Most of Ed's 21&half year Army career was spent in Special Operations, including 11&half years with the Army's elite counter-terrorist unit, Delta Force. Being with the Army's best, Ed wanted to be the best of the best. This meant learning the required skills to perfection. It did not take long for him to realize that his technical skills were enhanced by having a good all around fitness base consisting of upper body strength and cardiovascular endurance. With this in mind, in the Spring of 1979, Ed began to develop a program for himself.

Throughout his career and while working with other special operations units such as the U.S. Navy SEALs, British, Australian and New Zealand 22 SAS, and Germany's elite GSG9, Ed saw that those possessing a high level of upper body strength and cardiovascular endurance excelled when it came to physical performance. This only served to reinforce his search to develop a program to achieve total fitness.

After Ed retired from the military in February, 1992, he began developing an event that would test both of these areas, strength and endurance, and the idea of STREND was born. It is a simple but very challenging event. It is designed to create functional muscle, something that you can use whether it is in a work or athletic environment. It is you at your best.

Events are currently held in Hawaii, selected sites in CONUS as well as Canada and Germany. . Scheduled events can be found by clicking the Future Challenges button.