Starting to get fit for the military

Cdt Matteo

Cdt Matteo

Active member
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.
 
Cdt Matteo said:
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.
Click to expand...



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.
 
Last edited:
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.
 
<----- 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.
 
Running with any weight is generally a no-no, especially during BCT since uncle sugar is determined to bring new soldiers into mother army these days. Trust me, a 50 lb ruck is plenty enough for walking at a brisk pace. Running with weight is plain old foolish considering the impact it has on the knees and ankles.
 
FutureMedic said:
I have a friend in the U.S. Army, he said during basic they ran with no more than 50 pound rucks.
Click to expand...

He lied.

There are times where we have to run, ruck or not, such as when the formation accordions or when at a very brisk march and going downhill, but for the most part running with a ruck is bad ju-ju for the reasons stated.

Running with a ruck needs to be left for when there is no choice. Basic does not run their soldiers with rucks @ 50 pounds.

Tell your friend that he's going to get someone hurt being the braggart.
 
The best exercises to make one strong with carrying packs are the cobra (basically where you have someone hold your calves while you are on your stomach, hands on the side of your head and you contract your back muscles to raise your body) and ... err that exercise where you push weights vertically up (machine is good in avoiding injury).
Man the name of those exercises in English elude me...
Maybe Army boot has gone soft and they won't allow for more than 50 lbs now.

Oh yeah and leg exercises.

Don't make running with packs a part of your regular fitness regimen. You might want to do it once every now and then just to see which muscles aren't doing too well but the toll it takes on your knees etc. is not good... especially if you are growing.
The Army will supply the heavy packs for you. Just make sure your muscles are ready for them.
 
Yeah, leg exercises such as squats are good, aim for more reps and less weight, since rucking is a whole lot of putting one leg in front of the other. One thing I do when I know I'm going to be humping some weight for an extended period of time is I add a lot more stair runs into my weekly PT schedule. 20-30 minutes of stairs at about 75% speed does wonders for the quads and calves as well as help the stability muscles around your ankles. Stability plays a pretty big role in rucking, especially on harsh terrain, but you won't see much of that at first, just a lot of concrete/gravel roads.

A nice side effect of running stairs is it really helps your run times. After implementing a moderate dose of stairs in my PT routine, I knocked off about 1:30 off my 2-mile run time at first, and began to shave seconds off each month down to about 13:15 where I'm currently peaked (can never get 100%, dammit!).
 
the_13th_redneck said:
Maybe Army boot has gone soft and they won't allow for more than 50 lbs
Click to expand...

My friend, I think a lot of it has to do with the MOS and DS's. We NEVER ran with rucks, ever. (Running puts about three times your normal weight in stress on your knee. 165 lbs body plus 55 lbs ruck equals 660 lbs while running. Now tell me that much pressure is good.) However, 50-55 pounds sounds light to me, but again that depends on mos / SOP.

Exercises:
Whenever you work out, increase your repetitions every time. Never stop at the same number. If you do, when you do your PT test, you will stop at that number. You have to continually progress in order to improve. Push yourself harder each time and you will continuously get better.

Runs I would take longer rather than faster. If you want to work on speed, do 30/60s. If you want to work on endurance run 3, 5, 8 miles.

Also, work your abs after a run. The hip flexor muscle is a big factor in sit ups and it gets worked during the run as well, so its a good time to keep that workout going.
 
So, you're looking to get into RMC as an Infantry Officer? As an ex-Cadet, I can give you a rough idea of what to expect for PT standards there for the test.

Push ups - 28, no time limit (35 pts)
Situps - 35 in 2 mins. (35 pts)
Standing long jump - 195 cm (35 pts)
20 meter shuttle run - Level 9.5, or 84 laps (depends on how you want to count. 50 pts)
10 m agility run - 17.8 seconds (35 pts)

However, these are the minimum standards, and with just those, you're looking at scoring 190/500 on the test. Pass mark is 250/500. And as an Infantry Officer, you'll want to be in better shape than your soldiers...how else would you expect to lead them effectively? So, you'll need to not only meet the minimum standard, but exceed it.

As you have plenty of time to go, I suggest gradually increasing the number of pushups and situps per shot, as opposed to per day. Being able to do 50 pushups in the run of a day is fine, but when you consider that even on Basic Training, you'll be lucky to do less than 100 pushups a day (in intervals of 25), and FYOP (First Year Orientation Period) is no easier. I found that Basic was nothing compared to FYOP.

Also, make sure you increase your running ability. Not so much time, but distance. I suggest working your way up to 10 km a pop, and then decrease the time you can do it in. You'll be well prepared for RMC in that case. However, don't stop there. The farther you can go, the better.

As for rucksacks...careful if you start running with it on. Actually, in the CF, it's illegal to run with a rucksack on (I kid you not), so the Army has come up with something called the 'Airborne Shuffle'. It's like running, but your feet barely leave the ground. More of a really fast walk, actually. Good ol' loopholes.

If there's anything else you want to know about the RMC, or the CF in general, just send a PM my way, and I'll answer as soon as I can.

Good luck out there.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top