U.S. Army Fitness Expert Shares With US: Episode 117 with my guest Major Donny Bigham (Ret.)

Military service, religious faith, mental fortitude, physical and mental strength are the keys to Major Donny Bigham's success over the past three decades. In this episode, I talk with him about our shared experiences as champion powerlifters, our brotherhood as United States Marines, his service in the Afghanistan and Iraq and how he has dealt with trauma. This is a great episode to listen to or watch if you are looking for motivation and inspiration. Also: check it out about halfway through the discussion when I tease Donny about his Vanilla Iciness.

Donny Bigham is a retired Major after 27 years of Service. He served as the first ever Strength and Conditioning Coach in the Uniform for the US Army, was instrumental in changing the US Army Physical Fitness test after almost 40 years to the Army Combat Fitness test, and led the effort designing the Occupational Performance Assessment Test (OPAT) for initial screening of potential recruits. He also designed the Tactical Athlete Performance Center at Fort Jackson and re-wrote the Master Fitness Trainer curriculum to ensure all Warriors are successful in all Tactical Tasks! Donny served as the Head Strength Coach for the Tactical Athlete Performance Center (TAP-C) and Chief of Human Performance office 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 Major 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 over 30% of their body weights.

Major Donny Bigham was the Army Male Athlete of the Year in 2016 and 2017 NSCA TSAC-F facilitator (Strength Coach) of the Year, and he is also a two-time raw world master’s powerlifting champion with the International Powerlifting Federation (IPF) and (IOC), had the Squat WR in the IPF and has the WR Squat, Deadlift and Total in the IPL. Major Bigham is a 4x national champion and a 5x member of Team USA Powerlifting.

He served in every position in an Infantry Rifle Company (Enlisted and Officer) and deployed to Bosnia, Afghanistan, Kuwait, and Yemen (45 months). Military Awards and Schools: Bronze Star, Meritorious Service Medal, Ranger, Airborne, Air Assault, Combat Infantry Badge and Expert infantryman Badge.

Here are some other areas where Major Donny Bigham has served outside of the uniform: Youth Pastor, Deacon, Sunday School Teacher, High School Teacher (Math & Science), Head Varsity Baseball Coach and Owner of OneTimePowerlifting L.L.C.

Check out the Major's Instagram page HERE.

https://johnalanpod.com/