If you have watched the DVD, the segments I appear in were shot just after the end of campaign season.  During campaign season I live in hotel rooms and eat restaurant food and work 18 hours a day 7 days a week shooting ads.

This results in me ballooning up to 250 pounds.

I am now down to 225-230 pounds.

The foundation of the my pre-deployment training is wieght lifting.  Then I add in cardio, yoga and hand-held camera practice.

For weight training I follow the basics of the DC Training program. 

Before I started the DC or Dogcrapp training program in November, I thought barbell arm curls with 140 pounds was about my max.

Last week I did barbell curls with 180 pounds for reps.

After the campaign season was over, I was able to live my own home and eat mostly steak, chicken breasts, broccoli and yams, which solved my 250 pound problem.

In December I started running on the treadmill, then transitioned to running on the sidewalk, gradually increasing my time each week by 5 minutes.

Now that I am in the final stages I am running on trails over rough terrain, clambering over obstacles and climbing trees.

I found on my first trip to Iraq that my ability sprint and overcome obstacles and climb up walls and buildings was very important to getting in position to frame up a shot and hold the camera halfway steady.

During the off-season I try to do yoga once or twice a month.  In pre-deployment training I do it once a week.  I don't care much for instructors who are into lunar consciousness, but contorting into unusual positions has some practical applications for Iraq.

The final piece of training is to practice shooting video hand held and off the shoulder. 

Most of my work is tripod or with a steadicam.  The conditions in Iraq do not lend themselves to a tripod or a bulky steadicam, so I have to get back into the groove of holding a camera on my shoulder for hours at a time.

So that's the pre-deployment training.  Maybe I should market it.


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