Maj (Ret) Donny Bigham (One Time Powerlifting): Training the Warrior Athlete.

Monarch Human Performance Podcast

Donny Bigham, recently retired at the rank of Major after 27 years of Service within the US Army. Having served in every position in an Infantry Rifle Company (Enlisted and Officer) and deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Yemen. During this time he served as the first ever Strength and Conditioning Coach in the Uniform for the US Army. He played an instrumental role in changing the US Army Physical Fitness test after almost 40 years to the Army Combat Fitness test (ACFT) and led the effort designing the Occupational Performance Assessment Test (OPAT) for initial screening of potential recruits. Lastly, he designed the Tactical Athlete Performance Centre at Fort Jackson and re- wrote the Master Fitness Trainer curriculum to ensure all Warriors are successful in all Tactical Tasks!

Donny has served as the Director of Human Performance for the Tactical Athlete Performance Center (TAP-C) at Fort Benning, GA. The TAP-C is the first ever Performance Center that trains over 600 Soldiers daily within a Combat Battalion that was designed under MAJ Bigham’s tenure.

He also designed the Tactical Athlete Performance Assessment (TAP-A) at the Army Wellness Center to truly test baseline strength for the tactical athlete necessary to move under loads at 30% of their body weights. He was the Army Male Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2017 NSCA TSAC-F facilitator (Strength Coach) of the Year.

He is a two-time raw world master’s powerlifting champion (2015 & 2016) with the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF, IOC) and finished 3rd place in the world in 2019. Also, he currently holds the Squat WR in the IPF and the WR Squat, Deadlift and Total in the IPL. He is a 4x national champion and a 5x member of Team USA Powerlifting.

Donny earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Physical Education from University of SC and his Masters degree in Sports Management with a concentration in Coaching Theories from American Military University. He will begin the PhD track in Human and Sport Performance at Rocky Mountain University in the Summer of 2021. Donny is currently partnering with Sorinex to Develop the Tactical Athlete APP that will ensure every person in uniform (military & 1st responders) has a daily training plan that is tiered individually to maximize the God given potential to physically and mentally dominate any task required of them!

In this episode Donny talks about:

• The challenges of changing culture.

• The logistics of building and running the Tactical Athlete Performance Centre.

• The future developments of Military performance training.

Resources discussed:

NSCA TSAC Report

NSCA Essentials of Tactical Strength and Conditioning

Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe.

Triphasic Training by Cal Dietz

You can stay up to date with Donny via social media on YouTube and Instagram.

You can also contact him via email at [e-mail]

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