Training for the Military?

I'm not in the Army but my husband is and since we were married before he enlisted, I can tell you what he did and what he worked on before he left. RUN! Especially in basic, RUN RUN RUN is what you'll do. I would once again work on running (lol) but I would also try to work on your sit-ups & push-ups since those are things you need to pass PT tests. He had some lbs to lose before he left for basic so he would run outside in a sweat suit to get himself sweating and get used to running again in general. But, what you aren't "up to par" on before you leave for Basic, they will get you there once you arrive. Good luck! *Hope this can help somewhat!*

I just wanted to thank you all for you service! I appreciate it more than words can say. I couldn:t imagine the US without you all. Thank you so much!!"

Marines incorporate all those over pieces of advice, and work on pullups as well. Be able to do about 100 crunches, (20 would be ideal, but you can go lower) pullups, and run, run run.

I have been enlisted in the Army now 15 years and there have been some changes. The Army is currently in the process of changing the way the Army Physical Fitness Test is conducted. Currently, the old PT test should be still in place....you will do as many push ups and sit ups as you can in 2 minuted and conduct a 2 mile run as fast as you can. Of course your age, weight, enurance, strength limits will all play a factor. I do not know if Army Basic Training is doing the new PT test yet....consists of stuff like a standing long jump, mile and a half run, shuttle run and a few other things. You can Google APRT and see for yourself.

Since the end of the Iraq War the Arm is "trimming the fat" all over so you have tomake sure your nose is clean and you can meet the height and weight standards and maintain it properly. Eating right and exercise is so very important.

I suggest you conduct a practice PT test on your own if you have not already. If you are interest, shoot me a good e-mail address and I will send you a PDF consisting of the new PT manual. One thing you will see about the Army is everything has a damn manual of some sort.....robert.spitzer@us.army.mil is my e-mail if you have any other questions.

Husband and I are both navy. Best advice would be to start running now, pushups(all type dive bombers etc) attempt to do pull ups if you can't I recommend the cheat ones where you jump and hold as long as you can with chin over bar and sit-ups.

You might want to focus on longer distance depending on your mos because in my 13 year career I have seen 3-4 miles of Indian runs on a beach with gear or medicine balls.

Good luck

My son is in the Navy and he ran ran ran, still is, and push ups, pull ups, sit up. He also had to do alot in swimming for his rate. AWO. The more you can do before hand the better off you will be.
Thank you for what you are doing. It is soooo appreciated

My husband is military and he was way out of shape before joining. He started running everyday a little just up an down our street for a month or so until he left.

BTW you are from my husband's hometown! lol

I'm not but my boyfriend is currently in training with the Royal Marines. RUN like everyone else has said and you should have a decent amount of strength. Your stamina needs to be to be exceptional though and that's the main thing x

Hey, I'm an Air Traffic Control Officer in HM's finest "The Royal Air Force". *insert generic inter-service rivalry banter here*

The best thing you can do for generic fitness is get out running. Run/jog/walk intermittently at first if you have to but PUSH yourself...they're only going to do that to you in training. I'd aim to be able to run a mile and a half if you're under 25 and female in less than 12 minutes to be competitive but also as a reasonable and achievable target. It's not super fast by any stretch of the imagination but it's not slow. However, this is purely for the fitness test you must understand, although there are various inter service and indeed inter-branch additional tests. MSFT is the generic RAF fitness test, but officers and I believe all recruits now, do the 1.5mile (2.4Km) run test as their CV test now and 2 mins situps and 2 mins pushups. In the annual fitness test (or twice annual if you're just getting a pass) its the MSFT and 1 mins pushups followed by 1 mins RAF situps. Levels are online somewhere. But you get graded on the level of pass, green, light blue, dark blue. It's pretty hard to achieve a Dark blue and it's not too easy to get a light blue either. Especially as it's graded that the lowest band you scored in across the three disciplines determines your colour. For example, I got dark blue pushups and sit-ups, but only a light blue run at level 9.03 on the MSFT so i ended up a light blue. Still it's the same renewal time as a dark blue of 1 year so thats OK!

You've got to want to do it to be successful and see through short term pain for long term gains.

Strength wise...get practising those pushups and situps. Time yourself...feel the burn. Do it til it hurts...and when you're standing around or have a free moment, to inclined pushups on a counter top/edge of desk/stair for lower intensity strength training to SUPPLEMENT the proper pushups...

Being able to run around carrying heavy weights in a practical form such as jerry cans whilst wearing your body armour, kevlar helmet and all your clobber is essential which is why they train you so hard, at least, it's one of the reasons. Condition yourself before you even go for selection because it will give you a competitive edge against other candidates and when you are selected, make life and training a whole lot easier, and less embarassing. It's also important so as to protect yourself from injuries by being strong and not shocking the body in training. Before commencing training, a few lightly weighted JOGS may be a good idea, especially in the boots they issue you before starting training... Be careful you don't put too much weight in... I'd say for a young lady, about 5-10Kg MAX and don't thrash the run, make it a steady jog and short too. Jog about 1/2mile, briskly walk the next and then another jog for 1/2 mile and walk the next. This will help build up some strength in your lower limbs' muscles, joints and bones etc. Compliment with good stretching, strength work such as lunges, squats etc and nutrition. Girls under 25 should be eating plenty of calcium at this time in their life.

In summary. Get running. I suggest 45mins-1hours running as this is what training is likely to be for PT... sometimes shorter, sometimes less.
Get doing pushups whenever and wherever you can. Same with sit ups.
Do some anaerobic training too, personal suggestion is either Tabata protocol which you could do in your room first thing in a morning and last thing at night and also circuit training.

The biggest thing is you MUST push yourself, it won't always be nice or pleasant but you'll get results and feel rewarded by that.