Realism

[RobT]

I just want to get realistic here. I've been reading these threads for ages now with people saying how many pressups, situps, chinups and the 1.5 miler in. Well i'm no where near the same standard.

I'm 6 ft 2 and 15.5 stone. I dont have trouble with weights and my stamina is ok when it comes to long walks with heavy weights etc.

pressups - 20 (hard work)...very hard. either i have a shit technique or..dunno

situps - 30-40 depending on if i've done the muscles in when doing it before, i seem to end up in pain..have i not warmed them up properly? etc

1.5 mile - 14 mins or so (was around my area, i bought a map and worked out the 1.5 miles)

chinups - never tried...i most probubly cant

Bleep test - last time i tried it i got 7.4 a very bitchy P.E teacher said my foot missed the line too late or somthing. I had a cold at the time bear in mind

So there we go

Now when i was in the recruitment office (TA) they said between 1-10 where was i fitness wise..most people say 5..i said 5. I asked them about the fitness standards and they said no problem "we dont throw you in the deep-end, you'll gradualy get built up to a good fitness level"

I passed my medical fine i said to the doc "So how do people fail this then?" and he said "if they arent fit"

I'm confused. Either i'm just not pushing myself or most of you fellers are superhuman/ athlete people.

Arrrrgh

[dannyd]

Rob mate,

I'm certainly not superhuman but I have been active (sport, climbing, hiking etc...) for pretty much all of my life.

However, I (like everyone else) still have to work at my fitness. The best bet is to find yourself a programme that suits you for running/ CV work and for strength training and just stick at it. It ain't gonna be fun or easy but the gains are there to be had.

I know it is difficult maintaining fitness through university, I'm a 2nd year student myself, but it can be done. Like i said i'm no superhuman but i seem to have managed to stay fit so far (especially through the summer drinking season) - 6' 1" and 12 stone.

Joining the TA is definitely a good move - if i remember correctly you're in the green howards??? It will get you fit and you get paid plus you have a great time with people of the same mindset.

As for the medical thing the doc is chatting sh*t. I failed the medical for the RMR (hearing) and I was very fit.

[RobT]

Rob mate,

I'm certainly not superhuman but I have been active (sport, climbing, hiking etc...) for pretty much all of my life.

However, I (like everyone else) still have to work at my fitness. The best bet is to find yourself a programme that suits you for running/ CV work and for strength training and just stick at it. It ain't gonna be fun or easy but the gains are there to be had.

I know it is difficult maintaining fitness through university, I'm a 2nd year student myself, but it can be done. Like i said i'm no superhuman but i seem to have managed to stay fit so far (especially through the summer drinking season) - 6' 1" and 12 stone.

Joining the TA is definitely a good move - if i remember correctly you're in the green howards??? It will get you fit and you get paid plus you have a great time with people of the same mindset.

As for the medical thing the doc is chatting sh*t. I failed the medical for the RMR (hearing) and I was very fit.

Yeah i've been a big mountain walker most my life.

Too right about keeping up fitness in uni. I've been laying off the booze though at lunch times etc. If at a pub i'll have a coke/orange juice etc.

Yeah B (Green howards) I have a hearing test tonight i think. My hearing is fine. How did you fail that then? Have you always had bad hearing or were you Unlucky? Although i myself had to have Gromitts in my ears as a young kid..i had terrible ears. They are fine these days to i didnt mention it to the doctor.

Cheers bud.

[dannyd]

have a hearing test tonight i think. My hearing is fine. How did you fail that then? Have you always had bad hearing or were you Unlucky? Although i myself had to have Gromitts in my ears as a young kid..i had terrible ears. They are fine these days to i didnt mention it to the doctor.

When I was younger i had grommets (sp.?) in my ears as well. However, a few years back I had perfect hearing and thought that I still did have until I went for the medical. I was only a little way off the standard but they still said no, even after a senior ear doctor (can't remember the correct name of the specialisation) wrote a letter to them which said that it would not affect me during service as my hearing was perfectly adequate.

It is really annoying because it has never affected me or stopped me doing military things. With the cadets i went on numerous field exercises when i had to give orders or react to orders in a firefight and i could hear fine then. I've also been flying many times without any problem. Yet when I told them this they just shrugged.

I'm going to try the TA anyway as hopefully it may have got better or their standard may be lower.

Anyway, good luck with your hearing test tonight mate.

[RobT]

Passed

The CO himself tested me. And he's deaf as they come! which was strange. Years of gunfire he told me!

[dannyd]

well done mate

[always go commando]

when I went for my Marines interview (rough experience)I was accused by the PO as not being fit enough, which fair enough I'm no superman but I consider myself to be pretty damn fit. (maxin out on press ups, sit ups and pull ups, and my running times are improving fast) He said that people who were 'saying' they did 3 times as much excersice as me were going down to there PRMC's and failing. To which I replied "bunch of lying bastards" (I think this is what got me through the interview)

[bigbart]

If you can do 20 press-ups... instead of doing 20 in a workout and burning out, do 10, stretch, a few secs rest, do 10 more etc. Do it 3 or 4 times. Then you've done 30 or 40. But don't worry about push-ups too much. You'll do a few in circuit training and maybe some as a punishment... but you need to work on running, and overall stamina. Run more. Do different variations... long distance jog one day, 10 min sprint another day, followed by a 10 min jog. And work out a circuit training programme for yourself. Don't burn yourself out on the first set, like i said with the push-ups, do about 1/2 your maximum, then steadily work your way up.

[lew]

I've been training HARD!!! for nearly 6 months, aswell as playing rugby twice a week and im only just starting to feel fit. It takes time mate.


good luck.


lew

[Sig657]

Its more mentalk than physical, Hard trainning while at uni but whats a30 min run and 100 pressups a day? (even if they are broken) As lew said it takes time.. The more unfit you are the longer it takes.

Chris ryan once wrote, The hardest part of doing a 10 mile run everday is getting out the door. 10 miles is etreme but the point is true.

[davo141]

The hardest part of doing a 10 mile run everday is getting out the door. 10 miles is etreme but the point is true.

I couldnt agree more!!! once your out there running in rain, hail snow or shine its easy but getting ready and what not to go is alot tougher than doing it sometimes! specially when knackered or mentally draining...

Essence of any good athlete (or anything else!) get out there and do it..

Strength of mind? maybe for the marines but its true for any service!

A mate of mine joined the army, rang up 1 and a half ours after arriving

"mam i hate it! i want to get home!"

less that two hours! he had no mental strength..came out after week 4!

Do it and you'll reap the rewards..I cant remember how many times i ran in the rain, doing press ups in the rain everymile, ran in the snow twice! bloody killed me but you have to do what you have to do...dont and you wont!

cheers, davo

[bigbart]

Set aside times to train as well. Don't just train when you feel you can be arsed. Set times and stick to 'em. Otherwise you'll probably hardly train at all.

[davo141]

i dont have a training regime at all, and really never had

press ups 4 -5 nights a week along with pull ups

sit ups never

run 3 times a week, any days and well it worked for me

appently it gets your body use to not doing a set routine...my excuse anyways!!

[bigbart]

I didn't mean do the same routine every week. Just set yourself days and routines to train week by week. It works for me, might not work for everyone. But this gives you chance to set time aside, rather than wait until you get the odd hour to go for a run.If I don't set time aside, i find that all my time's spent on other things.

[Jagger]

Rob, just keep in mind that most of the guys on here have probably been training for most of their lives, playing in sports etc. I know myself, before I applied to RM I was involved nearly every sport in school, even then I had to go out and train specifically for the Marines when I decided that is what I want to do. In regards your pressups/situps/run, just keep slugging it out. You say you struggle to push out 20 pushups, you've probably just reached a plataeu, happens to EVERYONE. You just have to vary the routine and you'll get through it. Might take you 3-4 weeks to get from 20-25 pushups, but after that it might only take you 2 weeks to get to 40!

I'm with Davo in that i've never trained to any sort of schedule. Works for me and it helps to keep the training varied so your body doesn't get used to it.

I passed my medical fine i said to the doc "So how do people fail this then?" and he said "if they arent fit"

The doc only does a limited and very general medical to see if you're perceived fit enough to go forward with selection. It doesn't mean that you're neccessarily fit enough, cardiovascularly and strength wise to complete PRMC/RSC/PGAC or whatever. Also the doc can't measure how much will power you have. To complete any form of physical test you need a certain amount of determination to do it no matter how fit you are. That's why you see super fit guys failing PRMC and such while other less fit guys get through.