Getting Fit to join the Army

A

Aj123

0
Hi everyone

First off im new to this forum so if this Message is in the wrong place i appologise but i looked the site over and this looked like the best place to put it

Ok so Im a 22 year old man from the united kingdom and im about to join the army

to join the army in the uk u need to have a certain lvl of fitness wich is the ability to run Aprox 1 mile in under 10 minutes

Now im Unfit there is no way around it im about as fit as the local pie eating contest champion, im also over weight but not terribly

Im 6ft 1 and im 16 stone i dont look over wieght but i think thats becouse of my hight never the less i am over weight

I read somwhere that to get fit its a good idea to do 20 mins cardio in the morning before eating wich i tried to do this morning when i woke up
So i set the timer on my mobile phone for 20 mins and setoff running round the block.
After going round about 4 times i was absolutly nackered i looked at my phone and ide only done 5 minutes so i slowed down to a walk for about 30 secs to get my breath back and started to jog again, i managed another 5 minutes before the aching in my back was just to much for me plus i couldent half feel my heart POUNDING! lol and i went back inside thinking to myself 10 minutes isent that bad for my first attempt?
5-10 minutes later however my back was fine and i felt like i hadent done anything except for the fact my chest feels a bit raw when i breath

ive decided to try again in a few hours wich will be like 4 hours after my first go, and ide like some advice about where i should go from here and what i can do better
i have to acheave my goal by the end of december begining of january and given my current lvl of fitness ide very much like to kno if this is achievable?

Please understand i have no illusions about getting super fit by then i just need to be able to pass my medical wich like i say is 1 mile in under 10 minutes also im not to bothered about losing wieght both of those things will come in my army training So any wieght i lose now is just a bonus to me

I want to make it clear that im not going to waste anyones time here i am determined and really do want to do this, so any advice/help that anyone can give me will be greatly apreceated and hopefully put to good use

Also eating mega healthy just isent an option for me at the moment there is only me and my mum and we arnt the most well off people in the world if u know what i mean so i just have to eat whats in front of my but i am doing my best to eat foods wich i think will be high in energy Like Cereal and fruit juice that sort of thing is that right?

Appologies for my Spelling/Grammer its not exactly one of my strong points lol!

Aj.
 
Training

All you can do is keep running. Nothing can substitute running. I would run around your block for 20 minutes every other day for a week or two, then once it gets easier, run a little longer distance for twenty minutes. The key is to KEEP running during the twenty minutes and not walk. Even if you are jogging so slow you could walk faster you MUST maintain the jog/run and you will feel much better and become more fit. :D
 
Here's some food for thought though. WHen you run first thing in the morning before eating anything your body will be burning sugars which is not optimal for weight loss. When I do cardio I will eat breakfast at 7, snack at 9 (light... like 2-3 handfulls of grapes) then cardio for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Not only will your endurance improve, but with the right diet you'll lose weight, feel great, and with that weight loss you will be able to run farther since your body doesn't have to support as much fat.

Good luck!

--Patrick
(US Army)
 
Ok cool so i should try to keep my legs moving then instead of walking?

I dont think im quite fit enough to do an hour yet lol but ill certanly take that advice on board when i am

Thanx to both of you for your replys :)

Ive not stoped been doing it every day and im off out again now :p

Wish me luck.
 
I've also just started this week and already noticed a difference after 2 sessions. I'm not saying i've gone from 40" to 33" waist, or lost 1 stone.

but i just feel more alert, more energy etc!

On monday, i started by streching then a brisk walk for 2-4 minutes to get warmed up. Then jogged for 3-5 minutes, walked again for a minute or two then jogged again.

Then i did 5-10 minutes of sprinting which was a killer

Then back to jogging, felt like i was only out for 5 mins when infact is was 40 mins.

Everywhere i've read said that you have to build up, you cant just go out and jog for 25 mins, if you do your most likely going to struggle to move the next day!

Dont be put off what you can do currently, its what stops most people carrying on, just think about whats going to come!

My second run on wednesday was the same time, but i had more jogging and less walking, quicker pace and more intense sprinting! Also, i have no pain and my heart was pumping hard, but it never felt like it was going to burst through my chest :D

Every week try and add on an extra minute or two to your jog. My plan is to be able to jog for 20-25 mins, then sprint, then jog for 15-20 mins in 5-6 weeks. Breathing properly helped me too
 
dude, good luck and keep on running, eventually it will stop feeling like you are capable of breathing fire!!

Dont forget the push ups and sit ups tho. There's a minimum requirement for these too, and if u r out of practise its best not to neglect these as well.

www dot armyfit dot mod dot uk (it won't let me post as a URL) is great for advice and such too.

But the main thing is to just get that drill sergeant in your head yelling at you already, really do a number on yourself if you feel you are slacking, grit your teeth and pull thru..... it's about 89% mind work. Sort the head and the bodys gonna follow :):) You can tell if you are slacking or if you are resting/injured, do not accept less than the best unless you know 100% you genuinely fall into the last of these two categories :)

Also if in doubt on the times plaster a smile on your face, keep it there, and do your thing, reccy officers can sometimes make an exception if you fall short in one of the categories, but at that basic level its very rare and you need to prove you are worth it. So a smile helps, even if it feels more like a 'death grin' at times

Good luck dude,
 
The best way to get in shape is to set your self small achievable targets. For example you are finding it hard to run for 20 mins so forget that for now but try and run for 10 mins everyday and don't stop then ad 2 mins on every week or 2. Now to get army fit isn't difficult but it wont be easy. Now there are a few things you need to focus on its great that you started running but you also need to do strength training also you need to remember to stretch after exercising. Now strength training can involve anything from push ups and sit ups to weights. personally I recommend you do a variety and not just focus on select muscle groups.

Right so you want to be fighting fight by December. Don't think to your self well I always have to January at the latest to get in shape as you don't want to be allowing yourself to slack off (not saying that you will). So lets say that by the 1st of December you want to be able to run 1.5miles in 10 minutes and 30 seconds and do 44 push ups in 2 minutes and 50 sit ups in 2 minutes.

The best way to look at this is once you are fit enough to run 1.5 miles then start trying to run it quicker everyday. and don't settle for 10.5 minutes push your self and show the army that you can do it in 9 minutes etc. The best way to build up to 44 push ups is to start with by doing as many as you can do even if its only 5 push ups a day and then every week ad 1 on after this do a similar thing with sit ups its all about building up slowly but at the same time trying to reach your goal as quickly as possible so you have time to tweak your performance and improve yourself even further.

I want to join the royal marines now I can run quite far and im reasonably strong i suppose but what I and anyone who wants to get in shape has to remember is that you cant get happy with how you are and that you will never be as fit as you are tomorrow.

good luck to you I'm sure you can achieve this
 
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