POC

[willgoodman]

Just an update on yesterdays post. The training programme is now up on www.urbanninja.co.uk for you to browse at your pleasure.

Gimme some feedback as to how you get on with it.

Will

[James-L]

I passed my pre-POC interview back in April and my potential officer course is coming up, the best advice I could offer anyone is join your local Royal Marine Reserve Unit, everyone Tuesday and Thursday the PTI's beast you and train you up so your fit enough to complete the Commando course, I signed up a couple of weeks ago, after every session I hurt bad but my fitness has rocketed.
Also someone through the RMR has passed his POC and said its mainly running, a lot of concentration should go on long distance and speed running.

[benjordan81]

Cheers for that Will - have printed it off and I'm looking forward to my run when I get in from work!

Went to the AFCO on Saturday and picked up all the info and spoke to someone about it all. Ive got to go back in next Saturday after I have had a think about it all.

He also said that if I don't make it as an Officer I can always go in a recruit.

It's all looking rosey at the moment - how long will it last?!

[Seven]

Thanks for that Will, I'm about to apply to the Royal Netherlands Marine Corps as an officer as well. I've got most of my training programme pretty well sorted, the only problem I have is push-ups, I am absolutely crap at them. I've already tried several different training programmes for push-ups but can't seem to get passed 25-30 in one go (I've been stuck at this for about 2-3 months). I never did a programme with 2 push-up sessions in one day so I thought I'd give yours a go. One question though, how much rest do you take between sets? So if you do 1 set of push-ups, 1 of sit ups and one chin-ups, how much rest do you take before you start doing push-ups again?

[willgoodman]

I would start with 2 mins and then try to reduce it down to a minute. Press-ups work the Pectorals(chest muscles), Triceps(backs of the arms) and the Anterior Deltoid(front of the shoulders). By targeting these muscles individually then you should be able to improve the endurance in them and therefore improve your press-up scores.

Triceps - sit on the edge of your bed or a sofa and rest your feet on a chair with your legs straight. Lower your arse over the edge of the sofa and bend your elbows to lower your body, making sure your elbows are TUCKED IN!! Then extend your arms you raise you to the starting position. Perform reps untils failure.

Anterior Deltiod - get a weight approximately 5kg in weight, i.e a big bag of potatoes. Simply raise your arm up slowly in front of you,i.e. taking 3 seconds to raise your arm, keeping it straight. Then lower it down slowly again. Do 3 sets of 12 reps.

I've explained these exercises for the benefit of people who mayt not have access to a gymnasium or weights. but they can be performed just as effectively in these ways as they can in the gym, remember technique is more important than weight or number of reps

Will

[benjordan81]

Went for another 3 mile yesterday and felt really good. I pushed deep and gave a really strong finish to make sure I was f**ked at the end.

I then did the press ups / sit ups / chin ups even though I was knackered.

It's amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it and don't give up!

It's sprinting round the football pitches tonight - should be fun!

Hows are you others?

[Guest]

Hello all,

Just to aviod confusion, my username is just an illusion and is not really what it says, it just says James!

Anyway, to the point...I have got my first 'getting to know you' interview next wednesday in Brighton and i was wondering what people thought of this interview, whether it is a shirt and tie affair or jeans and t-shirt, and whether any pre-preparation is required. I am quite new the workings of the marines having wanted to join the army for many years (spit, spit ) and i got back from Sabah, Malaysian Borneo 2 days ago from a 4 week expedition to find that i have this interview in a weeks time, should i be panicking or not is the real question.

Regards

James

[willgoodman]

I wouls strongly reccommend wearing a suit for all your interviews, no matter how informal. Remember your trying to create an impression of yourself from day 1. And you want that impression to be that your the type of person theyre looking for.

Will

[Jordiman]

Always give the impression that you're squared away.

[Guest]

Roger! Thanks for the advice, it has been noted.

I gather you dont need to know much for this first interview, expect how to be yourself

James

[benjordan81]

Just wondering how many of your guys would opt for Recruit entry if you failed Officer entry?

[Guest]

failure is not an option, full stop.

Amen

[willgoodman]

I always said....had i failed, i would have gone in as a recruit and then tried for corps commission. But thats just me.

Will