:14.080 And it's like, okay, that's that's pretty light, right? 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.480 Like that is the mindset we need to start having. 00:10:16.639 --> 00:10:26.559 But again, if you only shoot for that specific target of your your specific metrics that you are shooting for, you're gonna sell yourself a little short there, or I would say uh very, very short. 00:10:26.879 --> 00:10:33.200 So one thing that I also like to talk about with with PT tests here, and I'm bringing up these charts. 00:10:33.360 --> 00:10:35.279 I think it's it's very important. 00:10:35.519 --> 00:10:43.919 And they are uh it's some of the research that I did with tactical athletes and how certain tactical athletes endure things when other people would quit, right? 00:10:44.080 --> 00:10:47.679 You start looking at some of that data, and I'm not gonna go over the whole research. 00:10:47.759 --> 00:11:08.000 I've talked about it in previous podcasts, but we we researched or interviewed a bunch of different folks, some SEALs, MMA competitors, people who have done long duration expeditions, uh, marathons, we have Navy, Marine, Air Force, Army pilots, um, SWAT, we have we have wildland firefighters, a little bit of everybody here, right? 00:11:08.159 --> 00:11:11.759 And we start looking at the barrier barrier difficulty factors. 00:11:11.840 --> 00:11:22.480 So when they were faced with something extremely challenging and they they started, or there was that negotiation in their head to quit, different things like that, what kind of things were they faced with? 00:11:22.639 --> 00:11:35.840 And you start looking at these extreme physical pain and exhaustion, mental fatigue, cognitive breakdown, time pressure, past failed events, self-doubt or the I'm not good enough, external pressure, complete isolation, fear or anxiety, right? 00:11:36.000 --> 00:11:37.440 All these different types of things. 00:11:37.519 --> 00:11:45.440 And you think about a PT test, and depending on where you are at with your fitness, you may be faced with some of these things during that PT test, right? 00:11:45.519 --> 00:11:52.399 So, you know, we're talking a little bit about mental capacity here and how we do not negotiate with quit, right? 00:11:52.480 --> 00:11:56.559 And then you start looking at specific techniques that these folks have used. 00:11:56.960 --> 00:12:07.519 So breaking tasks into smaller segments, embracing or accepting discomfort, connecting to your purpose or why, um, you know, distraction techniques, uh, reframing perspective, right? 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:13.919 You start looking at those things and then you go, like, okay, we're we're talking about a lot of mental capacity here. 00:12:14.080 --> 00:12:17.039 Um, I thought we were talking about PT, right? 00:12:17.120 --> 00:12:23.519 And and I would make the argument that PT tests are 95% mental, right? 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:24.399 And you can see it. 00:12:24.480 --> 00:12:26.399 It's so frustrating to me when you see it. 00:12:26.559 --> 00:12:32.879 You see somebody on the hammer shuttle, and you're like, oh, this person maybe has, you know, six or seven more. 00:12:33.039 --> 00:12:38.240 And then you just see their eyes kind of gloss over and they're like, oh, you you know they're about to stop, right? 00:12:38.320 --> 00:12:39.919 It's so, so frustrating. 00:12:40.159 --> 00:12:46.320 You see somebody with their push-ups, they they start getting that little bit of burn in their chest, and it's like, ah, I'm done. 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:50.000 It's like, no, you had three or four more, easy, right? 00:12:50.159 --> 00:12:52.799 And you start asking from a mental capacity, right? 00:12:53.039 --> 00:12:59.679 This is the example I use where if you had a teammate or a family member, right? 00:12:59.759 --> 00:13:04.159 And I don't want to get too dark here, but maybe they were in a

life or death situation, right? 00:13:04.399 --> 00:13:10.080 Gun to their head, and you had to get a PR on your two mile to get them to get there to save the day. 00:13:10.240 --> 00:13:21.120 Like you're telling me you wouldn't have an extra leg kick to get there, or you would say you had to get, you know, like maybe uh 10 more hammer shuttles or uh 10 more push-ups, right? 00:13:21.279 --> 00:13:24.240 You wouldn't be able to do that in a life or death situation. 00:13:24.399 --> 00:13:25.759 Of course you would, right? 00:13:25.840 --> 00:13:34.080 So that's why I make the argument of, okay, well, what are we doing from a mental capacity standpoint to actually prove our output when it comes to testing? 00:13:34.240 --> 00:13:39.919 That is a huge missing piece with a lot of people's preparation when it comes to PT test, right? 00:13:40.080 --> 00:13:43.120 So we we talk about mental capacity, right? 00:13:43.279 --> 00:13:47.440 We talk about, you know, uh toughening up from the mental side. 00:13:47.600 --> 00:13:54.320 And then the unfortunate reality is a lot of people's approaches is that um the the lock in and full send it. 00:13:54.399 --> 00:13:55.519 It's like, all right, that's it. 00:13:55.600 --> 00:14:03.600 I I'm tired of you know eating this way, I'm tired of doing these things every weekend, I'm tired of you know, stressing these PT tests. 00:14:03.759 --> 00:14:04.159 That's it. 00:14:04.240 --> 00:14:06.799 I'm starting on Monday and we're gonna full send it, right? 00:14:06.879 --> 00:14:10.320 Maybe this person hasn't ran in um in six months. 00:14:10.399 --> 00:14:13.600 And it's like, I found this cool marathon training program. 00:14:13.679 --> 00:14:14.399 I might run that. 00:14:14.559 --> 00:14:15.919 It's like, what are we doing? 00:14:16.080 --> 00:14:16.320 Right. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:25.279 I haven't really, you know, strength training, I haven't done any strength training, but I found this really cool, you know, super advanced six days per week training split. 00:14:25.360 --> 00:14:26.480 I might, I might give this a go. 00:14:26.559 --> 00:14:32.480 And it's like, what or I might put them together and just get uh super optimal gains from these things. 00:14:32.559 --> 00:14:41.039 And it's like, all right, well, that's where we get to a point where one, we're either gonna get injured or um, you know, those things pop up out of nowhere. 00:14:41.120 --> 00:14:42.879 And it's like, okay, this this sucked. 00:14:42.960 --> 00:14:44.399 I can't really do this anymore. 00:14:44.480 --> 00:14:47.200 So maybe I'll take a break and then maybe I'll start, right? 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:49.679 The the PT test is coming up in in six months. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:50.639 I got plenty of time. 00:14:50.720 --> 00:14:55.840 And then all of a sudden it's just that vicious cycle, you know, test cramming, all those different types of things. 00:14:56.159 --> 00:15:01.360 So when it comes to where we need to head overall, I talk about three things, right? 00:15:01.440 --> 00:15:15.440 We we want to simplify a lot of these things, they don't need to be super complex, they don't need to be, you know, all these kind of uh I forget that meme, like what it is, where the guy's smoking a cigarette and he's like, there's um, you know, little pins everywhere. 00:15:15.600 --> 00:15:17.919 He's like, all right, face, go this way, then this way. 00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:19.440 It's just super overwhelming, right? 00:15:19.519 --> 00:15:20.480 We need to simplify. 00:15:20.639 --> 00:15:26.320 So, first thing that I would ask everybody is what is your specific target vision? 00:15:26.559 --> 00:15:26.879 Right. 00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:30.000 And with this, it could be, you know, a PT test. 00:15:30.080 --> 00:15:36.320 Again, I've already made the argument that I think it should be bigger, but at the end of the day, you need to get super specific. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:40.000 So it's not just about, and I've heard this before, I hear this all the time. 00:15:40.159 --> 00:15:42.480 It's like, uh, I want to get a little faster. 00:15:42.639 --> 00:15:43.759 I'm like, okay, cool. 00:15:43.919 --> 00:15:44.799 Like, that's awesome. 00:15:44.960 --> 00:15:46.639 Like, same, same with everybody. 00:15:46.799 --> 00:15:48.720 But it's like, what does that mean? 00:15:48.879 --> 00:15:49.200 Right? 00:15:49.279 --> 00:15:51.679 I want to, you know, improve my two mile. 00:15:51.759 --> 00:15:53.039 Um, okay, cool. 00:15:53.200 --> 00:15:54.000 That's awesome. 00:15:54.240 --> 00:15:56.000 What specific splits do we need? 00:15:56.080 --> 00:15:58.799 Like, what do our 400s need to look like to get to that goal? 00:15:58.960 --> 00:16:00.080 Are we close to that goal? 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:02.399 You know, can we run those for 400s? 00:16:02.480 --> 00:16:03.919 Do we need to slow down a little bit? 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:06.559 Where do we need to be at that halfway point? 00:16:06.879 --> 00:16:09.600 Um, what are specific weaknesses that you feel? 00:16:09.679 --> 00:16:13.279 Like more subjective measures, like how do your legs feel? 00:16:13.360 --> 00:16:14.639 Is it your overall capacity? 00:16:14.799 --> 00:16:16.080 Is it your breathing? 00:16:16.240 --> 00:16:18.799 Um, is it your posture that goes? 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:20.480 Like, there's so much that goes into it. 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:26.240 So, again, the more specific that you can get with specific times, now we have something to work with, right? 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.799 And I have a lot of people that uh eventually want to run the hammer shuttle. 00:16:30.960 --> 00:16:36.639 If you aren't familiar with the hammer shuttle, it's uh an option for the Air Force PT test. 00:16:36.879 --> 00:16:42.639 It is 20 meters uh away from each other, so there's two points of the uh the 20 meters. 00:16:42.799 --> 00:16:52.879 And from there, you have to, it's essentially like a beep test, or uh if you've played basketball

like suicide drills, where it's like, okay, we need to, once it beeps, I need to touch that line. 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:56.639 And then once it beeps again, I need to, or before it beeps, I need to touch the other line. 00:16:56.799 --> 00:16:59.840 So you're essentially running back and forth within that 20 meters. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:07.039 It does pick up, you know, eventually once it hits certain levels where you're kind of just touching and going and it's it's pretty fast pace. 00:17:07.440 --> 00:17:17.519 But if you're if your target vision is to crush the hammer or max out the hammer, I would ask you, okay, what does the overall duration running at that hard to moderate range look like, right? 00:17:17.599 --> 00:17:18.319 Like how long? 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:25.440 So then we could start reverse engineering tempo and threshold type work to make sure that we have the capacity to handle that, right? 00:17:25.680 --> 00:17:28.319 Or any kind of agility with something like that, right? 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.880 Are we doing lateral hops or things like that? 00:17:31.039 --> 00:17:34.480 So again, just making sure we are very, very specific. 00:17:34.880 --> 00:17:37.680 From there, step two, we are going to get an eval. 00:17:38.000 --> 00:17:41.680 So I've talked, you know, endlessly about evals, I think they're very important. 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:45.039 That gives us our starting point of where we actually are. 00:17:45.279 --> 00:17:56.000 So I say here, like, I don't give a shit about what you used to be able to do or what you did back in basic or you know what you ran in high school or those types of things. 00:17:56.160 --> 00:17:57.839 It's like, okay, that's awesome. 00:17:58.000 --> 00:17:59.759 Like we can we can put that on the board. 00:17:59.920 --> 00:18:02.480 But at the end of the day, it's like, where are we right now? 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:05.200 Because that's what we're building for uh building from. 00:18:05.599 --> 00:18:10.880 So with these evals, yes, we can use a PT test that is usually pretty solid. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:18.000 But again, the thing that I want to start thinking about is what are the the things that the PT test is not testing? 00:18:18.240 --> 00:18:18.480 Right. 00:18:18.640 --> 00:18:22.799 So we we think about that, and you know, PT tests are far from perfect. 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:28.000 They could all use, you know, it's super hard to come up with a test that works perfectly for everybody. 00:18:28.319 --> 00:18:36.319 But I would say, okay, like the Air Force PT test, for example, it's like where is the submax strength component? 00:18:36.480 --> 00:18:36.720 Right. 00:18:36.799 --> 00:18:41.119 There's no 3RM, there's nothing like that, like with the Army PT test, right? 00:18:41.200 --> 00:18:42.240 So where is your strength? 00:18:42.400 --> 00:18:44.720 That's going to be needed for your runtimes. 00:18:44.960 --> 00:18:47.440 Where is your your personal standards, right? 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:50.000 What are things that you do on a day-to-day basis? 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:54.319 I guess good or bad, that we could try to fix or that we could try to double down on. 00:18:54.480 --> 00:18:55.920 Um, where is your nutrition? 00:18:56.000 --> 00:18:57.279 What does your nutrition look like? 00:18:57.440 --> 00:18:59.039 How is your fueling on a day-to-day basis? 00:18:59.200 --> 00:19:05.119 How does your pre and post training uh nutrition fuel like how what does that look like on a day-to-day basis? 00:19:05.359 --> 00:19:10.240 Um, a lot of the tests now, it's like power output is where's your your broad jump? 00:19:10.400 --> 00:19:14.799 There's so many different things, and and I'm not gonna sit here and just nitpick the the entire test. 00:19:14.960 --> 00:19:16.880 Um, but it's things to think about, right? 00:19:16.960 --> 00:19:29.119 So that eval, yes, it can include your test um or your test metrics, but it's very important uh to think about it from a holistic perspective or a tactical fitness perspective and say, okay, are there missing links? 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:30.880 How can we test that as well? 00:19:31.119 --> 00:19:34.799 Once you have that test, now we can start identifying our leverage point, right? 00:19:34.880 --> 00:19:43.839 It's like, okay, what do I really suck at that's gonna offer me the most ROI to uh so I can get to my target vision, right? 00:19:43.920 --> 00:19:50.559 So, and it's it's the thing with this that we need to be careful of is it might not always be super transparent, right? 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:53.359 So it and it might seem a little bit counterintuitive. 00:19:53.440 --> 00:19:58.799 So maybe you do a test and you want to improve your run and your run is is like decent. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:06.720 Yes, it could use some work, but what if your run you just like kind of fall apart, or historical context is telling us that maybe you always get injured? 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.960 It's like, well, maybe you know, our strength isn't where it needs to be, right? 00:20:11.039 --> 00:20:18.400 So that's why it's important to get that holistic viewpoint because it's like, okay, well, if your strength isn't where it needs to be, we're going to just keep getting run down. 00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:20.799 So, what is your strength relative to your body weight? 00:20:20.960 --> 00:20:23.839 I think is something really good to look into in that case. 00:20:24.000 --> 00:20:28.480 So just wanted to showcase how it's not always, you know, super, super transparent. 00:20:28.559 --> 00:20:30.079 It's not always uh logical. 00:20:30.160 --> 00:20:32.240 That's why we need a full scope of things. 00:20:32.480 --> 00:20:42.640 From there, the beautiful part is now we're just going maybe six to eight weeks, and then we're retesting again in the future, our same sort of eval, right? 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.400 And it's very important because now we're retesting, we're evaluating,

debriefing, and then just repeating that process. 00:20:48.640 --> 00:20:53.680 So it's obviously a little bit different than what then the traditional path that a lot of people take. 00:20:53.920 --> 00:21:04.720 Because honestly, the traditional path is usually, oh, okay, I have a PT test and I'm going to that's going to be the uh the final of the of the year, so to speak. 00:21:04.880 --> 00:21:05.920 That's going to be our final. 00:21:06.079 --> 00:21:08.160 And then it's like, all right, let's let's dust it off. 00:21:08.240 --> 00:21:08.960 We got time. 00:21:09.119 --> 00:21:12.079 Like now we don't have one until maybe six months out. 00:21:12.240 --> 00:21:13.839 Let's take a few months off, right? 00:21:13.920 --> 00:21:14.960 Let's take it easy. 00:21:15.119 --> 00:21:17.119 Let's not really do anything too challenging. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:19.359 Hey, we just crushed our PT test, right? 00:21:19.440 --> 00:21:20.559 Let's reward ourselves. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:24.559 Then all of a sudden it's like, oh crap, it's it came this came out of nowhere, this test. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.240 Now I need to get into a prep. 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:36.880 And this is where you start, or I usually get some of those questions where it's like, hey, um, I have a PT test, you know, or I have to do the waist tape now with my PT test. 00:21:37.039 --> 00:21:38.400 And we're a couple weeks out. 00:21:38.480 --> 00:21:42.160 I I'm kind of like flirting with the uh the standard there. 00:21:42.319 --> 00:21:43.599 Any suggest suggestions? 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:52.240 And I'm like, no, like I really don't have any suggestions for you, uh, especially with the waist tape or different things like that. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:58.160 I would probably recommend, you know, taking the L and just moving on and doing it properly. 00:21:58.319 --> 00:21:59.759 But uh a lot of people don't like that. 00:22:00.079 --> 00:22:00.319 Answer. 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:06.240 We like those quick fixes, um, which is just just dangerous and and dumb, to be totally honest. 00:22:06.559 --> 00:22:09.599 So now we have the overall structure, right? 00:22:09.680 --> 00:22:15.599 We have that big picture strategy of those three things that we want to be focusing on uh really year round, right? 00:22:15.680 --> 00:22:32.960 We could run that, and that's the beautiful thing once you start training like a tactical athlete, where it's like, okay, we can run this year round, and then we can make small adjustments as we go, and then we can switch the priority as we go once we keep doing evaluations where it's like, okay, my strength improved. 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:34.319 Now that's really solid. 00:22:34.480 --> 00:22:36.880 Maybe we start biasing conditioning, right? 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:44.079 Or maybe we start biasing uh a little bit more body comp and we go into a deficit and kind of you know back off the training a little bit, right? 00:22:44.160 --> 00:22:46.160 There's so

many different ways that you could take it. 00:22:46.319 --> 00:22:48.319 So that is the big picture strategy. 00:22:48.400 --> 00:22:54.079 Again, training 24-7, 365, having that bigger vision and thinking different about it. 00:22:54.240 --> 00:22:57.200 Now we're we're going to be heading in the right direction, right? 00:22:57.279 --> 00:22:58.960 So that is the overall strategy. 00:22:59.119 --> 00:23:02.319 I think a lot of people jack up strategies and tactics. 00:23:02.480 --> 00:23:08.400 So thinking from this perspective here, we're thinking strategy, we are facing in the right direction, right? 00:23:08.480 --> 00:23:10.559 We are facing towards our target vision. 00:23:10.720 --> 00:23:15.039 Now, tactics are how we are going to get to that target vision, right? 00:23:15.279 --> 00:23:17.200 So now we're going to get into more tactics. 00:23:17.359 --> 00:23:25.279 So, first things first, when it comes to tactics, we we need to start raising our personal standards and raising that bar. 00:23:25.519 --> 00:23:28.400 So I talk about non-negotiables all the time. 00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:29.680 I think they are very important. 00:23:29.759 --> 00:23:35.279 And honestly, like not even making this up, clients have said, hey, these have literally changed my life, right? 00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:37.119 And not even being dramatic there. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:43.119 If you start implementing them and they turn into quote unquote habits, it's like, whoa, I don't even have to think about these. 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:44.720 I'm doing them, I'm feeling good. 00:23:44.880 --> 00:23:47.440 And now it's just kind of on autopilot, right? 00:23:47.519 --> 00:23:48.240 That is our target. 00:23:48.400 --> 00:23:54.640 So yeah, in the first couple of weeks, it might be like, oh, this is kind of tough, or you have to deliberately, you know, plan it and do it. 00:23:54.720 --> 00:23:57.599 And then it gets to a point where it's just automatic clockwork, right? 00:23:57.680 --> 00:23:58.880 That's what we want to get to. 00:23:59.119 --> 00:24:07.680 So with these personal standards, I like to say three non-negotiables, you know, that have high ROI and kind of bring you closer to your target vision. 00:24:07.839 --> 00:24:13.920 So, for example, if you need to improve your runtime, you go through the eval, you go through all those things. 00:24:14.160 --> 00:24:20.559 What are some, you know, non-negotiables or lifestyle standards that we can implement that's going to help with that? 00:24:20.799 --> 00:24:25.279 So, one thing that's an easy kill is okay, we want to improve our runtime, right? 00:24:25.359 --> 00:24:27.279 We need to accumulate more time on feet. 00:24:27.440 --> 00:24:29.519 Why don't we have a step count? 00:24:29.680 --> 00:24:31.839 Right, let's do 8,000 steps. 00:24:32.000 --> 00:24:35.680 Maybe we work up to 10,000 steps, depending on what you got going on. 00:24:35.839 --> 00:24:37.680 But we're going to accumulate time on feet. 00:24:37.839 --> 00:24:43.039 Not only will that help you, obviously get on your feet, it will help with recovery, it will help with mental capacity. 00:24:43.200 --> 00:24:47.599 Um, if you bring people along for the walks, like it will help with social interactions. 00:24:47.759 --> 00:24:50.960 There's literally no downside to getting some steps in. 00:24:51.039 --> 00:24:53.359 So if you need to, you know, take your break. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:59.599 I I've talked about this before, but what I used to do is all right, I'm gonna eat my lunch, you know, 10 minutes early at my desk. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:04.880 I'm still gonna knock some stuff out, but and then I'm gonna go on a walk during my lunch break, right? 00:25:05.039 --> 00:25:08.240 Or I'm going to park further away at the grocery store. 00:25:08.319 --> 00:25:10.319 Or I just talked about this recently. 00:25:10.480 --> 00:25:11.920 Um, don't be lazy. 00:25:12.079 --> 00:25:14.720 Like take the stairs, any opportunity you have. 00:25:14.880 --> 00:25:21.599 So it's like, all right, I'm gonna, I'm never gonna get on an elevator, I'm gonna avoid that, avoid that at all costs and take the stairs, right? 00:25:21.759 --> 00:25:23.119 So that's gonna, that's gonna help. 00:25:23.200 --> 00:25:24.880 Maybe that's your first non-negotiable. 00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:33.039 Maybe another one where we know that if you lose some pounds and you do it properly, now that's just less weight you need to carry on your runs. 00:25:33.119 --> 00:25:34.319 Maybe that's going to help. 00:25:34.480 --> 00:25:51.519 So with that, instead of saying, okay, we're gonna go crazy, we're gonna lock in, we're gonna track like crazy and do all those types of things, what I would say is, okay, maybe one, we're going to uh own the last hour of the day, where that last hour of the day, what we are going to do is make sure you have uh your meals ready. 00:25:51.759 --> 00:25:54.480 If not, or like maybe not to that extent. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:26:02.559 If you can't do it to that extent, I should say, you are at least going to know and have a game plan of what you are going to eat for the next day, right? 00:26:02.640 --> 00:26:03.920 That is non-negotiable. 00:26:04.079 --> 00:26:07.920 So I would prefer, okay, here's our meals that we're gonna eat. 00:26:08.000 --> 00:26:10.240 They're all made, they're in the fridge, they're they're good to go. 00:26:10.319 --> 00:26:13.359 Now we can just kind of grab and go in the morning, and we are all set. 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:22.079 Now that is going to help transfer over to the uh deficit or to the weight loss goal, making sure it's like, okay, we are already prepared, we don't have to think, right? 00:26:22.160 --> 00:26:23.440 And we have a game plan. 00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:33.440 Because if we don't have a game plan, there's a hundred percent chance you are going to end up shooting from the hip and you're you're going to make a decision with food that you might regret in

the future. 00:26:33.599 --> 00:26:34.960 So don't do that. 00:26:35.119 --> 00:26:35.440 Right. 00:26:35.519 --> 00:26:38.799 And another one here, maybe it's uh a non-negotiable. 00:26:38.880 --> 00:26:43.200 Maybe you're in, you have a PT test coming up, and say you struggle with push-ups. 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.160 Maybe we get some practice reps in the morning, right? 00:26:46.240 --> 00:26:48.160 We're not going till failure. 00:26:48.319 --> 00:26:51.039 We're just getting some practice reps, perfect form. 00:26:51.200 --> 00:26:54.799 Maybe we're going for 30, 50, whatever that may be. 00:26:54.960 --> 00:26:57.680 Maybe we break it up into a few different sets, right? 00:26:57.759 --> 00:27:04.160 But you are going to get a win first thing in the morning, and you're like, okay, we're we're already getting the blood, blood pumping, right? 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:14.000 And again, talking about that mental capacity portion, um, you know, you're not gonna want to wake up every morning, fired up, roll out of bed, and the first thing that you do is push-ups. 00:27:14.160 --> 00:27:16.160 But what happens when you do, right? 00:27:16.319 --> 00:27:20.799 You start winning at first thing in the morning as soon as you open your open your eyes, right? 00:27:20.880 --> 00:27:31.200 And you start thinking about these non-negotiables, and you would say, or some people would say, like, okay, how do these relate to, you know, making sure we're gonna be good to go for our PT test? 00:27:31.279 --> 00:27:42.079 And and obviously there's some uh applicability when it comes to the push-ups, but talking about the mental capacity portion, again, you are doing what you said you were going to do, right? 00:27:42.160 --> 00:27:48.480 You are building that self-efficacy and you trust yourself with holding your word or holding your standards, right? 00:27:48.559 --> 00:27:52.799 I think that is very, very important because now when you are on a PT test, right? 00:27:52.880 --> 00:27:58.559 And that person that I was talking about with their eyes glazing over and you're like, oh, they're done, white flags going crazy, right? 00:27:58.640 --> 00:28:00.160 I'm talking about that person. 00:28:00.480 --> 00:28:05.599 Maybe they wouldn't have negotiated with themselves if they trusted themselves with the small things, right? 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:12.640 So when your quads are burning up, you feel like you're you're done, or you feel like you need to stop or you need to walk, all those different types of things. 00:28:12.799 --> 00:28:15.599 Your inner critic is just lighting you up, saying, hey, stop. 00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:17.599 You could just take it or take a ride here, right? 00:28:17.680 --> 00:28:22.000 You could you could easily stop and just be done with it and then worry about it in the future, right? 00:28:22.079 --> 00:28:25.839 Your inner critic's just barking at you, and you're like, no, no, no, no, like I got this, right? 00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:28.079 I trust myself, I'm gonna keep pushing through. 00:28:28.160 --> 00:28:30.960 And we're not going to bite off on that negotiation, right? 00:28:31.039 --> 00:28:32.240 So, very, very important. 00:28:32.400 --> 00:28:36.720 That is something that I'm very passionate about, and uh we we really need to take serious. 00:28:37.519 --> 00:28:48.400 So, another thing here that I think is very important with these types of approaches is understanding, hey, we can turn small dials, but we're not doing full teardowns, right? 00:28:48.480 --> 00:28:57.200 I see this all the time where or I hear this all the time when people are saying, oh, like PT test prep season or certain things like that. 00:28:57.279 --> 00:28:59.039 And it's like, I'm I'm just I'm so confused. 00:28:59.200 --> 00:29:00.640 Like, what are you even talking about? 00:29:00.799 --> 00:29:02.160 Like, what does that mean? 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:02.480 Right? 00:29:02.559 --> 00:29:11.519 It's like, okay, we're gonna go, we have a PT test coming up in a month, so we're we're gonna start working at it, we're gonna, you know, practice all these different types of things and yada, yada, yada. 00:29:11.759 --> 00:29:22.240 Or a story that always comes to mind where uh I had a coworker um did really well on the uh at the time it was a mile and a half or maybe a two mile, I forget. 00:29:22.400 --> 00:29:39.279 Um, but did really well, and we had a conversation about it afterwards, and he's like, Wow, like, you know, this this test was so different because I ran like year round, not not crazy amounts, but I just did a little bit of running um every week and and I felt really good, felt strong, and this is my best test yet. 00:29:39.440 --> 00:29:48.720 It's like maybe I should just maybe we should just do that, like just train a little bit year round or or train something that's sustainable year round, and then we don't have to prep for a PT test. 00:29:48.960 --> 00:29:52.720 I'm like, wow, like you you should write a book, man. 00:29:52.799 --> 00:29:54.240 Like that is that is awesome. 00:29:54.319 --> 00:29:56.160 That is like groundbreaking stuff. 00:29:56.400 --> 00:30:14.000 Um, but no, all jokes aside, like if you do train consistently year round, now we can start turning up small dials of okay, you know, if we want to implement practice, we can do that, but we don't have to, you know, scratch our whole whole entire approach if it's built properly, right? 00:30:14.079 --> 00:30:14.960 So, what does that mean? 00:30:15.039 --> 00:30:15.279 Right? 00:30:15.359 --> 00:30:21.599 We want to essentially, when we turn up those dials, add to a solid foundation that we are already doing. 00:30:21.759 --> 00:30:23.440 So I've talked about this before, right? 00:30:23.519 --> 00:30:30.240 What does that base of tactical fitness look like from like a very obviously there's nuance here, but a very simple approach? 00:30:30.400 --> 00:30:35.359 It's like, okay, we're gonna jump, we're

gonna hop, we're gonna throw um a couple of times per week. 00:30:35.440 --> 00:30:38.319 Like I already mentioned, we're gonna try to hit one of these. 00:30:38.480 --> 00:30:42.079 Maybe we're, you know, running fast with some some quicker runs. 00:30:42.240 --> 00:30:47.119 Maybe we're, you know, running uh a little bit easy, a couple of runs, building that aerobic base. 00:30:47.200 --> 00:30:50.480 And then maybe we're we're going moderate if we are at that point, right? 00:30:50.559 --> 00:30:55.279 Maybe we're doing some tempo or some threshold work at that midpoint there. 00:30:55.440 --> 00:31:01.119 Maybe we're doing some strength training two to three times per week, maybe four, depending on your certain season. 00:31:01.279 --> 00:31:03.599 But you do those three things now. 00:31:03.920 --> 00:31:07.680 Test quote unquote test prep looks a lot different, right? 00:31:07.759 --> 00:31:10.720 Because now that specificity is layered onto that. 00:31:10.960 --> 00:31:12.640 It is not a separate program. 00:31:12.960 --> 00:31:18.480 So it's very, very important where now it's like, okay, I want to max out the hammer, right? 00:31:18.640 --> 00:31:19.359 Just for an example. 00:31:19.440 --> 00:31:22.480 And it's like, okay, where this is the approach that I just talked about. 00:31:22.559 --> 00:31:23.920 We have a solid foundation. 00:31:24.160 --> 00:31:32.480 So now instead of running a traditional tempo or threshold or what you've been doing, why don't we just swap one of those for hammer practice? 00:31:32.720 --> 00:31:42.400 But you're still doing the rest of the training, or you're doing a dumbbell bench or a deficit push-up, something like that, and you're quote unquote traditional training. 00:31:42.559 --> 00:31:46.960 Now all of a sudden we're just implementing hand release push-ups a couple of times per week. 00:31:47.279 --> 00:31:56.240 Or on your full body day, maybe to finish off, we're doing some planking at the end of your full body day. 00:31:56.400 --> 00:32:00.319 It's like, okay, well, now we're we're getting some practice in, right? 00:32:00.559 --> 00:32:08.000 So again, it's not just kind of scratching the approach, looking up on you know Instagram or ChatGPT or whatever. 00:32:08.079 --> 00:32:10.400 It's like, okay, what is the best PT prep program? 00:32:10.480 --> 00:32:11.119 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:32:11.279 --> 00:32:16.799 It's like, no, let's just train like a tactical athlete, and then we can get into that specificity. 00:32:16.960 --> 00:32:20.880 Now the reality is you don't even need to do those certain things. 00:32:21.039 --> 00:32:23.680 If you are training properly, you should be pretty good. 00:32:23.759 --> 00:32:27.599 Um, you you should like come close to a max, if not max out. 00:32:27.759 --> 00:32:36.640 However, if you really want to take it to the next level and you know you have um a test coming up, it's like, okay, let's just let's get a couple practice rounds in and now we're good to go. 00:32:36.799 --> 00:32:45.759 Not practice as in I am panicking, but practicing in as I want to max out the the best, or I want to put myself in that position as best as possible. 00:32:46.160 --> 00:32:48.400 So that is it, right? 00:32:48.559 --> 00:32:55.920 Now we need to the the last thing that I wanted to, the last couple of things I wanted to talk about here is the pacing aspect, right? 00:32:56.000 --> 00:33:03.119 And we're not just talking about running, that is obviously a big part of it, but pacing is super important. 00:33:03.279 --> 00:33:16.640 I would say this is one of the most underrated tools for tactical athletes, and not just pacing, like I said, about running, but pacing the uniform, pacing life, pacing uh your fueling strategy, right? 00:33:16.799 --> 00:33:20.960 Because I've found, and and I'm experienced in this, and I'm not saying that proudly. 00:33:21.119 --> 00:33:29.279 I've found that a lot of us like lock in full send it, and all of a sudden it's like we we burn out or um we get injured, whatever that may be. 00:33:29.440 --> 00:33:34.240 But it's thinking about okay, pacing, you know, what is the most amount uh for fueling? 00:33:34.319 --> 00:33:38.640 What is the most amount of fuel that I could eat to make sure that I'm moving in the right direction? 00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:39.039 Right. 00:33:39.200 --> 00:33:42.240 Not extreme deficits, not diets with a name. 00:33:42.480 --> 00:33:49.359 You know, what is something that I can repeat for the long haul that will make me make sure that I'm moving in the right direction? 00:33:49.599 --> 00:33:49.839 Right. 00:33:49.920 --> 00:33:59.759 We start talking about pacing the uniform where it's like, okay, what is the the most of or what is the most amount of training you can crush on your busiest worst week? 00:34:00.000 --> 00:34:01.440 Five days, okay. 00:34:01.599 --> 00:34:03.680 Let's subtract one and start with four, right? 00:34:03.759 --> 00:34:06.079 Let's pace ourselves and let's absolutely crush that. 00:34:06.160 --> 00:34:08.960 And then we can add more, we can earn more with compliance. 00:34:09.119 --> 00:34:09.440 All right. 00:34:09.519 --> 00:34:17.119 I was just laughing at uh one of my one of my clients where um we're we're going into he's he's uh he signed up for a 5k. 00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:19.440 That's what we're working on now, wants to improve his runtime. 00:34:19.519 --> 00:34:21.840 And it's like, okay, well, we're gonna put something on the schedule. 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:30.000 And he had me laughing because I had like uh in his program, it was um incline dumbbell, uh something like that, right? 00:34:30.079 --> 00:34:31.280 I should have been more specific. 00:34:31.440 --> 00:34:36.079 And he was like, uh, were you talking about curls or were you talking about incline dumbbell bench? 00:34:36.159 --> 00:34:38.880 And I'm like, dude, the the curls are coming, right? 00:34:38.960 --> 00:34:41.519 But we're gonna earn those with

compliance, right? 00:34:41.679 --> 00:34:47.840 So uh, you know, somebody who loves hitting arms and and different things like that, it's like, okay, you want to hit that stuff. 00:34:48.000 --> 00:34:57.599 Let's make sure that we are compliant with everything with the main movers and you're good with recovery, you're taking care of your personal standards, you're doing all those things outside of the gym. 00:34:57.760 --> 00:34:59.440 Then we can add the fun stuff. 00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:03.280 Then we can have an arm farm after your conditioning or things like that. 00:35:03.440 --> 00:35:03.679 Right. 00:35:03.760 --> 00:35:08.239 So that is what uh it reminds me of with making sure we're we're pacing training as well. 00:35:08.480 --> 00:35:12.559 Um, so I don't want to be all, you know, doom and gloom here. 00:35:12.639 --> 00:35:14.639 I know that there are people crushing it. 00:35:14.800 --> 00:35:17.119 Maybe they want to take themselves to the next level. 00:35:17.199 --> 00:35:21.199 Um, or there's people that are, you know, doing really well on their own, which is freaking awesome. 00:35:21.440 --> 00:35:36.480 So I wanted to touch on three, you know, uncommon things that I've found through the conversations with a bunch of people that squared away leaders do to absolutely crush their PT test where they don't even have to think about it. 00:35:36.639 --> 00:35:46.320 It's just like, okay, the you know, I this is taking up absolutely zero bandwidth of what I'm doing right now because of these three things that that I've seen or these three similarities. 00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:53.679 Um, so the first one, and uh again, these are uncommon for a reason because uh I I found a lot of people don't talk about them. 00:35:54.000 --> 00:35:58.880 Um the first one is trained to the youngest age bracket, right? 00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:07.840 And and you know, people always say uh age is just a number, but then when it comes to a PT test, they're like, oh what you know, oh, next up on the next uh age bracket. 00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:09.280 I don't, I only have to do this now. 00:36:09.360 --> 00:36:10.000 Yeah, yeah, yeah. 00:36:10.159 --> 00:36:12.719 It's like, okay, like get that mindset out of here. 00:36:12.880 --> 00:36:18.800 Um, but I think it's it's very funny and it's uh very fitting for um some of the old heads out there. 00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:22.000 But if you do focus on the younger age bracket, right? 00:36:22.079 --> 00:36:25.599 That is our target, that is what we we train for, that is what we think about. 00:36:25.840 --> 00:36:31.599 Now all of a sudden, your actual age bracket is is light work, it's it's super easy, right? 00:36:31.679 --> 00:36:34.960 So that's something that I you know I think a lot of people should think about. 00:36:35.119 --> 00:36:54.239 And honestly, I just had a conversation with a client who's um about to go to warrant school, and we actually jacked it up, and and it's it turned out to be a good thing,

but we jacked up one of the uh the the four mile requirements, so they have a four mile um time trial, and we jacked it up. 00:36:54.320 --> 00:37:00.000 We didn't, I didn't realize that they were or that specific uh run for him was you know age specific. 00:37:00.079 --> 00:37:08.960 I thought it was just one standard um for all age groups, but there are an age bracket, but we were training to the youngest age bracket, right? 00:37:09.039 --> 00:37:12.719 So training to that youngest age bracket, we're like, all right, yeah, we're we're good here. 00:37:12.800 --> 00:37:16.559 We're we're crushing, like we're we're gonna be good to go, like zero doubt in my mind. 00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:26.320 Now all of a sudden we we learned it's like, oh, I'm actually, you know, uh two age brackets or maybe one, one to two age brackets uh above what we were training for. 00:37:26.400 --> 00:37:28.960 And it's like, oh okay, like even better. 00:37:29.199 --> 00:37:34.239 Like now we just have you know even more wiggle room that we really didn't even need, right? 00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:38.320 So you start taking that mentality, it's like, okay, but good to go. 00:37:38.639 --> 00:37:40.960 Absolutely zero thought going into this. 00:37:41.280 --> 00:37:48.159 The second one here is these people that do really well, they hate PT math. 00:37:48.480 --> 00:37:53.039 And what I mean by PT math, it's like, oh, it's so frustrating to me. 00:37:53.119 --> 00:37:54.400 It drives me up a wall. 00:37:54.480 --> 00:37:56.960 It's so it's still so insane to me. 00:37:57.519 --> 00:38:03.679 But it's like, well, based on my I'm gonna talk this is the voice, this is the voice that they use. 00:38:03.840 --> 00:38:06.559 Um, it's based on my calculations. 00:38:06.800 --> 00:38:27.840 If I do 36 hand release push-ups and I do a two-minute and 36 second plank, and I do uh, you know, an 18, 36, two mile, and then I suck it in, you know, enough to get that 34 inch waist, I should be pretty good. 00:38:27.920 --> 00:38:29.840 And it's like, what do you need to do? 00:38:29.920 --> 00:38:34.079 And and this, the people that are squared aware are like, oh, um, what's the max? 00:38:34.320 --> 00:38:41.360 Like, we're we're not doing all this math and like figuring out all these different calculations and and figuring out where we need to be. 00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:43.119 Like, get that noise out of here. 00:38:43.280 --> 00:38:44.639 It's like, what is the max? 00:38:44.800 --> 00:38:45.840 What are we shooting for? 00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:47.760 What is the the younger age bracket? 00:38:47.840 --> 00:38:51.440 Like, let's shoot from that, like let's let's try to set the pace here, right? 00:38:51.519 --> 00:39:10.559 So the I can't even fathom the amount of bandwidth, or maybe I'm just not good at math, which I'm not, but the the bandwidth needed to start thinking through those things and and doing all these calculations or getting online and doing these calculators to see you know the the things that you need to just skate by. 00:39:10.719 --> 00:39:18.719 It's like what the the amount of time that it took, if you just did some damn push-ups, you'd be able to, you know, be good where you're where you need to be. 00:39:18.880 --> 00:39:19.199 Right. 00:39:19.280 --> 00:39:20.320 So that is number two. 00:39:20.480 --> 00:39:23.039 Obviously, that that clearly gets me a little fired up. 00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:30.000 Um, and we already talked about number three, but those small dials where it's like, okay, we we don't need to change a bunch. 00:39:30.239 --> 00:39:35.679 We already have a well-rounded base, a well-rounded, you know, approach to training. 00:39:35.840 --> 00:39:37.199 We don't need to change much. 00:39:37.360 --> 00:39:39.199 Let's, you know, keep rolling as is. 00:39:39.360 --> 00:39:41.440 Oh, we have a we have to do a PT test. 00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:42.239 No big deal. 00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:43.199 Like, let's crush it. 00:39:43.360 --> 00:39:44.639 When are we, when are we doing it? 00:39:44.719 --> 00:39:46.239 Right, that type of mentality. 00:39:46.400 --> 00:39:56.559 Um, so when you take that type of mentality, the amount of you know, anxiety-free, you know, uh test approach that that it's just so easy, right? 00:39:56.639 --> 00:39:59.039 We we don't have to worry about these certain things. 00:39:59.280 --> 00:40:07.679 So that is what that is the approach that I wish everybody had, where we're not stressing about the little things, we're not stressing about minimum standards, right? 00:40:07.760 --> 00:40:09.199 Those different types of things. 00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:16.159 So, what I wanted to do here is end it with my uh my hot take that I think um would work. 00:40:16.320 --> 00:40:18.239 And I definitely want some feedback on here. 00:40:18.320 --> 00:40:21.920 I want people to poke holes in it if they agree, if they disagree. 00:40:22.159 --> 00:40:27.920 Um, but I said this a couple of times with uh with my my teammates there. 00:40:28.000 --> 00:40:30.239 And some people were like, damn, that's pretty solid. 00:40:30.320 --> 00:40:31.679 I think that would be a good idea. 00:40:31.760 --> 00:40:33.599 That would definitely improve everybody. 00:40:33.760 --> 00:40:38.000 Um, and then there are some people that it's like that is the the dumbest thing that I've ever heard. 00:40:38.159 --> 00:40:43.679 And and usually, you know, those are the people that that need some uh we'll we'll say additional PT. 00:40:44.079 --> 00:40:50.800 Um, but I personally think that there should be randomized PT dates, right? 00:40:50.880 --> 00:40:54.559 We shouldn't have a specific date for our PT test. 00:40:54.639 --> 00:41:06.880 It's like it's all all randomized, however that, you know, however that uh like I said this a while ago, but um, you know, picture a those big bingo rollers and it's like oh crap, like my numbers called. 00:41:07.119 --> 00:41:10.880 I have 72 hours to test or whatever that

may be. 00:41:11.119 --> 00:41:14.480 But make it more of a no notice type of thing. 00:41:14.559 --> 00:41:20.000 And even if we need to, you know, drop the point system, it's either pass or you fail, right? 00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:22.880 Pass fail type thing or go, no go. 00:41:22.960 --> 00:41:25.920 And now all of a sudden, this is this is what we were shooting for. 00:41:26.079 --> 00:41:33.599 I think overall with this, I think yes, scores may drop overall, or if we get rid of the scores, it wouldn't matter. 00:41:33.679 --> 00:41:39.679 Um, but if we kept the scores, scores would drop overall, and I think that would happen for a while. 00:41:39.920 --> 00:41:49.599 But I think that I've I've watched the same pattern over years with not training or going into that PT season and just skating by. 00:41:49.760 --> 00:41:53.599 But I think with that, you know, give it a couple different cycles there. 00:41:53.760 --> 00:41:59.920 I think that uh, you know, with some some randomized approach, that that uh that approach wouldn't work. 00:42:00.000 --> 00:42:01.599 They're they're PT seasons, right? 00:42:01.760 --> 00:42:10.000 People would be forced to actually train and be good to go 24-7, 365, like we, like we, uh, like we should be, anyways. 00:42:10.159 --> 00:42:14.639 So you think about, you know, test dates as they are right now, they're predictable. 00:42:14.719 --> 00:42:19.360 We know when we're supposed to test, we know when we're about to go red, we know that we are due. 00:42:19.599 --> 00:42:44.719 But you think about unpredictable demands, regardless of what branch you're in, or if you're in law enforcement or fire, which you know, sidebar here, law enforcement and fire, the fact that they're and I know some departments do, but the fact that a good majority don't require any kind of PT assessment, or I've talked to police officers in my unit, and they get a stipend if they take a PT test, which blows my mind. 00:42:44.960 --> 00:42:49.519 It's not mandatory, but if you do well, you take it, um, you get a stipend. 00:42:49.920 --> 00:43:04.800 And it's like you think about firefighters where yeah, they do the the C pad or like the the in-processing, if you will, PT tests, but a lot of departments don't require um any kind of you know reoccurring test, which in my opinion blows my mind. 00:43:05.199 --> 00:43:10.400 Um but again, you think about real world, it is unpredictable in nature. 00:43:10.639 --> 00:43:28.000 So uh I think that randomized tests and you know not knowing exactly when you're testing, but being ready 24-7, I think that is actual readiness, not just doing the the baseline competent that your uh specified branch requires. 00:43:28.159 --> 00:43:30.719 So that is my hot take that I wanted to end on. 00:43:30.880 --> 00:43:34.960 Would love to know um your thoughts on it, but I appreciate you listening. 00:43:35.119 --> 00:43:36.159 Hopefully, this was helpful. 00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:45.679 And as always, if you have any questions regarding PT test, regarding training overall, um don't hesitate to shoot them my way and I will get those answered for you. 00:43:45.840 --> 00:43:47.119 So appreciate you.