Importance of good physical health

The Holmchicken · Post by **The Holmchicken** » January 30th, 2005, 8:57 pm

This is mainly addressed to the DEP's and other's who are on the path to being in the Regiment. Time for a quick story. I reported to basic training on 2 Jan 1997. Simply put, I was in no physical condition to take on the challenges I had set for myself. I was 5 foot, 10 inches and weighed 152 pounds. 18 months before I came in Army, I was involved in care accident that resulted in the loss of four inches of small intestine and four teeth. Not having completely healed from my injuries, I joined. When I finaly made it thru RIP in July, I had a hernia from my fourth week of basic training that didn't get fixed until October. Injuries continued to plague me throughout my time in Regiment. Stupid, but serious injuries, that could have been prevented by me taking taking time to get into proper shape. I vowed that these things would never plague me in my army career ever again. I have enclosed a couple of internet websites that have greatly enhanced my physical health. One is a SEAL website, with a pre-BUD/S workout, that takes apporximately 9 weeks or so do to. I konw what you're thinking "SEALs?". I use it (workout category 2). If it works and it's stupid, then it's not stupid, Got It? The second one is a grappling website. He's got some sick workouts. Finally, there's a link for Door Gym. It's a door mounted pull up bar and it's the best thing I've ever spent money on. Today, I'm 27 and I'm in twice the shape I've ever been. I'm knocking out over 100 push-ups, 100 sit-ups, sub 12 minute runs and around 12-15 palms out pull ups on my PT tests (Airborne PT tests have pull-ups as an event, though they are palm in). I've gained 20 pounds since I left Regiment (not fat either, wise ass) and rucking just as good as ever. These excercises routines won't get you buffed or gorilla strong like weights, but you will build real, high-endurance, low-maintenance muscle that is good for the real world, i.e. rucking, running long distance/sprinting short distance (3-5 second rush), pulling yourself and all your kit over walls, up ropes, etc. I don't use weights, just pull-ups, dips and push-ups. by far, the pull-up I think is the best. Love 'em. I do hundereds of them a week. Sure, other people are stronger, always will be, but in infantry type work, you need to be able to operate at max tempo for long durations. The basic workouts shown, when progressed properly, will allow you to do things such as max your PT test. Not just once, but have the endurance to take the same PT test the next day and max it again. And again and so forth. Anyway, give it a shot. PM me if you like and tell me what you think.

www.thesealteams.com/SEAL_workouts

www.trainforstrength.com/workouts

www.bodytrends.com/products/gym/doorgym.htm

The Holmchicken · Post by **The Holmchicken** » January 30th, 2005, 9:43 pm

As a further note, let me put this down. I am not a fitness guru, rather a user a fitness information. I recognized a deficency in myself sometime back that hindered me. I wish to pass this information on to anyone who would like to use it. For those just starting out on a PT program, I would recommend the SEAL workout first, staring with week one, category one. When I do this workout, I do each excercise in a block. I will do 20 pushups a minute, every minute, for 20 minutes. Same for sit-ups and dips, i.e. X number of excercise a minute, for 20 minutes. Pull-ups I started at three pulls ups a minute for 10 minutes. As I progressed, it became 3 for 20 minutes, than 4 for 10, 4 for 20, etc. Running is simple. One foot in front of the other. Remember to stretch and warm up completely. Start off at a medium pace and slowly increase speed as your legs warm. If for instance you're are doing a four mile run, your last two miles should be faster than your first two.

The Holmchicken · Post by **The Holmchicken** » January 30th, 2005, 9:46 pm

Try entering "Body by Fish" in Google or Yahoo. It should take you to www.trainforstrength.com

The Holmchicken · Post by **The Holmchicken** » January 30th, 2005, 9:58 pm

I'm posting another one "The Prison Burpie Workout". Go ahead and laugh, make all the KY jokes you want. Then do it. Without a doubt one of the top three most vicous smokings I've ever recieved. Use either the eight-count body builder push-up or the burpie in the article. Or mix one set body builder push-up, one set burpie. Note: This will fuck you up. My section thought it was really funny when I gave Section Sergeant PT and told them we were doing a new workout routine. I had them all barfing and me a little queasy by the end.

http://www.geocities.com/rutgerseskrima/art_prison.html

deleon275 · Post by **deleon275** » January 30th, 2005, 10:27 pm

One note about those 8 count push ups. They are pretty hard on your knees unless you do a perfect squat down and coming up. Your knees should NEVER pass your toes unless you dont want any knees 10 years down the road.

Joseph PrettyDeepWater · January 30th, 2005, 10:39 pm

Thanks for the information Ranger The Holmchicken,

The SEAL workout looks pretty good, I think i'll add that into my PT routine.

~Joseph

Jamacee · Post by **Jamacee** » January 31st, 2005, 2:51 pm

Thank you Ranger The Holmchicken!

Any and all PT advice is much appreciated. It is interesting to hear the different ways Rangers keep themselves in top form.

I agree that the burpies/squat thrusts are very nasty, and look much easier to do than you'd think. I remember having to do them in... soccer camp?, but the instructors added a variation to the end: as you sprung up from the push-up, you had to do a pseudo-Jumping Jack and yell out "I'm a STAR!". That's probably not prison-safe though..

The Holmchicken · Post by **The Holmchicken** » January 31st, 2005, 6:11 pm

Remember one thing: The most important muscle trained is the heart. All the benching, pushing, pulling won't do shit for your cardiovascular system. You need to train your heart, strengthen your core muscles (abs, lower back, obliques) and build musclar endurance in your legs and endurance of your entire cardiovascular system. I've seen a ton of guys who could bench 18 tons of weight, but couldn't run five. So what could is all that fucking muscle and when you can't even get to where you have to go to use it. Understand? Spend less time in the gym and more time running, rucking, sprinting.

Runner · Post by **Runner** » February 23rd, 2005, 7:41 am

Thanks a lot Ranger Holmchicken. I got one of those pullup bars for Christmas and my pullups have dramatically changed since I got it. started out at 9 and now im up to 14 in a row.