{"id":64159,"date":"2021-08-30T20:42:56","date_gmt":"2021-08-30T20:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2021\/08\/30\/this-new-arsof-gym-is-better-than-most-division-i-football-facilities\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T12:05:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T12:05:51","slug":"this-new-arsof-gym-is-better-than-most-division-i-football-facilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/off-duty\/military-culture\/2021\/08\/30\/this-new-arsof-gym-is-better-than-most-division-i-football-facilities\/","title":{"rendered":"This new ARSOF gym is better than most Division I football facilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Army is opening a new training center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina<\/a>, that officials say will allow troops from the 3rd Special Forces Group<\/a> and the 95th Civil Affairs Brigade to get an athletic edge over the competition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe human performance center is not just a gym,\u201d said Ray Bear, the aptly-named 3rd Special Forces Group human performance coordinator. \u201cWhat you\u2019re going to see here is the same things that you would see at a professional or collegiate athletic venue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bear is right \u2014 it\u2019s better than the athletic facilities at many college and pro sports programs. And I would know, thanks to my not-so-illustrious football career at Vanderbilt University. I played in exactly zero games during my three years, but I did <\/i>spend a lot of time in athletic facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The new 56,516 square-foot \u201cHuman Performance Training Center\u201d cost more than $17 million to build, according to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Wilmington District spokesperson Dave Connolly. USACE contracted and oversaw construction of the facility, which began in February 2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis facility will support [human performance] missions and functions and incorporates the latest training and rehabilitation protocols to increase combat performance, prevent injuries, and decrease recovery time of Army Special Operations Forces,\u201d Connolly told Army Times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another $3 million went towards equipment for the facility, Connolly said. That includes dozens of power lifting racks, conditioning machines like wood treadmills, a rock-climbing wall, turf areas for sled work and additional space for recovery pools and offices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c[W]e have professional strength coaches on staff that have the experience to take the mission sets of our soldiers and our operators to allow them to train for that mission set based on geographical locations [and] what they\u2019re actually going to be doing,\u201d Bear said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When you stack up the new ARSOF facility against what I had<\/a> at Vanderbilt \u2014 though the university is raising funds for an overhaul<\/a> \u2014 or even what top programs have for their weight rooms<\/a>, it would be among the best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ray Bear, human performance coordinator for 3rd Special Forces Group, discusses his unit’s new Human Performance Training Center in an August 2021 video filmed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. (Army\/Facebook)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

And while I spend more time running these days than I do in the weight room, I imagine 3rd Group and 95th Civil Affairs Brigade operators will have some sore legs after dragging sleds up the facility\u2019s turf ramps.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The facility is one of several similar training centers being built for the Army\u2019s elite forces as part of their continuing efforts to adopt a more holistic approach and \u201cwork smarter\u201d when it comes to functional physical training.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That attitude is also coming into vogue across the conventional force with the ongoing, if slow-moving, adoption of the Army Combat Fitness Test.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Army recently broke ground on an even larger training facility<\/a> \u2014 coming in at 90,000 square feet and $43 million \u2014 for the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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This is more than just a gym. This new training center mimics top tier athletic facilities used by professional athletes and has staffed uniquely experienced strength coaches who tailor training to the mission; setting up our soldiers for success on the X and coming home.
See \ud83d\udc47 pic.twitter.com\/mJI03IM8uT<\/a><\/p>— Wilmington District (@USACEWilmington) August 25, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>