1 month to get stronger before Army, need some advice

[ash_p]

Hi gents,

I'm off to the Army in a month (:cool:), and have just a few weeks ago come off just about a month of the dreaded man flu! My fitness took a nose dive, but I'm picking it up again nicely. However, in this last month I'm trying to cram in as much fitness and strength building as possible without doing too much, so as not to pick up an injury. I bought a 2lb bag of PhD Pharma Whey, recommended by a mate, and have used it a couple of times and can notice a difference after my workouts already, it's great stuff! It's my first time using supplements really but thought it was necessary considering how much I'm trying to pack into this month.

I've been following a progressive Army fitness program which was given to me by my recruiter. Here's an example:
Mon: Steady 20 min run, 3x 1/2 max pressups, 2x 8 squats, 3x 1/2 max situps, 3x 8 dorsal raises.
Wed: 10-15 min warmup, run hard 1 min, rest 1 min - continue for 10 mins at 75-80% effort, 10 min cool down
Fri: 10 min warmup, Circuit training 2x 12 of: pressups, situps, dorsal raises, tricep dips, squats, lunges
Sun: Brisk walk 30-40 mins

It's a 12 week program (above is the first week, which I have started again after coming off the flu) and as the weeks go by it gets a bit tougher with more sets/reps, longer runs, etc. But as I've only a month I need to get up to a higher standard whilst still keeping safe and injury free. I've thrown in doing weights (dumbell/barbell) on the Monday and Wednesday workouts doing maybe 3 sets of 20 bicep curls, tricep (curls? reverse lifty things!), outward shoulder lifts (sorry don't know proper names!) and that seems to get the blood pumping! But as I've said I've not used supplements before so don't know how far I can push myself with them and have them work in my favour effectively.

I just need to sort my upper body out, be able to do as many press ups as possible (will be doing them a lot in basic!), etc. About 6 months ago, when I was training for selection, I went from less than 10 press ups (really, never used to do them!) to 25 in about a month, which I was fairly happy with I suppose, but now I'm back down to about 10, or just over on a good day, and I really need to raise the bar in the next month and I'd be happy going to basic being able to do 30-40, or as close to as possible.

Apart from the obvious of just doing press ups to death, what weights exercises should I be doing? I presume primarily tricep and pectoral workouts, but while I'm at it I'd like to hit the biceps and shoulders as well. I'm not really skinny, I've just not done weights and upper body workouts in a few months, which is why I suck at pressups now! So getting back to my previous level shouldn't be too difficult.

Anyway, sorry to have rambled on! Any advice would be awesome.

Cheers,
Ash :)

[Glenn]

Stronglifts 5x5 (google it) and loads of pull-ups, bit of running too.

Be realistic, you won't achieve miracles in a month.

I'm sure someone will be along to disagree with the above shortly... ;)

[ash_p]

Yep, not expecting miracles.. Just whatever I can achieve in the relatively short space of time!
Thanks though, will look into it :)

[warren1987]

chest presses either with a bar on a bench or assisted will increase your strength and get you mroe pushups, triceps dips, being able to lift your own body weight will serve you well legs over two benches then lowere yourself with your arms (dip) then push yourself back up. variations on press ups try incline and decline pushups using a step or un-even with one hand on the step and one hand not.

[ash_p]

Sounds good.

I've got another Q:
The food you get in basic training is mainly a high carb diet, with no where near as much protein as you'd get with shakes. Would using shakes for a month and then suddenly stopping be a shock to the system? Or at least would my muscles struggle to repair/recover at a good/normal rate?

[DrPR]

I've found that functional hypertrophy is much better than stronglifts. There's more variety and you will go up in strength quickly.

[PerTerram]

Concentrate on CV, run hard, swim hard...go for distance, sprints the lot. CV is the foundation of all soldiers.

You'll also need upper body strength...pull ups (knuckles facing you)

You've only got a month....so you should be smashing the required standard by now. The way i looked at it is that no matter what regiment you join, whether you are a chef or an infantryman, one day you may be required to go to the frontline. The enemy and (more important) the bullets don't care what your entrance requirements are, they just want to take you down. surviving is 90% professionalism and 10% luck. You can't do anything about the 10% luck but you can about the rest. So always push yourself to be fitter. And remember it's ALL round fitness that counts. I'll outline what youre required to do for a simple task and that should help you understand the requirements needed physically.

Say you do a compound clearance:

You've walked across rough terrain for 5 km carrying up to 100lbs of equipment at an altitude of 9000 ft (think of demand on lungs for altitude alone)

then you reach compound and have to sprint across a ploughed muddy field with your kit on.

You might have to climb over a wall with ladders, crawl through a blast hole, use you're body as a ram to break down a door....

then you go into the clearnace, you'll be tired, hungry, conufsed and with lots going on. weapon up at all times (try holding 11lbs up like a rifle when you're arms are tired - for a prolonged period)

then you have to get home. so you've used, weight carrying endurance, sprint, plyometrics, stamina in the space of a few minutes....

don't get massive, get lean and powerful.....

Hope this helps...I'm speaking from experience so if you have any Q's just PM me.

[Urithrand]

Peronally I'd be much more concerned with bringing up your general health level. Plenty of healthy food and cardio will get you into good shape, which as a newbie inthe forces will be imperative. Believe me, they will work you up into a fighting fit soldier in no time.

And there's no reason why you can't continue to take protein supps once you're in. It's not borstal :p