PT advice for a wana be

[timjcrist]

I am 24 years old (25 in April) and decided last year I wanted to join the Marines, long story short I have felt the call to serve for a long time and its time I answered that call! I was 315 pounds at the time and began working out and dieting and 10 months later I stand at 240 pounds. I have not talked to a recruiter yet, I respect them enough not to want to waste there time with a fat body like myself. I am pretty sure I have the diet part down but I would like some help with my PT. I have been reading allot of things on here ( yes up till now I have been a lurker) and have been goggling different workouts. Some of the information seems to contradict its self so I would like to hear from someone who has been in my position(fat body) or any Marine who could give some advice.

Pull-up: Currently I can not to a single one. I know I have about 30 pounds I need to loose still so I do have some dead weight holding me down but I have seen videos of 300+ pound people doing pull- ups. I just need to build muscle. I currently do pushups daily, lat pull down (3 different bars and hand positions), bicep curls, negatives and assisted pull-ups. Some places I assisted pull-ups. Some places I read that lat pull downs are a complete waste of time and at the same time other articles suggest doing them, so I am confused on this. Is there any other exercise that you can recommend that would help?

Running: My best 1 mile run time is 9:40, but it always seems like my lungs want to explode before my legs want to quit on me. Is there any training program you can recommend? I currently run at max effort 1/2 mile increments but when I try to push one run to 3/4 mile I cant make it, I guess I don't seem to be making any progress is what I am saying.

I have read that I should be giving my muscles time to rest, but in my mind I'm thinking in recruit training I can't tell the Drill Instructor " um sorry my muscles need time to rest today so I can't do pull-ups for you" Is overnight enough time for my muscles to grow/rest or should I be giving them additional time? I am doing crunches to, but I don't feel I need any help with those, they are pretty basic.

My goal is to speak to a recruiter in March.

Thank you for taking the time to read this Marines!

[Lisa 23]

Have you tried looking at these topics.....

Whats Your PT???
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87856&page=9

Track workout to improve conditioning
http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/showthread.php?t=92843


Also, try military(dot)com/fitness center....I did it this way because the site won't come up if I copy and paste it the way it should be.

[dROD20]

first off, congrats on making the choice to attempt to become a Marine. I would reccomend going in and talking with a recruiter as soon as possible. He can give you some ideas for workouts and get the process started for you to enlist. in my area the DEP (delayed entry program) helps the poolies with starting to train and learn basic Marine Corps knowledge. We met 4 times a week for PT functions and went over knowledge. As far as my advice on PT, do sprints along with your distance running. That helped me take time off my IST run when i was a poolie. Also, REALLY work on controlling your breathing while running esp with distance. Run at a slow pace for as long as you can with out really worrying about miles. With the pullups, id recommend taking at least a day off after working out your muscles. The pullup assist machine is what i think will help you the most bc it is the exact motion you will be doing for the IST. Keep working your back, bicep and shoulder muscles along with your pull up assist machine. Good luck man and keep up the good work.

[mErKtWiSt]

For the dieting and pt i would reccomend you do it like this everyday. Once you wake up have a fruit/power shake/ whatever light you use to get you going. PT hard. Meaning if you are going to run than put out. If you say your lungs feels like they want to explode than you should try working on your breathing. Doing intervals helps out. Like jog for 15 seconds and sprint for 30-45 seconds.

You should work out as hard in the mornings. After your work out eat a big healthy breakfast. I usually eat chicken i grill. Its not the typical american breakfast but it has lots of protein so i eat that to get me thru the day. Avoid sodas/energy drinks anything sugary since your trying to loose weight. In the afternoons you can go to the gym and work out different parts each day. Monday do legs and shoulders, tuesday bis and tris etc... you should make a schedule for yourself.

You should generally eat 5-6 times a day. Big Healthy breakfast, snack(fruits, nuts etc..) decent healthy lunch, snack(fruits, nuts, etc..) and a light healthy dinner. Try and get between 7 to 8 hours of sleep a night to let your body rest and recouperate. Try not to eat anything after 8pm. If you eat before your sleep, your body is not doing anything to use that. Its just going to sit there and turn into fat(ei. love handles, gut).

Dont stay on the same workout plan for more than 3 weeks and dont do same exercises every day. example: if you plan on running mon/wed/fri do not run the same path or same circuit every monday. You have to confuse and shock your body so it doesnt get used to certain workouts. If you run up a hill on monday, next monday try running up a different one and steeper one. Theres so much more to do regarding pt and dieting but these are a few tips.

Oh yeah for your pull ups, the best way to get better at them is to do them. Try finding a pull up machine, the one with a place to rest your knees and put weight on the machine to help you do pull ups. Not too much weight to make it easy but do x amount of reps, than switch to dips. Do about 3-5 sets.

[brian0351]

It wasn't answered here but NO...8 hours sleep is not enough rest for your muscles.

That's why generally you work different muscle groups each day. I would also recommend at least one day off to rest as well as one "light" training day.

When you workout you are actually tearing muscle fiber. When the muscle heals its a bit stronger, which is how you get stronger. So you NEED to let your muscles rest so they can heal.

After about 2 months or so, your going to want to take at least a few days off. Just to allow your body to heal as a whole. I have always found myself stronger after a long rest period.

And since your still in weight loss phase, you should be concentrating on longer distances. You burn more calories walking/jogging 5 miles than you do sprinting for 1 mile. You burned off 75lbs which is an amazing feat! Keep it up.

[timjcrist]

Thank you for the advice Marines! I am taking all the advice plus what was PMed to me and rebuilding my workout plan from the ground up. I hope to have it done soon so I can begin hitting it hard again this weekend. I will post my progress in two or three weeks and I will make progress :mad:

[timjcrist]

Thank you Brian for the advice on resting, I am currently planning out my workout to do back and biceps, one day, tries and shoulders another day....and so on. This should give me 2 or 3 days rest on muscle groups between workouts.

Pushups, crunches and running I plan on doing every day though

[timjcrist]

Marines:

Just an update... I have been useing the advice everyone responded with and I want to thank you for taking the time to respond. My current weight is 218 and I can now do pullups!

I met with a recruiter yesterday for the first time for over two hours. Things went well I think, got a 65 on a practice ASVAB test which he said was pretty good ( I kinda wanted better but I will study for the real one). My recruiter is calling me on the 20th to get an update on my status, he wants me to drop 10 more pounds before I get into DEP.

I read this site daily to help stay motovated and I get so jealous when I hear about people going to poolee funtions but I know my time will come.

I will update again when I know more!

[tdrt]

Wow, Tim. That's amazing -- good job! In the home stretch now.....

[hussaf]

Great advice so far on this thread. This is an indicator that many Marines read and research working out...and many argue about what is best. You will always see some contradictions in exercising, and that will not change. Anyway, hopefully your recruiters are Marines who like to work out and have some knowledge with it and are willing to help out.

Run:
Set goals. As others suggested, do "speed work," but do them based on your overall goal. For example, if your goal is a 24 minute 3 mile, try doing mile repeats. Set each mile goal at 8 minutes (or as close to as possible). AFter each 8 min mile you do recovery. As your fitness improves, reduce the recovery/rest time. Soon you should be able to do your 8 min. mile and your recovery will either be very short or simply slowly jog a lap or two in between a timed mile. You can break this down to a 1/4 mile (one lap around a 400 meter track), half mile, and so forth. Usually you would make each split a little bit faster than your overall goal....but do what you can.

Distance, go for 3-4 mile runs and just go for completion WITHOUT STOPPING!! This will improve your lung capacity and mental aspects of running. Running three miles is as mentally challenging as it is physically...especially for non-runners.

Pullups:
Do core workouts. Pullups work almost your whole body and are probably one of the most underused, and most important exercise you can do. If you can't find an assisted pullup machine, put a chair in front of the pullup bar/yourself, put one leg on it, and as much weight as you need to do a pullup....just be careful. It helps to have someone spot the chair. Work on Dips too, if you can.

Maybe get a subscription to Men's Health. Its like $14 a year and has good all body exercises that will work core, hip flexors, and other often neglected muscles. It will also have decent meal recipes that are tasty.

As others said, soda and energy drinks are poison! Coffee isn't too bad but it can make you bloated. Tea is a good replacement. Skim cow milk. Juice is almost always bad for you as well. A lot of guys like V8...though I can't stand it. V8 Splash isn't bad though...not sure how healthy it is.

Someone your age will have all the positives of getting in shape. Remember, you've lost the easy pounds...as you slim down it will get harder depending on your metabolism. Not to discourage you or anything, just give you a reality check. Its like running, going from a 30 minute 3 mile to a 20 minute 3mile is way easier than going from a 18 min 3mile to a 17 min 3 mile..even though you are dropping 10 min in one and only 1 min in the other. Loosing weight is similar to this. What you have to do is make a no-**** lifestyle change...which it seems you are doing...in a healthy way. It helps with who you surround yourself with. You need to have massive reserves of strength if you go out with a bunch of friends who are drinking fishbowls and eating barfood every weekend and you are the only one abstaining.

Muscles:
Some recommend you only work one muscle group (set) per week. This is hotly debated, and I'm not that big a fan myself. You could try focused weight training on single or pair sets of muscle groups interspersed with other exercises that may also have secondary effect on the muslces trained with weights. IE do back/bis on Monday, swim laps and do a hill run on tuesday, lift shoulders and tris on wed, do heavy cardio and core on thursd, lift legs/forearms frid., rest saturday, and your choice on sund. Or something like that. Mixing muscle groups is debatable...I just threw out what I can think of off the top of my head.

Find someone who knows how to lift that will lift with you! While cardio, core, yoga, swimming type exercises will have you loosing weight the quickest gaining strength is also critical. 1 lbs of muscle burns 2x as many calories as 1lbs of fat. You need to strengthen up your body to prevent injuries as well (you will notice being sore and tired while working out, but the better shape you get in the less sore and tired you become after working out). Some GREAT exercises can be a little scary...dead lifts, hand cleans, clean and press, weighted squats. I avoided those for years until just three or four years ago when I began lifting regularly with someone who showed me how to do them properly.

Best of luck and congrats on what you've done so far!

And hydrate!

[tdrt]

The only thing I will disagree with you on is coffee -- research has shown that a cup of coffee will ease muscle soreness

V8 Splash -- full of high fructose corn syrup. Just drink water IMO

[hussaf]

I figured as much about the V8 Splash.

For coffee I meant to use it sparingly. Like a cup a day rather than a pot. Coffee can dilate bronchial tubes and help with running as well, but too much can cause bloating. I drink maybe 1-3 cups a day...which is probably close to too much.

[Sgt Leprechaun]

OUTstanding!!!!!!

[timjcrist]

Thank you tdrt and hussaf for the advice/encouragment

I don't drink coffee or tea anymore just water ( about 1.5 gallons a day) and milk with my protien shakes. I have also been slamming a 5 hour energy before I hit the gym since I workout after work everyday. Otherwise with my low cal diet I wouldn't have any energy at the end of the day.

My goal now is to call my recruiter a week ahead of when he calls me and tell him I made his weight goal.