Train Tough The Army Way

Train Tough the Army  Way: 50 Sports Strategies to Out-Think, Out-Train, and Out-Perform Your Competition,  makes the case that the Army’s strategies and tactics can help athletes  achieve peak performance. Retired lieutenant colonel Mark Bender played over fifty seasons of team sports in his active duty Army career.  He says athletes can learn from the way soldiers think and train. “The connection between sports and battle has always been there,” says Bender, “I’m  just extending that connection in a way that’s useful to athletes.”
Bender maintains that the Army’s planning, training,  and team-building doctrine are tailor made for sports teams.  He also  speaks to athletes on readiness, intelligence, and  leadership. Soldiers will find familiar doctrine and attitudes in  Train  Tough.  There are also some familiar  names–Patton, MacArthur, and Schwarzkopf to name a few.  “Athletes  relate to many of the Army’s heroes,” says Bender, “they want to  see perseverance in the face of extreme adversity and the Army furnishes  numerous examples.”