Advice on getting fit for the army

J

Jensen

0
Hi all
This is my first post on here so I hope it's in the right place.

I'm 20 years old and have decided to join the British army, I would hopefully like to join the paras and the entry requirements are as follows.
Run 1.5 mile in 9 min 18secs
50 press ups in 2 minutes
50 sit ups in 2 minutes
jerry can test where you must walk with 2 20kg jerry cans for 150m to be completed in 2 minutes

Off the top of my head I think that's about it.
The only two things that are bothering me atm is the run and the press ups.
Atm I go boxing and do some casual exercise but I haven't got a training regime. I went and saw my local recruiting officer and he gave me a poster with a 12 week training regime to stick to.
To give you a idea this is week 1
Mon steady 20 minute run, 3 sets of, half my max press ups, 8 squats, half max sit ups, 8 dorsal rasies
Tue rest
Wed 10 minute warm up, run hard for 1 min, rest for 1 min continue for 10 minutes, 10 min cool down
Thur rest
Fri 10 min warm up circuit training consisting of 2 sets of chin ups, tricep dips, press ups, sit ups, dorsal raises, squats and lunges, each exercise would consists of 12 reps
Sat rest
Sun 40 minute walk or 20 minute swim
Now my question is would it hurt if I did more then the regime says? for example instead of a 20 minute run do 50 minutes, which atm I can do 5.8 mile in, instead of doing 3 sets of half max press ups do 4 sets of max? Etc
Would this help or hinder my training?
So that and if you could give me any general advice about my goal that would be much appreciated :)
Kind regards
Jensen
 
That run time would scare me brother, I think the press ups if there the same as "push ups" here in the states and the sit ups you can manage with a little training and a disciplined diet. I'd take the challenge of that routine you were given. If you want to add to it I don't think it would harm your progress. I'd say the main thing is to just commit to that routine and diet healthily, and with your choice of career, get used to it.

P.S. that "Wed 10 minute warm up, run hard for 1 min, rest for 1 min continue for 10 minutes, 10 min cool down" we call those "Indian Runs" here, we did them in basic training here and they work wonders on cutting down run times! Good luck!!
 
In all honesty I would stick to what they tell you. Chances of coming to harm doing more are slim, but if you do harm yourself you will fail the tests and have to re-apply.
There is a good reason that training slows a bit coming close to competition. It is to ensure you avoid injury as much as possible. You have 12 weeks to reach a set of targets. There is no reward for going too far beyond them so just pass them and then up your game.
I was brought up in a military town and a number of less bright induhviduals would do the run flat out coming in well under the time and not have energy left for the other events. Of course they declared this unfair. Smarter candidates capable of running faster would cross the line a few seconds before time, do the press ups spread over the whole time, etc. pass comfortably and really impress the assessors who will like that they would appear in combat ready to fight rather than burned out.

Do what is needed and do it well. In the army you will be paid to train, unlike us civilians funding it who have to work to pay for our training.
 
That run time scares me aswell haha, I think that's going to be the hardest part but I'm determined to do it. Yeah push ups and press ups are the same thing. I'm giving myself plenty of time before I sign up so I can really think about it and get fit enough, I'm aiming to be ready by January so I've got a good 6 months to prepare.
About the healthy diet atm I'd consider my self fairly healthy, ill have cereal (weetabix normally) with skimmed milk for breakfast, some fruit for a snack during the day, then whatever my dad cooks for dinner (usually its something like spaghetti bolagnese, chicken curry or beef pie, etc rarely anything fried) I also only usually have whole grains when I have bread or pasta etc and I drink plenty of water, I do have a couple of beers about twice a week though so I don't know how much that will affect my regime.
 
With 6 months prep time you have an advantage over many and it becomes a lot safer to increase on what you do. I know you didn't state that you only had 12 weeks but you are being more sensible than that.
If running is your weakness, work on that most. The pace is roughly 10mph to give 6 minute mile. I don't know if it is the pace or duration that worries you most so will approach both. This is in addition to the sessions you are doing but you will need to ensure it doesn't impact on them, so do the prescribed work in a morning with rest the following day and some of what I say later in the day after you have recovered.

Intervals
Base these on what you need. The routine you have already includes some of these on simple 1 minute fast 1 slow.
If you are worried about the pace, do some with shorter intervals, 45 seconds fast 30 slow literally until you can't do any more. This will be far mor intense as the shorter fast will drive you to go faster and the shortened recovery will be a killer.
If duration is the issue extend the fast to 1.5 minutes at a slightly lower pace and keep the rest to 1 minute but the slow will be running by default. You will be having both feet leave the ground but move at a zimmer frame pace. 10 of these and you will know about it.

Hill running. Similar in feel to intervals, different in approach. Find a hill or series of them and pick a pace. Run up and down them at the same pace, up will be more intense on your body down on your lungs due to impact.

Rehearsal
Find a circuit that is 1.5 miles without interuptions like road crossings etc. Run it to get used to your best pace and what you can do. All the support work in the world is not as valuable as knowing how to handle the run itself. Not doing so would risk you setting off too fast or slow then not being able to maintain the pace or make up the time further in. Ideally you will want to be running at a consistant pace if practical, a short sprint at the end to be sure is OK but not so much that you are worn out for the other things.

Be sure to stretch after each of these. It will reduce aches and risk of injury.

Diet wise, unless you are carrying a lot of excess now you will need good quality complex carbs for sustained training energy. None of the stuff in your test is long enough to be stamina based so you want to be improving muscular strength and endurance and will do better on high carbs than high protein and fat. You are doing this already by what I read, but if that is all you eat I would have to say you are barely human. Even when I was totally dedicated I still treated myself to some chocolate etc.

Alcohol, something your comrades will expect you to be able to imbide in copious quantities and if you see real action will likely need to aid sleep on a few occasions. There is a good reason that your chosen career and beer are often combined, and those in my family honest enough to talk about it made this very clear to me.
Choose your times well. Hangover is dehydration and this will impact your training very badly, so don't drink the night before a training day. If you are well below standard and serious about joining the army knock it on the head until you have passed basic training, if your drinking buddies are real friends they will support you in this. If you are close and just need to improve a bit and can choose your days a genuine couple of beers a few times a week will be tolerable.

Best of luck.
 
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