Fitness Progress

[reallybigshoe]

I've started listening to cadences on my Ipod while I run. I find this really helps me to set pace and stay motivated.

I really pushed last night for distance and was able to do 4 miles followed by 15 minutes of sprinting up a hill, walking back down. I am still a fat body but I'm starting to see fitness gains.

The biggest obstacle I had to come over (and you're going to laugh at this) was learning basic breathing techniques. As I am not yet even a Poolee, I have started the hard way with only the instruction I could find on the internet. A lot of you may not agree with this route but with my busy schedule the only way I find time to work on fitness is to do it as my work schedule allows each day.

I am sitting right around a 10 minute mile, maybe a bit better. After 4 10 minute miles plus the sprinting I am still pretty destroyed today. I did 2 miles earlier and plan on doing two more tonight. I gotta keep those calories burning if I'm ever going to earn a title.

Progress so far is 215 down from 280 at a high. I wish I had a good skin picture from back then, but I was too embaressed to take one at that point. I am starting to see abs come through the upper part of my gut. OH YEAH!

[CplHawk]

Keep up the good work! When I was a poolee I was also a fat body and was a diet-recruit all the way through Recruit Training. I started out barely being able to run 2 miles before getting dizzy and light headed. To this day running is still not my strong point, and I'm constantly trying out new breathing techniques. One of my biggest problems with breathing is that with my allergies I can rarely breathe through my nose. In boot camp I ended up losing close to 50lbs. Keep up the good work!

[boblasek]

Good Job! running was never my strong point either but right now im down to about a 9 minute mile which was were i was at in high school :( I am a light fat body if that counts. Need to drop 20lbs in 3 months.

And i agree very much with the cadences on the iPod. It helps me tremendously with motivation and pace, although since I have mine on shuffle I sometimes get a "right pace" cadence and then a "fast pace" one which kicks my but keeping up with it.

[meallen07]

Outstanding! It's great that you have found a way to be able to motivate yourself like that. From what I have heard that's what Bootcamp is all about, just finding out what works for you to get you through it.

It's great that you have set mile times for yourself as well. Stick to those no matter what and bring them down from time to time so you keep pushing yourself. Keep this up until you ship and you WILL be in great shape and even more motivated. The more you punish yourself now the easier Boot will be.

[SlingerDun]

... I have started the hard way with only the instruction I could find on the internet....Before Oprah ever binged and purged or Richard Simmons sweated to the oldies and even before Jack LaLane oiled up for TV.... Bernarr Macfadden "The Father of Physical Culture" tells you: If you know enough to grab a banana and walk in the woods until your exhausted, you know enough about nutrition and fitness.

Walking, hiking, humping is one of the few activities a human can engage in daily with a minimal chance of causing physical damage. It's hard as hell to break yourself down by walking and if you don't think you'll get cardio benefits comparable to running? You're not walking far enough with purpose.

Race horses are sometimes trained for an event by extensive walking as opposed to traditional galloping techniques.

Not only was walking the preffered cardio training of guru Bernarr MacFadden, walking was also the preffered roadwork for Sugar Ray Robinson who's 200 professional fights and 5 divisonal World Titles against the toughest thugs of an era, spanned a career of over 25 years.

In other words running does not have to be the core of your conditioning routine as it's definetly not the only path to overall cardio fitness

--->Dave

[reallybigshoe]

In other words running does not have to be the core of your conditioning routine as it's definetly not the only path to overall cardio fitness


Great advice! My one item of concern is the time crunch. To match the 45 minutes of jogging I'm doing I'll need twice that in brisk walking. The more I think about it though, the more I am thinking that the risk of injury could be the risk of being set back weeks at a time. Right now my goal is moving towards 5 days per week, lifting/calisthenics in the morning and running at night.

I'm going to look for some inclined trails to hike around here. Carrying a pack would help pick up some of the slack.

[mbrazil]

Mix in short sprints during your distance run. Sprint a block, jog a block or two. Breathing is important and it's all about what works for you. For me I take longer breaths. One inhale for every 3 steps and one exhale for every 3 steps. Just find your groove and keep at it!

[reallybigshoe]

I am down to a 9:20 mile, and I run 1.75 a night at least. Most days I do this twice - I am taking a couple days off a week of course. Today I changed it up and walked on a uphill trail with a 20 pound pack for 2 hours. Today was a good day. Yesterday I ate too much.

I noticed some soreness in my knee and hamstring. I think it was a bit sore around half way through my run so I compensated which made it harder on my knee. I'm going to take off running until it's not sore anymore.

My weight is stable right now at 220-222. My diet is what is responsible for the plateau I believe. I'm trying to stick to 1500-1600 calories. I've found my diet has a high amount of fat. I'm going to work on that.

[Jensen139]

Walking, hiking, humping is one of the few activities a human can engage in daily with a minimal chance of causing physical damage. It's hard as hell to break yourself down by walking and if you don't think you'll get cardio benefits comparable to running? You're not walking far enough with purpose.

Race horses are sometimes trained for an event by extensive walking as opposed to traditional galloping techniques.


Marine,

Can you find any sources stating either of these as fact? Walking does burn almost the same amount of calories as running but as far as the cardio aspect and physical conditioning I would think not.

And race horses training for a race by walking? A similar analogy would be a sprinter training by walking?

[SlingerDun]

Can you find any sources stating either of these as fact?These? Of course, as could you if you cared to objectively research "these" beyond the usual sources of text and tube. But i shall postulate random nuggets and for inconvenience sake will omit all referenced sources cept for two because it's healthy for the skeptic mind, most of it comes from my own extensive field experience, and i'm cool like that.

My old stuff in grey;
Walking, hiking, humping is one of the few activities a human can engage in daily with a minumum chance of causing physical damage. It's hard as hell to break yourself down by walking.

First must come the boring physiology form and function stuff.
When we walk or run, each lead eventually falls and hits the ground with impact. The mechanics of running and walking are quite different from the way extensor tendons and muscles are employed from breakover down to impact. Walking we always have one foot on the ground, yes? Our body weight is always supported. Each stride results in a force equaling aprox your body weight applied to your leg muscles and suspensory apparatus. If a walker weighs 250 lbs. each stride places about 250 pounds of load on a leg. Running is different. When running you are airborne between foot falls. When your lead foot hits the ground, it absorbs more than your body weight dictated by gravity. Force on leg muscles, tendons ligaments bones with each stride will vary depending upon how fast you are running. When you run faster your stride lengthens, A short efficient lever owns a longer stride = more landing force per stride. (Archimedes) The impact for each stride could vary from 1 1/2 times to over 4 times your body weight, depending upon speed, technique, conformation, slope gradient, footware. etc.. etc....When walking the dynamic impact resulting in concussion usually only varies from a mis-step or extra weight packed on your frame, mr student.http://www.leatherneck.com/forums/images/icons/icon6.gif

if you don't think you'll get cardio benefits comparable to running? You're not walking far enough with purpose.


Walking does burn almost the same amount of calories as running but as far as the cardio aspect and physical conditioning I would think not.You may notice gathered together with the word 'walking' are the words hiking and humping. It was intentional, by design. Add an incline, add a pack, remove incline to purge, repeat. Add shifting terrain, exposed roots talus and scree to condition tendons, ligaments and proprioceptors and with enough vigor one can design a cardio routine with benefits comparable to running. The decrease in tempo also gives the traveler more opportunity to concentrate on and isolate muscle groups. Don't believe These? Ask for opinions from some of the seasoned grunts.

Race horse are sometimes trained for an event by extensive walking as opposed to traditional galloping techniques.


And race horses training for a race by walking?Most of todays running horse have good foot conformation bred right out from underneath them in favor of speedy quality's. As a result many fine boned young Thorobred's with crappy feet are susceptible to rundown, splints, bowed tendons, solar bruising, pedal osteitis, sesamoid fractures et cetera. Add to that inconsistent, hard (remember the stride = footfall impact segment?) uneven training surfaces and more and more potential money makers never make it to the big show....

Here's the second quotable source i promised: Phar Lap, Kiwi TB runner. Began preperations for a major stakes race with a blown out resected hoof 1/4 crack, prognosis for remaining sound were grim with traditional galloping training methods so they walked his ass off. On the flats, in the sand dunes, up and down hills and come race day he won.


A similar analogy would be a sprinter training by walking?Not quite.
Form and function. A human sprinter needs sprinting and is able to learn proper conscious technique and form, from, instruction and repetition i.e. muscle memory.

At slower gates a horse can be trained to collect. At speed a horse functions on innate motor skills. If those legs are flying all over the place theres not a damn thing a jock or trainer can do to consciously relay proper technique instructions to the animal except slow down, collect and the race is lost all because the horse is what it is and may not be athlete enough at high speed. Therefore the horse does not need to constantly train at speed to learn sound technique because they dont and cant think the same way as a disciplined human sprinter.

Jensen, the OP was a super heavyweight topping off at 280lbs down to 215 heavyweight now experiencing what sounds to me like stress/impact related pain. Knowing this, what form of cardio would you reccomend for a base of operations?

--->Dave

[PaidinBlood]

Marine,

Can you find any sources stating either of these as fact? Walking does burn almost the same amount of calories as running but as far as the cardio aspect and physical conditioning I would think not.

And race horses training for a race by walking? A similar analogy would be a sprinter training by walking?


He never said walking alone but to diversify. What's my source? Just 4 years of abusing my body has given me a new appreciation for lower impact exercise. I still get out and run but a brisk walk hike or swim does nice too. I snap crackle pop so bad even the old people in church notice... :banana:

[PaidinBlood]

And not to kill the moto in here but y'all go easy on all the fun with packs. Nothing wrong with roaming over hills and dales with a little daypack of essentials, but don't try going from zero to hero overnight...:D Have fun while you still can.

[reallybigshoe]

I've been hiking once or twice a week now. My weight is steady - I had to battle back down from a trip we went on for mother's day. My running is getting much better. 2 miles feels like nothing happened - I'm just starting to sweat. I jog around the neighborhood which includes lots of hills on each lap.

I ran with my girlfriend the other day at the end of a 3.5 mile hike. We did the last half mile at a jog. She is active navy. I smoked her hard. Felt pretty good, seeing as six months ago even running a half mile would feel like death.

I feel that my goal is getting closer. It's time to really start working on those situps and pushups. By July I will be around the 195 range, at which point I'll go swear in. I want max situps at that time.

Anyone have tips on how to break into the low 9s high 8s?