Getting a Reader Up to Speed

This blog is the blog of a man in the Army in search of perfecting his physical being for the challenges facing a soldier in today's combat environment.

About me, my name is Nathan Conrad, and I am currently 14 days into the greatest physical endeavor I will foreseeably undertake in my life. For the past three years, I have been a super-heavyweight collegiate powerlifter at the United States Military Academy - West Point. My first year powerlifting, I placed 7th at the 2009 USAPL Collegiate Nationals in Baton Rouge, LA. My second year, I placed 4th at the 2010 USAPL Collegiate Nationals in Oralndo, FL. This year, I placed 3rd and took Bronze at the 2011 USAPL Collegiate Nationals in Scranton, PA. I have been very proud of my accomplishments in the sport of powerlifting, and will expound on them more in the future.
Before powerlifting, I played one year of football with Army at USMA.

And now, after nearly 4 years of collegiate sports and competition, I am preparing for a future (and hopefully long) career as an Officer in the U.S. Army Field Artillery.

When I first arrived at the Academy, I was 255 lbs, fat, and weak. I was a high school athlete, and although I was well qualified physically, an ACL/MCL/PCL tear my senior year of football sidelined me physically for the months leading into my entry at West Point. Looking at my first APFT (Army Physical Fitness Test) results from July 05, 2007, I performed 48 pushups (in two-minutes), 42 situps (in two minutes) and ran 2 miles in 17 minutes and 48 seconds. Ask any soldier and those scores are pathetic. I was in need of help, and through the well constructed run plans found in U.S. Army F.M. 21-20 I was able to drop my run time to 14 minutes and 49 seconds in 5 weeks while losing 20 lbs of weight.

Quick recap, entered West Point and Cadet Basic Training fat, left Cadet Basic Training 8 weeks later lean.
All was great, except for one thing. I was accepted as a walk-on to the football team. Now I was underweight and understrength as a defensive lineman. A year of football, working out and lifting and I had gone from a 230 lb freshman to a 310 lb sophomore still capable of passing an APFT. The next three years, which I will cover next, I powerlifted under the guidance of Rick Scarpulla and the Army Powerlifting team. It was here I went from a 310 lb. football lineman into a 280 lb. powerlifter, stronger and more athletic than I had ever been in my life.

Blog Cherry

Have to pop it. Glad it's over as soon as I publish this. Next post coming right after this.