More from Mike Caviston. This time calling out a poser. He is the only one who acts like an adult. The rest of the clowns argue and argue and fucking argue.
John, thanks for taking the time to share your views. You are clearly using an alias (not surprising for a SEAL) since there is no record of anyone named “Dixon” with either first or middle name “John” or any related name having gone through BUD/S. I would be interested in knowing what class you were in and what people we both know. You can get my contact information in the Global so feel free to drop me a line or give me a call, especially if you want to talk over any of my comments in more detail. I’m going to quote a few of your comments and address them.
‘They have started a program at Bootcamp that specifically prepares men to go to BUD/S. The first class to go thru this program showed up last year and they were touted as "The Immortals" because of how they looked w/ their shirts off and the numbers they were producing during runs, swims, etc. Hellweek came around and guess who went running for the bell?’
I recently answered a question on this board about the NSW Prep Course. The first class to go through the program got only half the planned training, and you are right, at BUD/S they performed statistically below average. Historically there has been plenty of individual variation from class to class, with few classes performing right at the statistical mean. BUD/S Prep has been modified and updated since its inception, and averaged over the past ten classes or so performance during BUD/S has improved significantly compared to historical records. Better PST scores, better performance on timed evolutions, fewer performance failures, fewer med drops, and most importantly, about a 50% increase in Hell Week completions. And any skeptic who says “BUD/S got easier” doesn’t know what he is talking about.
‘Mike what I am getting at is that CF teaches elements of being "hard". Hard is really w/o definition but when you witness it, you know it.’
Actually, it turns out “hard” does have a definition. Some truly groundbreaking work has been done at BUD/S by a psychologist who has spent years in the SOF community. The concept is Mental Toughness, it can be defined and quantified, has been measured in BUD/S candidates, and has been used in conjunction with PST scores to predict success at BUD/S with a very high degree of accuracy. Mental Toughness techniques are currently being taught in Pre-BUD/S and BUD/S, and they don’t parallel Crossfit. As with physical training, mental training can’t turn a geek into a superstar. The personality traits that determine success are probably established well before someone is old enough to do Crossfit or any other program. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrases “SEALs are born, not made” and “BUD/S doesn’t make SEALs, it finds them”. Recruiting efforts are being made to find the guys with the right mental qualities, and then steps are taken to provide them with the physical tools necessary for success. Now I’m editorializing, but what I’ve seen of Crossfit doesn’t teach hardness, it teaches ways to simulate hardness. In my rowing days, we called the rowing ergometer a Truth Machine, because you could make all the pained expressions and ugly faces you want but the numbers didn’t lie. We called people who collapsed on the floor after an erg test Drama Queens. In Crossfit, there can be no discussion of whose Fran time is faster without a debate about who got their butt lower and locked out properly on thrusters and got their chin closer to the bar on pull-ups. So much for measurable, observable, repeatable. And collapsing on the floor afterward is mandatory.
‘You say CF presents a distorted percentage of guys in the Teams doing the workouts? Mike, really, what is your basis for this? "Asking around" to a couple guys in the lounge on your breaks does not constitute that. The Teams is rife w/ avid CF'rs. Walk into any gym and during the high traffic hours and I would bet my paycheck there is someone doing one. I know I always see someone doing them where I work out. Again, I do some of the workouts. I think it is flawed in alot of ways but it is 80% there. If you exercise some caution in your abilities and learning the moves, it will do amazing things for you.’
My basis for my comment about the percentage of guys in the Teams using Crossfit is my interaction with new Instructors at the Center during a three week orientation course during which I give classes on physical training, motor skills, and nutrition. I touch base with the Instructors in the different BUD/S phases on a regular basis. I live in Coronado and see guys from the Teams around town and we talk. From time to time I hear from a recent SQT grad getting integrated into his first Team. None of this gives me total knowledge about what goes on across all of NSW, but it’s a more accurate picture than the typical reader of the Crossfit message board is going to get from the regulars who post there. As for your comment about walking into any NSW gym and seeing a Crossfit workout going on, that is true enough. Is doing a Crossfit workout the same as “doing Crossfit”? My original post on the topic was clear on the issue of what I am calling “Crossfit”. Do you know any SEALs who train only by following the main page WOD? Did you see anybody do all three days of that 1-10-1-20-1-30 format? Anybody do that rowing/Turkish get-up with 60lb. dumbbell routine for time? Anybody do that one arm thruster, one arm pull-up thing with the 60lb. dumbbell? I didn’t either.
‘Mike, you are a rower. A gut wrenching sport, no doubt where pain and suffering is synonymous. But you don't lift heavy weight, you don't do 150 sit ups on hot asphalt till a huge wound shows on your back You don't do rope climbs till you have burns on both your ankles b/c you burnt down trying to get your boat crew to win. You don't do your class number in pullups for a workout b/c damnit that is just what is done. Doing sprints up a berm in wet cammies covered in sand isn't easy no matter what you do. You don't "get some". You're one of "them" in the white lab coat and a clipboard.’
I don’t get offended at any challenges to my physical abilities by people in the SOF community. It goes with the territory. But since you brought it up I’m going to indulge myself and do something I wouldn’t ordinarily do, and brag about myself a little bit. Yeah, as a rower I learned a lot about pain and suffering. When I was the age of the typical BUD/S student, I was up in the mornings at oh-dark-thirty putting my shell in the water with my teammates. In early spring we carried the boats from the racks to the beach in bare feet through the snow and waded into the ice-filmed water since the dock hadn’t yet been installed. Not even the Eskimo have a name for the kind of cold you feel in your feet and hands on days like that. Nothing can beat the chafing scars and Grinder Reminders that I’ve seen on BUD/S students, but rowers are no strangers to blisters and abrasions, especially in equipment from the 70s. In recent years I’ve shown a fair level of commitment to achieve some success in indoor rowing. But I’m hardly a one trick pony, and I don’t have any need to live in the past.
Currently I’m working at the Center and I’m 48 years old but I can do anything people do around here that involves running or lifting just as well as the students or Instructors. I don’t spend my time in a white coat holding a clipboard. I get in and do it with the guys. I’ve done PTs and conditioning runs with BUD/S classes and finished a helluva lot closer to the front than the back. I’ve worked out with Instructors many times, even sometimes doing (gasp!) Crossfit workouts. I’ve done multiple workouts in the same day when guys have needed another body for some kind of relay involving tire flipping, kettle bell swinging, slam balling, box jumping, etc. Once I did a challenge where we did 5 pull-ups, 10 push-ups, and 15 air squats every minute for as many minutes as our age. I was the oldest guy and the only guy to finish. When I lift I don’t spend a lot of time on the Big Three (in fact I don’t squat at all), but I can dead lift more than twice my body weight and bench my body weight multiple times. I can do more than 20 slow dead hang pull-ups on a bad day and well over 30 if I speed things up (still without kipping). I’ve run the O-course in under 10 minutes, hardly a record but exceeding the minimum BUD/S standard. Just a few days ago I rowed 20K on the Concept2 in under 75 minutes (calculate that pace and compare it to the times you see reported on Crossfit for the 5K rows), got off the machine, grabbed a 100lb. bar, and cranked out 45 thrusters in about two minutes. Just because I could. One of my favorite activities is flipping the logs used for Log PT, an exercise that is popular with a lot of Instructors and Team guys. I can crank out more flips in less time than most, and follow it with a brisk 5-mile run and then berm sprints. I do all of these things in full view of the many NSW employees and BUD/S students, so I defy anybody to say I’m exaggerating.
‘Mike, you and I know Castro knows EXACTLY what your job is. Just be honest. There are PLENTY of former and Current SEALs that are plugged into what is happening at CF.’
Dave Castro, former SQT Instructor and now one of the main employees of Crossfit, knows almost nothing about my job. In over two years, we spoke maybe 3-4 times. Yes, there are plenty of former and current SEALs plugged into Crossfit. It is unfortunate you don’t recognize the conflict of interest when it comes to these people making recommendations to BUD/S candidates.
I’m sure the debate about my comments will go on, here as well as on several other internet forums. Having nothing more to add, I bow out and wish everyone well.
Mike Caviston
Director of Fitness, NSWCEN
