workout

Build Your Gym For Under $100 with Ray "Cash" Care

Ray “Cash” Care talks building your home gym for under $100

It has only been a week since New Years and already people are asking, “what do I do if I can’t afford the gym?” Simple… Get resourceful. When I am deployed, us Team guys don’t have the luxury of gyms. We start to improvise with what is around. Here are some tips to create an affordable yet effective home gym.

5-gallon Buckets/Ammo Cans

Cheap and can be used to create weights. How? Get two cans and also find some bricks. You can add or remove one brick at a time for resistance. You can find ammo cans online or at your local surplus store. Grab a bucket and bricks at Home Depot.

Battle Rope

These are great to get the heart rate up and build strength. You can adjust the resistance by stepping towards or away from the anchor. Stepping towards increase while away decreases. Amazon has some cheap ones.

Tire and sledgehammer

Stop by your local fire department of the tire store and request an old tire ( I do this often and the cost is free). This will allow tire flips (bigger tire), step ups, sledgehammer (find at home depot), overhead presses (car tire).

Empty Sandbags

These are very cheap and can be filled with sand or dirt. Utilize these to do”buddy carries”, squats & throw overs. Find them at Home Depot.

Visit the Frog Mindset page for more information

AMTAC Shooting Fitness Standards

*Editors note: Photos and article have been shared with the permission of AMTAC Shooting.

Without standards, it is hard to know where you stand. I have oscillated between having a strong dislike of standards and thinking that they are an absolute necessity. My opinion on standards now is somewhere in the middle.

The bottom line is that any standard, whether it is shooting, combative or fitness, is meant to show us where we stand against a baseline. It is a measuring stick so to speak.

We don’t train to be able to perform a “standard”, we train so that we can protect ourselves and our families better. The “standard” is there to help us identify where we are falling short and where we need to focus more of our training time.

Fitness Standards

These standards are not meant to be done back to back like a PT test. Rather the idea is that these are individual tests of strength/ endurance. If you can perform each individual task over the course of a couple of days you are meeting the intent of the standard.

Bare Minimum

Run 1 mile in 11 minutes.
25 push-ups.
3 pull-ups.
Walk 3 miles with 30 lbs in 1.5 hours (30 min pace).

Baseline

Run 3 miles in 25 min (8:20 pace).
50 push-ups.
10 pull-ups.
Walk 6 miles with 40 lbs in 2 hours (20 min pace).

Advanced

Run 6 miles in 51 min (8:30 pace).
80 push-ups.
20 pull-ups.
Walk 12 miles with 55lbs pack in 5 hours (25 min pace).

Things you should always be able to do:

Climb over a 6 ft wall.
Swim 200 yards continuously.
Tread water for 30 minutes.
Do a basic swimmer rescue.
Deadlift your own body weight.
Drag a 200lbs man 30 yards.
Throw a 30-sec flurry (heavy bag/ Thai pads or Bob, go as hard as you can for 30 seconds).

Summary

Vary your training. All of us want to do the things that we are good at. Be disciplined enough to do the things that you need to get better at.

Run (preferable barefoot style) and ruck (30 – 75 lbs).
Do push ups, pull ups, burpees and air squats.
Primary lifts you should focus on: deadlift, squat and bench press (I stopped bench pressing many years ago because I repeatedly hurt my shoulders).
Secondary lifts: overhead squats, cleans, zerker squats, and snatches.
Use kettlebells: swings, single hand swings, snatches, clean and press and Turkish get-ups.
Swing a macebell.

Go train!

AMTAC Shooting Upcoming Courses

AMTAC Shooting: The Modern Minute Man Physical Training Plan

*Editors note: Photos and article have been shared with the permission of AMTAC Shooting.

This article is a continuation of the Modern Minute Man article. If you have not read that article I recommend that you start here. As I continue to explore these concepts we will be looking at different aspects of the core Modern Minute Man skills: fitness and mobility, land navigation, shooting and communication. This article will focus on fitness and the ability to carry a load.

Having the ability to move over a variety of terrain with a load on your back is one of the truest indicators of fitness and also one of the most foundational elements of the Modern Minute Man.

This plan is designed for people that are healthy and in reasonably good shape. Do not begin this or any training plan without prior consultation of a qualified physician.

This plan starts very slowly. I recommend keeping the mileage and your pack weight lower than you are capable of doing for the first two months.

Ruck days

On walk or ruck days, make sure you vary your terrain. Walk some mountains, walk trails, walk where there is no trail or hit a dirt road. If you are walking in the woods, make sure you have weather appropriate clothing/warmies with you.

Also, practice carrying useful items in your pack. Fifty-three pounds is fifty-three pounds whether it is in the form of a kettlebell or whether it consists of shelter/ water/ fire/ food/ plus normal EDC (every day carry) tools. When you are walking it won’t matter, but if you get lost or injured on the trail having useful items with you can save your life.

Shelter, water, fire, food plus other key items

Strength days

Strength days should consist of the following categories:

Calisthenics: push ups, pull ups, hand stand push ups, dips, crunches, air squats, lunges, etc…
Lifting: squats, deadlifts, overhead squats, snatches, cleans and presses.
Kettlebell/ mace bell: swings, one hand swings, snatches, Turkish get-ups, clean and press, goblet squats, overhead carries, farmer carries, mace bell 360s and mace bell 10-2s.

For a normal strength, day pick 4 – 8 of the above exercises and do them in circuit style with 30-60 seconds of active rest in between each exercise. Repeat 3-5 times. I will normally rep a combative skill during this active rest (dryfire, indexed shooting with a Sirt gun, template work, striking, transitions, etc…).

When doing strength days remember Pavel’s advice: ‘When you are done with your workout you should feel like you can conquer the world’. In other words, you should feel strong when you leave the gym. Once or twice a month crush yourself so that you are crawling out of the gym. This should not be the norm, especially as we get older.

Don’t push yourself to the point of overtraining or injury. You should almost never go to failure. Remember, if you injure yourself during training it is harder to protect yourself and your family and you have to stop or change your training while you recover.

The training plan

Use this training plan as a guideline. Deviate from it as it makes sense. The key concepts are:

increasing your milage slowly
continue to train in the strength and running areas
one long ruck per week
injury prevention

After week 12 continue to increase your long ruck days. Depending on your schedule you might need to push your long ruck days to Saturday. When you start getting into 20 and 30-mile rucks, you will need to give yourself a longer rest and recovery time.

As always, the main thing is to go out and train!

The beginning of a 30 mile ruck in Montana

Week 1:

Monday – walk 2 miles no ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 1 mile
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 2 miles no ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 2:

Monday – walk 3 miles no ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 1 mile
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 2 miles no ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 3:

Monday – walk 4 miles no ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 1 mile
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 2 miles no ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 4:

Monday – walk 3 miles 15 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 1 mile
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 3 miles no ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 5:

Monday – walk 3 miles 15 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 1 mile
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 3 miles 15 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 6:

Monday – walk 4 miles 15 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 2 miles
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 3 miles 15 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 7:

Monday – walk 4 miles 25 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 2 mile
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 3 miles 15 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 8:

Monday – walk 5 miles 35 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 2 miles
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 3 miles 25 lbs ruck
Saturday – Active rest
Sunday – Rest

Week 9:

Monday – walk 6 miles 35 lbs ruck
Tuesday- strength
Wednesday – run 2 miles
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 3 miles 25 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 10:

Monday – walk 6 miles 45 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 3 miles
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 4 miles 25 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 11:

Monday – walk 7 miles 45 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 3 miles
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 4 miles 25 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

Week 12:

Monday – walk 8 miles 45 lbs ruck
Tuesday – strength
Wednesday – run 3 miles
Thursday – strength
Friday – walk 4 miles 25 lbs ruck
Saturday – active rest
Sunday – rest

AMTAC Shooting Upcoming Courses

Aer Gym Duffel 2 review | The gym bag refined

The Aer Gym Duffel 2 is a refined gym bag option for those wanting a more professional look. Features a ventilated main and shoe compartment, padded laptop pocket, and multiple accessory and quick access pockets. If you workout in the morning on your way into work, or during your lunch break, the Aer Gym Duffel 2 is a sharp-looking choice for your gym bag. See the video below for a closer look.

Advertised features:

1680D Cordura® ballistic nylon exterior
YKK® Japanese zippers
Duraflex® plastic hardware
Ventilated main compartment for spacious storage
Ventilated shoe compartment (fits up to men’s size 13 shoes)
Padded laptop pocket (fits up to 15.6” laptop)
Separate compartment for clean clothes
Quick-access front pocket for small valuables
Multiple internal pockets for accessories
Padded, adjustable shoulder strap and dual grip handles for versatile carrying
Exterior and interior water bottle pocket
Length: 19″ (48 cm)
Width: 13″ (33 cm)
Depth: 11″ (28 cm)
Volume: 37.4 liters
Weight: 3.1 lbs
MSRP $170 (currently sold out)
Colors: Gray, navy, and black

A Private Military Contractor’s Workout/Pre-Op Music Playlist

Pictured above: Waiting for a workup to deployment exercise at an undisclosed location in Virginia.

I’ve been told I work a “cool guy” job – it’s tactical, its fast paced, I’m always traveling (sorry to my editor Scott Witner for never getting articles in on time), but most importantly I get to live what seems to the outside world to be todays “American Dream”, so, therefore, people ask me all sorts of questions. “Hey man, what’s your go-to weapon of choice?”, “What’s your blade?”, etc. Over the next few months I’m going to be going through my loadout, my pre-mission routine, my EDC stateside and oversea’s and so on and so forth. Today we’re going to cover music.

Working out with music is like having a cheat code. It gets your blood moving, it can sometimes be used instead of drinking pre-workout or red bull. Music “gets the people going”. Here are my workout and pre-mission playlist.

Jimi Hendrix/Stevie Ray Vaughan (Because they both deserve credit) – Voodoo Child (Slight Return) If I even have to explain one of the best scenes from Black Hawk Down then you should probably either watch it or go back to living the “airsoft operator life” in your moms basement and let the adults talk here.

Jordan Max – Hell “What you gonna do? Watch the world fall down?” A powerful song that clears my head during a workout and makes me realize why I put my body through hell to do what I do for work.

Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Shimmy Shimmy Ya “Shimmy shimmy ya shimmy yam shimmy yay” Some of the call signs we use are “ODB” and “Wu-tang”. “ODB this is Wu-Tang, I read you Lima Charlie”

Wu-Tang Clan – C.R.E.A.M. “Dolla dolla bill y’all” because Wu-Tang is the music of the people.

Soundgarden – Black Hole Sun A playlist isn’t complete with some grunge music.

Whiskey Meyers – Frogman “Never been the one to run away… Round the world with a gun in my hand” Truth be told, I feel like shit putting this song on here due to the fact I AM NOT a frog, but this song is just plain badass.

Bring Me The Horizon – Blasphemy “Bite your tongue and close your mind”. I’ve kind of adopted this motto for running/cardio because if I shut off my mind and bite my tongue, I literally don’t realize I’m running.

FFDP – War is the Answer I don’t need to explain.

House of Pain – Runnin’ up on Ya It’s always good to surprise your enemy by moving in the shadows and “Runnin’ up on ya”.

Kurt Vile – Pretty Pimpin Truth be told I’m kind of a hipster/surfer dude and love indie rock. Kurt Vile is one of my favorite artists these days.

Lord Huron – The Night We Met “I am not the only traveler who has not repaid his debt” I travel overseas a significant amount for work and it takes a toll on the body.

Metallica – The Struggle Within Can’t have a go-time playlist without Metallica.

There are tons of songs out there that “get the juices going”. My playlist is always evolving and changing. What artists are in your pre-op/workout playlist?

Compound Strength | Why HEAVY should be a Relative Term

In a world full of fitness fads and “experts” one can get lost on how to go about putting on mass. As a coach and instructor of various disciplines in the fitness world, I am often asked: “How do I get strong?” My true answer would have you read this article for far longer than you want, but my short answer is simple enough… Lift HEAVY THINGS. Correction-lift HEAVY THINGS often, and I’m not talking about bicep curls; I mean compound movements like a back squat, strict press, deadlift, clean, snatch, sprinting etc. There’s nothing wrong with a little isolation work, but you reap more benefits from compound movements. Here’s why.

Our bodies are intelligently designed and naturally built to adapt and overcome. Lift heavy weights, and your body will prepare you to lift heavier weights. We naturally produce hormones that do various things, the main hormones that contribute to a heavier squat just so happen to be triggered by squatting heavy. These hormones are known as testosterone, growth hormone (GH), and insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1).

For simplicity’s sake let’s just say that testosterone is imperative to muscle building, along with growth hormone which is also a master fat burner, which works hand in hand with an insulin-like growth factor. Safe to say bodybuilders don’t inject themselves with synthetic forms of these hormones for no reason. Lucky for us the needle is not necessary (bar some health issue), all you need is hard work=CNS stimulation.

The central nervous system (CNS) is the complex of nerve tissues that control the activities of the body (dictionary definition). Forget the science; it is the major highway of us animals with a backbone, and when stimulated, it tells your body to do things that involve the hormones mentioned (excuse my attempt to save you from science again, explaining the CNS would need more pages). The difficult thing is that the CNS is not easily stimulated; it hates idle and loves the throttle. In other words, going for a jog around the neighborhood won’t do it. You need to run fast and lift heavy or you are wasting it’s time.

When you perform a compound lift your entire body is working. Instead of isolating muscles, they work together transferring power throughout the movement and incorporating multiple muscle groups to achieve the load. The CNS realizes “it’s about to go down” and wakes up, bringing our beloved hormones into action. So, you want to reap the benefits that bodybuilders and professional athletes pay good money for? Lift heavy and run fast. To take it further find a certified weightlifting coach (weightlifting as in Olympic weightlifting, not curling dumbbells) and learn to perform the snatch and clean and jerk, my 2 favorite movements. Of course, these take some time to master and can end in injury if not performed properly so don’t attempt them without coaching.

Always begin with a solid warm-up specific to your workout, you should be sweating before you even touch a barbell or hit the track. Lifting heavy means few reps, start easy and increase intensity as you go. Here’s a simple 4-day program example. Have fun and find your inner Hulk.

Day 1

Back Squat 5X5
Bench Press 5X5
Pullup 3xMax reps

Day 2

Overhead Squat 5X5
Deadlift 5X5
Strict Press 5X5

Day 3

Front Squat 5X5
Romanian Deadlift 5X5
Pendlay Row 5X5

Day 4

Sprint (start with 5×20 yards and increase to 10×40 yard dash over time)

Author – Matt Walker is a Texas Law Enforcement Officer of 10 years and serves as a SWAT Operator for his department. He is also the head defensive tactics instructor and holds various instructor certificates such as Krav Maga Force Division Instructor, FBI Defensive Tactics Instructor, Tactical Breaching Instructor and various others. Mr. Walker holds and undefeated Mixed Martial Arts record and is a practitioner of Muay Thai Kickboxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Olympic weightlifting.