Combat conditioning plan focuses on core

A Marine does pull-ups during a 2005 deployment to Camp Taqaddum, Iraq. The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab has been testing an experimental "combat conditionting" physical training program.


Combat conditioning plan focuses on core
By Kimberly Johnson - Staff writer
Posted : Wednesday Nov 21, 2007 20:52:40 EST

It seems the Corps needs to build up its core.

Core strength, that is, as in ripped abs and strong backs. Combat loads aren’t going to get lighter anytime soon, which means Marines need to adjust their training.

“In recent decades, we have not maintained our focus on combat when we designed our physical fitness programs,” Lt. Gen. James Amos, deputy commandant for combat development and integration, wrote last November in an information paper detailing his strategy to improve physical fitness on the battlefield.

Those days may soon be over.

The Marine Corps Warfighting Lab has wrapped up testing of an experimental “combat conditioning” physical training program, which some say could lay the groundwork for a new physical fitness regime aimed at improving Marines’ endurance in combat.

The experiment was designed to determine if there’s a better way to prepare Marines for the rigors of combat, said Capt. Justin Jordan, combat conditioning experiment action officer at the Quantico, Va.-based Warfighting Lab.


Rest of article at: http://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/2007/11/marine_combat_conditioning_071121/

The fat boys and fat girls will be mustered out, posthaste.

And with the Services getting more purple every day, elements of this training program will bleed over into other services. It'll not likely be quite as hard, though...

The last element of the base-line test — called the combat conditioning test — attempted to measure their fitness on criteria applicable to the battlefield. The Marines had to run a mile in boots and utilities. Then, they had to show just how much they could do in a minute: knee-to-elbow crunches on the pull-up bar, push-ups and body weight squats. They had to show their best distance with the standing broad jump and run a timed 300-meter shuttle run.

“It was the first time any of us had been exposed to those events,” said Lt. Col. Thad Trapp, 2/9 commander.

“It was certainly different,” Trapp said. “I personally think it is a better indicator of combat conditioning, not necessarily endurance.

“One of the things that is definitely apparent is that core strength is a critical piece,” that is “something that is neglected in the standard PT,” Trapp said.

But while the battalion sees the value in core strengthening, it won’t make any major changes to its regime anytime soon.

“Before we implement any of the exercises, we will wait to see the results of the test,” Trapp said. However, the battalion is adding activities in the interim, such as running more obstacle courses, he said.