Intro/Fitness question.

[AndreBlanks]

Hello, my name is Andre Pawlowski and I'm 22, and planning on joining the Marine Corp. Right now, I'm finishing up the summer living with my friend and finishing up the busy season at work--so I hope to leave around August/September. I want to become a Marine to serve my country and be one of the best--one of the elite--a Marine. I first got into and started learning/reading about the Marines from a co-worker. He joined the Marines when he was 19, but was medically discharged after three or four years because he developed throat cancer, but he has a lot of cool and interesting stories about the Marine Corp. My mother and father were both in the Army. My mom joined when she was 21, and my dad was drafted at 20 (he got the draft letter on his birthday). My brother recently left for the Navy and is about a month into Basic Training.

I've been reading a lot on this forum and the about.com Us Military one (I've seen links to a few articles on here). I got a copy of Ears, Open. Eyeballs, Click., have read Shooter, Making The Corp., and right now am reading Given Up For Dead about Wake Island. I ordered Fields of Fire off Amazon.com, so that should come soon. I'm interested in the Intelligence field, but I saw a real old post on here saying they thought it was good for everyone to do a stint of Infantry and then make a lateral move if you want when you re-enlist, that way you KNOW who is depending on you, so I will probably first enlist as Infantry. I want to help my country, and part of me wants to know what it's like to "see action" (hope that doesn't sound like I've seen too many action movies).

Anyways, hope that intro (and the fact that I filled out my profile) helps out a bit, but onto my question.

I'm already in good shape, I've been lifting weights for about a year or so. I'm 5'10", 155 lbs, and I eat healthy (whole grains, fruits/veggies, low fat, no fast food, drink only water etc. etc.). I work full time, so I don't have a ton of time to do 100 sets throughout the day or something crazy like that. But right now, Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I wake up early and do push ups, sit ups, and pull ups. At night I do the same, but add sand bag work. Sunday I do a distance run on Sundays (try to just go as far/long as I can), Tuesday I do the sprint for thirty seconds/jog for a few, repeat, and Thursday I go for a speed run to test my 3 mile time. Saturdays I try to go on a long hike (right now only about 2 or 3 miles) and I carry a fifty pound backpack. I usually go on a light two mile walk with my dog around the neighborhood everyday as well. Once it gets a bit warmer I'll head down to the lake for some swimming as well.

Anyways, right now I am roughly following this plan (http://www.teenbodybuilding.com/brent2.htm). Right now, I can run the 3 mile in about 26:30 was my last time. Obviously, I want to be able to get as close as to a perfect 300 before I leave. I haven't tried maxing out on pull ups and sit ups yet--I plan to try that and chart myself every couple weeks/end of the month.

I'm kind of just wondering if there's anything I should change up or if I'm on the right path, if there's anything I should change or add/subtract.

This is my first post, but I had read and plan on reading a lot of the posts on here. Everyone seems real helpful so I thank you for your service (and future service) and look forward to posting and learning. Thank you for any advice or input, I appreciate it.

[jrhd97]

Followed your link there, got a page not found.
To get your run time down combine youre run with sprints. While running pick an object in the distancs and sprint to it, jog when you reach it. Then do it again.
When doing pull - ups do pyramid sets. Do a set of 4, then set of 6, then 10, 6, and 4, or what ever number you can get to if not ten. Try and add reps to each set weekly. Do burn out sets once a week. Do dips and push ups with hands spaced shoulder width and with thumbs and fore fingers forming a triangle.
Crunches, just work on sets of however many you can do. Throw in leg raises, hello dollies, planks and other stomach/core exercises.
Good luck

[AndreBlanks]

Followed your link there, got a page not found.

Thanks for the tips, but this is a copy/paste of the article. It's (supposedly?) some of what the SEALS do (I cut out the running/swimming) so I'm just using it as a rough guide really.

First 9 Weeks:

• Week 1
  
  • Pushups: 4 sets of 15 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 4 sets of 20 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 3 sets of 3 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Week 2
  
  • Pushups: 5 sets of 20 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 5 sets of 20 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 3 sets of 3 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Week 3
  
  • Pushups: 5 sets of 25 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 5 sets of 25 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 3 sets of 4 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Week 4
  
  • Pushups: 5 sets of 25 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 5 sets of 25 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 3 sets of 4 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Weeks 5-6
  
  • Pushups: 6 sets of 25 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 6 sets of 25 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 2 sets of 8 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Weeks 7-8
  
  • Pushups: 6 sets of 30 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 6 sets of 30 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 2 sets of 10 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Week 9
  
  • Pushups: 6 sets of 30 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 6 sets of 30 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 3 sets of 10 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

Second 9 weeks:

• Week 1 & 2
  
  • Pushups: 6 sets of 30 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 6 sets of 35 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 3 sets of 10 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Dips: 3 sets of 20 dips, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Weeks 3-4
  
  • Pushups: 10 sets of 20 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 10 sets of 25 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 4 sets of 10 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Dips: 10 sets of 15 dips, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Week 5
  
  • Pushups: 15 sets of 20 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 15 sets of 25 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 4 sets of 12 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri

• Week 6 & Beyond
  
  • Pushups: 20 sets of 20 pushups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Situps: 20 sets of 25 situps, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Pullups: 5 sets of 12 pullups, Mon/Wed/Fri
  • Dips: 20 sets of 15 dips, Mon/Wed/Fri

[jrhd97]

Looks pretty intense when you get down to week 9 and beyond. I would change the sit up to crunches and other ab work outs. Sit ups are terrible for the back.

[Chumley]

AndreBlanks,

Just keep doing what you're doing. You have to knock a lot of time off of your 3 mile run to get to a 300 PFT. In order to run your fastest at 3 miles, you will need to get stronger than 3 miles. Keep running as jrhd97 suggested, and work on stretching / lengthening your stride. Short strides mean more steps to take. Learn to ralax to control your breathing and get your average mileage up to 5 miles. As you get strong at 5 miles, you'll be able to run faster at 3 miles...it takes a few months, so build up to it within your limits and stretch throughly before and after each run. (PS - get good quality running shoes and wear them to bootcamp...they'll let you run in them - (at least they used to). The strength training you're doing is great...when you get to boot camp, they will push you harder than you've ever imagined, so the harder you work out now the better for you. There is no such thing as too much training, but be sure to balance yourself so that you rest enough to perform at your best and prevent injury. A variety of exercises will keep it interesting, and cross training will keep you in overall good condition. On the days that you don't feel like working out, work out anyways...you'll be glad you did later. There is a TON of PT info all over this site. Seek and you shall find...

Good luck!
C

[Echo_Four_Bravo]

The fitness plan is solid. If you can get through the end of that you'll be fine when you get to boot camp.

[AndreBlanks]

Thanks for the replys--yeah that last week or two gets pretty nuts, but we'll see. I mostly need help with running, so thanks for those tips, I'll work on it!

- Andre