MilitaryForums.co.uk

Hello everybody my I would love to join the Royal Marines but I have a few problems. One of my problems is I'm overweight I weigh 15 stone 11lb which is really getting on the heavy side. My routine is this

Monday: 3 Mile run in the morning (30 mins it takes me but Ive just started up running) Then I chill out for a few hours then I go to the gym and do 15 mins on the treadmill on 10kph. then on the cross trainer on effort level 10 15 mins. then i go on the bike for 12 mins on level effort 7 then i go on the weights and do my chest and biceps and my legs then i swim for about 30 mins breast stroke. Later on in the day I do every exercise on the Royal Marine website But I can only do a few press-ups and I cant even do 1 pull-up (sad I know) but I'm sound on every other exercise I also add 10 mins skipping and 20 mins boxing bag workout into it.

Tuesday: The same as Monday except I do back and triceps at the gym.

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: Same as Monday and Tuesday except I do shoulders and legs with weights.

Friday: once again the same but i jst do every muscle from head to toe in my body with weights.

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: 9mile bike ride and 1 hour swim (breaststroke)

My dads friend owns a gym so I get supplements for free (maximuscle)

My dies is this: 7 (am) Promax Diet Shake and a banana (318 calories) + 1 Multibitonta tablet + 1 Cod Liver oil tablet + 1 Fat metaboliser tablet

3 hours after – Chicken breast with 6g of pasta or vegetables (458 calories)

3 hours after – Promax Meal Bar and a Banana (296 calories)

3 hours after – tuna on a potato (174 calories)

3 hours after – Promax Diet Shake and a banana (318 calories)

3 hours after – A Promax diet shake (228 calories)

+ Promax protein shakes before and after gym (240 calories) + Drink At Least 5 Liters of Water a Day

All this equals 2032 calories a day

Will all this work to help me lose weight, get my fitness up, and help me build my upper body strength up?

Also when I'm lifting weights to lose body fat should I lift heavy weights with low reps or light weight with loads of reps in any of the two how many reps should I be aiming to do and how many sets?

Also How My friend suggested I strengthen up my forearms for the marines should I do this? If I should how should I do it what excercises? Also How get I get to do more press-ups and start to do pull-ups? And get my timing down on my running?

Thanks alot for reading everyone much appreciated sorry it was so long I just know applying for the Marines will be harder than everything Ive ever done so I want to get it all right!! Thanks again and all the best RM-Wish!!!!!

Firstly, how tall are you? When I went into RT I was over 15stone but then I am 6ft 3 so it was relative.

Secondly, I'm not convinced by all the supplements you're taking. Fair enough if you get them for free, but I think you should be ok with a well balanced diet where you are getting natural nutrients from your veggies and meat.

Best thing to do is not complicate matters. You should aim for a good mix of running and circuits involving body weight exercises. Aim to increase your running effeciency every week. Mix it up - do a couple of 3-milers, a 5-6 miler at a slower pace, and maybe 1 day a week of sprinting up and down a footy pitch. Becareful not to overdo it at first though - if you've only just taken up running, start with just a couple of light sessions a week and build it up gradually. You'll be kicking yourself if you wind up with shin splints because you did too much too soon.

If you insist on using weights, try taking up crossfit - http://www.crossfit.com. I've been doing this for a few months now an in my personal opinion it is the bees knees. My press-up, sit-up and pull-up max have all gone up considerably since I started following this program. And in my experience from the phys at Lympstone, I think it will help you when it comes to doing PRMC and the IMFC/IMFS phys sessions as they concentrate on functional movements engaging large muscle groups - you wont find any curls in here.

Thanks mate my height is 5 ft 11

Right well lots of questions there but I’ll have a go at answering what I can.

I'll answer it from a sporting point of view I have not yet had any military training/experience and there are plenty of folks who are much, much, much more experienced than I am so don't take my advice as a given. researching things you're self is always the best option

Monday: 3 Mile run in the morning (30 mins it takes me but I’ve just started up running) Then I chill out for a few hours then I go to the gym and do 15 mins on the treadmill on 10kph. then on the cross trainer on effort level 10 15 mins. then I go on the bike for 12 mins on level effort 7 then I go on the weights and do my chest and biceps and my legs then I swim for about 30 mins breast stroke. Later on in the day I do every exercise on the Royal Marine website But I can only do a few press-ups and I cant even do 1 pull-up (sad I know) but I'm sound on every other exercise I also add 10 mins skipping and 20 mins boxing bag workout into it.

Tuesday: The same as Monday except I do back and triceps at the gym.

Wednesday: Rest Day

Thursday: Same as Monday and Tuesday except I do shoulders and legs with weights.

Friday: once again the same but I just do every muscle from head to toe in my body with weights.

Saturday: Rest Day

Sunday: 9mile bike ride and 1 hour swim (breaststroke)

First of all you say you are over weight now I’m guessing (correct me if I’m wrong) you don't have much recent training and conditioning behind you, for someone who is new to training you're plan seems a bit full. One Monday from what I can gather you're putting in three sprat sessions now if you're Floyd Mayweather this might be alright but for the average Joe you either aren’t going hard enough in you're sessions or I could see a lot of the work done later in the day being pretty crappy and doing more harm than good.

Weights, running /cardio machines, swimming and circuit training all in one day is mad! I consider my self to be fairly fit having trained for the past three years and I put no more than two sessions a day in (and I don't do that every day)

Now I believe everyone is different but you certainly seem to be over doing.

For the Marines I am told you need endurance over anything so if I was to plan a program gear towards joining up I’d go for something like this:

Monday; 3 mile run in the morning then a tough conditioning/circuit training session in the evening (I personally enjoy boxing style training)

Tuesday; core work out (hit lower back, abs, oblique with various exercises such as planks, sit ups, dorsal/side raises etc) evening swim (pool intervals or something similar)

Wednesday; hill sprints (run up and down the biggest hill you can find for as long as possible , when done properly this should leave you feeling week for the rest of the day)

Thursday; rest day (possibly do some light core work if you wish)

Friday; repeat Monday

Saturday; bike ride or swim in the morning and some core training

Sunday; rest day

That was put together very quick and is by no means perfect everyone is different, I (although not strictly training for Marines just yet) personally train the core 3-4 times a week hard , basically every other day I spend 30-40 minuets wrecking my stomach and that works for me but you may find this to much or too little some people train core everyday (apparently Bruce lee did but that doesn't mean if I trained my core each day I’d soon be the next Bruce lee).

But it gives you a idea of the sort of things I would personally look at doing.

Remember that it's better to have quality than quantity and focus on cardiovascular exercise, personally I’d say stay away from machines (though cross trainers ,rowing machines and spin cycles used 1-2 times a week are a nice change) but focus on running, swimming and body weight exercises (especially pull ups, press ups and sit ups)

As for using weights, it's often argued (or should I say 'heated debate') on here weather or not the use of weights is good or bad, people have passed commando training for years with out touching a dumbbell but if done properly they wont hurt, lifting weights doesn't = bodybuilding I use high weight low rep exercises to help with maximal strength (mainly for boxing) I also use weights in my circuit training for endurance porpoise’s I find I benefit form both, people may argue but for me personally I enjoy and see benefits for weights.

Basically personal choice, just don't get sucked into power lifting or body building style work outs day in day out.

I noticed you using a 'split' method with you're weight training, personally I feel that un-less training to be a power athlete you will benefit more from full body work outs and using the body as a unit I.E. dragging a sled or dead lifting will be more benefit than curling etc

You very rarely see people curling things on to shelves but how many times do you have to ‘dead lift’ a box or something like that of the floor?

As for the diet

My dies is this: 7 (am) Promax Diet Shake and a banana (318 calories) + 1 Multibitonta tablet + 1 Cod Liver oil tablet + 1 Fat metaboliser tablet

3 hours after – Chicken breast with 6g of pasta or vegetables (458 calories)

3 hours after – Promax Meal Bar and a Banana (296 calories)

3 hours after – tuna on a potato (174 calories)

3 hours after – Promax Diet Shake and a banana (318 calories)

3 hours after – A Promax diet shake (228 calories)

+ Promax protein shakes before and after gym (240 calories) + Drink At Least 5 Liters of Water a Day

All this equals 2032 calories a day

In my oppinion there are too many supplements in there, I am by no means against supplement and use them my self but the majority of meals and calories come to think of it are coming from supplements, I believe that whole food is much better there for I’d cut out these diet shakes and replace with a decent meal, I take a whey protein shake directly after exercise, mainly for convenience (much easier to down a shake than eat 2-3 chicken breasts)

Fish oil is good and I’d recommend that to everyone (I personally have 3000 mg a day and see no negative effects) I’d also recommend drinking 2-3 cups of green tea to aid with weight loss, just form personal experience I find I seem to loose weight and keep fat of much better when doing so plus its full of other goodies.

Supplement are there to do just that supplement a solid diet , sticking fish oil, 1-2 whey shakes, multi vitamin etc into a good diet is fine and wont do any harm, if you can get them free or have the cash to spend, go ahead just A) be sure you know what you're taking and B)don't rely on them (they aren’t really needed)

Again a lot of people will say you'll do fine with 3 square meals a day and there not right or wrong, I eat six meals because I can get more calories and such in easier that way, also the body can only utilize so many nutrients at once so spreading meals out meals the body can absorb more things like protein etc.

When I look to cut weight I usually set my self guide lines and have never counted calories (you can if you wish there’s nothing wrong with it, I personally don't feel I need to + you could get to hung up on numbers)

my guide lines are;

Eat six meals a day all consisting of 40-50 G of lean protein (chicken, grass fed beef etc)

Breakfast ,pre and post work out have a moderate to high number of complex carbs (brown rice)

Only have simple carbs post work out with whey shake

Decent amounts of good fats (nuts, seeds, oils)

2-3 cups of green tea a day

Plenty of water

and I also have fat free milk (usual have semi skimmed when not looking to lose weight)

I see you're already drinking plenty of water which is great.

Also lifting weights will help burn fat the more Muscle you're body has the more calories you’re body will need to 'run' its self there for you're body will burn fat easier to keep its self going when on a calorie restrictive diet.

That’s in very basic terms anyways, to me losing weight is simple, eat less and work hard, if a fat person adds 30 minuets tough exercise into there daily life they will lose weight, after a while 30 minuets wont be enough so they have to do more if they wish to lose more. Simple

I know a lot of this is babble and you may already know it all. I’m just getting carried away I’ve got so many ideas and opinions on the matter + I could go all nerdy and scientific but I shall refrain in fear of boring everyone to death

I think I’ve covered most questions and all the best with joining up.

Hope this helped a little (Best have done seen as though it took me ages to spell check the damn post!)

Stokey

Stokey's got it covered RM wish.

By the way RM seriously withing this forum is absolutley everything you need in the way of information for getting to Recruit training, and even what goes on for much of it!

Spending your time here will give you a massive advantage.

All the best!

5' 11" and overweight?

Work at digging out blind to:

A. Lose the weight and then.
B. build yourself up. May sound daft but thats what you need to do.

Commando training is 110% commitment. If you can work your bollox off by hard work and sheer determination to get to the standard required then you should have nay hassle whatsoever come your PRMC or your training.

There is rucks of info on this website. Use the search button and you will find the answers to all your questions.

Warning! The next Eeijut to ask about Press Ups will get very short thrift from me! As In I will delete the thread ASAP! Once again use the bloody search button people!!!!

Artist

Tanks everyone really good help I will be spending alot of time going through the all the forum topics. Sorry for not using the search button will do in future and thanks to stokey for all the help and pointers.

RM-Wish wrote:Tanks everyone really good help I will be spending alot of time going through the all the forum topics. Sorry for not using the search button will do in future and thanks to stokey for all the help and pointers.

Check or any major credit card will suffice mate

Seriously though, it was no problem at all, if it helps just a little then job done as far as I’m concerned, plus I was having a lazy day so I needed something to spend a bit of time on.

Like I said I can't give any real advice on Military training as I have not been there (due to being 16) I can only re-lay what I’ve been told by much more knowledgeable members, but I like to think when it comes to sport specific training and nutrition I can do my part and know the basics if nothing else.

Also as has been said, spend a good while looking though old posts and checking out the articles all over the site.

All the best

Stokey

P.S. just a thought but if you’re stuck for any idea on circuits or training sessions/exercises to take a look at www.rosstraining.com , it’s mainly for combat athletes but I find a lot of the sessions to work great for endurance etc

Some of it looks easy but believe me it will be pure hell from start to finish with any of Ross’s stuff.

As for using weights, it's often argued (or should I say 'heated debate') on here weather or not the use of weights is good or bad, people have passed commando training for years with out touching a dumbbell but if done properly they wont hurt, lifting weights doesn't = bodybuilding I use high weight low rep exercises to help with maximal strength (mainly for boxing) I also use weights in my circuit training for endurance porpoise’s I find I benefit form both, people may argue but for me personally I enjoy and see benefits for weights.

I'm not going to open this can of worms again (:P), but I'd just like to point out that I did an RM Acquaint Day yesterday (smashed it ) and all of the beefcakes either struggled to pass or failed. Even at press-ups and pull-ups. On the PRMC I'll have to do press-ups with my elbows in, sit-ups with my elbows to the tops of my knees, and overarm pull-ups with arms locked out and chin over the bar, so that's all I'm going to do in preperation. Simple as really.

misterpurple wrote:

As for using weights, it's often argued (or should I say 'heated debate') on here weather or not the use of weights is good or bad, people have passed commando training for years with out touching a dumbbell but if done properly they wont hurt, lifting weights doesn't = bodybuilding I use high weight low rep exercises to help with maximal strength (mainly for boxing) I also use weights in my circuit training for endurance porpoise’s I find I benefit form both, people may argue but for me personally I enjoy and see benefits for weights.

I'm not going to open this can of worms again (:P), but I'd just like to point out that I did an RM Acquaint Day yesterday (smashed it ) and all of the beefcakes either struggled to pass or failed. Even at press-ups and pull-ups. On the PRMC I'll have to do press-ups with my elbows in, sit-ups with my elbows to the tops of my knees, and overarm pull-ups with arms locked out and chin over the bar, so that's all I'm going to do in preperation. Simple as really.

Fair comment mate, the point I was trying to get across though was that lifting weights doesn't make you a 'beefcake' so to speak that mainly down to diet and type of lifting.

But we're straying from the point

Stokey

RM-wish, it all sounds so complicated!!!

I don't pretent to be an expert on exercise or supplements, but I really do think that you just need to start getting "generally fit" (running/exercising, eating sensibly) and then start to work on specific fitness (i.e. to pass the tests you need to acheive your goal).

What form this all takes is down to you, and you can find loads of plans and ideas using the search button...just like many of us on here did (including me) when we were starting out like you.

Good luck and hope it goes well!

""Tanks everyone really good help I will be spending alot of time going through the all the forum topics. Sorry for not using the search button will do in future and thanks to stokey for all the help and pointers."

Check or any major credit card will suffice mate

Seriously though, it was no problem at all, if it helps just a little then job done as far as I’m concerned, plus I was having a lazy day so I needed something to spend a bit of time on.

Like I said I can't give any real advice on Military training as I have not been there (due to being 16) I can only re-lay what I’ve been told by much more knowledgeable members, but I like to think when it comes to sport specific training and nutrition I can do my part and know the basics if nothing else.

Also as has been said, spend a good while looking though old posts and checking out the articles all over the site.

All the best

Stokey

P.S. just a thought but if you’re stuck for any idea on circuits or training sessions/exercises to take a look at www.rosstraining.com , it’s mainly for combat athletes but I find a lot of the sessions to work great for endurance etc

Some of it looks easy but believe me it will be pure hell from start to finish with any of Ross’s stuff. "

END QUOTE: for some reason my browser hates HTML!


Can you pay with tanks on credit card?

Baz