Fitness

Marine veterans strike back against UFC

By Bethany Crudele on July 13, 2012 Fitness, Marines, Mixed marital arts

This week a group of union activists and veterans from “Unite Here” are calling on the Marine Corps to cut ties with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts contest. On Thursday, the group delivered petitions to recruiting stations across the country, making a push for the Corps to disassociate and end sponsorship of the UFC. In a letter to Commandant Gen. Jim Amos, the group wrote, “We believe that, by aligning with the UFC, an organization that has tolerated homophobia, misogyny, and hate speech, the Marine Corps is violating its stated commitment of ‘maintaining dignity and respect…

Behind the Cover: muscular Marines vs. the tape test

By Gina Cavallaro on May 29, 2012 Battle Rattle, Behind the Cover, Fitness, Marines, Military appearance

The tape test is the only DOD-approved method of measuring body fat for members of the military. But some say it is inexact (which the Marine Corps acknowledges) and that it is unfair to large Marines who have an excellent appearance but run the risk of ending up in the body composition program for exceeding height and weight standards for their age groups. This week’s cover discusses this issue through the case of Sgt. Joshua Legier, 28, who at 6-feet 3-inches tall and 246 pounds exceeds his weight limit for his height. He got even bigger when he was on…

Behind the Cover: A Marine Corps workout to rival CrossFit

By Gina Cavallaro on December 12, 2011 Behind the Cover, Fitness, Marines

The certified trainers at Semper Fit — the Corps’ in-house health and fitness promotion group you see at the base gyms — have designed a kick-ass workout program that they think will satisfy even the most demanding physical fitness disciple in the Corps. The program is called High Intensity Tactical Training, or HITT, and it will be ready to go in about three weeks. It’s got a library of more than 600 exercises that have been combined into 60-minute workouts meant to be done three times a week. Marines who took part in the beta test done this past fall…

Maj. Gen. John Toolan loves him some CFT

By Dan Lamothe on April 1, 2011 Afghanistan, Camp Lejeune, Combat Fitness Test, Fitness, General officers, Leadership

As outlined earlier this week, Marines in Afghanistan have a new commander, Maj. Gen. John Toolan. He has taken command from Maj. Gen. Richard Mills, who led troops in Regional Command-Southwest for nearly a year. Marine Corps Times news editor Tony Lombardo pointed out this photo to me earlier this week. It shows Toolan during a Combat Fitness Test carrying Sgt. Michael Taggart, the noncommissioned officer in charge of II Marine Expeditionary Force’s special security office. It was taken Dec. 10 at Camp Lejeune, N.C., before II MEF (Forward) Marines deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand province. Toolan has been in the…

Behind the Cover: Surprise weigh-ins coming this summer

By James Sanborn on March 14, 2011 Behind the Cover, Fitness

Chubby Marines and lax commanders beware. The commandant of the Marine Corps has you in his sights. This week’s Marine Corps Times cover story is about the commandant’s plan to crack down on lax enforcement of body composition standards with surprise weigh ins to be conducted by the Marine Corps Investigator General this summer. Any Marine outside of standards should be in the Marine Corps’ Body Composition Program or Military Appearance Program the commandant has said, but it doesn’t look like that is always the case. While touring the fleet with Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps Carlton Kent, he’s…

Inside a 'moto run' with Sgt. Maj. Kent

By Dan Lamothe on March 8, 2011 Fitness, Leadership, The Sgt. Major of the Marine Corps

PANZER KASERNE U.S. ARMY BASE, Germany — Perhaps you’ve heard: Sgt. Maj. Carlton Kent likes to run. The longtime marathoner and senior enlisted adviser in the Marine Corps led Marines with the headquarters of Marine Corps Forces Africa and Marine Corps Forces Europe in a motivational run early Tuesday morning. The pace was pushed to something far quicker than most Marines expected to see in a simple early-morning run. A group of about 40 Marines and your faithful Marine Corps Times correspondent stepped off at about 6 a.m. from the headquarters aboard this base, which translates in German roughly to…

Sgt. George Lockhart to leave Corps, start MMA gym

By James Sanborn on January 6, 2011 Fitness, MCMAP, Mixed marital arts

Sgt. George “Loaded” Lockhart, one of the Marine Corps’ top martial arts instructors, has said he plans to open a gym this summer with rising UFC star Brian Stann. Lockhart, who is set to leave the Marine Corps in July, said he and Stann, a former Marine captain and Silver Star recipient, hope to co-manage the gym in Alpharetta, Ga., near Atlanta. The two of them are both quickly earning names for themselves in the UFC — Stann as the underdog fighter who crushed Chris Leben in a New Year’s Day victory and Lockhart as a diet guru who helps…

Behind the Cover: MARSOC's new sales pitch

By Andrew deGrandpre on October 12, 2010 Behind the Cover, Camp Lejeune, Fitness, MARSOC, Recruiting, Training

In this week’s print edition, on newsstands now, staff writer Gina Cavallaro takes readers inside the Corps’ new special operations warm-up course at Camp Lejeune, N.C. Called the Assessment and Selection Preparation and Orientation Course, or ASPOC for short, it represents Marine Corps Forces Special Operations Command’s latest effort to curtail a 46 percent attrition rate among Marines looking to become elite critical skills operators. The commandant has challenged MARSOC leadership to cut that rate to 20 percent — a tall order indeed, and one the command is taking very seriously. This three-week course, conducted at Lejeune’s Stone Bay training…

Behind the Cover: Getting ripped with the gunny

By Dan Lamothe on September 14, 2010 Behind the Cover, Fitness

When Marines are talking, here’s one insult that carries a lot of weight: “Fat body.” With that in mind, Marine Corps Times offers you up the story of Gunnery Sgt. Ken Young, who cut his body fat percentage from 19.5 percent to 6.8 percent, dropping 30 pounds in the process. And here’s the most impressive part: He did it in 12 weeks, working out 3.5 hours per week. Gunny Young, 35, offers up his plan in complete detail to fellow staff writer James K. Sanborn. He also offers up the following quote about what led him to take action: When I…

Behind the Cover: Changes needed to the CFT?

By Dan Lamothe on August 10, 2010 Behind the Cover, Combat Fitness Test, Fitness

Since it was first introduced in 2008, the Combat Fitness Test has taken its place as a part of Marine Corps life. And while it’s still dreaded by some Marines, an analysis of data released by the Corps shows that high scores are relatively common. That leads to another dilemma, captured in Marine Corps Times’ print edition this week: Should the Corps make the CFT harder? Marine officials aren’t ruling the idea out. A full breakdown on how Marines have done on the test so far and what is possible in the future is available on newsstands now. Subscribe here.

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