Military PT

[hoplite]

I have not been in the military. When I speak to my friends they say they ran and did push ups forever. The overweight guys seem tend to come back in great shape having lost weight and the skinny kids seem to have added muscle.


It seems ( to my limited knowledge) that military over trains. But it seems to work.

For those who have been there are at least know more than I do can you please enlighten me.

Thanks,


Hoplite

[Kin-Slayer]

not overtraining... the military breaks you down, then builds you back up... the PT wasnt the hardest part of boot camp, i actually enjoyed it (most of the time)... It just forces you to do PT, something that is way harder to get yourself to do on the outside.

[ptrper]

I'm in agreement with Kin-Slayer, however, it doesn't happen overnight. Prior to going through boot, had you told me that I would be running two miles within 15 minutes, I would've told you to piss off, however over several weeks of pushing and trying, it happened. Then, after basic, prior to going to Ranger school, had you told me I'd be able to start running mid-afternoon and not stop till the morning, I would've told you, you were certifiable, but it was possible, once again, just not over night.

You may consider it over training, however, if it makes the difference of you coming home on the freedom bird in a body bag or not, I'd rather over train.

[RunningMan27]

I cannot speak to the military side of it because I have not been involved with the military. My grandpa was a Ranger in WW2 and that's it for my knowledge.

I would like to add that I am a soccer coach for one of the top soccer clubs in the NW and specifically in Idaho. I train my players to be in superior shape. My goals when it comes to fitness revolve around ensuring that every one of my players can play in back-to-back games without dropping our level of play. This allows us to play 1 game at a very fast and high level from start to finish. It also shows when we play in tournaments and play at least as well in the 4th game compared to our first...

To ptrper's post above - I would rather know that I can run for an entire day when putting my life at risk versus training to run a couple of my miles here and there as needed...the assurance of knowing I can put my body to work and be okay in the end would be very comforting. Especially, when I know that I would be in the company of other people built the same way.

[ptrper]

Runningman, you have an awesome point about being in shape and being able to play back to back games. Which brings me to my point. One of my objectives when I was training for karate and wrestling tournaments was training to go all out for 3 minute and 5 minute rounds, resting for about 30 seconds to a minute and doing it all again. I would do this for 2 hours so that I knew my endurance levels would not peak after several rounds. I got to a point where I could go all out at 5 minute intervals about ten times which was my goal. Why don't more people train like this? Is this applicable in all sports? I know that while in the military, we did fartlik(spelling?) runs where you do a good pace run and portions of it, you would sprint...

Tell me your thoughts...

Thanks!

Also, I'll hoist a protein shake for your Grandpa! Rangers in those days were some really bad-ass guys!

[RunningMan27]

I was coached to be at a superior level of fitness when I played club soccer years ago. We ran 3-5 miles around various ski resort trails as part of our pre-season conditioning program - this put us more than a mile up in elevation. It made our running around "regular" elevations seem effortless...especially when we played in tournaments along the California coast.

I wish I could say I train myself the way I train my teams. I push myself, but not to those limits anymore - it shows when I play in my own soccer games. I don't play at the highest level near the end of most games mainly because my fitness is not what it was / should be. I do run a similiar run to the fartlik you mentioned above - typically, I run a few miles an outing and try to add 40 yard sprints 5-10 times during that run. I can tell I'm in good shape when I can run 10 sprints and still close out my 3 mile run at a good pace.

I think many athletes train this way. I have a couple of friends who run marathons and biatholons. As part of their preparation for marathons they run distances exceeding 26 miles after they've built up their endurance. For those that do the biatholon, I know they include cycling excercises to be quite a bit more than the actual riding distance, too.

I think to be successful at a sport of any kind, it is neccessary to go beyond what is required in terms of fitness. I see it as the only way to go at a solid and full pace throughout what ever it is you're doing.

[wildstang]

i dont have the time today to stress how important it is to train 4 endurance purposes as the millitary does. i know it contradicts hypertrophy training but i will trade off a little mass for endurance like the energizer bunny commercials any day. later in life i resorted to enhancements to gain the mass i was trading off for non stop endurance training. as a drill instructor goes just about anyone of them will run most people into the ground and still have energy left over for other things.

[ckn]

Originally Posted by wildstang

i dont have the time today to stress how important it is to train 4 endurance purposes as the millitary does. i know it contradicts hypertrophy training but i will trade off a little mass for endurance like the energizer bunny commercials any day. later in life i resorted to enhancements to gain the mass i was trading off for non stop endurance training. as a drill instructor goes just about anyone of them will run most people into the ground and still have energy left over for other things.

When I read things like that I remember the last Super Bowl where the linebacker (?) scored the interception TD and needed oxygen for about 15 minutes afterwards. Shocking lack of aerobic fitness with a physique totally pushed towards specialist anaerobic fitness.

As an ex-soldier myself, my job as artillery forward observation meant that I needed to be able to carry 100+lbs in full combat gear at 6mph for up to 3 hours and 4.5mph for up to 8 hours. I always enjoyed infantry attachments where I could easily keep up with the infantry in stripped-down order while I still had my over-weight backpack with two heavy radios plus spare batteries.

It always made me chuckle seeing the racing ponies of the infantry and special forces infantry struggle badly when they had a bit of weight put on their back and forced to run distance in boots I suppose that's the sadist bit of my personality shining through though!

That said, I was absolutely delighted when I got my promotion that enabled me to go on solo forward observation duties and I was issued my motorbike!

[ptrper]

Hot damn Wildstang, should've figured you were a DI... Question, were you at Pendleton or Perris Island? I didn't take the opportunity to become a Drill Instructor, I didn't think I had the patience, but yeah, you definitely would need to lead from the front and then have energy to go on for days thereby stupefying your recruits.

CKN, kudos to you on being a Forward Observer. I know what you mean about carrying weight... Try jumping out of a C-130 with a full combat load plus an 80lbs base plate for a tow missile system, and if I wasn't humping that, as the short, stocky grunt of the group, I normally had the pleasure of lugging around the M60 which affectionately became "Miss Piggy"...

Ah, the good ol days, party all night, work all day and not even have to worry about physical fitness...

The only guys that frustrated me were the guys who could smoke while we did all this... Damn, talk about chimney stacks...

[page19]

When you're there it seems like you never get a break.. But honestly, they're giving you just enough of a break by how they mix up the exercises and workouts. The first couple weeks is hell till you adjust, but once you do you can sustain it and recover very quickly