I wanted to know whether any of you could make a set a of exersises to start to train for the Infantry? I'm looking for a plan that could help me get leaner. I'm currently 140lbs, 66 inches. I do 50 push ups and 50 sittups every day (10 pushups, 10 sittups, 10 pushups, 10 sittups, etc...). Mind you I'm young thus so going to the gym isn't an option.

I'm in the middle of winter in Canada so I can't do that much running with all this darn ice around.

My schedule is: Wake up 6:30 (make my and I a coffee, work on some unfinished school stuff, etc), leave to the bus stop at 8:45 (school at 9:15), get back from school at 4:00. I have various activities throughout the week like martial arts, Army Cadets, and soon Bagpipe lessons (on a week day). Thanks...

PS: I won't be leaving for the Royal Military College here for a while (about 4 half years) so I'll slowly build up my exercises as I age.

I would increase the number of repetitions in both your push ups and sit ups, gradually. Start doing 15-rep sets, then 20, going up so you can do more and more each time. By the time you're doing 5 sets of 30-40 push ups, you're well on your way. Once in a while, test yourself by doing 2 minutes straight of push ups or sit ups. If you can do more than 65 in 2 minutes, you're doing well. More than 75 sit ups in 2 minutes is also considered good (by US Army standards for 17-21 year olds).

Now once you train your upper body, you have to train the lower. For the infantry, rucking is the name of the game. I'll let the infantry guys fill you in on that. If you can, run run run run. The more you run, the better you will feel every day, and it will help with rucking long distances. Throw in some stairs or hills to better prepare for a rucking regimen.

Originally Posted by Cdt Matteo

I wanted to know whether any of you could make a set a of exersises to start to train for the Infantry? I'm looking for a plan that could help me get leaner. I'm currently 140lbs, 66 inches. I do 50 push ups and 50 sittups every day (10 pushups, 10 sittups, 10 pushups, 10 sittups, etc...). Mind you I'm young thus so going to the gym isn't an option.

I'm in the middle of winter in Canada so I can't do that much running with all this darn ice around.

My schedule is: Wake up 6:30 (make my and I a coffee, work on some unfinished school stuff, etc), leave to the bus stop at 8:45 (school at 9:15), get back from school at 4:00. I have various activities throughout the week like martial arts, Army Cadets, and soon Bagpipe lessons (on a week day). Thanks...

PS: I won't be leaving for the Royal Military College here for a while (about 4 half years) so I'll slowly build up my exercises as I age.

I would suggest to run out in the cold..the military doesn't care about the temperature, why should you? I live in Wisconsin and I'm outside every day running 1-2 miles..its not a long distance but I'm trying to prepare myself for any temperature.

Running in the cold can be a lot of fun...if you're smart about it. I've lived in Alaska for over 12 years, and running when it's cold, on the ice, in the snow, I've found is really enjoyable. One thing you have to watch out for is hypothermia. Depending on how cold it is, hypothermia will creep up on you real fast if you're not dressed appropriately; i.e have a layer of moisture-wicking material against the skin, a layer of insulation (fleece), then some sort of wind breaker, breathable if possible. You don't want a cotton insulator since all it will do is sponge up the sweat and make you cold. If you can find a jacket that is a good synthetic insulator and windbreaker, go for it since it will be lighter and is designed to wick away moisture better than the insulator-windbreaker combo.

Also, you will find that running on ice for a long period of time smokes the crap out of your calves and ankle muscles for the first few times, since a lot of energy is spent keeping yourself from slipping. Same goes for snow, but if you've ever ran in sand, it's kind of like that.

A warm hat is a must-have, even if you feel really hot do not take it off because hypothermia will set in much faster without a hat.

That's all I can think of right now, just be safe and use common sense when operating in cold weather.

and warm up and stretch a lot if you are running in the cold. Chances of you pulling something is higher in cold weather.

I just ran outside today...20 degrees with 30 MPH winds..good stuff

<----- Was Infantry

Some good advice thus far. If you want to hump it with the rest of us, you need to be in good shape AND you'll train in any and every type of weather (if it ain't rainin, we ain't trainin). I've been in minus 30 degrees at Ft Riley (KS) and 120 in MOPP4 at NTC. Get used to it. The mission doesn't stop because the weather turns nasty.

HOWEVER, I do not recommend running on ice. Falling and breaking your leg or splitting your head open isn't going to make you tough, it just takes two more soldiers away from the mission to carry you. We do run on ice, but it's rare and generally everything is salted/sanded for traction (in the rear, you run on the base roads). Yes, you have to run (we do a lot of running), but just be smart about it. Your 2-mile run needs to be no more than 17 minutes IIRC.

Here's some tips that will make Basic a little easier:

~ Stretch before and after every workout for a good 10 minutes. The KEY to avoiding exercise injuries is stretching and proper technique. Google stretching exercises and only stretch until you can feel it - never to the point of extreme pain.

~ As Maytime suggested, 10 pushups and situps is all well and good, but we did hundreds to thousands a day in Basic. The Army judges physical standards as the amount of PU and SU in 2 minutes. In those two minutes, there's no getting up for a break, obviously. Up your sets and the repetitions.

~ Practice all the pushup forms: Wide-armed, standard, diamond. Incorporate other abdominal exercises into your situp regime: Flutter kicks, dying cockroach, hello Dollys, crunches.

~ Get a backpack and put some weight in it. Go walk, and walk FAST. Uphill, downhill, on the road, in the woods, etc. Get a pedometer and track the miles you walk and time yourself. On the road, you want to be able to hump a good 55 pounds for 15 miles in about three hours, as that's what we do to turn Blue. But don't worry about getting there - Basic will take care of that. Just start light and slow and short, move up to heavy and fast and long over time.

~ Lots of cardio vascular: Jumping jacks, mountain climbers, running in place (get you knees up, Private!), prison workout. These will all supplement your run, too.



For the most part, a willingness to make it is all it takes - the Army will do the rest. But if you go in prepared and in shape, Basic will be a little less physically challenging for you, allowing you one less thing to stress over.

Whatever happens, avoid injury... if you get injured and it doesn't heal properly it's worse than not doing any exercise at all.
Well... almost.

Just enjoy being a kid. You're only 14 and don't need to harden yourself up just yet and training will do that for you anyway.

I understand what you mean Wallabies (and thank you anyways for saying it), I get it from my mom a lot.

But this is something I have to do, I just feel like I have to and I have no idea why. By the way I'm doing great. I'm doing 15 pushups and 25 sittups at a time with a very small break after each set. I'm running a fair bit with a fairly heavy backpack. All in all this training has been pretty good for me.