Marines, Soldiers certify to lead HITT center workouts

Photo By Brian Parker | Participants in the High Intensity Tactical Training try different techniques under the direction of TRX Master Instructor Lynne Virant in the Cpl. Terry L. Smith Gymnasium July 16. Once the participants finish the course, they will be able to access the HITT center and lead those attending the workout. Photo by Rachel Larue  

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, UNITED STATES

07.18.2013

Courtesy Story

Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall

By Rhonda Apple
Pentagram Staff Writer

JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, Va. - “Marines train for a specific reason and that’s for combat. We are combat athletes and we have a training program to specifically prepare for combat,” said Marine Gunnery Sgt. Daniel Jackson, who is assigned at Headquarters and Services Battalion, Headquarters Marine Corp Henderson Hall and a certified High Intensity Tactical Training (HITT) instructor.

“HITT is a functional-based fitness program, similar to the training of professional athletes. We should be training our bodies for the optimal result in combat. That is the basic principal of HITT – to combine the warrior and athlete,” said Jackson.

“The advantage of having a HITT center located in Cpl. Terry L. Smith Gym on the Marine side of Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall is both Marines and soldiers can attend instructor-led sessions,” said Jackson. He said military personnel from both services can also attend the quarterly instructor training.

“This is the only installation that offers this training to a service outside the Marines. The level one certification training allows Marines and soldiers access into the HITT center to lead Marines and soldiers in the workout of the day,” Jackson said. “They’ll also become certified instructors on tactical resistance exercise suspension bands.”

Twenty Marines and soldiers completed HITT level one instructor training July 18. Jackson said this is the second certification course held at the Henderson Hall HITT center since it opened April 15.

“HITT [instructor training] is on a volunteer, first-come, first-serve basis. It’s leadership driven, so I ask for candidates who are noncommissioned officers and in pay grades E4 and above; those who will learn this [program] and take the knowledge back to their Marines or soldiers and start implementing this in their daily PT regimes,” Jackson said.

The level one training course combines classroom and physical instruction. Participants learn flexibility and stability of participants through functional movement screens; warm up exercises and performance assessment. HITT program components are taught, including exercises with the ammo can, partner training, tactical resistance and endurance exercises.

Class participants also learned to work out with conditioning ropes and Olympic lifts; agility training and plyometrics (jump training exercises utilizing muscles to exert maximum force in as short a time as possible with the goal of increasing speed and power).

“These exercises can be done in combat if you’re out in the middle of nowhere and there’s no gym available,” said Jackson.

“With HITT, we put forth more effort with form and technique rather than repetitions and weights. It’s a great program. I’d like everyone to come to one instructor-led session and give it a shot, even if it’s only one visit,” he said.

Jackson encouraged soon-to-deploy service members; in particular, to attend a HITT session. “This is where they need to be to prepare for that deployment. Everything we do focuses on things we would be doing in combat.”

• Date Taken: 07.18.2013
• Date Posted: 07.22.2013 11:33
• Story ID: 110588
• Location: JOINT BASE MYER-HENDERSON HALL, VA, US