PT & Drill Team

Overview

“Half-Right, FACE!”

“Front Leaning Rest Position, MOVE!”

If you can hear those commands as you read them and you can feel your body tense in anticipation of what’s to come, you’re not alone!

Strength and conditioning are a HUGE component of being successful on a drill team, especially when you’re ready to crank things up to 11 and become highly competitive.  However, it’s important to look at how we integrate physical conditioning into our practices and training regimen to ensure we are being effective with our time and energy while also maintaining a positive environment that encourages good health!

What PT Is NOT

Every single branch of the armed services has prescribed regulations for the conduct of Physical Training.  And each has some version of the idea that Physical Training is NOT meant to be used as…

• Punishment
• Intimidating
• Initiation
• Hazing

If you (or your team) find yourself using PT in any of the ways described above, let’s start there.  Obviously, something has to change and we’ll explain exactly how to make that change coming up shortly.

But did you know that this list isn’t exhaustive?  Here are some other things that PT is NOT a good substitute for:

• Retaining Attention (i.e. “We seem to be unfocused today.  Hit the wall and fall back in!”)
• Increasing Motivation (i.e. “Everyone seems lazy today.  We’ll do push-ups until we’re not lazy anymore!”)
• Poor Teaching (i.e. “We don’t seem to be getting this.  I’m sure THIS will help…“)
• Poor Technique (i.e. “We know how to do this right but we’re screwing it up.  Run to the end of the parking lot and back and we’ll try it again!”)
• Learning Not to Drop Rifles (i.e. “Every time we drop a rifle, that’s 25 push-ups!”) 

But…Why?

It’s really very simple.  Good health is a life-long pursuit.  If you punish, shame, or otherwise use PT as a deterrent for unwanted behavior, people learn to associate PT with poor performance.  Read that again:

If you punish, shame, or otherwise use PT as a deterrent for unwanted behavior, people learn to associate PT with poor performance.

We have worked with multiple individuals from high-level drill team programs where the chief means of teaching, reinforcement, motivation, and correction of dropped rifles during exhibition was PT.  Nearly all of those individuals in some way, shape, or form continue to struggle with health issues due to their natural aversion to physical training. 

Now, we get it.  This is a military program.  It requires strength, intensity, and cardiovascular endurance.  And we need those things.  But how do we get those attributes without using PT as a crutch for poor teaching, poor leadership, or poor practice structure?  

How To Use Conditioning Effectively

As you can see, there are a few simple assumptions here here:

1. PT is not a substitute for strong teaching.
2. PT is not a substitute for a practice structure which creates engagement.
3. PT is not a substitute for teaching cadets how to correct errors in performance.
4. PT does not increase the muscular dexterity required to manipulate a drill rifle during exhibition drill thereby preventing future dropped rifles while spinning.

So, instead, here’s what we can do:

1. Use PT as a reward for positive performance!
   • Drill competition is strenuous.  Elevate heart-rates, adrenaline, and the fight/flight/freeze response all take their toll on us physically.  When a repetition is excellent, to simulate performance conditions, we can use PT to condition ourselves to perform at a similar level of excellence but while under increased physical duress!  Doing so creates stronger, deeper muscle memory.
2. Use PT as a means of increasing the amount of mental engagement required for a movement to be performed with excellence!
   • Jeeze…What a mouthful!  What in the world does that even mean?  Put simply, when your body is under physical strain, more of our brainpower gets diverted to alleviating that strain.  If we can force our brain to instead focus on the mechanics of a movement while we perform it, our ability to execute increases!  Sometimes, the only way to break through the barrier of intensity is to force our bodies out of their comfort zone.  Notice…we didn’t say, “Use PT to refocus the team!”
3. Use PT as a warm-up to begin practice with an elevated heart-rate to simulate performance conditions.
   • So we kind of already wrote an ENTIRE ARTICLE on this.  Check it out!
4. Use PT as a fun way to get in shape and build esprit de corps AT THE END OF YOUR DRILL PRACTICE!
   • We ALWAYS recommend two things when it comes to doing actual work-outs at drill practice: 
     • Do it at the END of practice so muscle-failure doesn’t compromise your ability to execute the drill movements thereby being counterproductive to developing excellence.
     • Do it to MUSIC and make it FUN!  Nothing is worse than suffering in silence.  But throwing on some music and being creative in how you implement exercises such as rifle PT, HIIT cardio, etc. can be a motivating way to end the day as a team!  (Hint: Ever tried to do a burpee to Imagine Dragons’ “Thunder” every time you hear the word “thunder?”  It’s a good time all around!)