Beginning fitness, got 2 years to get it down

[Lou1607]

Hello,

Been reading posts for a while, but figured I'd find the answers faster if I joined.
I'm currently a 19 year old student on my second year. I'm actually looking to join the RAF Regiment but want to get as fit as possible so figured I'd go about it as if I was going to join the Paras (if it all goes well, I might :b).

I'm pretty skinny (72kg) and im 6ft. I've been following the Fighting Fit by Adrain Weale beginners programme and have been doing bodyweight excercises 3 days a week and have been running for 30mins for 3 days.

My question is, should I know move onto the second plan which is essentially 6 days of cardio, or as I'm a bit of a skinny guy would it be more beneficial to have 4 days of cardio and 2 days of weights?

Thank you

[gunner75]

Id say forget the book. Most on here havnt read it anyway - although as a guide Im sure it wont do no harm to read. Ideally mate if your aiming for an airborne unit you want to be cranking up that endurance training and maintaining a strong upper body. What your doing with regard to body weight exercises is spot on - there is always time to shift iron in the gym once youve got your lid (maroon beret) IF your successful! I dunno what the weight requirements are for your height but if your whats known as a racing snake i.e slender/wirery figure then you should be chewing up and spitting out the miles and getting good times at that. pull ups/press ups and sit ups every time you finish a run and on a non run day really give the upper body some hammer. your 3 sessions of 30mins a week must increase! crank that up to at least 45. you ought to be increasing your mileage that you run per week so that ideally on a weekend your finishing with a gentle jog of around 10 miles or more. The sessions during the week should be fast/medium paced. a mixture of a solid 3 miler fast almost best effort and a 5mile plus fartlek (slow jog/medium/fast) should get your speed up. I found that training with a partner was best for 4 Para than on my own for RAF Regt as the intensity of the training was more intense. A good one with a partner was a fast paced run out to a long (200m) sloping road and then do alternate firemans carries up it. You want to chuck in some lung busters - anything that makes you feel like ralphin is good - you know your pushing yourself then! eat plenty of stodgy food like stew etc and dont be afraid to rest up. If your a young lad you could prob get away with training everyday (I did) but its prob more beneficial to chill out at the weekend (apart from sunday when your on that 10miler!) if your older maybe a midweek rest day would be helpfull too.
hope this helps.

[Lou1607]

Couldn't have asked for better advice really.

My plan for the next month or two at least is:

Mon: Upper body AM (crunches, leg raises, deadlifts and squats) and Swimming PM
Tues: Run - 45mins
Wed: Run - 45mins
Thurs: Sprint session - 4x100m sets, 3 sets
Fri: Rest
Sat: Upper body (Pressups, bicep curls, bench presses, tricep dips, lateral raises)
Sun: Run - 45mins

I'll prob chuck some crunches, pressups and dips afterthe runs.

In regards to my diet, I'm currently on 4 meals a day which add up to 3400 calories and 160g of protein. Pretty tough as I can't eat loads in one go, but get hungry again quickly.

Is it better to run for timed distances or just run for a set amount of time with periods of walking if I really cant go on?

Thanks again for your help, bit confused as I've just started really.

PS I assume ralphin is chucking up?

[gunner75]

Correct, ralphin = to vomit.
yeah what you got planned sounds good , just dont forget to get those miles in. You want to be building up to 10 mile in one hit - that will take more than 45mins! if your finding long distance hard dont fret bout stopping, ideally just slow pace down to really slow or walk for a minute. Just take note of where you stop and aim to better it next time round. I tend to get my strength from my 5miler fartleks or fast paced runs and endurance from my 13milers (I do those on a weekend). Dont get hang ups about how much protein or whatever you eat. Its all about common sense really - just troff anything lol. ideally carbs more so than protein as in theory you will be training more often therefore require the extra fuel. As a recruit you will be an eating machine and probably still lose weight!
from your choice of gym exercises, personally Id not bother. Ab work fair enough you need a strong core and lower back. Squats maybe but Id prob not put emphasis on them, Id be more inclined to do 50 rep body weight squats. No need for lateral raises as thats an isolation movement - not much help for overall upper body strength. No point doing dips if your doing bench press or vice versa if your doing weighted dips - personally Id just stick to press ups as you prob wont be shifting any iron in the gym till after recruits anyway. no need for biceps curls either as if your doing pullups that covers your lats and biceps anyway.

[Lou1607]

Ok thanks again for the advice.

Now time to have a crack at it. Here goes nothing!

EDIT: I'm assuming going in for Officer doesn't really affect the training, as I'd be aiming to lead by example as it were.