Whilst I know the most important area of fitness to work on is stamina (until a knee injuury this year I was running 15-20 miles a week) is there any value in weight training?
I've always enjoyed it and would like to try and put it to some use in my TA preparation.
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Weight training
darkwarrier,
Nothing wrong with pushing some weights as part of an integrated training programme. Pushing weights also helps with injury prevention (i.e. like those you get when you're carrying a heavy bergen). I would say that working on your upper body and lower back areas would help with this. If you have a knee injury at the moment why not try swimming and cycling. I also had a knee injury and found these to be excellent ways of keeping fit whilst I was in the OTC. Best bet is to get some advice from the PTI at the unit you are joining. Good luck with the training.
Nothing wrong with pushing some weights as part of an integrated training programme. Pushing weights also helps with injury prevention (i.e. like those you get when you're carrying a heavy bergen). I would say that working on your upper body and lower back areas would help with this. If you have a knee injury at the moment why not try swimming and cycling. I also had a knee injury and found these to be excellent ways of keeping fit whilst I was in the OTC. Best bet is to get some advice from the PTI at the unit you are joining. Good luck with the training.
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kettlebellgav
- Member
- Posts: 8
- Joined: Mon 17 Oct, 2005 9:23 am
- Location: england
weight training should form the biggest slice of your pre-military training. Gone are the days when weights were seen as making you slow and musclebound, we now know better.
Weights should be used for injury prevention, increase in strength, work capacity (ability to exert force over a prolonged period of time) endurance and power. This might sound a bit scientific but it is quite simple, science is just a way of explaining something complicated in a simple way and understanding it.
For years the military wanted all its recruits at the same level so it could mould them as one individual unit, but now thanks to the russians a more pragmatic approach has been found as being far superior.
To make it simple you should first focus on strengthening every muscle in the body through weight training and pull ups/dips, forget push ups for a while, in my opinion they are a waste of time and only required to pass the PT test. The deadlift works all pulling muscles, the military press is ideal for the upper body and pull ups are also excellent. Train them 3-4 times a week, 2-5 sets each with a heavy weight that allows you to do about 10 reps but do no more than 5, dont rep out. Every session add some weight and once every few weeks take a few days off and drop the weight buy 10-20 pounds and build up again, this is known as periodisation and has been shown as the optimal way of building strength. Rest at least 3 minutes between sets, dont go for the burn, the idea is to train your muscles to exert more force with out a gain in size that will weigh you down in training. By resting between sets and keeping the reps and sets low you avoid the breakdown of muscle tissue that would usuall be rebuilt bigger. Also focus on strengthening your grip by doing farmers walks for a minute at a time and resting 3 minutes, you should be using a heavy weight.
Once you have a strong body and powerful tendons, ligaments and joints you can move on to power and work capacity training, power has less to do with the actual weight lifted and more to do with the speed it is done, exercises include the snatch , jerk and various pulls and rows with weights, done for very low reps and maximal weights these movements can be dangerous so use light weights and mid reps, 6-8 with 2-3 minutes rest between sets, go to http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html to learn these exercises, you should not be adding weight, focus on your body adapting to moving these weights fast but under control, your strength training previously will help you stay injury free, use a weight that allows fast movement and if you feel you are slowing down stop.
Ok so you are strong and powerful and fast, now think endurance, you`ll be doing a lot of rucking and running but dont just go out and run, in the army you are doing a lot of slow moving like marching or hiking followed by bursts of speed so train in the interval style.
Mark out a 2 mile course and put a pack on your back and go, start slow for the first week, your back and legs will already be strong through strength training, the second week start slow and then build to a fast pace, as you feel your muscles burning back off, if you go through the pain you are going into the anaerobic zone and not training with oxygen which is`nt what you want, walk steady for a bit until you feel fresh then go hard again. By constantly pushing into the anaerobic zone you are training your V02 max, your bodys ability to work both aerobicly and anaerobically.
By putting all these together and doing a few weeks of each over a period of six months you will be strong, powerful and fast with strong lungs, ligaments and joints ready to start military training. This style of training has been used for years in russia and is just filtering down to the US and as usual we learn about it last.
As for equipment, you dont need a lot, a barbell and dumbells will be good but you can use duffel bags filled with small sandbags so you can adjust the weight. Kettlebells are also useful.
Weights should be used for injury prevention, increase in strength, work capacity (ability to exert force over a prolonged period of time) endurance and power. This might sound a bit scientific but it is quite simple, science is just a way of explaining something complicated in a simple way and understanding it.
For years the military wanted all its recruits at the same level so it could mould them as one individual unit, but now thanks to the russians a more pragmatic approach has been found as being far superior.
To make it simple you should first focus on strengthening every muscle in the body through weight training and pull ups/dips, forget push ups for a while, in my opinion they are a waste of time and only required to pass the PT test. The deadlift works all pulling muscles, the military press is ideal for the upper body and pull ups are also excellent. Train them 3-4 times a week, 2-5 sets each with a heavy weight that allows you to do about 10 reps but do no more than 5, dont rep out. Every session add some weight and once every few weeks take a few days off and drop the weight buy 10-20 pounds and build up again, this is known as periodisation and has been shown as the optimal way of building strength. Rest at least 3 minutes between sets, dont go for the burn, the idea is to train your muscles to exert more force with out a gain in size that will weigh you down in training. By resting between sets and keeping the reps and sets low you avoid the breakdown of muscle tissue that would usuall be rebuilt bigger. Also focus on strengthening your grip by doing farmers walks for a minute at a time and resting 3 minutes, you should be using a heavy weight.
Once you have a strong body and powerful tendons, ligaments and joints you can move on to power and work capacity training, power has less to do with the actual weight lifted and more to do with the speed it is done, exercises include the snatch , jerk and various pulls and rows with weights, done for very low reps and maximal weights these movements can be dangerous so use light weights and mid reps, 6-8 with 2-3 minutes rest between sets, go to http://www.crossfit.com/cf-info/excercise.html to learn these exercises, you should not be adding weight, focus on your body adapting to moving these weights fast but under control, your strength training previously will help you stay injury free, use a weight that allows fast movement and if you feel you are slowing down stop.
Ok so you are strong and powerful and fast, now think endurance, you`ll be doing a lot of rucking and running but dont just go out and run, in the army you are doing a lot of slow moving like marching or hiking followed by bursts of speed so train in the interval style.
Mark out a 2 mile course and put a pack on your back and go, start slow for the first week, your back and legs will already be strong through strength training, the second week start slow and then build to a fast pace, as you feel your muscles burning back off, if you go through the pain you are going into the anaerobic zone and not training with oxygen which is`nt what you want, walk steady for a bit until you feel fresh then go hard again. By constantly pushing into the anaerobic zone you are training your V02 max, your bodys ability to work both aerobicly and anaerobically.
By putting all these together and doing a few weeks of each over a period of six months you will be strong, powerful and fast with strong lungs, ligaments and joints ready to start military training. This style of training has been used for years in russia and is just filtering down to the US and as usual we learn about it last.
As for equipment, you dont need a lot, a barbell and dumbells will be good but you can use duffel bags filled with small sandbags so you can adjust the weight. Kettlebells are also useful.
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Alfa
- Guest
Obviously you don't have any experience with the military then if you think you only do them to pass a PT testkettlebellgav wrote:forget push ups for a while, in my opinion they are a waste of time and only required to pass the PT test.
Weight training will help you with your preparations as long as it's not at the expense of your cardio workouts. You should aim for high intensity, high reps rather than doing just a few reps with really heavy weight.
Also make sure you work every muscle group as if you only train certain body parts this will create an imbalance and could cause injuries in itself.
Basically if you're going to do it do it sensibly train for strength, endurance and functionality rather than bulk and DON'T neglect your cardio work.
Hope this helps.
